What’s it like flying China Airlines on their new A350s in Economy Class? Check out this comprehensive trip report and review to experience the full flight and find out if China Airlines really is the incredible airline that they are known to be.
🎥 In This Video:
-Taipei Taoyuan International Airport
-China Airlines’ Founding History
-Check in & Gate
-The China Airlines Business Class Lounge
-Boarding & Flight Stats
-Taipei Route Map
-Full New Economy Class Seat Tour
-In Flight Meal (Lunch Service)
-In Flight Entertainment
-Take off & Landing Views
-Airport Stats & Spool Up
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💸 Fare Paid
Fare Paid: 238.76 USD
Category: Economy Class
Inclusions: 1 x 23kg Check in, 7kg Carry on, Standard Seat Selection, Meal Service
📽 Next 5 Videos (🩴 = Must Watch)
⇢ 30 Sep: Regent Taipei
⇢ 05 Oct: Andaz Delhi 🩴
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↪ Video Chapters ↩
0:00 Intro
00:25 Boarding Pass
00:55 Welcome to Taipei
01:19 Airport Exterior & Check In Hall
02:08 China Airlines Check in
03:17 China Airlines Business Class Lounge
04:55 Departure Hall Impressions
05:41 China Airlines Route Map
06:18 First View of Our Aircraft
07:21 Our Gate
07:37 Boarding & Flight Stats
07:58 First Impressions On Board
08:14 Full Economy Seat & Features Tour
10:22 Safety Video, Push Back, & Taxi
11:20 Take Off Routing, Spool Up, Take Off & Airport Stats
12:15 Today’s Route
12:25 In Flight Comforts
12:51 On Board Entertainment
13:10 Full Meal Service
13:47 Ten Second Toilet Tour
14:14 Descending into Saigon
14:58 Final Approach, Airport Stats & Landing
16:48 Deplaning & Arrival
17:40 The Flip Flop Score
Music featured in this video is licensed under an Artlist Unlimited License.
This is NOT a promotional video. I pay for all of my flights and hotels (and I always tell you how much!) so I can be as honest and impartial as possible. I do not receive any special treatment that wouldn’t otherwise be publicly accessible, in fact, the hotels and airlines have no idea about my visit and that’s the way I like it!
Thumbnail Photo includes modified media from the following source: Ltdccba, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
#chinaairlines #tripreport #economyclass
48 Comments
Kevin, you should do a comparison of the two major Taiwanese airlines: China Airlines vs EVA. Both offer excellent onboard product and service. But what's the relevant differences between the two for the passenger?
China Airlines must be really great to get perfect score from you. Nice review and than you krub.
Maybe China Airlines is the only airlines that gets the full marks throughout your trip reports so far, Kevin? I travelled with CI3/CI4 on their routes between San Francisco and Taipei Taoyuan a lot before, their Premium Economy class and Business Class were really fantastic products at that time, so I fully agree with you!
Don’t want to sound jealous, but the way how the various airlines granted you (and to so many others) a status by sign-up bonus for credit cards, status match and so on, is the number one reason why lounges these days are so super crowded and not a heaven to a true frequent traveller any longer, or in short, this entire lounge status system is so f’d up, that unless you’re one of those super flyers who basically live on the plane to reach the president’s super ultra platinum status, you’re literally screwed as a “normal” frequent flyer, and I’m happy that those days in my life I was able to leave behind.
Modern China Airlines aircraft simply have the classiest, nicest and most warming interior colour schemes. I love it so much, I tried to model my new bedroom with the same ambience. I’d say I was 60% successful.
I took this exact route just under two months ago in economy. The China airlines routing had 2 layovers rather than a single one for the same price, but given China airlines reputation I took it. And wow, was it impressive for economy. Good service even in the last last row, good IFE, good seats, and great catering from TPE. For a smaller person like me their standard economy is better than domestic US business class. And the Oriental lounge in TPE was quite good for a priority pass lounge, even considering the higher standard in Asia.
Tqvm for another good review, Kevin. More importantly, Tqvm for informing us that the passport control at the Saigon airport takes 1 hour to get through! Horrendous!!!😱😱😱
Very impressive. I hope Qantas sees your videos. They can use all the help they can get.
Without being jocular, facetious or hyperbolic I can truly say that Mr Flippity Floppity AKA Kevin is proof that you don't have to be a type A personality to be a Taipei personality, although I do think he may be a Chinese government plant working to aggrandize Chinese and Taiwanese air carriers.
Great job brother!
Cheers and I'll get back to my beer 😉
I think you were a bit harsh on your score…I would've given China Airlines 100/10 after my recent flight experience with them. The inflight service, comfort and amazing staff outweigh the budget friendly ticket prices.
Super video!!
I absolutely love how the Taiwanese have embraced the dark moody stylish decor ideas which is so unlike a typical Chinese undertone of bright red and gold. And I think China Airlines and Starlux have some of the world's most beautiful premium cabins ever. I'm excited as next week I'll fly CI on their A350 in business class for the first time. I cannot wait! I used to fly them a lot on my younger years between SIN HKG when they were still in their blue red stripes… so I've done their A300s and 747SPs to death. Lol yes I'm that old. Asian full service carriers tend to have top notch catering. Did you fly this route in Feb Mar? I did a similar routing ICN HKG BKK, and the smog literally stretched from Hong Kong to Bangkok. Lol… enjoyed the video as always!
I flew them from Sydney in j class and they were “ fantastic” efficient service , very clean and comfortable equipment and staff were very polite – great review – it’s greet you gave them such high praise – I sort of laughed and thought isn’t this what economy service used to be like
The hard product, the interior look out of the ordinary. I've never seen that before. A great trip report
Amazing review!! As a Taiwanese and also a big fan of China Airline. So glad that you enjoyed the flight with them!
Also looking forward to your future reviews on BR, JX.
It's a shame that there are still many (old) A330s in CI fleet. You're lucky to take its A350.
China Airlines was the last airline I flew with just as COVID was closing the world down. It was me and about 30 others on the entire flight to LGW. I've always wanted to fly with them again.
Dbl standard. 😮 Not very good
As a Taiwanese, I am curious which one do you think is better, EVA Air or China Airlines?
Nice video 📹. Your channel descriptions are very thorough & well explained. Always enjoy 😉; well wishes 😊
I think they have the best A350 interior!
China Airlines A350/ Boeing 777 interiors , the terminal 1 lounge as well as hotel Proverbs were all done by a famous interior designer in Taiwan （ Ray Chen 陳瑞憲 ） !
Fantastic video china air have a nice journey
I'm glad to see how China Airlines has improved over the years. I hope to fly with them someday to compare the difference between other Taiwanese Airlines like Starlux! 🙂
Thank you for the video. I’ll share it with my wife. She is a flight attendant of China airline.
Aesthetics wise, China Airlines has the most breathtaking interior, lounge in Taipei and livery around. Absolutely love it!
After this video, I think I have to try again fly with China Airlines. Last flight with them not too pleasant experience compare to your video.
Awesome video man..yeah i too that the same
16:34 Why'd you call that 777 a Virgin Australia/Qatar Transformer?
A7-BAA has been owned by Qatar since new, and it's wearing the Oneworld livery currently?
Hi, Kevin, I'm a big fan of all your videos, especially the ones in Bali since I've been there MANY times, but I cringe a bit every time you say a word in Bahasa that starts with a "C" because it is pronounced "ch," so "Canguu" is pronounced "Changoo." Other than that I find your videos super-enjoyable, I'd give them a 98/ 100. 😆
I've got not a good experience on china airlines before but u know different flight could have different experience. By the way I am just confused as to how the credit card and miles works without flying since I really want those status but I never get to understand how to earn them nor which free credit card I could apply to get those miles
"And the weather in Saigon was fantastic"
Im obsessed with your channel ! Just had my stay at Andaz Bali & Apurva Kempinski … thanks for the detail & well put review …
I flew them recently in business. I found the cabin temperature incredibly hot for an overnight flight. Asked crew twice to make it cooler, but still didn’t get cooler.
I am glad you have video for economy class, because not all viewers can afford business or first class
Flying China airlines in december Amsterdam-Taipei 🙂
G'day Flip Flop, this review certainly has gotten me a little excited, as I have redeemed some Qantas points to fly J class from BNE to LAX via TPE early next year. And the wrap you've given on economy, it seems I certainly have a lot to look forward too. Cheers
Let’s hope they maintain their recent track record in safety. I think their former reputation is the only thing that holds them back these days
All I remember from them was the crashes that happens every 4 years back in the early 2000s.
Ill be the judge of that, i will be taking the same flight in a few months.
Thank you for the tremendous effort you are making in providing high-quality content. I thank you once again for the translation service into all languages. I wish you success and good luck.
Love how you keep saying "Saigon" 😬
Personally, I boycotts China Airline because of their elite membership. They never treat customers equally unless you know someone inside their company. I had their mileages and membership through my credit card. They never honored me the flight upgrade. Their customer service kept telling me on the phone to arrive early and request an upgrade at the airport. I did. When I asked a lady behind the counter, she had me waiting on a chair. A moment later, I saw two guys came up and waved to the supervisor I assumed. He stoop up, had a little chat and handshake with those guys. Then, he handed their passports to the ticket lady to process. The lady told him something and he looked at me. After those guys left, he asked me come forward and told me no upgrade available. I saw those two guys sitting in businesses class when I went on board. After trying to upgrade couple times, I gave up and let mileages expired. I never book any flights from China Airline since then. Besides, they have very poor safety records. My friends considered I made a good decision. Life is much better than business class.
hey Kevin! I just want to say that I seem to have made a mistake on flying CI A333 haha to Singapore as opposed to the A359 flight. while the soft product remain top notch, the hard project really is old and worn down and the IFE was quite terrible and annoying to use. Enjoy your day or night Kevin!
I flew China Airlines in 2016 from Vancouver to Kagoshima Japan. Best Airline. Unfortunately after covid they stopped flying to Kagoshima.
As a Taiwanese, thank you for loving China Airlines and glad that you are enjoy a good flight!
I flew LAX-BKK and LAX-SGN, both via TPE, on BR and CI over the last year and I gotta hand it to them. Hands down THE best economy experience I've had on a long-haul flight. What stood out to me the most was the comfort of the seat and the in-flight meal service. Both were fantastic!
It helps that Vietnam Airlines is in the same alliance to fill the plane, especially if they have double daily!