Originally Posted by moondog
aviation in china is developing in step with the economy; chinese airlines won't be crappy forever (changes to date have already been significant).
Completely in agreement. The domestic carriers are not up with the likes of SQ, BA, CX.... but they are improving rapidly. I would say that the most noticeable change of the carriers I fly has been on the domestic Chinese airlines, whereas the top airlines are probably taking a slight step backwards.
The other thing to consider is that the domestic Chinese airlines are often very cheap - Beijing Shanghai can be as cheap as 320 RMB at times (40 USD). At the price, its a little unfair to compare that flight with Singapore Kuala Lumpur on SQ.