Pay the extra to avoid the poor service
Get what you pay for I guess. 2 stars because of the cheap ticket ( under £600 LHR - Phuket ) otherwise a 1 star. Forget booking on their website...its rubbish, complicated and mostly in Chinese. Booked with a OTA which was much easier. You cannot pre book seats. Flight itself was terrible. Miserable staff, horrendous food and bitterly cold on board for 12 hours. Attendants coming round with cups of hot water to warm us up. They ran out of coffee ? How the hell do you run out of coffee on an airline ? Layover at Shanghai airport was just as bad. Deserted. Nowhere to grab a bite to eat. Turned away from China Eastern lounge because they refused to accept Western credit card ? To top it all off my suitcase on the return journey looks like it had been tampered with I got it off the belt at Heathrow. Big rip on the top just enough to get your hand in. Could have been accidental...who knows ?Had to claim for a new one at the claims desk. Do yourself a favour and pay the extra if you can.