I met up with Andrew at LAX at around 8:45PM, right as check-in opened for our 12:15AM Xiamen Air flight to Xiamen. The airline only started flying to LAX a few weeks ago, though there was plenty of signage. One thing that's interesting about Xiamen Air is that they arrive at Terminal 2 but depart…
Continue reading: Review: Xiamen Air Business Class 787-9 Los Angeles To Xiamen
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I think you meant blanket not blanked 🙂
If the food was solid, but the seabass was phenomenal, which is it?
"That was okay, though the sitcom selection was really lacking, as one of the only western show options was “Just For Laughs.” what about Modern Family? And did you need a vpn for the wifi?
Interesting that Chinese airlines will also avoid North Korean airspace. Is this because they are likely to have many foreign passengers, including western ones, on any given flight?
Wait...there's no vodka listed on the menu.
That can't be. Let me look again.
Oh, dear God, no...
THERE'S NO VODKA!!! Not even Baijiu!
Regarding the tissues and no paper towels in the lavatory, this is something I've experienced on Singapore Airlines too (granted it was in economy).
I find the tissue is like a "hyrbid" in that if you use it to dry your hands it won't disintegrate like a regular facial tissue and holds up like a paper towel.
Must be a cost cutting thing.
Will be curious to hear about the transfer process at XMN, it looks less than ideal ... looking forward to flying them next month. great review, thanks!
How could you give up watching High School Musical?! It has Zac Efron!! 😀
On a more serious note, what did you do at LAX if you only spent a few minutes at the Korean Air lounge? Even with the slow check-in, you must've had at least 90 minutes to kill before boarding.
@Jon Nevin - it is a horrible transit process for intl-intl connections: no airside transfer like you have in HKG, ICN, SIN, PVG, etc. etc. You basically have to enter China, go up to check in for your onward flight and go through immigration again. My brother did it, said it was such a tedious process and he almost missed his flight because of it.
" that looks like a Costco/Berlin Airport"
Hilarious!!! As a Berliner, couldn't help but laugh, as we truly have the two worst airports in the first world.
No smell of cigarette smoke? Is that issue confined to only one or two Chinese airlines?
@Peter Michaelson only happened once on China Southern, and really I don't mind the smell.
"As is the norm, our flightpath had us avoiding Rocket Man."- HAHAHAHH I died 🙂
I was really looking forward to your seabass picture as it would be my second option, where is it????
Did you use VPN for onboard wifi? Also how was connecting flights/immigration?
FANTASTIC review Ben! I feel like you recently havent been making as good flight reviews like before, yet this one is certainly on the right track. Keep it up!!!!
The wine selection is again so-so. Is there any Chinese carrier that will serve anything good?
I din't know they grew wine grapes in China. I wonder if it's any good or just a low-quality knockoff.
Re: hand towels: I suspect that they have problems with first time flyers who would put a hand towel into the toilet plugging it up. For those whom they trust they provide a towel on exit.
Were there signs saying not to stand on the toilet seat (with pictures)?
With Pierre Jouet who needs Vodka???????
@Peter Michaelson
You don't have to believe me, but my dad has platinum status with China Eastern, and he said that he never smelled cigarette smoke in the cabin...
Perhaps Lucky smelling cigarette smoke during that MU flight was an isolated case.
Were you stuck behind the great firewall on the WiFi? I just flew China Eastern from HNL->PVG and from the moment WiFi went on I got locked out of alot of sites... Even my VPN want working right...
@marc once the midfield satellite concourse opens with 12 gates I suspect there may be far fewer if any, bus transfers
I’m wondering whether the small satellites in the western side will be demolished to
make way for a new American Airlines hanger
The long term plan is for the MSC to have around 20 gates once the southern portion opens
Looking at the renderings it’s going to be pretty nice
Though Hainan does have WIFI on their 787-9 now. It's bit strange cause each passenger only get 150MB for the whole trip, though it's completely free.
"Meanwhile the appetizer had scallops, prosciutto, etc."
Not exactly what the menu listed...
Also, I thought Lucky din't eat pork? Or is it ok to eat if it's served in a soup? 😉
Is there anyway I can get your review of the Panda park early? I am going soon, and would love your insights.
Chinese carriers can spend all the money in the world to have amazing hard products but they just cannot get the soft product right. From "the(grammar) ,errors" in the menus to mixes nuts for breakfast - why don't they just employ a western executive chef to bring their f&b up to western standards? If they are trying to cater to western pax have they not yet realised they don't really get what western pax actually want?
Or are they providing a western menu to Chinese pax and this is what Chinese pax want from a western meal?
the tray table looks cheap.....nothing wrong with the food they provided, but Xiamen probably needs to work to improve the presentation of food
Regarding the above comments on transiting. I was curious about this as well. I recently took advantage of the low cost business fares LAX-SYD (transit in XMN) flying in 2018. My return has a 2 hr layover in XMN. There is not much info about the actual experience of transiting passengers (int to int) with Xiamen Air online. However, their website describes the process and specifies a minimum of 90 minutes for transiting. I am assuming I am good with 2 hrs.
http://www.xiamenair.com/cn/en/passengerservice/Passenger4_7.html#a
'Is there anyway I can get your review of the Panda park early? I am going soon, and would love your insights." me too!! we leave Nov 2nd on Xiamen
Hainan does offer complimentary wifi in both Business and Economy with fair speed and you only need to register on board.
Hi Lucky,
What a great airline.
The photos of your dinner and breakfast look great Lucky.
Great review! Thanks.
It is possible to do web checking for this flighth?
I cannot find the option in the web page yet.
Flew this flight this past month in J. Great experience. Perhaps the best bang for your buck for trans pacific flight. Disclaimer, I am indonesian of chinese descent (grandparents from Fujian province - where Xiamen is) grew up in singapore (I (used to) pride SQ) and now live in the US and a delta medallion member. I also speak basic broken mandarin which always helps when dealing with Mainland carrier.
I originally chose this airline to get Delta miles and it's low cost. I boarded the flight with mentality of 'I paid less and hence not expecting the service in the likes of SQ or even US3'. This is also first time flying long haul with Mainland carrier.
I was completely blown away. From their call agent, lounge crew in xiamen and on-board service. I swapped my first and last name during reservations. I called them (the office in Xiamen not the US-hotline which is a call center in Philippines. They're nice but have little to no authority) and they were able to change it in a heartbeat with no problem whatsoever.
The FA definitely seems more robotic than other Asian airlines (which are still robotic compared to the more casual american FA) but not by any mean bad service. They actually warm up once I started speaking my broken Mandarin and had genuine conversation.
Honestly Xiamen FA pays better attention on certain stuff compared to than other Asian carriers. I felt like if you look and speak Chinese, the service level is different than if you're not.
MF catering is also really good. I had the same seabass and they just melt in your mouth. The outbound flight from Xiamen is even better. They have book the cook similar other airlines. Unfortunately you need to be able to READ chinese to do this.
Lav is always locked whenever I want to use it. They will go and check to make sure it is clean before letting me in. The hot towel after lav is ingenious idea although can be weird because you know that the FA is waiting for you if you're taking sweet time doing no 2. But still, it is a nice gesture and in fact should be adopted more widespread to save paper towels.
The only downside is international transfer in Xiamen. You need to go through immigration (make sure to have your Visa just to avoid any problem), pick up your luggage, go through customs, re-enter departure area, check in for your connecting flight go through immigration and security check again. But, if you fly business, you have your own lane for security. For such an early arrival into Xiamen, the airport is empty anyway that it doesn't matter. I did not mind the less than ideal transfer process at all. If I don't want the hassle of transferring I'd pay premium, fly direct SQ and quit complaining because I got a great deal with Xiamen. But fret not, hopefully the new Xiamen airport will take care of this problem.