Xiamen Airlines

✅ Trip Verified | Los Angeles to Manila via Xiamen. I missed my flight due to confusing schedule (12:15am), I went to the airport 3 hours within the same day (unfortunately I was told by the lady at the airline counter that I was late to my flight! And it was supposed to be there the earliest day or before midnight of that day!!). Instead of helping me by providing assistance, I was told to buy a new ticket or "Go home!" I tried to talk to them but nobody helped me at all and they did not give me a chance to get the ticket rebooked/rescheduled, not even try to refund my ticket nor provided a discount for my new ticket. I will not recommend Xiamen Airline at all.

✅ Trip Verified | Los Angeles to Bangkok via Xiamen. It was not the overly-friendly skies, especially on the shorter flight, but the snacks, food and beverage were OK. Another review reminded me of the barely audible English announcements (use headphones to hear it). The seats and legroom seem average. The Boeing 787 for the LAX-XMN segment is a nice, new aircraft. The entertainment system had a small selection of music and movies, which were adequate. Emirates scores better there! The website is hard to use, and changes seemed impossible. But I successfully purchased a ticket. If I purchased again, I would be certain everything is perfect before clicking Submit. I'm hesitant to call "customer service" as English is not their main language, and rules over customer satisfaction seem to be the situation. The worst part of the flight was the layover in Xiamen, China. Border control entry is required, followed by departure control. This is slow and time consuming. Re-entering security is very strict. Every passenger is wanded after passing the magnetometers. My baggage scan revealed two small Bic lighters, which were confiscated. Any lithium batteries in checked bags are likely to be removed. The airport is years behind many International airports, and is hard to spend time in. However, long layovers can qualify you for a hotel room (+5 hours), a city tour, or the lounge on the lowest level - with free Wi-Fi. The lounge was quite basic and drab. Hard to call it a "benefit". A room in the back had cots. In the airport, I was twice offered working iPhones for cash. With a landing announcement that mentions contacting quarantine if you're ill, including headaches, nausea or diarrhea, and the scrutiny upon entry and exit, I don't advise buying black market iPhones. The ticket price was very competitive. If they improved the layover experience at their airport in Xiamen, it might be worth the savings.

✅ Verified Review | Flight left about 30 minutes late, which is much less of a delay than usual. Crew looked tired as this was an evening flight. Crew English announcements still not really understandable through PA. No comment from cockpit crew as is usual with international airlines. Extremely hard landing in HKG (no noticeable weather or turbulence). No comment from the cockpit crew again. They still have a long way to go in my opinion to be on par with international airlines. Sometimes hearing the crew's voice in understandable English (since this is an international sector) would help.

✅ Verified Review | Beijing to Xiamen. Such a rubbish airline, first they cancelled my flight without offering compensation. Then I tried to reason with their agency, they said they recommend I asked for a full refund. Is that a joke? I was at the airport and they wanted me to refund. I then insisted that I change to the other flight, which was scheduled to depart at 20:05 but we waited more than 5 hours due to air traffic control. Can't really trust the airline, especially you're dealing with state-owned airlines, and they don't obey by rules set out by international standard.

✅ Verified Review | Seattle to Shenzhen. Check-In was quick. Boarding commenced slightly late but was controlled and orderly. The Boeing 787-8 was new and a bit squeaky. The seat had a 17 inch width and 32-33 inches of pitch. The seat had a cup holder, remote, USB and AC power ports and a fairly large personal screen. The selection of content was decent but a lack of Western movies and appealing Eastern movies could be improved. The food served was good and a decent portion was served. The crew were quite sincere and attentive to all calls, Their English was okay for interactions but not too great over the PA.

✅ Verified Review | Quanzhou to Beijing. The airline lured us into boarding and held us in the cabin for more than a few hours. Initially, they announced the aircraft would push back to the tarmac in 10 minutes, which didn't happen. Then I confronted a member of cabin crew and he kept saying it was the tower controller who had said the plane would push back in 10 mins and then told us to wait. The lack of transparency, coupled with highly restricted air traffic by military has tarnished this airline's reputation. Never fly on Chinese domestic routes if you had a choice. The delay is prolonged, unpredictable and not compensated for.

✅ Verified Review | Los Angeles to Xiamen. The flight was delayed due to unknown reason. The aircraft is relatively new, bright, clean and modern. The interior was specially decorated for this inauguration flight with LAX symbols. The crews welcomed us with big smiles and everyone gets a little gift for the inauguration flight. They personal entertainment system has a large screen, and the system worked just as I wanted without struggle. A safety card, two magazines and a menu in the pocket; a blanket and a bottle of water on the seat. But the menu missed a translation for breakfast. The food is not bad but can be improved. The crew were trying to act as friendly, but lacked some sincereness, but they did a great job. Their English skill really needs improvement. As a Chinese airline they followed the CAAC rule, which restricted people to use their laptops and other devices only when the aircraft reached cruising attitude and didn't allow passengers to switch on their phones at all. And they locked the 787 windows to a certain brightness which make them impossible to adjust by passengers. Another problem is that I had a transfer flight at XMN, but I had to pick up my luggage and recheck it again.

✅ Verified Review | Hong Kong to Xiamen. Upon arriving at HKG airport, my gate was still unannounced. I spoke with the airline representative many times, as did other passengers, and nothing was posted on the departure board about our takeoff or a delay or any gate. Even after scheduled departure time there hadn't been any notifications of a delay. Finally, we were told which gate to go to. We boarded the plane two hours late and had to wait 30 minutes more as the flight attendant said it took that long to load the luggage (even though less than half of the plane was full). When my phone died, I asked an attendant if they could help me to charge it as I didn't know the Chinese name of my hotel in Xiamen. He refused several times until I was very persistent that it would not had died if I had not waited so long for the flight. Landing was smooth but on the way back the same issues existed, all the while announcements on the speaker mentioned how important guests were to Xiamen Airlines. I didn't feel that at all. The staff should be more transparent and clear with guests about delays and procedures, as delays of that magnitude require changes in planning and sometimes result in losses.

✅ Verified Review | Amsterdam to Changsha via Xiamen.I'd never heard of this airline before this trip. I have to say that I was delighted. Very polite and helpful cabin crew. Other reviewers mentioned that their English was poor, but I didn't have any difficulty. Food and drink were very good and IFE was better than I had anticipated - not great (nothing like Emirates, for example), but good, recent international films. The seat lies flat and allowed me (6 ft / 183 cm height) to stretch out comfortably. No wifi and phones have to be switched off, as per Chinese Govt rules. But using a tablet in airline mode is OK. There is an electric socket at the seat and it was enough to power my fairly large laptop. I would fly with them again. The 2nd sector was internal from Xiamen to Changsha. Once again, excellent service and good authentic Chinese food. No IFE, of course, being a short sector, so they left the TV on instead (so bring earplugs or headphones if you don't want to be bothered by it. That was the only strange aspect of the flight.

✅ Verified Review | Vancouver to Ho Chi Minh via Xiamen. Sat in Business class on outbound and regular economy seats on the return. Service was great, they did not understand everything in English however they knew enough. Food was good. Seats were fine for a overseas flight.