China Eastern Airlines

Thinking about taking China Eastern from JFK to Shanghai next year. Will book Business Class tickets.

Has anyone actually been on this airline?

Yes, 9.11 million passengers in 2017.

Yes, 9.11 million passengers in 2017.

I'm not sure that number is correct...I see over 100 million people in 2017. Second largest airline in the largest country in the world.

OP, I have personally only flown them domestically and regionally, but you should have no problem googling "China Eastern JFK Shanghai trip report" and finding actual first-hand accounts with pictures. It's a major airline on a common route, so you can probably find some pretty good stuff.

Have flown biz on China Eastern (MU) a number of times. They hub out of the two Shanghai airports, PVG and SHA, and have been quite reliable in my past experiences. "Western" travelers will be in the minority on flights, even to/from North America, though that is no problem in the least.

Ground service matches other Chinese carriers - inflight is a notch or two below the top-drawer suspects such as Singapore and Cathay and Etihad. One thing to be very careful of is the equipment for your flights - you could be in a cabin configured with quite dated-design seating. (I don't know what is being used JFK-PVG, so that's a generalized "warning") OTOH, their newest aircraft and interiors have full flat bed seats with full aisle access. Lounges are inconsistent - nothing to rave about but serviceable.

I would not hesitate flying them again if the price/routing/times/equipment were OK.

They fly several times a day from YVR to China. Our TA's dom't recommend then is first choice.

Yes, 9.11 million passengers in 2017.

They own around 500 aircraft with between 130 and 350 seats each. So a fairly large fleet by world standards.

I'm not sure that number is correct...I see over 100 million people in 2017.

• ASK (available seat kilometers) was 225,996.28 million (vs 206,249.27 million in the previous year);
  
• RPK (revenue passenger kilometers) was 183,181.98 million (vs 167,529.20 million);
  
• Number of passengers carried was 110,811,400 (vs 101,741,640).
  

Source: Bloomberg