Find cheap flights from Beijing to South Africa
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BJS — South Africa
Jun 15 — Jun 221
Return
1 adult
Economy
From?
To?
Wed 15/6
Wed 22/6
Search hundreds of travel sites at once for deals on flights in South Africa.
Good to know
Low season | March |
|---|---|
High season | December |
Cheapest flight | R21 445 |
Average price (return flight) | R11 738 |
Good deal (return flight) | R11 738 |
Good deal one-way | R17 345 |
Best time to beat the crowds (6% less expensive on average)
Most popular time to fly (14% more expensive on average)
Flight from Beijing Capital to Johannesburg OR Tambo
(avg. price over the last 2 weeks)
or less
or less
Top tips for finding cheap flights to South Africa
- Looking for a cheap flight? 25% of our users found tickets from Beijing to South Africa for the following prices or less: to Cape Town R17 345 one-way - R11 738 round-trip
- High season is considered to be January, February and December. The cheapest month to fly to South Africa is January.
FAQs - booking South Africa flights
Top 3 airlines serving from Beijing to South Africa
Scores according to KAYAK customer reviews8,6
ANAOverall score based on 4703 reviews
8,8Boarding
8,5Comfort
9,0Crew
8,4Entertainment
8,3Food
Airline reviews
Pros: "Cheapflights ..I will book my ticket from you again.. I am so delighted."
Cons: "None"
Pros: "Cheapflights ..I will book my ticket from you again.. I am so delighted."
Cons: "None"
Cons: "You could have given me a refund or credit for a flight I told you I had to change 3 months ago. I won’t use kayak again."
Pros: "Crew was amazing, food was filling & plentiful."
Cons: "Overall no complaints but the landing in Tokyo was a little rough. Pilot seemed to descend quickly which hurt my ears but otherwise, smooth flight."
Pros: "Crew was very friendly and the service was reasonably good."
Cons: "Seats were not very comfortable."
Pros: "The flight was late checking in. The staff handled the situation well and kept the passengers informed."
Pros: "ANA did great on everything I could expect from a flight."
Pros: "Great experience overall."
Pros: "Food was ok for economy and they bring more coffee when you ask. The flight wasn’t so full so the seat next to me was empty and also I could sit in the exit isle to work on my laptop"
Cons: "The seat pitch is such that you can’t use a laptop in a normal seat. This would have been a big issue if there wasn’t a seat in the exit row for me to borrow. Staff fine but nothing special."
Pros: "The flight attendants on my ANA flight from Beijing to Tokyo were the most pleasant group of people I’ve seen for a long time."
Pros: "Everything was as I paid for. All the planes left on time. No issues."
Cons: "What can you expect in economy?"
Pros: "Boarding was easy and efficient. Crew was tirelessly courteous and respectful. The entertainment system had a good selection, but I've seen better. The food and drink service was excellent. Seats had charging jackass for phones. I'd fly with them again"
Cons: "Internet was more expensive than it should be"
Pros: "Easy checking process. Friendly staff"
Cons: "Nothing."
Pros: "The seat was nice"
Cons: "Service was extremely slow, it took almost two hours just to get offered a drink. There wasn't any offering after boarding and I had to ask just to get water. The food was quite bad, normally I would choose the Japanese meal, however, both the Japanese and International options were poor. The staff seemed unorganized and did not follow a set protocol."
Pros: "ANA use the Boeing 787 for this leg of the journey. This is the best plane flying in the air right now."
Cons: "Nothing to dislike."
Pros: "As my other flights with them, the crew is so friendly, the planes are nice and pretty good movie selection. Also nicely organized and they apologized profusely for the hour delay. I wish all of the American airline companies would learn from them! Great beverage service too, even when people are sleeping they quietly come around for us who are awake."
Cons: "The food for vegetarians is not very good. But they feed you a lot and you won't go hungry!"
Pros: "Food and Sitting Space"
Cons: "Nothing"
Pros: "Everything.. the crew was so gracious and kind even tho the delay was out their control. they even gave us 30,000 Yen or $260 approximately, which they didn’t have to do. i will start flyin ANA... not because of the money, but because of the delay... which no American carrier would have done and would’ve given excuse after excuse."
Cons: "nothing!!"
Pros: "ANA is one of our favorite airlines. Consistently great service, if not occasionally a little too 'rule centric'... but it's Japan, and that's why it's so nice and clean and everything works perfectly... :)"
Pros: "Good service"
Pros: "short flight ready to get home"
Cons: "n/a"
Pros: "They came around often to see if we needed water or anything. Food was good."
Cons: "It was way to hot on the plane, I actually couldn't even sleep because I was sweating so much. They give out blankets so I would think it would skew to the cool side so people can adjust themselves. Nothing you can do when it is too hot other than suffer."
Pros: "Configuration of your 787-800 Busn./ Class,was nothing more than an updated 707 from the past. Crew was good food was average. A flight I may avoid."
Pros: "Crew onboard and in Brussels where very nice and efficient."
Cons: "Plane was nice and clean but they should upgrade the standard of the food and there movie selection."
Pros: "Very good experience with ANA."
Cons: "None"
Pros: "Services and respectful"
Pros: "Flight left on time, service is good and also good entertainment options. Food is a bit so-so frankly but not bad."
Cons: "They take a long long time to let economy class deboard on arrival even after the doors are open. Biz get off first naturally but the staff are sometimes chatting to them for a rather long time."
Pros: "Flight attendants were very professional and ANA is a very organized airline. I would definitely fly ANA again."
Pros: "Best flight ever"
Pros: "Very kind flight attendants with amazing service!"
Cons: "They ran out of the two food options, so many people were stuck with the fish option. The entertainment section was just okay."
Pros: "Great layover options. Timely arrivals."
Cons: "Food options were poor. Wished there were more fresh alternatives, like salads and fruits only."
Pros: "Aircraft was new and spacious"
Cons: "Crew forgot to ask us for drinks upon serving us meals. I also had to repeat my order 3 times."
Pros: "I love ANA airlines ❤"
Pros: "Very nice flight. The plane was in great shape and the stewardesses were very nice."
Cons: "kayak should let you know when buying the ticket that the first portion of the flight codeshare with united express doesn't cover a second bag I called ANA they said i could bring two so I did but I was charged 100 dollars for it even though it was an international flight with ANA also united express shattered the outside of one of my checked bags so I paid 100 dollars to get a 50 dollar suitcase BROKEN UNITED won't respond to my inquiries. I am very disappointed."
Pros: "highly efficient processes on ground (Narita airport), clean and enough space in airplane, exteremely supportive and polite staff"
Cons: "nothing"
Pros: "Great movies!!"
Cons: "Terrible seats- difficult to find s confirtsble position."
Pros: "Japanese quality is good quality"
Pros: "The seat had good width since I am 6"1 , unlike most American airline the comfort level is much better, not cramped."
Cons: "Not much all good"
Cons: "Flight was delayed for four hours. Missed connecting flight."
Pros: "Staff was friendly, Aircraft was clean and tidy."
Cons: "Food was poor, there was no space, even domestic flights have more space than this one.!!"
Pros: "Service and food was great, the price of the flight was good and overall, the flight was pretty smooth."
Cons: "Can't think of anything negative."
Pros: "Great comfort."
Cons: "Limited entertainment compared to other airlines."
Pros: "Good guidance"
Cons: "There's no boarding zone?"
Pros: "Great plane Great movies Great seat"
Pros: "Courteous crew good food and choice for entertainment"
Cons: "Would appreciate better seats"
Pros: "Lots of entertainment to last the entire flight"
Pros: "remarkably efficient, outstanding customer service. snacks keep coming as do the beverages. likely the sweetest and most polite staff i have ever met in my life. meals arent great but the desserts are fantastic. (hagen daz ice cream!)"
Cons: "well most planes offer limited space and ana is no exception. but that's just the way it is in economy"
Pros: "Friendly staff and comfortable seating."
Pros: "Crew and entertainment"
Cons: "All good"
Pros: "Some superb food, probably the best I've ever had in economy class. The crew was also really nice and friendly."
Just to be honest and to take care of people
Cons: "The ticket was overbook. I ended up with no food on the plane because meals was not enough. There is no usb ports in both planes."
Pros: "Smooth and easy flight"
Cons: "Food and drinks served late"
Cons: "Great"
Pros: "Crew members went out of their way to ensure the passengers’ comfort."
Cons: "Boarding process in Frankfurt was very confusing and haphazard. Some passengers had been pre-checked, others had not been- which delayed the boarding. Flight was an hour late. Baggage claim in Delhi was a mess- had to wait for more than hour to get one checked bag."
Cons: "We left Frankfort very late, we had not even moved half an hour after we were supposed to have left. They apparently changed our flight plan to try to make up time, and flew faster; but the conclusion was we were supposed to arrive at 18:25 and didn't arrive until well after 19:00. Refund"
Pros: "The food was good"
Cons: "I paid for extra space and it looked like the seats I got were the same as all the others"
Pros: "The economy seat was surprisingly comfortable"
Pros: "okayish"
Cons: "delay could be complimented by faster speed"
Pros: "The process and the food. Plane was much too crowded and the seats were impossibly tight. Zero leg room."
Cons: "More leg room."
Cons: "No complaints. Good vegan food."
Pros: "Clean and comfortable. Good and friendly service."
Cons: "Nothing not to like"
Cons: "flight was late and we missed our connection."
Pros: "Food was great!"
Pros: "Service , timing"
Cons: "So bad"
Cons: "Very bad food"
Pros: "The service was outstanding!"
Cons: "Someone stole my phone charger :("
Pros: "Getting a text alert so I didn't waste my time going to the airport"
Cons: "The fact that Sunday morning my flight was cancelled Saturday night with no apparent reason or explanation given."
Pros: "Second leg of an overseas flight still business class nice service tired from overnight first leg"
Cons: "As me ruined in the first leg they lost my luggage and eight hours later they have no idea where it is. After paying over 2000 bucks for a business class flight that really put a damper on things."
Pros: "The staff was courteous,friendly and helpful. The Plane was on time. The crew took time to tell us what we would be seeing as we flew, it was a beautiful morning for the flight until we experienced overcast skies in Austria- Germany. The staff did their job well with minimal comfort disruption."
Cons: "I would take this flight again. The only thing I would change is unloading procedure of walking down stairs on the outside of the terminal, then loaded on a stand up bus for a rather long ride to the terminal. It reminded me of London. But, I guess it is something you have to deal with."
Pros: "Over crowded"
Cons: "No entertainment"
Pros: "None"
Cons: "Most of it"
Pros: "Nothing"
Cons: "Water was spilled on me by flight attendant. Luggage was left in Frankfort. Did not have clothes or medications, or daily necessities. Must wait 1 1/2 days to get luggage"
Pros: "At least Lufthansa has a little bit more leg room."
Cons: "Terrible boarding. Finally we were almost 1 hour delay in departure"
Pros: "We liked that no one was sitting behind us."
Cons: "Food wasn’t great"
Pros: "Perfectly okay flight, slept through with no disturbances. Crew were friendly enough and landed fine. Airport took me a while to figure out though."
Pros: "No delay and the landing is smooth"
Pros: "They made the experience enjoyable easy and I made me feel special"
Pros: "Better then United airline"
Cons: "Everything was awesome"
Cons: "Will newer agan fly business with Lufthansa!! It's not business at all just regular econom seats with short leg room and casual service. They should be sorry for that kind of business!!"
Pros: "The staff were really nice and professional"
Cons: "The seats we were in though lots of leg space the armrest were not reclining and after eight hours it got quite uncomfortable. Also my headphone jack was damaged but the staff made it right."
Cons: "The on board entertainment sucks you need to upgrade"
Pros: "Dissatisfied!!!"
Cons: "See comments above."
Pros: "Just a normal trip"
Cons: "My male neighbor was hanging in my seat :( No normal milk for my coffee - only cream and I don't like cream"
Cons: "The cabin got a little hot during the night and made it hard to be comfortable. Also, the seats lean pretty far back so I had little room in front of me when the person sitting in front of me leaned their seat all the way back."
Cons: "for 3 years, 90% of my flights from Beijing were delayed or cancelled. Beijing International Airport is the worst airport ever. About my flight from Beijing to Munich this time, we were stranded on the runway INSIDE the plane for 5 hours w/o food and water for the first 4 hours!"
Pros: "Everything"
Cons: "Not a thing"
Pros: "The experience was fantastic, can not critique at all. They made a 14 hour flight a great experience and even a 5hr layover be relaxing. It will be hard to travel with other companies now"
Cons: "It will be hard to travel with another airline"
Cons: "It was delayed by 9.5 hours!!!!!"
Pros: "Munich airport is convenient and boarding went smoothly"
Cons: "This was an SAA plane, not Lufthansa. I have only had excellent service on Lufthansa. This flight again did not have a functioning entertainment system. I asked for this to be addressed and the SAA crew ignored the request and in the morning looked surprised to find out that several of the TV monitors had not worked at anytime on the flight. Not impressed."
Pros: "everything excellent overall"
Cons: "I didn't like the service in the moroccan airport form the security and also the crew at the check in, they are very bad"
Pros: "Glad to have a sandwich; it tasted good. The caterers use lots of mayonnaise on the cold cuts which can be messy since it was oozing out but I like gooey food rather than dry food so I was happy. Very nice crew."
Cons: "Just odd that I walked a mile thru the airport to make the connection only to board a shuttle bus that went back the same direction for the longest such ride in my life, past parked planes, maintenance areas, fuel storage tanks and finally the cargo plane section where our plane was located. Might be hard on those more impaired than I am to handle the stairs down to the bus loading dock and again up into the plane."
Pros: "Food could be a lot better and the selection I chose was not available. Leg room was limited. Layover for the connection was very long."
Cons: "Staff was very courteous, flight"
Pros: "The crew was quite nice and boarding at Philadelphia was organized."
Cons: "I was disappointed with the movie selections; there weren't many new offerings."
Cons: "Tight quarters for long trip"
Cons: "Seats were beyond uncomfortable unless someone was shorter than 5 feet tall. Zero amenities. I know it was the economy section but our 4 tickets were close to $6000.00. A few perks would have been appreciated."
Pros: "Good service, clean airy aircraft"
Cons: "Boarding in Munich not well organized for business class passengers as it could be"
Cons: "The crew was not friendly. The cabin temperature was set very high (~75f or higher) the entire flight without any individual vents for airflow, so that many passengers were uncomfortable and sweating during the flight. The food provided was poor quality (for the meal, I chose chicken which was boiled pieces of chicken without any flavor - I feed my cats better!). I will try and avoid flying this airline in the future at all costs."
Pros: "Food - Free dinners even for economy class. Entertainment - Every seat has a TV that offers multiple languages and tons of blockbuster movies from a variety of genres. They also offer many television shows in multiple languages and genres and video games. Roomy- The seats are as non-roomy as any airplane. However, the flight attendants don't give you any trouble when you want to just get up and walk around and talk to people. It gives the plane a roomy atmosphere. You can go to spacier sections of the plane to hang out."
Pros: "Food - Free dinners even for economy class. Entertainment - Every seat has a TV that offers multiple languages and tons of blockbuster movies from a variety of genres. They also offer many television shows in multiple languages and genres and video games. Roomy- The seats are as non-roomy as any airplane. However, the flight attendants don't give you any trouble when you want to just get up and walk around and talk to people. It gives the plane a roomy atmosphere. You can go to spacier sections of the plane to hang out."
Cons: "Nothing."
Pros: "Food - Free dinners even for economy class. Entertainment - Every seat has a TV that offers multiple languages and tons of blockbuster movies from a variety of genres. They also offer many television shows in multiple languages and genres and video games. Roomy- The seats are as non-roomy as any airplane. However, the flight attendants don't give you any trouble when you want to just get up and walk around and talk to people. It gives the plane a roomy atmosphere. You can go to spacier sections of the plane to hang out."
Cons: "Nothing."
Pros: "The crew was good. The food was OK."
Cons: "The battery for my electric wheelchair was seized in China for being over regulation (despite the fact that it was not). No accommodation was provided. AirChina put me on the plane after inspecting the battery. I would discourage any disabled passengers from traveling through China)"
Cons: "thank you for all services"
Cons: "No entertainment"
Pros: "the timliness the processing at beijing the helpful checkin people at the akl airport. The baggage delivered promptly and without breakage. The crew worked hard to ensure"
Cons: "the shops at air port are expensive the toilet sinks were slopping and did not drain well the airline apologizing for the lack of food choice before each service pl advise airline to ask for choice at the check-in or at least make a note of the preference through email, makes life easier for them and the passengers. announcements were in chinese and the english ones were not very clear . it would be good if the announcements also came up on the seat screens CLEANLINESS WAS AN ISSUE with the overhead lockers not clean to the pull up table and magazine spaces not clean"
Pros: "Very good service on board, crew very attentive and polite."
Cons: "Lack of communication with customers in change of situation. Airline had to change the aircraft and as a result all passengers had to be transported to the new aircraft by buses rather than via boarding bridges. It was the longest airport shuttle ride ever because no one told us what to expect. People complained. But airline could have managed expectations better by giving notice to customers what will happen next, customers will be more forgiving that way."
Pros: "Sometimes the flights are half-empty, meaning you can get a full row to yourself if you're lucky."
Cons: "The seats were very cramped for an international flight and half of the foot space was taken up by an installed box of sorts. The "foot rest" also dug into my upper shins the entire flight (I had it in the upright position, but I have long legs). The food was really bad, basically inedible. Not just on this flight but on all the Air China flights I've been on, and both food options are usually identical other than the option between fake chicken or fake beef or seafood. The flight is super structured (referring to my 13-hour flight), that you're not allowed to sleep when you want because they have such a regimented schedule of when to turn on/off the lights, etc. On multiple occasions the flight attendants have turned off my tv monitor while I'm in the middle of a movie just because it appeared I was sleeping. With my 1 hr layover in Beijing that ended up being less than 10 minutes due to a delay, I made the rush through security quick enough, but my bags did not and needed to be shipped to me a day later at my destination. Air China purposefully schedules flights with such short layovers, putting customers' travel at risk. Not a major issue, but the crew surprisingly also had pretty limited English on the Beijing-Washington DC flight. For connecting flights, I have no expectation of English language ability, because it doesn't involve travel to an English-speaking country. However, if you're flying to the US, you should expect to communicate in English well, at least one of the cabin crew."
Pros: "Was the cheapest option at the time, and quality wasn't worse than the others"
Pros: "The dumpling. The on board staff were very pleasant and had a lovely glass of coke cola with ice bit small though."
Cons: "After 30 hours of travelling and no problems my luggage got lost on my last flight. I still haven’t got it yet, my medication was In there and it has ruined the whole trip for me. I am so upset with service I can’t begin to explain the pain I am now suffering. I have no clothes other than what I’m wearing. I have no toothpaste or toiletries. I feel ashamed of myself as I have dirty clothes on. I am truly not satisfied with my service. I have been let down to the highest order."
Pros: "Ran on time"
Cons: "Food and drink options are limited"
Pros: "The on time performance also inflight Meals"
Cons: "Check in for Departure"
Pros: "on the plane, Crew in CA are great! Food is delicious! Entertainment is very good!"
Cons: "I had a terrible time yesterday when I had to transfer from CA 4120 to CA 429 in Chengdu Shuangliu to Sydney. When I got off at Shuangliu airport From CA 4120 at 23:50pm, there was no airport bus to transfer me from T2 to T1 international Departure at Chengdu Shuangliu. I have to run in the dark nearly 2 km to catch 1:20 am CA 429 to Sydney Australia. Really bad international service in Chengdu Shuangliu!!"
Cons: "It was not a pleasant stay in Beijing airport... The staff were very rude and not helpful.. I had to fight for the wi-fi code and I had to fill out a form, for a pass to get out if the airport... I waited over 90 mins in line, only to be told I was I the wrong line, in the first place ??? !!"
Pros: "Nice carrier. Enough leg room and clean flight"
Cons: "Entertainment had very limited options. I had booked my flight through travel agent vayama. I would never ever recommend people to use that travel agency. It takes approx 35-45 mins to contact customer care, you are way better off taking the tickets from airline as they cannot help much if the tickets are done through agency and not airline directly. Moreover the agency charges additional fee over and above airline fees for any changes"
Pros: "This flight was a codeshare bw Cathay and China air, which lead to confusion on the ground at Beijing (did we book at Cathay or at Air China - even the Air China staff did not know initially) Small seats, very average food, entertainment system not up to scratch in terms of being easy to use and responsive. Relatively inexpensive flight but I would Stump up The $ next time and make sure I’m flying with someone of a higher standard"
Cons: "No personal entertainment but a lot of leg room"
Pros: "My previous flight was delayed so I missed the plane I was scheduled for, but Air China found me a replacement flight that was only a couple of hours later. Despite the extra passengers from the delayed flight the plane still had a few empty seats and I was able to take an exit seat for extra legroom (I'm 6'5"), although I will still upgrade in future."
Cons: "On the flight out the plane was really warm, so this time I dressed on that basis, but the flight was really quite cold. I guess I'll have to figure out a changable set of cloths in future."
Pros: "The Beijing/Osaka flight was a smaller simpler plane than the Heathrow/Beijing one, but cconsidering the amount of time both flights take relative to each other, I think it had the better balance of the two."
Cons: "The only thing I'd suggest is while the Crew were great and did offer drinks a number of times, the first drinks run seemed late - although that might just be a combination of needing to wait until the plane has reached full altitude and the desire to clear the unpleasant Beijing air."
Pros: "Flight was good but my luggage case was broke the two wheels have been broke off make my case not useable as it has two holes were the wheels was"
Cons: "suit case was broke wen I was given it at ho chi ming city two big holes where the wheels was I have taken photos also"
Pros: "I disliked their judgement decision because I have entered India in the past by land and was eligible for a tourist visa with a proper USA passport..The judgement of the staff at the airport was related to ,You do not have a visa now you can not got on the plane.I explained as a tourist I can get one when I arrive at customs India as a tourist entering Indian .The staff had a meeting taking an hour or more and the flight time was approaching I begin to worry, they continued to stone wall me and then stated you cannot get on the plane and the airline will not refund your ticket price.you are at fault no visa a visa is required to get on the plane .I was sad I had to sleep at the airport got a hostel iin a m"
Cons: "I couldn't watch movies on the flight all the writing was in Chinese so the flight was boring"
Pros: "Free wine"
Cons: "There’s no wifi, barely any english speaking movies, and the food is horrible. Will probably never fly air china again."
Pros: "Crew was friendly helpful"
Cons: "I ordered muslim food but they said they don’t have"
Cons: "Horrible communications! Requested an upgrade and was told the system was down then on return trip requested upgrade again and was told that it had to be done at check in which means returning to main terminal by tram and going through security again as the girl at the boarding desk returned to playing with her phone. There was more than 50% first class seats unfilled, good news for investors. On the tv monitor we were watching our final approach as we bypassed the airport and made three 360 degree turns 50 miles out for 30 minutes and not one word from the Captain what was happening, very nerve racking. Never fly Air China again!"
Cons: "No hotel provided for 24 hour stop over. Also the bags were not checked in for the whole travel so we had to collect the bags and carry them for whole time. It was really pathetic experience. The officers at the Beijing Air China counter don't understand English which made the simple conversation more difficult. We had to pay for the hotel, taxi and food."
Pros: "Meals were decent, Staff was VERY attentive, courteous and polite. Ride was very smooth. Didn't hear much from the pilots, which is ok!"
Cons: "The no-phone, no-internet rule is absurd. I could have really used some internet-for-purchase on a 13 hour flight. Some movies were only in Chinese with no subtitles and the games seemed to require a separate controller with X/Y buttons. Overall blah score entertainment. Announcements were too frequent an intrusive, especially when they're repeating the same thing 2 minutes apart. Also, the weird rules--shades must be up during takeoff, but must be down while we were in the air. Seat must be up during meal time. Learn to chill a little China Air."
Cons: "I was given permission to have priority boarding because of my son. When I advised the ticket agent of this at the gate she attempted to deny us pre-boarding even though I explained I was given permission. When I wouldn't back down she let us in reluctantly. Then she proceeded tell an additional security check right before the doors to check me because I was suspicious. She followed this will telling them to check me thoroughly and slowly. This made me even madder because I was the only one they did this to. Everyone else that was randomly (randomly I might add because it is supposed to be random) got swiped with a little wipe and was let through. I had to take articles of clothing off and have all by carry on bags gone through. Even my 6 year old sons whose bag I was carrying because he couldn't. This set off my son by the way who doesn't do well with the stress of boarding because of all the people (which is why we needed to pre-board the plane). So I had to have a friend leave with him to board the plane and couldn't be there for him because of this one agents problem of me not doing what she said and standing up for myself and my family. Oh, and by the way I was very respectful when speaking with her and their could have been no confusion between the language as I was speaking to her in Chinese."
Cons: "No ability to charge smartphone or laptops"
Pros: "Boarding was efficient"
Cons: "A lot not to like. In consistency following their own rules - i.e. asking some passengers to move from crew seats but allowing others to sit there, phones are not allowed to be used on flight mode but iPads etc are (even though both are capable of emitting radio waves). Food is very bad, even for someone familiar with asian food. Most of the staff cannot speak English properly. Constant announcements throughout the flight, even for minor things for example announcing the sale of duty free items"
Pros: "Friendly staff on flight. Low cost business class ticket."
Cons: "Lost luggage needed for meetings, takes three days to recover. Coffee is gross, 3in1 powder. Only one water bottle on flight so I got dehydrated. Food is gross."
Cons: "I will never fly Air China again in my life. Absolute worst customer service. They lost my bags for 5 days and didn't do anything to try and make amends for it. The staff is extremely rude. No one speaks English except for "hello" and "goodbye". The meals are dog food. The seats are absolutely claustrophobic. Worst decision to try and save money by going through Air China. SPEND THE EXTRA MONEY AND GO WITH SOMEONE ELSE. All four flights with them were consistently terrible. Stay away. It's not worth it....."
Pros: "Clean cabin."
Cons: "Service not very good."
Cons: "cannot access the reservation or checkin at Air China site"
Cons: "Seats too small"
Pros: "Nothing"
Cons: "Air China sent us an email that were we rebooked on a later flight. Even, so the staff in Beijing charged us a $300 change fee. We called customer service and was told that no one could help us. We spoke to management at the airport and were told we had to pay fee to get our luggage back. It was horrible. Besides that, our section of the plane did not have AC during the 13 hour flight from NY to Beijing, the planes are dated and so is the in-flight entertainment offered. they also ended up losing the luggage they were holding hostage. Overall, a terrible experience."
Cons: "No entertainment because no individual screen for movie"
Cons: "After long, chaotic lines to transfer planes in Beijing to head to Shenzhen I was showing my passport to the security guard, and suddenly he calls for someone, and another guard walks away with my passport. I had no idea what was going on. I wasn't told to follow him, but he had my passport, so I followed the guard to get my passport back, and the guard hands me my passport, laughs, and points upward. I walk upstairs and see a mess of lines. A bunch of flights were canceled due to a small storm. The machines to rebook a flight were broken, so I had to wait in a line for 2+ hours in order to rebook a flight for the following day. We were told that there would be a complimentary hotel, but I waited in a line for an hour to inquire about a hotel room, only to be told where my luggage was. They could have held up a sign saying where everyone's luggage was, instead of misleading us, saying it was a line for a hotel room. My suitcase was in a pile of suitcases from all the flights that were canceled, and was difficult to find. After spending 6 hours at the airport sorting out new travel plans, I ended up with no place to sleep, but fortunately found a friend of a friend to stay with. The next day, I arrived at the airport for my new flight, with no seat assignment. I waited in a long line to get a seat, then went to board the plane, and the flight was delayed 3 hours. Overall, it took 34 hours to arrive in Shenzhen after leaving San Francisco. If I had automatic updates sent to my email, or, if there was signage at the airport giving people information, that would have been helpful for the crowds of confused people. I also might have had a chance to reroute my flight Hong Kong to get in earlier, but I had no idea what was going on. There was terrible communication that was not due to a language barrier."
Cons: "The flight was delayed 2 hours without any notification on signage in the airport. When there is a delay, posting an estimated time of departure is a basic courtesy. Because they did not do this, and multiple flights were delayed for the same gate, the gate was extremely crowded. When an earlier delayed flight was boarding, there was no announcement and no indication on the signs! As a result, some people were uninformed of their flight departure! There was also a tremendous amount of jostling and pushing to allow people to board. This is clearly a problem for the ground crew and airport to make more efficient and flyer-friendly."
Cons: "I ordered a special food (Halal) and it was wrongly served to another guest. I had to repeat that I pre-ordered a Moslem meal. I'm not really strict on this but i was trying to see if they would abide by my request. They eventually gave me a Moslem meal (there was a foil label which said Moslem meal) but the dish was mostly sauteed mushrooms with no meat (halal doesn't mean vegan!). It was not enough to satisfy my hunger for a mid-range flight."
Cons: "Seat is small and uncomfortable Landing late Food test not good poor customer service Drink should serve more often"
Pros: "I was with my friends which was nice"
Cons: "I will never fly Air China again. Flights were delayed coming and going which effected my plans, and kept me in Beijing over 24 hours, air china showed zero interest in accomadating or taking responsibility. Literally the worst experience I have ever had flying on each of the four flights I was on with them."
Pros: "Boarding in PEK airport was so fast!"
Cons: "1. Not allowed to use phones during the flight... at all. 100% ban. This means no music on headphones or any usage at all, even in flight-safe mode. Ridiculous. 2. Forced to shut laptops down a full 30min before landing. So unnecessary. 3. My luggage was soaking wet when I unpacked... a bottle of alcohol from another bag must've smashed and spilt all through my bag. Everything was ruined and wet. 4. No entertainment on the PEK-ICN flight. 5. Crew is just generally aggressive and rude."
Cons: "I didn't like that FlightNetwork confirmed my flight, but then never ticketed it. I did not realize till I was at the airport and it was too late. my whole family was late to our vacation and had to re-purchase a last minute ticket to leave the next day instead. This does not reflect on AirChina, but the Kayak booking process. Reading some other reviews here, it seems this happened to others. Terrible!"
Cons: "The staff were rude and over all air china is quite disorganized. Their website barely works and it was impossible to get any real answers out of the agents on the phone. I tried to request a celiac or gluten free meal and it took 3 phone calls to get an agent who was aware there were even choices. Also, as I'm aware I'm flying in another country I would have like to see more English speaking competence amongst staff flying an international flight from Asia to Canada and back. The staff were not helpful. Like drones with no time for you. This to me is not service. And an airline is providing a service."
Pros: "Airfare was a good price."
Cons: "Departure from Newark was 1.5 hours late because of a lame reason, the luggage couldn't be loaded on the plane in a timely manner. When I arrived at Beijing, they encouraged me to run to my connecting flight, even gave me a sticker and had people directing me, but it all seemed like for nothing as I wasn't even fast tracked through security. Not only did I sprint a mile across the terminal for no reason as the flight departed when I arrived at the gate, they couldn't even properly direct me where to get a new ticket for the next flight. About 100 people missed the flight so I don't know why they didn't hold the connecting flight as it was the last one of the day. Very poor service and organization the entire length of the trip. The flight the next day was late as well!"
Pros: "Ppl r ok to work on plants,"
Cons: "Almost everything is sucks, I will never forget these horrible experiences in my life."
Pros: "Hard to find anything that was worth mentioning as outstanding - boarding happened without any hickup and food was average/good."
Cons: "TV screen did not work - 15 hour plus flight, it is a big no-no! Crew not very helpful - language barrier very huge and almost impossible to understand "English" used by crew and on intercom. example: Ladies and gentlemen - sounds like "fishermen" We are taxying towards the runway - came out as ... "we are taxying the wong way" - thankfully we ended on the right runway."
Pros: "Movie selection was okay, could have been better but there was enough to make a 12 hour flight passable."
Cons: "Traveling from Bangkok we were required to go through security twice more at Beijing from some reason, and then again prior to boarding our carry-ons were checked again and all water/liquids taken from us. This became a problem because after the initial meal and drink service there was no service for more than six hours. For at 12 hour flight only two meals were offered. The flight attendants were scarce and unwilling to help people, even closing the curtains to their work areas. My girlfriend is on medication and shouldn't become dehydrated so I was forced to "acquire" a bottle of water from the service area when the attendant left. The food was atrocious, far worse than when we flew from San Francisco to Beijing for some reason. I believe the crew was understaffed and tired. Overall it was extremely disappointing and I will do my best never to fly with them again, or through Beijing airport."
COVID-19 information
Safety measures for airlines flying from Beijing to South Africa
Airlines flying from Beijing have enacted additional safety measures and adjusted policies to better accommodate travellers. Policies vary by airline.
Heightened sanitation
Daily cleaning, installation of cabin HEPA filters on flights from Beijing
Mandatory masks
Masks required on board, masks provided on flights from Beijing
Social distancing seating
Middle seats unavailable to book on flights from Beijing
Pre-flight testing
Testing for antibodies, testing for symptoms for flights from Beijing
Flexible cancellations
Waiving of change fees. Search flexible flights from Beijing
Book cheap flights from Beijing to South Africa
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