Unreliable Chinese airlines
 

Past 8 months I have booked 12 flights all within China. 8 of the flights have either been canceled outright or delayed significantly weeks in advanced!!!!!!
It seems it is not just an airlines in particular. Air China, Junyao, Spring and this week China Eastern.

If the delay was a couple of hours the day of the flight, I don't like it but I kind of understand however these eight flights have been cancelled 4 weeks 3 weeks and this time 2 weeks in advance. You can't plan anything!!!!

It is almost like you have to plan to be somewhere a day early to attend a meeting in the afternoon or night the following day. It is so frusterating. Why have a schedule if you don't plan to keep it?

Limiting the damage is checking the chinese version of "flightstats" when you have a choice. It has worked for me, and I now avoid those flights with a 20% on-time performance...

E.g. http://www.feeyo.com/enflight/result/cgq_pvg.htm

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That's why they have high speed trains now a days. BTW, how 'reliable' are regional flights in the States?

I share similar experience with cancellation weeks in advance of flight date. This happens across the board from airlines to airlines (Chinese airplines). Frustrating :mad:

LOL - High speed trains are much slower than airplanes and not necessarily go to the areas I need to go.

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If this is the case, then you deserve the delay or cencleations like everyone going there. You're not special 'cause u from an island ;)

Who deserves a delay?

My frusteration is airlines making a schedule and then cancelling it a month to two weeks prior to the flight. There is NO MORE opportunity to buy the early bird tickets because it is now TOO LATE to purchase the tickets and you are forced to either pay 3 times, 4 times (my fav was 10 times) more expensive ticket OR have the tickets changed to an NON GUARANTEED standby ticket OR live with the change.

FYI - China is not an island.

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To "Taiwaned": 'FYI - China is not an island'
Taiwan is, isn't it? loosen up a bit I'm sure you'll be fine ;)

MU has been bad lately....a lot of my HKG-PVG flights have been cancelled and I've had to rebook through Guangzhou to meet my schedule

EDIT: Taiwan is also not part of China

That's a topic that you'll learn to steer clear of after you log a few more years in the PRC... nothing good ever results from conversations about it.

Maybe these airlines found out their pilots were using fake credentials and licenses?

I am Canadian born in Hong Kong of Chinese heritage.
Therefore
我们都是华人，让我们相处 OR 我們都是華人，讓我們相處
對不對 OR 对不对

Our travel agent warned us against MU on the HKG - PVG route so we picked the Shenzhen Airlines to and from Shenzhen to Pudong. On the way back to PVG, we boarded on time but then we stayed on the tarmac for an extra 3 plus hours before finally taking off.

Going back home was no biggie, it just made it more tiring but if I had an appointment to go to, I would be upset.

SZX/PVG has been like that for years.

So what do you guys do???? If you have a meeting to go to in another city, do you plan to arrive a day early just to ensure you make it to the meeting? How much padding is enough? I thought 5 hours should be plenty but I am finding this is not necessarily enough.

Fly on the international domestic legs. E.g. CA 930 PVG-SZX. You can't rely on them not being delayed but you can rely on them not being cancelled.