Review of Xiamen Airlines flight Xiamen Hong Kong in Economy

Airline Xiamen Airlines
Flight MF381
Class Economy
Seat 49A
Aircraft Boeing 737-800
Flight time 00:55
Take-off 05 May 16, 10:20
Arrival at 05 May 16, 11:15
MF 18 reviews
tommo
By 1317
Published on 4th May 2017
Hello and welcome.

This is the second leg of my Asia trip last year.
The first flight can be found here: MF812 AMS-XMN

I had just arrived from Amsterdam and was waiting in front of the airport for my check-in counters to open. About 2 hours before the actual departure I went back inside the airport and headed to the international departure hall which also handels flights to Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
Although I had just passed customs about 90 minutes ago when I had arrived, my poor bag got x-rayed again before I was allowed into the check-in area. I quickly found the line for the Hong Kong flight and lined up. Luckily I got a window seat.
After the super short stay in China I got my exit stamps into the passport and more stamps on the boarding pass. Very impressive bureaucracy.

I made my way to the gate and basically walked all the way back which I had walked a few hours earlier.
At the gates there was ample seating possibilities and I waited for my 737-800 to arrive.
Big excitement when I saw that it was the one in Sky Team livery that would operate my flight :D

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Boarding began soon and I had to wonder what reasoning is behind Xiamen Air's seat numbering. Their economy cabin starts around row 30 and I just don't see any reason why they avoid lower numbers. At check-in, I even thought we might have a 787 for the short flight because row 49 on my boarding pass just didn't sound like a 737-800 at all.
Anyway, the 737 was fine.
The purple inside didn't exactly match the color scheme of Xiamen Air but I assume that will be changed to the blue design of the 787 sooner or later

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Next to us was a China Airlines 737-800 which flew back to Taiwan where my journey would end eventually. Fortunately, all of my vacation was still ahead at this point.

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Departure was pretty much on time and we soon were surrounded by a fog/cloud mixture.

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Xiamen and Hong Kong are rather close to each other so the flight time was just about 1 hour. Despite the short flight time, there was a small service and again I was pleasantly surprised of this fairly unknown Chinese airline.

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Everyone received this little bag, which contained a bottle of water, a banana, and a (as I learned later) steamed bun. Again, I was very happy with the food and at this point I was really wondering what this wrapped warm filled bun might be as it tasted very good.

Before the garbage was collected, we had already started the approach into HKG. I was very excited and hoped for a good view of the city although I excepted it to be cloudy which proofed to be true.

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We landed and the first plane I saw was a blue KLM 744, which was the perfect ending of a journey that had started in Amsterdam the day before.

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One last glimpse at my little Sky Team jet and ready to explore Hong Kong.



Hong Kong was absolutely amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed my stay. Without a doubt it has become my favorite city.

Best wishes,
Thomas
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Verdict

Xiamen Airlines

7.9/10
Cabin7.5
Cabin crew9.0
Entertainment/wifi5.5
Meal/catering9.5

Xiamen - XMN

7.9/10
Efficiency9.0
Access8.0
Services6.0
Cleanliness8.5

Hong Kong - HKG

9.6/10
Efficiency9.5
Access9.0
Services10.0
Cleanliness10.0

Conclusion

Although the previous longhaul flight has contributed more to my overall impression of Xiamen Air, this short flight underlined the good impression I had. For such a short flight, the catering was good and seating comfort was also ok. For a longer flight of about 3 to 4 hours there might be more comfortable options but compared to most flights within Europe or North America this is much better

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