Fly on a 4 star airline to the Netherlands (one stop) from $781 Return!
4 star China Southern reviews: https://www.airlinequality.com/airline-reviews/china-souther…
From: MEL
To: AMS
Via: Guangzhou
Dates: Mar to Apr
Evidence: https://imgur.com/a/UiwWvAd
Sorry Sorry Sorry Sorry
I'm a mother-father-gentleman
We flight with them a while back, would not recommend. Guangzhou airport is one of the worst airports I have ever been to. No organisation, definition of a line does not exist and everyone just cut in front of everyone. We were just transitting and for some reason they made us go through custom and tried to detain us cause they have our family and given name is the wrong order in their system. Nearly miss the connection flight.
Avoid like a plague.
to be fair, making you go through customs is the airport, not the airline's responsibility, in that case, surely?
Not the airline's responsibility, sure, but if you fly with this mob you'll have to transit through Guangzhou. Some would rather pay more to avoid it (much like I'd pay more to avoid transiting through the $hithole that is Manila airport).
My personal experiences with Guangzhou airport haven't been as bad as highdealer's, but it's a definite downside to flying with this airline which I think needs to be pointed out.
It's dreadful. Easily the worst airport I've ever been to. Complete chaos. Very stressful. Many people arrive at the gate past departure time after passing customs and immigration.
Avoid.
what is it to do with the airline? you can fly with Qantas and still got detained in the airport.
You wouldn't be transiting through China if you flew with Qantas, though.
I went through there twice in June and the airport was a highlight! No idea what you guys are referring to. Everything was clearly sign posted and there were English speaking assistants at every juncture. I had to go through customs on the return trip as I took advantage of the free hotel but it was a breeze. No one pushed in and the lines were marked with ropes.
An excerpt from a travel review I wrote upon my return. If there was anything negative I would've noted it!
Guangzhou Airport:
Terminal 2 only opened last year and it's very impressive. Remarkably spacious with plenty of seating at each gate. The chairs alternated between having USB ports and universal power points on the armrest. The building is air conditioned.
The central area is like a shopping mall with big cavernous halls filled with clothing stores and the like. Various restaurants are scattered throughout – there's no food court area. I noticed there was a Maccas and a Burger King squirreled away down alternate wings out toward the boarding gates.
Anything from Sydney?
Smoke
Some scathing reviews in this thread, so I'll try to give a balanced review:
Guangzhou airport:
Despite being the third largest city in China, the airport is spartan, with significantly fewer entertainment options than e.g. Melbourne airport (and I mean before Melbourne airport's recent renewal project). It's clear Guangzhou designed their airport at a time when running costs were a big consideration for them: lounges and public seating are very limited and often there's no aerobridge to your flight so you have to take a bus to/from the plane. It's a city of circa 25M people and China has lots more money now, so I reckon they would design things differently today if they had the chance.
Travelling through China:
Chinese airline traveller behaviour when embarking and disembarking the plane, can seem unruly by Australian standards. Chinese airline, airport and immigration rules can feel overly intrusive and bureacreatic to some Australians. Chinese entry and exit laws change often, which is normal for any country, but unfortunately they make a habit of not publishing the changes on the web, so it can be difficult to know what rules apply to your visit. This applies even if you are just transiting through China. Getting help from airport officials is difficult if you speak Chinese, even more so if you don't, because they can be just as much in the dark about law changes as you. I guess in a country of 1.5B people it's hard to keep everyone up-to-date!
China Southern airlines:
China Southern support staff are very helpful, if you can reach them. Their website is error prone (it crashed every time I tried to check in or enter my frequent flyer details), their support phone numbers are in China only intended for Chinese callers, and their primary customer support channel is WeChat, a Chinese government regulated phone app.
On the plus side:
They have an excellent safety record, the food choices are comparable if not better than most other full service airlines, the entertainment system is decent, and they usually fly on time. Their wait staff are friendly and even though you might run into some communication challenges, the service culture in China is arguably better than Australia and so they will genuinely try to help you.
If your first consideration with airline travel is price (let's face it, this is OzBargain), and you're willing to put up with the discomforts I've listed above, then China Southern are a compelling option.
Does anybody want to go Dutch on one of these dates ?