I actually prefer HU to MU (albeit in my limited experience with them over the past few weeks). Either way, even if they do have bad service it will be nice to have such great connections within China.

If oneworld decides to let MU into oneworld, it'll take them three years just to get up to standards. It has to be one of the worst airlines I've ever taken. As one of the previous responders said, the inflight service was fair, but ground service was atrotious!!!!

If you are transitting thought PVG, fugagetabouit!!!!!!!! Last year, I took a flight from HKG to LAX, via PVG. I thought I only need to go through security. WRONG!!!! Had to queue through customs and fill out those 2 or 3 forms,(luckily I had a multiple entry visa), go downstairs to the baggage claim area to get boarding passes issued for PVG-LAX, go back upstairs to go through customs again (and fill out more forms), and get screened. Luckily, I had three hours for transit. I was left with only an hour to spare.

I know that OW is trying to recruit more carriers. That's great, but lets not go for quantity like *alliance. I rather have a small group of high quality airlines; CX, BA, QF, and LA. Soon, we can add JL to that list.

^
Good call, I actually like the way OW works, with most of the members being larger airlines, *A seems to have tried to go the way of quantity. I am looking forward to the new OW airlines to come on board. I agree that OW does need a presence in China but really I think it reflects badly on the other airlines within the alliance when they take on C grade carriers for the sake of having a presence in China. Just out of curiosity is there anything preventing CX from operating flights within mainland China?

yes

why hu is worse than mu
 

-lots of single-class slave ships
-no indication of "getting it" (at least mu has spent some money on finding quality FAs
-fares suggest it is the carrier of the last resort for many
-bus gates in places that don't require bus gates (and almost always in bj)

one nice thing about hu is that when there isn't an airplane to take you to xxx, the airport people seem to know about it, in which case your y300 ticket turns into gold. however, one of my friends recently got a phone call informing him that his noon flight had been "pushed back" to 8p (i.e. rebooked on the 8p flight). he simply called ctrip, gave them hell, and got put on the 12:30 fm flight. most travel agencies are loath to do this.

I agree OW needs to grow but that should be done with top tier carriers where possible. Is this possible in China? What is the deal with Dragon Air? Is it an option?

aviation in china is developing in step with the economy; chinese airlines won't be crappy forever (changes to date have already been significant).

whether or not they can snag ka, they still need at least one domestic chinese airline in their ranks in order to remain competitive with *a and skyteam.

Chinese airlines still run like they are in a communist country. Wait.. China is a Communist country!

Air China is joining *A.

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.

It has been five years since this thread.
Unfortunately, China Eastern has joined Skyteam.
When will Hainan Airlines join Oneworld.
Hainan Airlines is getting better and rated 5 star skytrax now.

I seem to recall that Hainan owns (or is part owner) of Hong Kong Airlines and Hong Kong Express. Would CX object to their entry?

Yes. This is a sticking point (which is likely to be resolved).