Review: Xiamen Air Business Class 787 Seattle To Shenzhen

Looks like TK J seats, albeit no middle center seat!

Isn't China Airlines very close to the service level of Haninan and Xiamen? They are based in Taipei but they are a Chinese carrier (China airlines ) and they have the best hard product out of all of them.

Not to be skeptical or anything, but could the level of service be because of the presence of the president of the company on board? Want to hear your review on the return if the level of service was the same!

@Ryan I think EVA Air might be the better Taiwanese carrier, though China Airlines is also great. They both have reverse herringbone seats though I'm not sure their level of service was as great as Hainan or Xiamen, based on Lucky's reviews.

@ Ryan -- Totally agree, EVA and China Airlines are much better. However, for the purposes of this I'm not including a Taiwanese carrier as a Chinese carrier, much like I'm not including Cathay Pacific.

@ John Sia -- I was skeptical and had the same thought, but the service on the return was even better. There's only so much you can "fake" service, especially since many airlines just don't train their crews to such a high level. I think Xiamen Air is just in a higher league than most Chinese carriers.

@Ryan

Well, did you know that taiwan's gdp per capita is about three times higher than that of mainland china? It's like comparing Saudi with Libya because they are all 'arabs'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)_per_capita

@Asia that is an awful analogy. The airline is called "China Airlines". Libya's airline is not called "Air Saudi"

@Ryan : China Airlines (CI) has NOTHING to do with Mainland China. It's 100% Taiwanese airline because the formal name of Taiwan is Republic of China.

@Ryan well Taiwan's official name is the Republic of China whereas mainland China is officially the People's Republic of China.

"Looks like TK J seats, albeit no middle center seat!"

Or, like TK J seats on some of their A330s...

@Asia

With that logic, AA, DL, and UA should have even better service, right?

#tbt the days when I was living in Fuzhou, China.

Almost 19 years since the first time I flew MF, they still get this sign reminding ppl turning off electronic devices. Guess things havnt changed much in 2 decades 🙂

Glenfiddich 15 in J is a great offering. While US carriers continue to offer Dewar white label in F. @Lucky, why don't US airlines put even the slightest bit of effort into their alcohol catering?

Benjamin: XXL? Well don't act so surprised, honey, clearly it looks like somebody might have become a bit rotund, or shall we say, widebodied. I know whose fat little fingers have been too liberal with those Little Debbie Snack Cakes! Well, honey, you don't have to worry about a thing because my husband and I are still loyal fan of yours. We would love to invite you to Western Estates' Wintertacular! To where should we send the invitation?

P.S. We will make sure we've got all the snack cakes that will fit in that little tummy of yours!

Tom and Jerry cartoons on offer?! - - Xiamen Air wins!

@andy

Well, they are 'outliers'....

I just dont expect anything from them.

The background music on their safety video is the theme from Forest Gump. Interesting choice.

@Asia

I wouldn't put SQ and AC on the same level, either.
Going through all the countries in that list, I can't really consider US airlines "outliers"...

Any issues with smoke ( like you pointed out in previous reviews of China carriers)?

Thanks for this useful review. Must say the food looks good and I especially like the plating of the fruit.

Nice to hear about the president cheering. Pretty good employee affirmation and motivation !

@ Tabea -- Nope, no smoke issues, unfortunately!

Beware of where shrimp comes from.

Have you tried sleeping with earplugs?

@Asia

Don't think income per captia is at play here. The problem of "big three" (CA, MU, and CZ) Chinese airlines is the lack of competition. They don't need to improve service on their long-haul international routes since they profit mostly from domestic market where they dominates. They don't really care about competing with foreign carriers. Similar reason applies to DL, UA and AA. While for airlines such as CX, SQ or CI, they don't have domestic market so they have to be competitive.

Great Review! I'm planning a trip to Thailand in a couple of weeks. I was going to use miles but now I'm seriously considering flying from SFO to SEA and snagging one of the sub 2k fares on Xiamen (SEA, SZX, XIA, BKK) . I was a bit nervous as I couldn't find any b-class reviews but this one has set my mind at ease.

Thanks!

@Jake P - Nice to see others have similar priorities to myself. Good Scotch is a must on a long-haul flight.

@ Lucky

Have you heard anything about Xiamen's partnership with Alaska? I've seen this new partnership reported in print in both Seattle and Xiamen, but haven't heard anything from Alaska. I'm hoping the Mileage Plan program links up quickly so we can see something similar to the great earning potential on Hainan.

As for phones in flight mode Dragonair have stream to your own device entertainment and iPhone/Android app and it's well used. Can't be a regulatory thing anymore...

I was on this same flight, back in coach. I can tell you that they still have a policy against cellphones even in flight mode, as I was asked to shut mine off 🙁

This review about China based Xiamen Airline really opened my eyes. Looking forward to try it someday.
One question, I see the seat cushion and the ottoman are same leather and water proof. Personally, i think it is not comfortable, what do you think?

A perfect and decent airways from my hometown Xiamen! I am very proud that Xiamen Airways is recognised by Lucky!

Well, they still do not allow you to use cell phones on domestic flights.

As this was a chinese airline, was there any "great china firewall" for the wifi? I mean, did all pages work, including google and social networking sites, which are usually blocked in mainland china?

For anyone considering booking Xiamen air based on this review I'd like to share my experience. On October 24 I booked a biz ticket from SEA -BKK with a layover in Xiamen. Six days later I received a very brief email stating my return flight from BKK was cancelled.

'we re sorry to inform you that flight MF 834 20 NOV, from Bangkok to Xiamen has been cancelled due to company flight rescheduling. For more information please contact the agency where you booked your ticket. '

I called the number on the website and after waiting on hold for 15 minutes I spoke with an agent who was unable to locate my ticket using the ticket number provided by Xiamen Air. She was able to locate some record using my passport number, however she is not able to cancel my ticket because she doesn't know my ticket number.

Overall this is the highest degree of incompetence I've encountered dealing with a reservation office. So a warning, if you do book Xiamen Air don't count on having your ticket honored and don't expect a refund to be easy.

I had a great Business Class flight from Seattle to Shenzhen on December 7th, returning in Coach on December 19th. I had a very similar experience to the account detailed in this article, and it was also my very first ever long haul Business Class flight. I loved it. Service was outstanding, food, seat, airplane, all outstanding. Coach on the way home was a bummer in comparison, but the food was much better than Delta Airlines long haul offerings, and the 787 beats any other plane in the sky in my experience for overall comfort. I and my girlfriend (who lives in China) spent 4 nights in Xiamen and I can recommend that as well. Great town and the beach is super.

Hi Lucky:
What is a better redemption option for flights from SEA to SZX? Is it possible to use delta miles to book Xiamen air flights from SEA to SZX? Or should I look into a different mileage program?

Thanks!

Wow, thanks for the great review Lucky.

I'm doing some flight searches now for December and the cheapest business class flights were for Xiamen. I admit I have never heard of them before and this is the first time the airline came up on any search engines for me (I used cheap tickets).

For the price, this seems like a great value. Plus it's a member of Sky Team, which is a bonus.

Fantastic!!! I can't wait for our LAX-XMN-SYD trip....lay flat seating all the way on 787-8/9's, Thanks for the review. Sounds like this will be WAY better than our China Southern flight...which seemed hectic and like they had strangers off the street working their first flight.

Paid only $2440 each seat for the entire trip on Xiamen Air!!!! How good is that?