China Southern Airlines

I haven't even flow with China Southern yet, one leg of the flight cancelled, seat allocations not given, for a disable person who needs aisle seats. Over half an hour on hold for customer services, just totally appalling and stressful to try and deal with. Don't go there worst airline experience ever, and I fly a lot.

Booked with this Airline on a special deal price. Our daughter is gluten free and this did not pose a problem. The food for the rest of us was on par with other airlines, as was the entertainment system with individual up to date modules, in fact in this regard they were better than other airlines, having ipads available should there be a problem with the in seat module.

Shortly before we flew I sustained a leg injury which meant I could not bend my leg and would therefore need bulk head seating. Despite numerous emails prior to our trip (including medical certification) we were told we had to request bulk head seats upon check-in. We did this upon arrival at Auckland Airport and were told that we had been allocated a bulk head seat, unfortunately we hadn't, so flight staff told me to sit on one of the seats next to the emergency exit whilst they tried to sort the seating issue out. The woman we had dealt with at check in then came onto the plane and told me to either sit in the seat she had allocated me or get off the plane and pay extra to fly in a suitable seat the following day!! Thankfully the flight crew were more sympathetic and told her to leave. The flight crew were excellent and managed to sort out a bulk head seat once everyone was on the plane. We then had to ensure we were first at check-in for the planes on the rest of our trip to secure bulk head seats and had no further problems with check in staff. Wheelchair assist was also a little hit and miss but apart from the member of staff at Auckland Airport the rest of the China Southern staff were kind, helpful and courteous.

All in all I would say they are excellent for business passengers, couples, families and especially families with babies as they did not insist that parents take the babies out of the bassinets during minor turbulence as some other airlines do, but they need to improve with regards to providing for disabled passengers (however having never flown with any other airline whilst incapacitated I may be being unduly harsh on Southern China Airline as I have nothing to compare them with in this regard)

On a trip to Australia one of our suitcases was delayed a week the other didn't turn up until we arrived home we had so replace the case and clothes for my wife and I at a cost of over £700, China Southern Airlines gave us £64.58 compensation, having a laugh or what? WE WON’T BE GOING WITH THEM AGAIN.

I prefer China Eastern over China Southern for comfort and service, but, when your only other choices are Air China and low cost Chinese Airlines that are the equivalent to a Greyhound bus, I do like to take China Southern.

The food is not excellent, but it is edible. There aren't any good entertainment options on the flight, you're usually forced to watch an extremely boring PBS-like special in Chinese and very blurry/bad English Subtitles.

However, there is one really good thing I have to say about China Southern. Their Customer Service Call Center goes above and beyond to help you. Earlier this year, my Cathay Pacific connection was late getting into Beijing and I missed my flight which was non-refundable. The woman on the phone was able to help me get my miles in order and buy a new ticket home to CGQ without hassle. I still had to sleep in the Beijing Airport Domestic Terminal, but so did many others.

I was very happy with what she did for me, I'll never forget it.

Travelled from London to Auckland, bought ticket from Hoodaki, best price by far, so expected a bucket shop flight but was pleasantly surprised by every aspect of the trip.

Very polite Chinese staff - who all spoke some English, certainly enough to provide a good service. The announcements were in Chinese and English but not too many unlike some airlines. The food was fine, oriental theme to every meal but what do you expect from a Chinese airline, on the four legs of my journey most passengers were Chinese apart from my return journey to London from China, which was mostly occupied by Westerners. In flight entertainment was fine with individual TV screens offering a range of movies & games etc.

Flights were on time, one half an hour late leaving, but one arriving half an hour early, which is to be expected when travelling through international air terminals.

Travelled economy class and would happily recommend Southern China Airlines to anyone as they offer a similar standard to other international airlines I've been on, but for 25% less cost.

We booked a trip for my family of 3 persons from Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam) to Amsterdam (Netherlands) in July 2010, my parents of almost 70 years old and my brother. For this flight we have to transit in Guangzhou. In our initial itinerary we have to stay over in Guangzhou for less than 12 hours. After issuing the tickets, China SA changes our itinerary to an earlier flight which results in a transit of 23 hours in Guangzhou. We have heard about the immigration trouble in China, and immediately called their office about the transit visa, and got a confirmation that we do not need a transit visa for less than 24 hours. Left with no other choice, we accepted the new itinerary and book a night in a 5-star airport hotel of Guangzhou (the only one inside the check-in area). However on the day we have to board the flight to Guangzhou, their agent at the airport in Ho Chi Minh didn't let us through and explained to us that Guangzhou has their special rule, and we needed a transit visa for staying even just more than 12 hours. And there is no other flight to Guangzhou before our connection to Amsterdam. We are panic! Our family (me, my brother and my sister) called SA for help. We just wanted to ask them to send an agent to the airport, help us apply for an at-the-gate Chinese transit visa at the gate in Guangzhou if necessary (because we won't even get out of the airport) and let us on the plane so we can connect to Amsterdam. For 2 hours long, we made about 30 different international phone calls to the SA offices all over the world, in China, Viet Nam, Amsterdam, USA, but we either just got one single-sentence reply "We cannot do anything at all", or they don't even understand English. Some of their agents even pretended to understand us but only reply by "Uh, uh" then hung up on us. Finally our family had to sign a paper to guarantee to the Ho Chi Minh airport that they will take full responsibility if they are sent back to Vietnam by the Chinese police and miss the whole flight to Amsterdam. Right now they are on the plane to Guangzhou, and we don't know what will happen to them in 3 hours. We still never had any slightly useful or helpful reply from any SA agent in the whole world, nor the travel agent where we bought these tickets. My advice is, stay away from China SA as far as possible. However cheap they advertise their tickets, the effort, time and extra expenses you lose in dealing with problems from their irresponsibility, neglect to clients and ignorance will be much higher than a ticket by Singapore Airlines or similar airlines. Once SA sold their tickets, they will close their eyes and rub their hands and just let you hang loose. We have travelled all over the world; there is no continent that we haven't visited several countries in different occasions, but I must say this is the most horrible experience of all. I greatly regret the day we chose to deal with China Southern Airlines. Now I will have to sit through 23 hours worrying over my parents stranded in a strange country with seemingly no one speaking a word of English or even polite enough to help elderly people.

I am so disappointed with China Southern. I buy a Business Class return ticket from Lagos to Shenzhen for the 13th of June, 2010. Firstly, the flight is delayed for about 1:30mins at Lagos. Next, I miss my connecting flight on arrival from Beijing to Shenzhen with no apologises or notification.

I personally source a new flight which is scheduled to depart at 6pm. That is also delayed by 2hrs till 8pm without any apologies so I wait for a total of 6hrs.

Today, I get to the airport and also badly treated as a so-called VIP. Gosh! even an economy passenger on Emirates will be treated better. Then, I hurry into the plan, get seated and just at time to take off, the captain announces an indefinate delay due to airport control(such a lie). My connecting flight is by 11pm from Beijing to Lagos so therefore, it was pointless to continue the journey.

China southern drops me off, no accomodation, no apologies, no transport, nothing..... They just tell me that they can change my ticket to the next flight date to Lagos. When is that? on the 26th!

Can anybody tell me where this is done to a Business Class passenger? Advice please!

flight was booked with KLM and was advised the amsterdam-Guangzhou (via beijing) would be flown by KLM but was told when i wanted to check in online 24 hours before flight it was china southern and checked reviews as the flight in total was 14hours 50mins, i got very worried as reviews for them where poor. I am claustophobic and wanted a window seat as i got very nervous and aggitated in middle, i was told check in online youll get window seat. When i went to check min online i was able to check in for glasgow to amsterdam flight ok, but was refused to book for amsterdam-china flight, i would have to go to china southern flight they told me that i dont have booking with them and to recheck with KLM they sent me back and by this time it was 6 hours before departure, I gave up, I was given a middle seat, which was broke, loose seatbelt, recline was broke and so was Inflight tv screen which they told me they had the best tv entertainment in asian airlines: every 3-4 hours it was 3 films all kids-teens movie. I was so nervous i had to stand majority of flight even when they told me to sit (i was also told by KLM that a cabin crew would check on me, they didnt. The flight got to beijing ok, by this stage I was really unwell, desperete to go to loo,etc... I think the chinese security thought i looked suspicious (i dont drink or smoke), i also havent had any sleep either for about 20hours. finally got back on plane and we got delayed for over 1.5 hours no explanation, only in Chinese.wehen i finally arrived in guangzhou my nerves where so shattered i was embarassed as many people look concerned for me. Positives the food was good but having ravioli for breakfast was unusal, the staff onboard did try there best but struggled, chinese or dutch you would be ok, but for english speakers, spanish,swedish, indian, german, belgium, irish, african it was a bit chaqotic trying to understand. Seatpitch in economy was about 27inch, if you have to suffer this airline try upgrade though ive been told thats a bit of madness as well, if you can get refund go with lufthansa, emirates or go via hong kong which is only 3 hours away by train. Ive worked for many charter airlines in uk and they beat this airlines miles. This airlines will be ok for short chinese domestic, NOT internatrional, Skyteam please reconsider the partner status for china southern or give them help or else you will loose alot of business. I am still in china and already very nervous on return journey, i am very scared and dont have money to upgrade or go with other airline