Transit in Beijing, Air China, Christmas in Japan?

[vmlinuz]

Doing a bit of advance planning, for a change...

Considering Air China to Japan for a trip around Christmas, would be interested in anyone's experience! Three questions in particular:

I've never flown on Air China. We went to Europe with China Eastern at CNY this year, and it was okay - not great, but nothing too terrible considering how much cheaper it was that any other flight. Anyone been on Air China recently, got positive or negative comments? Particularly to/from Japan?

The flights which are coming up have a 1-1.5 hour transit time in Beijing. I've never been to Beijing, and generally avoid indirect flights, but again the price is right. Any idea if this is a sensible transit time, or are we likely to end up racing around the airport, trying to rebook stuff, etc?

Finally, anyone done Christmas in Japan? Looking likely we'll be around Osaka (vague plan is Tokyo->Nagano for snow and monkeys->Osaka) for 24th/25th. Seems like it might be interesting, but opinions would be welcome

Thanks in advance to the collective brains of GE!

[Drunken Master]

I have flown Air China from HK to Beijing. When we arrived at the gate we thought it was the wrong gate since the airplane was Air Macau. Then we realized it must be a codesharing flight. The flight was ok and the Haagen Dasz strawberry ice-cream was yummy.

The return flight was terrible. Scheduled for 6:30 pm it was delayed until further notice. At 8 pm we got a terrible tasting rice box and a bottle of water. Many passengers requested cancellation of the flight so that we could stay in a hotel. Air China's officers refused and kept saying the gate manager is not available. Finally around midnight they decided to cancel the flight and we got transfered to a hotel in Beijing. After check-in we managed to sleep around 2 am and had to get up at 4 am since our flight was departing at 7 am! They were not willing to give us our luggage at the airport so we couldn't change new clothes.

We will avoid Air China in future.

[Morrison]

Have done this 5 times including to Japan and no complaints, except last time a passenger was making a phone call during taxi and take off and none of the crew noticed。

[TheBrit]

Will never fly Air China again after my experience changing in the snow in Beijing 3 hours ago - got stuck in the airport for 28 hours - the ground staff were clueless, unable to cope with anything and it was a complete disaster. They simply didn't have the resources to support their flights.

[HowardCoombs]

The stories sound like any other discount or junior airline. If the weather/conditions/equipment are working well, everything is lovely. A small bit of trouble and everything falls apart.

If I was travelling alone, I'd risk it. If I was with my family of 5, I'd not look too far away from Cathay (horrible seats and all)...

[Morrison]

Actually, if you check connections sometimes you can get a free stay in Beijing. I usually arrive early afternoon, have dinner and fly out relaxed next day