It has been almost 40 years since Mainland China open its doors to the world. Everyone is impressed with the huge achievements this country has made. The success of many megaevents — including the Beijing Olympics and Shanghai Expo — suggests how China is playing an important role in the global economy.

That was what I believed in the past. It was not until my recent trip with Air China, the third-largest airline in Mainland China, that I realized how big the gap is among many Chinese companies and those top players in the world.

In fact, I was shocked with the service provided by Air China. There is really no comparison between Air China and other top-ranked airlines (e.g., Singapore Airlines). And because many Chinese companies are so behind, helping them increase service standards is still a viable opportunity for consulting work.

I had never flown Air China before, but I decided to give it a trial this time when I traveled from Los Angeles (LAX) to Hong Kong (HKG) because the ticket was $300 cheaper than those of other carriers. I knew I had to lay over in Beijing airport (PEK), but how bad could it be? I can speak fluent Mandarin, and I was traveling with a Chinese passport. So, making a stop in PEK would be a piece of cake, right?

I was dropped off at Terminal 2 instead of LAX's newly renovated Tom Bradley International Terminal that was designed for international carriers. Terminal 2 looked worn out and tired. This was the first indication of the airline's service quality.

When I checked in at the Air China counter in Terminal 2, the agent informed me she could only check me in for the first half of the trip (LAX-PEK) because I did not have a visa stamp from Hong Kong. In addition, I had to claim my luggage at PEK and then check in again at PEK for the second half of my trip (PEK-HKG).

I had never encountered this when I traveled with other airlines from the U.S. to Hong Kong — with or without stops. Normally, Hong Kong allows Chinese passport-holders to stay for up to seven days as a transient traveler without a visa or special permission.

Immediately, I was able to anticipate how much trouble the agent had just cost me. I told her right away that I would also travel to Taipei soon after I arrived in Hong Kong, which could make it a stronger case that I was just a transient traveler to Hong Kong. Yet she refused to look at my travel documents and directed me out of the counter with one boarding pass from LAX to PEK only.

I got onto the airplane. There was no USB adapter in the coach cabinet. There were few options for movies or entertainment, and the touchscreen was slow in responding to my touches. If I thought positively, however, I was able to get a lot more work done and even got a few hours of sleep during the flight because there was really nothing I could do.

There were about six flight attendants serving in the coach cabinet. One of them looked like a senior crewmember, but he never smiled. He was actually quite a character and turned out to be the highlight of my travel experience.

He came to me for the first time with the beverage cart and passed me a napkin, indicating a drink would be served. I said: "Ginger ale, please." He asked: "What?"

I then repeated my order in Mandarin (we started our conversation in Mandarin hereafter). He responded: "No ginger ale." I then asked him what my options were. "Look by yourself," he said with a cool voice.

"Oh, OK."

I looked at the beverage cart. Air China served Pepsi, 7 Up, orange juice, apple juice, mineral water, hot tea, coffee, Yanjing Beer (local brand in Beijing) and wine between LAX and PEK. Everything was kept in large containers (1 liter or bigger) except for the beer that was in cans.

The beverages, including beer, were all served at room temperature without ice. After I studied the options on my own, I decided to choose the "safest" option — mineral water.

Two meals were served during the flight, but I could not find the menu. For the first meal, the senior crewmember was nice enough to use both Mandarin and English to announce the options: "Rice or noodle (in English); Yangzhou style fried rice or fried noodle (in Mandarin)."

For the second meal, the senior crewmember did not even use English at all. He used two simple words to describe the options to all passengers: "Beef, chicken (in Chinese only)."

Even though I can speak fluent Mandarin, just like majority of the passengers on this plane, I had a hard time understanding what was served exactly. I felt especially sorry for those who could not even understand Mandarin.

The flight landed at PEK safely. With no surprise, it took me two extra hours to make the connection. I had to stand in line twice for Immigration Services — the first time for entering the country just to claim my luggage and the second time for getting back into the terminal again (after I attained the boarding pass for the second half of my trip, of course).

And because I was forced to claim the luggage at PEK and check it in again later, I had to go through the security check one more time at PEK, where they took my portable energy station for my iPhone (they claimed that was not a safe item and thus could not be taken into the airport).

Regardless of all the extra trouble I went through, I still managed to catch the flight to Hong Kong as scheduled. We were boarded on time. The flight did not take off as scheduled, however. We were told the flight could not take off because of the heavy fog in Beijing and the plane needed some extra time to defrost.

There we were, sitting inside the plane, waiting for an additional 90 minutes before we could finally take off. The flight ended up landing in Hong Kong 70 minutes behind schedule.

In fact, I could not blame Air China for the delay completely. The fog or the mist was mainly caused by heavy air pollution. The air pollution in Beijing was so bad that I had to use my scarf to cover up my mouth when I breathed.

Moreover, I could see nothing outside of the airport — I was not even able to tell how long the airplane was when I looked at the aircraft from the terminal because almost everything was buried in the fog. It's probably because of the pollution that PEK ranks as the worst airport in the world for on-time departures and arrivals.

I wish my experience with Air China was just an isolated incident, but unfortunately, that was likely a true indication of the company's service standards. Would you agree companies like Air China need help to improve the service quality? If so, there are indeed many more that need help.