Air China vs. China Airlines
 

What is the difference?

Anyone have any experience bad or good flying on Air China?
I found a really cheap ticket but I am not familiar with the airline

Where are you flying from and to?

Air China is mainland, China Airlines is Taiwanese. In my experience Air China is pretty miserable, but I haven't flown them in a couple of years. China Airlines is OK. Their business class product is about equivalent to UA's. I was on a 747 to TPE that had internet access (but no power port). Given that Air China is now *A, though, I would probably take them with that choice. The thing is, though, that I don't think there's a lot of overlap between their routes. China Airlines does not fly to the mainland, for obvious reasons (except Hong Kong and Macau) and Air China doesn't fly much except between China and points overseas.

the overlap is approximately zero

edited because.... after posting the above, it occurred to me that they do compete in a handful of markets. europe--australia comes to mind. that said, i've never encountered anyone who was trying to decide between the two.

Well, If you see their records, that of China Airlines is more or less that of a never come back airline, whereas Air China has not lost a single plane yet on international sectors (as to my knowledge). And they are to be in the Star Alliance soon. I always try to avoid China Airlines, but would have no issue with Air China. Having said that, I still prefer Lufthansa on the sector Frankfurt Shanghai. But Air China sometimes sells at half the price, especially when you start the journey from China. But before they join Star Alliance I can't use them.

well, if PEK-ICN isn't international, then you MIGHT be right. however, saying CA has a spotless safety record is no different than saying airtran does because both carriers are rebranded forms of, for lack of a better term, bad memories. tmk, ca came into existance around 1990. prior to that, all chinese airlines were operated by the chinese equivalent of the faa. if you check out that site that describes air disasters, you will see some stuff that gives you pause.

Air China
 

Well, then lets compare apples to apples and take the period after 1990 when China started to approach international standards (I remember scary domestic flights before that time on russian hired tupolews the pilotes sometimes seemed not able to operate properly, sometimes even with russian crew who might or not have understood the chinese air control).

Since then I saw 2 CI planes in the water behind the runway in HK alone.
They were immediately trying to scratch off the logos that one couldn't recognize the airline.

I'd be dead before I fly China Airlines, or after, whichever comes first.

Sure, but you may want to try to have an influence on the way you die.

I found some airline rating: (There was a plane that CA lost, I didn't know. It was in April 2002 in South Korea when the pilot chose a too difficult landing approach not allowed in the stormy weather.)

Number of lost planes in the last 20 years/persons killed

Air China: 1/129
China Airlines: 8/764

There are only 5 major Airlines rated worse than China Airlines: Air India, Egypt Air, CSA Czech Airlines, TAM Linhas Aereas, Turkish Airlines.