Deeply disappointing experience
Deeply disappointing experience. I would not fly with China Eastern again. I travelled from London Gatwick to Tokyo and back, transiting through Shanghai in both directions, meaning four China Eastern flights in total. The experience was consistently poor from beginning to end. On every flight, I was offered exactly the same meal, beef with noodles, with no alternative available. The beef was fatty and unpleasant, while the noodles were soggy. The meal service was also disorganised. Sometimes bread arrived approximately half an hour after the main meal, when I had already finished eating, and on other flights it was not provided at all. China Eastern advertises a selection of drinks, including alcoholic beverages. However, on all four flights I was told there was no alcohol available other than beer. Whenever I requested a beer with my meal, the crew said they would have to “go and look for one.” It then arrived only after I had finished eating. This happened repeatedly and made the advertised onboard service feel extremely misleading. This felt very close to a dry airline. Our experience while transiting through Shanghai was equally frustrating. We attempted to use a China Eastern lounge that is advertised online as accepting Priority Pass customers. Initially, we were told that the lounge was full. After trying other lounges, which were closing, we returned and asked whether we could join a waiting list. At that point, we were given a different explanation. We were told that only business class passengers were being admitted and Priority Pass customers would not be accepted until midnight, which staff described as standard practice. It was approximately 10:30 pm, and our departure time meant that accessing the lounge at midnight would have been impossible. Advertising Priority Pass access while imposing restrictions at the door that are not made clear in advance is unacceptable. The onboard experience offered little improvement. The seats were thin and uncomfortable, while the entertainment selection was extremely limited, outdated and lacking in variety. To complete the experience, checking in our luggage at Tokyo for the return journey took more than an hour. Overall, I am incredibly dissatisfied with China Eastern. The repetitive and poor quality food, misleading information about drinks and lounge access, uncomfortable seating, inadequate entertainment and extremely slow check in created a thoroughly disappointing journey. I would never choose to fly with China Eastern again, and I could not recommend the airline to others.