I am surprised to see the amount of negative reviews about Air China on the net (and Chinese airlines in general). If you’re flying from Sydney to Shanghai and you’re traveling on CA176, make sure you travel on a day where there is a CA174 service too, as that aircraft will be used instead of the late running CA175 aircraft, meaning that there is some sort of ‘redundancy’ to protect you from hours of delays. Especially during the Summer months in China, these two services are notorious for late running due to tropical thunderstorms that delay flights from Beijing and Shanghai. I had never travelled in their 77W product before, and naturally being the direct flight, I booked business class tickets straight away for their 77W, eager to try out their new product.Īs a tip: for those who do travel on CA175 and CA176, I strongly recommend to travel on the direct flight if you’re going to or from Beijing.

Both are typically operated by the Airbus A330-200 aircraft, but during the Christmas and New Year period, Air China had upgraded the CA173/174 service to the Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. Air China flies two routes to Sydney from Beijing: CA173 which is a daily direct flight departing at 5pm, and CA175 which is a four-times-a-week service that has a stopover at Shanghai Pudong departing at 3.50pm and 7.35pm from their respective cities. Only one airline flies direct from Beijing to Sydney, and that’s Air China. It was time to leave my home and go to visit some family and friends in Sydney. It’s a bright and sunny afternoon in Beijing on the second day of 2014. Feels like I'm actually writing about myself (phoenix VIP = tail logo for CA!) First trip report so hopefully you guys will enjoy the beginner's view into writing about my experience (and in my second language!).

Air china aircraft 777 300