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Taken October 2002 from San Francisco to Beijing

Check-in at San Francisco was handled by United personnel, who made it clear that they did not like working for Air China. Attempts to request an aisle seat in advance of the day of travel were set as remarks in the passenger name record with no assurances that they would even be read at check-in. There was a long delay as the computer had to be rebooted repeatedly. Nevertheless, the process was quick when you got to an agent.

The 747-400 combi furnishings were pleasant. The leg-room seemed fine because the overhead bins were large enough to hold most items. The headrests of the seats were contoured to provide support. The crew also straighten up the toilets at regular intervals.

The cabin crew were polite and efficient in carrying out their service duties. They politely but firmly kept passengers from the different classes from mingling. Passengers were asked to return to their seats when meal and beverage carts were about to enter the aisles. Special order meals were delivered promptly, even before the cart moved into the aisles. The meals tended to look better than they tasted -- a personal matter of over use of pepper and sugar. Water and tea were offered throughout the flight, but there was an open bar in the galleys for self-service. The crew did not seem so helpful when it came to filling out the quarantine and immigration cards; in fact, the distribution of forms was hit or miss depending upon the language skills of the passenger and the crew member. This is usually an anxiety provoking moment in international travel, and the crew offered little assurance to first time travellers to China.

The head phones seemed to be the same type used when in-flight movies were introduced in the mid 1960's, i.e. plastic Y frame. For this 12 hour flight, they showed movies almost continuously.

I flew with a group, but we did not use group fares. Orbitz showed a comparable fare for the same itinerary, which was still the lowest among the competing carriers.

If anything, the way Air China handled its ground services kept the service marks low. On the other hand, Air China's computers did accept my Northwest frequent flyer account number for mileage credit.