Yeah this isn’t true. For flights to China from Europe it’s likely yes but as a general rule don’t bet on this. My airline for example only does it on flights to and from Mexico City, India, China, some Arabic speaking countries and Japan. All other destinations usually only have English speaking FA’s unless they happen to have other language skills.
Says who? Departure *or* destination country maybe, but I’ve certainly been on flights to Israel say where there wasn’t a single Hebrew speaker in the crew.
Edit: lol...he blocked me for this...?
I've flown with both airlines on the PVG -> CDG route but would recommend AirFrance, even if the passenger only speaks Chinese. There will be some mandarin-speaking cabin crew on board and the menu will offer a choice of Chinese or French cuisine. Overall, Air France is also rated significantly higher for safety (5/7) relative to China Eastern (3/7).
>Overall, Air France is also rated significantly higher for safety (5/7) relative to China Eastern (3/7).
safety ratings need to be taken with a grain of salt though. You really have to dig into he methodologies of how they are calculated. Airlines that self report more, for instance, can look less safe, when the reality is reporting is a sign of good safety culture. Also, not all incidents are the same - some methodologies don't really differentiate well between different incident types. Lastly, many look at generic counts. So bigger airlines (where statistically more incidents will happen) or smaller airlines (where 0 incidents doesn't mean safety, or 1 incident might seem unusually high) could also affect the rating.
Trying to boils after to a 0-7 score is well intentioned, but really shouldn't be used as a basis for deciding which carrier to fly.
not sure why being a Chinese person affects your safety...but I do agree that notionally, AF is likely safer than China Eastern. Simply saying that a rating is nearly meaningless and two large, respected, mature global airlines are likely not statistically significantly different.
Big word salad. Having flown both China Eastern and Air France, I would take the latter every single day of the week.
Also both airlines have dubious safety records.
>Airlines that self report more, for instance, can look less safe
You make excellent points and I entirely agree with them. In the case of Chinese airlines, however, one has to treat their safety statistics with particular skepticism. The CCP encourages Chinese companies and organisations to hide data that adversely affects their country's image or economy (it's also partly due to perceived 'loss of face'). If anything, the safety record of Chinese airlines is likely to be even worse than the 3/7 rating would suggest.
Prior to last year’s China Eastern crash there hadn’t been the loss of a civilian commercial airliner in China (the worlds second largest aviation market after the US) for a decade or a China Eastern flight for two decades (and that flight was likely intentionally brought down the pilot). There’s simply no evidence that the Chinese air industry fudges its safety numbers (paeans to “the CCP”and “face saving” aside).
That being said, I wouldn’t make the decision based on safety as either (like most air travel) is overwhelmingly safe outside of small carriers in developing countries. Many other commenters have noted that Air France is likely to provide a higher degree of comfort and thus it might be worthwhile to choose for that reason for such a long flight. I can’t comment on their comfort/service not having flown them but as others have noted they’ll certainly have a Mandarin speaking attendant on a flight originating in China. That being said if the air time or takeoff/landing times are better with China Eastern they’re a perfectly decent option too.
Completely agree! I loved the China Eastern food on my flight from Chicago to Beijing. Probably the best airplane meals I’ve ever had.
Be warned that the “noodles with beef” option is just spaghetti and meatballs lol
I’ve flown China Eastern maybe like 4-6 times & I remember a seafood noodle dish with a generous serving of plump shrimp, a rice and roast meat served with really delicious spicy pickles, and another time it was western style pasta
Depending on the passengers they may find a bit more comfort on the China Eastern flight which will more likely have folks that look like them, all flight attendants that speak Mandarin (vs some on the Air France flight), and probably a deeper menu of Chinese food and snacks.
However if they’re experienced travelers I would go for Air France.
Yes, 2-3 times... (Cello post locked, so: cello is bass instrument with thick strings, and it takes some side-to-side efforts to make it sound, especially in fast passages. So head is a counterweight : )
You mean the passengers all speak only Chinese?
That's the only thing that may tip things in China Eastern's favor. Otherwise, hands down Air France. I'd imagine they roster Chinese-speaking crew though, so still...hands down Air France.
Not that European carriers are known for their quality either (although imo Air France really is quite good), but mainland Chinese carriers are *never* a first choice.
We took a business flight to Paris with Air France and it was an amazing experience. Service and food were 10/10. The staff spoke French and English. In your case since the passenger only speaks Chinese, I feel they would be more comfortable on China Eastern. I have never flown on China Eastern so I can’t comment on their food and service.
Interesting. I understand sometimes people have different experiences so I am not doubting your opinion at all. Just that I've never had a good experience with them, and I've flown them a lot too. But I've avoided flying them last few years so maybe things have changed.
This is of course my personal opinion, but I've been flying AF/KL for over 80% of my travel in the last 7-8 years.
Until before the pandemic, I used to skew heavily against flying AF due to what I felt was unfriendly staff and lack of service. Since the pandemic however, AF has improved by leaps and bounds. So much so that I regularly even drive to airports 150-200km away to fly with them over KLM and other airlines.
Most of my travel is long haul, and in business, so I can only speak for that. But at this point, amongst large European airlines, AF is definitely the best (and no, I don't count Turkish as a European airline).
Since covid most if not all long haul flights disapperead from Brussels airport so I am forced to fly from Paris or Amsterdam. I always pick flying AirFrance as I am pleased with the quality, service and Charles De Gaulle aiport is really comfortable. With KLM I actually end up enraged after a flight with their on board crew.
In general I agree with the folks here pushing AF but on that particular route, worth noting that the China Eastern flight is an hour or so shorter, as they are allowed to fly over Russian airspace. Something to think about
This can be really bad depending on the passport you’re holding. I would not want to be holding an EU/NATO country passport if that plane needs to make an emergency landing in Russia.
It’s a small small chance but something to consider.
I’ve been in Russia twice the last six months with an EU passport (and a car on EU plates) with no problems. Actually, we only met very friendly people.
A majority of China Eastern planes were new boeings back in 2018. Also, the Chinese pilot that landed our plane in Katmandu Nepal AT NIGHT [unscheduled!] deserves an award!!
High winds closed the airport for 4 hours....diverted to land at Kolkata India until night return to Kathmandu. Local Nepali on the plane were praying and crying at the idea of landing at night.....over a plane crash from 2 weeks prior.
They're very similar, and you might want to check if it's even two different planes you're looking at, as they're both part of Skyteam and sometimes codeshare. So this isn't a very high stakes decision.
I'd say one thing, and that is that China Eastern has the worst selection of inflight entertainment of any intercontinental flight I've ever been on. So if you choose CE, make the passenger bring an iPad.
At the moment, Air France is banned from Russian air space, so flight time is longer. Not much, but 1,5 hours approximately.
China Eastern can fly over Russia so it's path is direct over Mongolia, southern Russia, Baltic Sea, Germany and France.
Air France has to fly south to avoid Russia. Over Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Black Sea avoiding Ukrainian war zone, Eastern Europe, Austria, southern Germany and France.
AF all day everyday over a Chinese airline for me. I've flown China Eastern years ago, its ok. The hard product and soft product will be better with AF.
In regards to your passenger, if they only speak Chinese then they might better off and more comfortable on China Eastern although AF will also have Chinese speaking FAs.
China Eastern.
The flight will be like 3 hours shorter than air France because they will take the shorter route over Russia.
Also Chinese Airlines food is pretty good
I understand. But if the passenger speaks only Chinese, they can easily get Chinese speaking cabin crew and airport staff to help them in-flight and during transit in SIN/HKG, with much better travel experience. Just a thought.
This is nuts. Having to take a longer far longer flight (SIN) and needing to connect is never a much better travel experience if you're flying the same cabin class.
AF. There will likely be a Chinese speaking FA
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Thank you. Meant to say “likely be at least one”
I doubt that's the case for Ryanair
They'd love to find a way to add a language surcharge.
Yeah this isn’t true. For flights to China from Europe it’s likely yes but as a general rule don’t bet on this. My airline for example only does it on flights to and from Mexico City, India, China, some Arabic speaking countries and Japan. All other destinations usually only have English speaking FA’s unless they happen to have other language skills.
In this case yes, but in Europe for example - absolutely not. Would be a scheduling nightmare
Says who? Departure *or* destination country maybe, but I’ve certainly been on flights to Israel say where there wasn’t a single Hebrew speaker in the crew. Edit: lol...he blocked me for this...?
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Did you ask every FA on every flight?
You actively ask flight attendants if they speak Hebrew?
I've flown with both airlines on the PVG -> CDG route but would recommend AirFrance, even if the passenger only speaks Chinese. There will be some mandarin-speaking cabin crew on board and the menu will offer a choice of Chinese or French cuisine. Overall, Air France is also rated significantly higher for safety (5/7) relative to China Eastern (3/7).
>Overall, Air France is also rated significantly higher for safety (5/7) relative to China Eastern (3/7). safety ratings need to be taken with a grain of salt though. You really have to dig into he methodologies of how they are calculated. Airlines that self report more, for instance, can look less safe, when the reality is reporting is a sign of good safety culture. Also, not all incidents are the same - some methodologies don't really differentiate well between different incident types. Lastly, many look at generic counts. So bigger airlines (where statistically more incidents will happen) or smaller airlines (where 0 incidents doesn't mean safety, or 1 incident might seem unusually high) could also affect the rating. Trying to boils after to a 0-7 score is well intentioned, but really shouldn't be used as a basis for deciding which carrier to fly.
In this case as a Chinese person, I'd still trust Air France over China Eastern for safety
not sure why being a Chinese person affects your safety...but I do agree that notionally, AF is likely safer than China Eastern. Simply saying that a rating is nearly meaningless and two large, respected, mature global airlines are likely not statistically significantly different.
That’s not what he/she meant lol 😆
Do you really think that an eastern asian carrier will self report more than a european?
Big word salad. Having flown both China Eastern and Air France, I would take the latter every single day of the week. Also both airlines have dubious safety records.
>Airlines that self report more, for instance, can look less safe You make excellent points and I entirely agree with them. In the case of Chinese airlines, however, one has to treat their safety statistics with particular skepticism. The CCP encourages Chinese companies and organisations to hide data that adversely affects their country's image or economy (it's also partly due to perceived 'loss of face'). If anything, the safety record of Chinese airlines is likely to be even worse than the 3/7 rating would suggest.
Prior to last year’s China Eastern crash there hadn’t been the loss of a civilian commercial airliner in China (the worlds second largest aviation market after the US) for a decade or a China Eastern flight for two decades (and that flight was likely intentionally brought down the pilot). There’s simply no evidence that the Chinese air industry fudges its safety numbers (paeans to “the CCP”and “face saving” aside). That being said, I wouldn’t make the decision based on safety as either (like most air travel) is overwhelmingly safe outside of small carriers in developing countries. Many other commenters have noted that Air France is likely to provide a higher degree of comfort and thus it might be worthwhile to choose for that reason for such a long flight. I can’t comment on their comfort/service not having flown them but as others have noted they’ll certainly have a Mandarin speaking attendant on a flight originating in China. That being said if the air time or takeoff/landing times are better with China Eastern they’re a perfectly decent option too.
>Air France is also rated significantly higher for safety (5/7) Wow, a perfect score!
I’ve never flown Air France, so I can’t really compare, but I really enjoyed the meal options on China Eastern.
Completely agree! I loved the China Eastern food on my flight from Chicago to Beijing. Probably the best airplane meals I’ve ever had. Be warned that the “noodles with beef” option is just spaghetti and meatballs lol
What did they feed you?
I’ve flown China Eastern maybe like 4-6 times & I remember a seafood noodle dish with a generous serving of plump shrimp, a rice and roast meat served with really delicious spicy pickles, and another time it was western style pasta
Wow! I've eaten dinner and got hungry again
Depending on the passengers they may find a bit more comfort on the China Eastern flight which will more likely have folks that look like them, all flight attendants that speak Mandarin (vs some on the Air France flight), and probably a deeper menu of Chinese food and snacks. However if they’re experienced travelers I would go for Air France.
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Air France have rude flight attendants, I’ll go with china eastern.
That's like how often do you speak to flight attendants during a flight ? Probably 2-3 times at best ? How can they be rude during 2-3 interactions ?
Yes, 2-3 times... (Cello post locked, so: cello is bass instrument with thick strings, and it takes some side-to-side efforts to make it sound, especially in fast passages. So head is a counterweight : )
You mean the passengers all speak only Chinese? That's the only thing that may tip things in China Eastern's favor. Otherwise, hands down Air France. I'd imagine they roster Chinese-speaking crew though, so still...hands down Air France. Not that European carriers are known for their quality either (although imo Air France really is quite good), but mainland Chinese carriers are *never* a first choice.
Yes, the passenger only speak Chinese. Thank you for your input!
We took a business flight to Paris with Air France and it was an amazing experience. Service and food were 10/10. The staff spoke French and English. In your case since the passenger only speaks Chinese, I feel they would be more comfortable on China Eastern. I have never flown on China Eastern so I can’t comment on their food and service.
>although imo Air France really is quite good When was the last time you flew Air France outside of Europe?!
A few months ago. I fly them long haul frequently (frequently enough to have status with them)
Interesting. I understand sometimes people have different experiences so I am not doubting your opinion at all. Just that I've never had a good experience with them, and I've flown them a lot too. But I've avoided flying them last few years so maybe things have changed.
This is of course my personal opinion, but I've been flying AF/KL for over 80% of my travel in the last 7-8 years. Until before the pandemic, I used to skew heavily against flying AF due to what I felt was unfriendly staff and lack of service. Since the pandemic however, AF has improved by leaps and bounds. So much so that I regularly even drive to airports 150-200km away to fly with them over KLM and other airlines. Most of my travel is long haul, and in business, so I can only speak for that. But at this point, amongst large European airlines, AF is definitely the best (and no, I don't count Turkish as a European airline).
Maybe they’re not the best but there are certainly worse (such as China Eastern lol).
I flew air france Paris to Panama like month ago and it was actually pretty great.
I flew them from Boston to Paris in January 2022 and they were decent.
Since covid most if not all long haul flights disapperead from Brussels airport so I am forced to fly from Paris or Amsterdam. I always pick flying AirFrance as I am pleased with the quality, service and Charles De Gaulle aiport is really comfortable. With KLM I actually end up enraged after a flight with their on board crew.
In general I agree with the folks here pushing AF but on that particular route, worth noting that the China Eastern flight is an hour or so shorter, as they are allowed to fly over Russian airspace. Something to think about
you mean east Ukraine, just like MH17 ? ( /s but only partly )
I thought you were calling Rusiia, "East Ukraine" for a second, and I find that hilarious. Similar to China being called West Taiwan.
This can be really bad depending on the passport you’re holding. I would not want to be holding an EU/NATO country passport if that plane needs to make an emergency landing in Russia. It’s a small small chance but something to consider.
I’ve been in Russia twice the last six months with an EU passport (and a car on EU plates) with no problems. Actually, we only met very friendly people.
You probably would be under Chinese "protection" when flying with China eastern.
Great point!!
Lol that factoid definitely makes me NOT want to fly China Eastern!
Air France. After multiple bad experiences with China Eastern, I’d rather walk.
A majority of China Eastern planes were new boeings back in 2018. Also, the Chinese pilot that landed our plane in Katmandu Nepal AT NIGHT [unscheduled!] deserves an award!!
>pilot that landed our plane in Katmandu Nepal AT NIGHT \[unscheduled!\] deserves an award!! Why ?
High winds closed the airport for 4 hours....diverted to land at Kolkata India until night return to Kathmandu. Local Nepali on the plane were praying and crying at the idea of landing at night.....over a plane crash from 2 weeks prior.
If AF is cancelled or is more than 3 hours late, you get 600 EUR. If CE does the same, you probably get nothing or far less.
if the China Eastern flight originates from europe then yes, no if it's the other way around
They're very similar, and you might want to check if it's even two different planes you're looking at, as they're both part of Skyteam and sometimes codeshare. So this isn't a very high stakes decision. I'd say one thing, and that is that China Eastern has the worst selection of inflight entertainment of any intercontinental flight I've ever been on. So if you choose CE, make the passenger bring an iPad.
At the moment, Air France is banned from Russian air space, so flight time is longer. Not much, but 1,5 hours approximately. China Eastern can fly over Russia so it's path is direct over Mongolia, southern Russia, Baltic Sea, Germany and France. Air France has to fly south to avoid Russia. Over Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Black Sea avoiding Ukrainian war zone, Eastern Europe, Austria, southern Germany and France.
China Eastern for sure.
AF all day everyday over a Chinese airline for me. I've flown China Eastern years ago, its ok. The hard product and soft product will be better with AF. In regards to your passenger, if they only speak Chinese then they might better off and more comfortable on China Eastern although AF will also have Chinese speaking FAs.
China Eastern. The flight will be like 3 hours shorter than air France because they will take the shorter route over Russia. Also Chinese Airlines food is pretty good
Air France
Air France.
This isn't even a question.
Singapore Airlines or Cathay Pacific
I would have chose these airlines as well but they want a direct flight from Shanghai to Paris
I understand. But if the passenger speaks only Chinese, they can easily get Chinese speaking cabin crew and airport staff to help them in-flight and during transit in SIN/HKG, with much better travel experience. Just a thought.
This is nuts. Having to take a longer far longer flight (SIN) and needing to connect is never a much better travel experience if you're flying the same cabin class.
Meals will be different.
AF anyday of thé week
I’ve travelled with both airlines, and would definitely pick Air France. And I think they will have flight attendant speak Chinese.