Encuentra vuelos baratos en XiamenAir

Dreamliner is a dream but airport was a nightmare

Ventajas: 787 Dreamliner's hardscape was new and clean. IFE was decent but had some anomalies (can't take off of pause unless you shut off screen, select same movie and resume). Food was fairly decent and plentiful. Think a cheap chinese diner & you've got it.

Desventajas: Crew was efficient but can't speak Englsh worth a nickel! While I have a limited ability in Mandarin (think 5yo vocab), the announcements in Engrish was almost as bad as some of the translations in many Chinese products. I pity the people who can't understand ANY Chinese: they could not possibly get most of the announcements. They should really get at least 1 FA that can speak and understand English. The signage in Xiamen (I was transiting from LAX to TPE) was amazingly poor and confusing. You basically stumble from 1 floor to another based on the signage. The airport was actually very large for what appears to be a medium size city.

737-800 with food

Ventajas: International carriers kick butt on US domestic carriers. As a A+ SWA traveler, I know my 787s like the back of my hand. Xiamen had a Business class section (small & unfortunately: untested by me). Economy was as expected but imagine getting a Bao (chicken) & packaged fruit, pastries, pickled cucumbers. Hey, beats a pack of peanuts. You could also get a white or red wine (didn't try them) - all for the price of admission. Take that UA, Delta, & AA! Why can't foreign carriers bring their game to the US routes and really give some competition!

Desventajas: No entertainment (there was some fold down screens playing some ads) but the volume was so low that nobody paid any attention to it. At least someone can read a sentence in English (and there were pre-recorded anouncements).

Excellent...once you are actually on the plane!

Ventajas: Excellent, friendly service on a terrific plane. More leg room than the average (American) airline for a long flight. Had to call Customer Service. They were as helpful as they could be.

Desventajas: There was no computer check-in even for people with no bags to check. Long wait on line to check-in. Probably could use more staff at airport. TSA wait that night was also very long. Not Xiamen's fault of course.

Stolen things on board and Broken Luggage (Bicycle)

Ventajas: Overall Ok

Desventajas: They stole my laptop on board, and they cannot secure the thief even though we know who it was My bike bag was broken

Ventajas: Service in flight was great ! Meals were surprisingly tast and the seatback entertainment was well equipped for the 13 hour journey

Desventajas: Since the airline is so small, they don't schedule agents for check-in prior to a couple hours before boarding. That was a bit frustrating when we wanted to be at the gate early.

Ventajas: on time food

Desventajas: no movies