Xiamen Airlines

Kuala Lumpur to Fuzhou with Xiamen Airlines, and paid premium price for no class airline. Delays on outward and return flight. Food was quite poor and served in paper boxes. Same menu there and back and same lack of taste! Inflight entertainment was non-existant and the cabin crew were rushed and at times sounded like giving orders. Seats were not comfortable and not much different from many low cost carriers. Departure at Fuzhou was a mess and almost every bag needed to be manually checked. You would imagine that the counter staff could speed things up by giving advice on China's special baggage rules. Note - do not pack your powerbank and certain electrical items in your luggage!

Jakarta to Changsha via Xiamen on May 27 2014 on MF 868 and MF 8504. Crew service was very inconsistent especially on Jakarta to Xiamen leg The male crew seemed rude and unhappy however the return flights to Jakarta on June 3 2014 were fine on both legs (Changsha to Jakarta via Fuzhou) on MF 8470 and MF 869. The purser on MF 869 was very helpful. I do not understand why their service is pretty inconsistent. No PTV and feel pretty bored especially for 4-5 hours flights. Meal presentation looked awful but the food was edible. They should improve by staff smiling more better entertainment and better food presentation.

Dalian to Kuala Lumpur via Xiamen. I might have rated it more positively if this first time of mine to travel with them was a domestic flight. It felt like a domestic flight to me in all dimensions. You are not allowed to check in online or select seat before trip no matter how much you pay for the ticket. What's worse the first segment (domestic) of the flight opens its check-in 1.5 hrs before it opens for int'l passengers (they can check in even earlier online) so the 5 of us we were almost given seats far apart. When passing immigration at Dalian you felt it was quite informal. And then you pass a formal immigration at Xiamen again. Equipment was B738 what you may not expect to sit in for seven plus hours. Seat pitch was no different than any domestic. No PTV poor TV programme. Dinner was OK coming with bread pickled snack and fruit. Cabin crew not as good as they boasted themselves to be and did nothing to stop a Dalian tour group from talking the whole route and running up and down the cabin to annoy other passengers. This particular flight I took MF831 was not punctual as usual. I wouldn't recommend anyone to try Xiamen int'l flight.

SIN-XMN return. Basically a domestic airlines. Food quality very basic poor inflight entertainment. Worst of all no smiles on the faces of the cabin crew. Not up to standard for international flight.

Beijing-Xiamen on Dec 18 first time with Xiamen Airlines. Old B737-700 but clean and well-maintained. On-time departure and arrival. During the 3hrs flight delicious hot lunch and several rounds of beverages served they even served peanuts after lunch and mints before landing! Friendly and efficient cabin crew well-done Xiamen Airlines!

Flew PEK-FOC and back. Took the early morning flight which are always on time. Served a biscuit and some snacks for breakfast. Only problem was that the entertainment was in English only. Tickets were cheap and cabin crew were ok. I would choose this airline over China Southern or Eastern.

From Shanghai to Xiamen. The flight was delayed one hour due to air traffic control. Served pork with rice. 2 hours flying time. Not bad.

SHA-XMN: typical Chinese airline product. Tight seat pitch. Peanuts and a drink were given on the 2 hour evening flight whereas China Eastern provides a hot meal. Drop down screen showed a Chinese TV show. FAs were efficient but not particularly friendly. There is nothing to distinguish Xiamen Airlines from the other Chinese airlines so book by schedule.

Hong Kong-Xiamen. Pleasant aircraft interior although looks old on the outside. Great snack box on only a 1 hour flight. Cabin attendants courteous and well presented.

Wuhan-Chengdu in Y class. Check in was fine at Wuhan airport group check in counter staff friendly and efficient. Flight delayed 2 hours dinner was distributed at terminal which was tasty and I was impressed with the quality. Boarding was fast and staff were holding a sign to switch off the mobile phone. Smooth 2 hrs flight and no drama. Cabin crew friendly and helpful. All in all it was uneventful flight and will try this airline again in the future.