Xiamen Airlines

✅ Verified Review | Wuhan to Amsterdam via Xiamen. My flight was cancelled due to bad weather conditions. The company sent me an email in Chinese stating that I had to rebook my flight but without giving any option of possible different solution. Once at the airport they were surprised I was asking to be rebooked on another flight and/or reimbursed. I'm going to try to follow up on this and see if I can get something, but in general I didn't like the way they handle the problem, they didn't care about leaving people at the airport without any support. In addition both the airport and the cabin staff barely speak English, so it's very hard to communicate with them.

Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur via Xiamen. Flew with Xiamen Air and I'm really satisfied. Kind crew, sufficient command of English, good seat pitch, up-to-date IFE and choice between Chinese or Western food. What really stands out is the free hotel when your layover is more than 6 hours, your connecting flight is outside China and both flights are operated by Xiamen Air. It was well arranged, all passengers who comply with the rules were on a list and we got a confirmation in Chinese so that the taxi driver could read it. You have to pay for the taxi ride, but that is only 40 yuan. They have several hotels under contract, our first one was a 5-star hotel and the second one a 3-star. The only thing you have to do is to proceed to counter B11 (upstairs) after clearing customs.

✅ Verified Review | Hong Kong to Beijing via Xiamen with Xiamen Air (MF). Xiamen Air has just started intercontinental routes. I took this itinerary, as I was interested to see their transfer service. Outbound flights from HKG to PEK via XMN was smooth. HKG to XMN was a new B738, they provide light meal for this 50min flight. XMN to PEK with Boeing 788, PTV with good selection of movies, songs. Seats are comfortable. Inflight service was good, FAs were attentive. Xiamen Air has hotel arrangement if your connection is overnight. However, the hotel is not around the airport, and the hotel did not meet a 4-star hotel standard (which is claimed). For First, Business class, Skyteam Elite, Elite plus member, they provide your own room. For Economy, you will have to share with others! XMN lounge at domestic sector meets an average standard providing Chinese cuisine, fruits and drinks, but choices at breakfast time are limited. Inbound flights from PEK to HKG via XMN with a 2-hour connection. Flight PEK-XMN was delayed and I was worried about missing my connection to HKG wihch was the last of the day. The customer service manager at PEK did a good job. Before he stepped in, I was not happy with the way they dealt with my concerns and the delay. He coordinated with his colleagues at XMN, and also prepared backup plan for me. The flight to XMN took off 2-hour behind schedule using a B757. Onboard services were good, but ground services at XMN for transfer was not very clear, a lack of guidance and communications. MF lounge at XMN international section has no added-value, small and crowed. Overall impression on this journey was above my expectations, I will definitely choose Xiamen Air again. But as a new player for transfer and intercontinental market, the service at XMN, could do better comparing to its competitors.

✅ Verified Review | Was flying from Hangzhou to Tianjin on Xiamen Air. HGH was very foggy and the plane took off 2 hours late. During the wait in the aircraft the crew provided me with coffee as I requested and after take off to a bad weather we were experiencing turbulence 70% of the 2 hour flight. But the crew were very professional in serving and food and beverages. Xiamen Airline is a nice regional wings for Asia Pacific.

✅ Verified Review | Amsterdam to Taipei via Xiamen with Xiamen Airlines. After reading many reviews here about the transfer service in Xiamen I was a bit worried but it turned out ok. Yes, you still need to check yourself and your baggage in at Xiamen again but ground staff seem to be used to the procedure by now. In Amsterdam and in Taipei they understood they could only tag our bags to Xiamen. In Xiamen when arriving at customs it's best to have printed proof you're transferring but they have a list of transferring passengers. There's a counter for free hotel if your wait is longer than 6 hours. Don't confuse this counter with the "transfer service" counter that's right next to it, that's only for domestic transfers, I mistakingly waited in that line for some time. The hotel is 20 minutes by taxi but it's nice. One awkward thing is that they put 2 solo passengers into one room, luckily I didn't have any roommate. On the long flight both ways they ran out of coconut juice halfway. On Xiamen to Taipei they gave drinks only after the food, so you had to eat either thirsty or with cold food. On Taipei to Xiamen they didn't give any drinks at all but maybe that was because I had ordered a special meal when booking. China has some strict rules about mobile phones and power banks. On the site it says you can do online checkin if you fly from Amsterdam but I got an error when I tried, maybe that only works if you're not transferring. All in all, it's very cheap and the annoyances are not deal-breakers if you're prepared for them, so I recommend it for the budget-wary traveller.

✅ Verified Review | Amsterdam to Bangkok via Xiamen with Xiamen Airlines. This airline is ridiculous and so are the airport procedures in Xiamen. Me and my boyfriend had booked a flight from Amsterdam to Bangkok via Xiamen for an insanely good price of €370. Xiamen does not allow online check in for international flights. At the baggage drop in AMS, we asked whether the luggage could be tagged to our final destination. No proper answer could be given. Finally, at the gate we were told to pick up our luggage in Xiamen and drop it off again there. The flight itself was pretty good, except for the food which had no taste at all. Horrible. This airline does not allow any mobile phones to be turned on. Not even when they are on airplane mode. They need to be switched off, and if they find out you secretly use your phone the crew will stand next to you until you switch it off. WiFi may be used on iPads and Notebooks only. After a few hours the crew handed out arrivals / departure cards and you will need them. The crew will tell you that you won't need them for transiting however, you do need them. You will be put back in line at immigration if you don't have them filled out. Every single person has to go through immigration, even when your next flight is in 30 minutes or so. The horror really started when arriving in Xiamen. The procedure is as follows: Get out of the airplane. Walk towards customs via declare or not declare route. Go through immigration (with arrivals / departure card, passport, eticket) and you will get a temporary entrance permission. Go to baggage belt and get your luggage. Put your luggage through x-ray. Take elevator one level up. Now it gets tricky. If you have a 6 hours or more transit. Proceed to (transfer service) counter B11 for a FREE hotel. You do need to pay for travel costs. The hotel was good, but checking in took 45-60 minutes, they are so slow and don't understand English. After that return to the airport to the departures floor. Proceed to Intl. departures. Put your luggage through x-ray. Now you will find the check in counters, check in your flights and luggage. Walk upstairs and go through immigration (hand over your departures card and passport). Go through hand luggage check (they have very strict rules for power banks). If the power bank itself doesn't show its capacity it will be thrown away. No argument possible. Now proceed to the gate to your airplane that will bring you to your next destination. Never I will fly with Xiamen Airlines again. It is cheap, but that's probably all positive about it (and the free transit hotel).

Flew from Sydney to Fuzhou. Food was fantastic, some meals had both Chinese and Western choices, such as fried rice or pasta. Seat can be reclined. You are free to roam after seat belt signs are off. Toilets are pretty clean but flushing was unpleasant. You are not allowed to use mobile devices, or tablet devices however laptops and computers can be used but need to turn off WIFI. Entertainment included popular movies, a kids section, brief history, games section, CCTV report on the airline, and adult sections. There were also maps provided and the shopping all on PTV. There were several drinks services of juices and soft drinks. PTV is provided in 5 languages - Chinese, English, French, Japanese and Korean. Flight attendants are pleasant but tend to be a little annoyed if you call them when they are serving another passenger.

✅ Verified Review | Flew Hangzhou to Singapore with Xiamen Airlines. For a Chinese airline, I was rather pleased that the plane departed on time. Most of the crew were pleasant but one or two stewardess did not have a smile on their faces. Food was served and was pleasant enough. We were also given a packet of nuts and a bottle of water 2/3 into our flight. I wouldn't mind taking this flight again although there was one issue that perplexed me. Apparently ipads, laptops, tablets could be used during the flight, but mobile phones were not allowed. I honestly think this is rather stupid since a mobile phone works just like an ipad/tablet. The inflight entertainment is but a pathetic small TV that one can barely see what is being shown, and only Chinese movies were played.

✅ Verified Review | Booked a Xiamen Airlines roundtrip ticket from Amsterdam to Jakarta via Xiamen for only 350 Euro. Everything was great, I loved the meal, the staff were very helpful, the seat was comfortable and I had a good sleep during the flight. The entertainment was proper but some movies have no subtittle. The flight had no Wifi connection.

✅ Verified Review | My family and I travelled from Beijing To Taipei Songshan (TSA), and Taipei TPE to Beijing, both times with Xiamen Airlines in Economy class. The Good - compared to other Chinese airlines, we found the food and drinks service to be much better. The legroom on the Boeing 787 from PEK to XMN and vice-versa was very good, and the staff were friendly. An OK selection of IFE was provided on the 787 including a range of English speaking movies and many games. On 3 of the 4 flights the kids were handed an activity pack which they enjoyed playing (for about 10 minutes). The Bad - legroom on the 737 between Xiamen and Taiwan was poor. Transferring in Xiamen in both directions was ridiculous. When we checked in at Beijing, our bags were tagged through to Taipei, however we were advised that we had to go to a separate counter at Xiamen to get our boarding passes for the flight from Xiamen to Tiapei. It was not easy to find where this was once we got to Xiamen, there were no instructions nor staff to assist. Once we found the counter we were told that it didn’t open until 2 hours before the flight (we had a 3 hour layover), and there was nowhere available to sit and wait. Taking this in our stride, it was like a “red rag to a bull” when as soon as we boarded the flight to Taipei they showed us a video promoting how good Skyteam was, with their “Seamless transfer service”. It was worse when returning from Taipei. The bags could only be tagged to Xiamen, and boarding passes could only be provided to Xiamen. There was no specific transfer facility for connecting passengers that we could use to re-check bags onwards to Beijing, and no instructions whatsoever provided to assist in the transfer. Fortunately we live in mainland China so could find our way around the system, however it would have been utterly confusing for passengers who had never been to China before, with no assistance provided. If Xiamen Airlines has aspirations of being a true regional and international player, it needs to revisit its transfer services through Xiamen and replicate those of other successful airlines in performing transfers. Its part-parent airline China Southern does a dramatically better job handling passengers through Guangzhou.