Most reviewers were unhappy with their experience overall. Customers frequently complained about unexpected flight cancellations, unhelpful customer service representatives, and extremely long waiting times when trying to resolve urgent travel issues. Travelers additionally mentioned major difficulties with the online booking process, severe baggage handling problems, and consistently poor communication from the airline staff members.
Some people were satisfied with the attentive cabin crew, comfortable seats featuring extra legroom, and overall smooth on-time flights. A few other people also felt that the high quality of the food and the warm overall hospitality fully met their expectations during the journey.
Absolutely ridiculous policy — woken up for resting on an empty seat
I have taken over 200 flights and travelled to 56 countries, and I have NEVER experienced anything as absurd as what happened on my Hainan Airlines flight.
I was sitting by the window in economy class, with another passenger in the aisle seat and the middle seat completely empty.
During the flight, while other passengers were sleeping, I placed my small backpack on part of the empty middle seat and rested my head on it, keeping my legs on my own window seat. I wasn’t occupying the entire middle seat, disturbing anyone, or preventing another passenger from using it.
I was asleep, wearing an eye mask, when a flight attendant actually woke me up just to tell me that I was not allowed to lie on the empty seat because I hadn’t paid for it!
Seriously? The seat was EMPTY!
What makes this even more ridiculous is that the flight attendant had no objection to my backpack remaining on that same seat. Apparently, the problem was simply that I was trying to sleep more comfortably.
After more than 200 flights with many different airlines around the world, I have never encountered such an unnecessarily rigid and passenger-unfriendly approach.
I fully understand that airlines have rules and that cabin crew must enforce safety requirements. But waking up a sleeping passenger during a normal flight, when nobody was being disturbed and no specific safety concern was explained, seems completely unreasonable.
If this is genuinely Hainan Airlines’ official policy, it is one of the most disappointing examples of customer service I have experienced in aviation.
An empty seat apparently matters more than a passenger’s comfort.
I am extremely disappointed with Hainan Airlines and would think twice before choosing this airline again.
Worst seating assignment for a family with an 8-month-old infant on flight from Hangzhou to Sanya
Hainan Airlines claims to be a 5-star airline, but our experience on a flight from Hangzhou to Sanya proved the exact opposite regarding customer care and basic empathy.
I was traveling with my 8-month-old baby, and the ground staff at Hangzhou airport assigned us seats in the very last row of the aircraft. For a flight with a premium carrier, this was a complete nightmare. The seats in the last row did not recline at all. It was extremely noisy due to the immediate proximity to the lavatories, and the constant flow of passengers walking and standing near our seats made it absolutely impossible for the baby to rest.
Instead of showing care and prioritizing families with infants for the front rows, the airline gave us the worst seats possible. This is completely unacceptable. Absolute lack of family-oriented service.
I flew Hainan Airlines Business Class from Mexico to Bangkok and the service was ok, 4 stars because of the staff, all other stuff was 3 star. I had to change my flight back because of business reasons and their support channels did not want to refund nor change the ticket: No option, no help whatsoever. Due to their frontline staff's total inability to assist, I was forced to cancel this itinerary entirely.
Paid for a seat reservation for 1200…, which later got cancelled
Paid for a seat reservation for 1200 RMB, but when I get on the plane, they switch my seat. When I ask if I can sit somewhere else, even the plane is 70% empty. I am asked to pay an extra 800 RMB. When I ask for my money back, they give me a number to call. Which I need to call there and then before the flight takes off. And beware when you pay for the seat. They only accept Alipay and WeChat. And it’s transferred to a private account and not the airline themselves.
Flight cancelled without any reason and basically told to request refund one week before our holiday. Has cost us double now. Terrible customer service. Use this airline at your own risk.
Buy cheap, buy twice (at twice the price).
They very regularly cancel flights just before the 14 day period where they'd have to offer compensation.
They make loads of flights available online but cancel many of them when they don't sell well.
Their customer service to resolve the issue is non existent. They don't care. Awful service and never again.
I'm now 2 days out from my long half flight and still I've not heard a thing.
I may now have to buy an extortionate flight with an alternative airline.
How these airlines are able to leave you in the shit like this and it's legally considered acceptable, is baffling.
Pay an extra £100-£200 from the get go and choose a better airline. It'll save you a lot of stress, hours of wasted time and give you the peace of mind that the flights you booked will actually fly.
We booked a flight to Beijing with a stopover in Changsha for a group of seven, departing on 23/10. On 28/09, the first leg of our journey was cancelled due to “corporate reasons.” Since Monday, I have been waiting for a response with the alternative options. The rescheduling link provided is useless and despite sending 3 emails and speaking to live chat agents twice, I have been told each time that there is still no update on my case, only that the team has been “urged to respond ASAP". This level of service is absolutely unacceptable. The way customers are being treated is disgraceful, and I will be escalating this further.
Hainan cancelled our flights to Japan just weeks before departure, citing "corporate reasons". They've since removed all weekday Manchester-to-Beijing flights for October, leaving us scrambling to find our own alternatives at double the price originally paid.
Despite repeated requests for rerouting under UK261, Hainan refused to offer alternative flights. Instead, they sent us a refund link that didn't even work. Booking.com later confirmed Hainan had rejected our rerouting request.
We're now facing an extra £750 to reach our original destination because of a cancellation entirely outside our control. We're having to escalate the matter to the Civil Aviation Authority's Passenger Advice and Complaints Team (PACT) just to pursue our passenger rights.
Utterly disgraceful. No accountability, no meaningful support, and customers left to foot the bill. Do not book Hainan Airlines!
Extremely disappointing customer service for cancelled flight
Hainan cancelled my Dublin–Beijing flight, part of a Dublin–Beijing–Hong Kong itinerary, and automatically moved me from 23 to 27 October — four days later.
I immediately tried to find an alternative, but customer service was incredibly slow and difficult to reach. Online chat worked once and then stopped responding, the Dublin number went unanswered, and both customer service and the rescheduling department largely ignored my requests. On one occasion they replied only to ask for information I had already provided, then disappeared again.
The international freephone number doesn't work from Ireland, leaving expensive international numbers as the alternative.
Their rescheduling website was also extremely frustrating and largely in Chinese. Do not rely on browser translation, as I found it incorrectly translated important confirmation messages.
After repeated attempts and no timely solution, I lost confidence and requested an involuntary refund. I then had to book alternative flights myself at approximately twice the original cost.
In my experience, Hainan's communication, response times and disruption support were completely inadequate.
Si vous aimez le mal de tête/ Only if you love headache
Si vous aimez les problèmes avant le départ, pendant et après. Alors c'est Hainan Airlines qu'il faut choisir. Il suffit de regarder tous les commentaires. Si vous critiquez Hainan Airlines mais que vous continuez de voler avec Hainan vous ne leur donnez pas le bon signal. Il faut boycotter Hainan Airlines. C'est la seule manière efficace de changer le management. Pas d'argent = stress = remise en question et licenciement du mauvais management. Généralement seul l'argent fait changer le comportement.
--------
If you enjoy having problems before, during, and after your trip, then this is Hainan Airlines to choose. You only have to look at all the reviews. If you dislike Hainan Airlines but keep flying with them, you aren't sending them the right message. You need to boycott the Hainan Airlines; it is the only effective way to change the management. No money = stress = a re-evaluation and dismissal of poor management. Generally, money is the only thing that changes behavior.
The worse airline, flight was reschesduled and neger was informed, also, the numbers dont work when you call them, so dont buy any flight with this Airline.
I booked a flight from Manchester to Shanghai with a two-hour layover in Beijing. When I checked in my baggage in Manchester, the staff told me that I would have to collect my checked baggage in Beijing, go through immigration, and check in again for my connecting flight to Shanghai.
I explained that I only had a two-hour layover, but the staff assured me that it would be fine. However, when I landed in Beijing, it took quite a while to get through immigration and collect my baggage. I then had to rush to check in again for my connecting flight, which caused me a lot of unnecessary stress and anxiety about whether I would make my flight.
This baggage collection and re-check-in requirement was not clearly mentioned when I booked the flight on the airline’s website. If I had known about this in advance, I would have considered a different flight with a longer connection time.
Overall, this was a very stressful experience, and I would not book with this airline again.
Extremely disappointing experience with Hainan Airlines.
My checked baggage was delayed for 24 hours, forcing me to make an unnecessary return trip from Chonburi to Bangkok Airport at my own expense. ( hainan refuse any service for delivery ) When I finally received my suitcase, my TSA lock was missing and two sealed boxes of luxery Belgian chocolates had been opened and destroyed. ( security issue.... UNACCEPTABLE FOR A INT. TRANSIT FLIGHT where the luggage goes from airplane to airplane and is been checked already )
The airline refused to take responsibility, blamed airport security in Beijing, and declined to provide any inspection report or evidence to support their claims. Instead of helping their customer, they simply shifted responsibility elsewhere.
Poor baggage handling, poor customer service, and no accountability. I expected a professional airline to stand behind its passengers when problems occur. Hainan Airlines did not. NEVER again i will use this company and all my friends cancelled their flight already . The airport in bkk conforms this daily luggage problems with Hainan and they decline any refund.
I booked the flight from Manchester to Incheon Airport, but 2 weeks before the travel date, the airline unilaterally changed the date of travel by 4 days. Although they offered a refund, it has caused a huge amount of inconvenience.
2 star for the offer of refund, but overall, unreliable slotting and planning that sees the customer at the periphery of their service - not at the centre.
Flight cancelled, plans ruined, and still no seat assignment 30 days before departure
We booked our Hainan Airlines flights back in May, specifically to make sure we could travel on the dates we needed and, above all, to have plenty of time to select our seats for free.
On 4 September, we woke up to a very unpleasant surprise: our flight had been cancelled and we had been automatically rebooked onto a flight, two days later, despite there being another flight available the following day. This created a huge number of problems for us, as we had already booked and paid for hotels and trains based on our original itinerary. We lost money and had to reorganise a significant part of our trip because of a change that was entirely outside our control.
And unfortunately, that was only the beginning.
When we checked our new booking, we discovered that Hainan had also failed to transfer our previously selected seats to the new flight. So, to summarise: our flight was cancelled, we were rebooked without being consulted, and we were left without the seats we had already selected.
We then decided to contact customer service because the new itinerary simply did not work for us. The only available option was the online chat and calling it a customer service experience would be generous.
The chat took four hours. Not because the issue was particularly complicated, but because the system was incredibly slow. I had to spend an entire afternoon constantly refreshing the page just to receive the agent's messages, with the constant risk of losing the connection altogether. Communicating with the agent was extremely difficult, which is frankly astonishing in 2026.
After four hours, we had only managed to partially resolve the problem.
We also had to change our return flight, which created further complications with my work holiday arrangements and additional costs for a trip that had already been planned and paid for months in advance.
But the most ridiculous part is that Hainan was then unable to assign us seats on our return flight because the free seats had apparently run out. We are now being told, in practice, that we may have to pay for seats despite the fact that we had booked months in advance precisely to avoid this situation.
And of course, despite all the inconvenience, additional costs and disruption caused by Hainan's cancellation, there was not even an attempt to offer an upgrade or any other form of compensation or goodwill gesture. Although, at this point, I am hardly surprised: an airline that cannot even manage to provide a basic seat assignment after cancelling and rebooking your flight can hardly be expected to offer anything beyond the bare minimum.
As of 18 September, we are STILL waiting for an answer. Apparently, our case needs to be handled by around 20 different departments, and the result is that the customer is left waiting with no clear information.
So, to summarise the experience:
* Hainan cancels your flight.
* They rebook you on a flight two days later, even when an earlier option exists.
* They leave you to deal with the financial and logistical consequences of the change.
* They fail to transfer the seats you had already selected.
* Their customer service chat is painfully slow and extremely difficult to use.
* After spending four hours with customer service, the issue is still only partially resolved.
* They change your return flight and disrupt your work and holiday arrangements.
* They then tell you that the free seats are gone and leave you potentially having to pay for a seat.
* Despite all the inconvenience caused, they make no meaningful attempt to offer compensation, an upgrade or even a goodwill gesture.
* Nearly two weeks later, you are still waiting for a proper resolution.
We are now 30 days away from our trip and still don't even know whether we have seats assigned on our return flight.
We booked months in advance, paid for our flights and planned our entire trip around the itinerary Hainan originally sold us. When the airline changed that itinerary, the burden of fixing the consequences was essentially placed on us.
This has been an incredibly stressful and frustrating experience, and the complete lack of effective customer support has made an already difficult situation significantly worse.
At this point, we have spent a considerable amount of money on this trip and have received very little reassurance or support from Hainan Airlines. I sincerely hope this situation is eventually resolved, but based on our experience so far, I would strongly think twice before booking with this airline again.
We flew Business Class from Manchester to Xi'An via Beijing. The flight to Beijing was one of the best I have had with wonderful staff and the food was lovely. While in Beijing I took a shower but their domestic lounge is really lacking. The door of the shower was loose and the shower itself was gross.
The return flight was a nightmare. It started well with a private check in and a decent (shared) lounge in Xi'An but the lounge at Beijing was really awful. Staff tried their best but if you have mould and an overfull place there is not much you can do. They kept one of the bathrooms locked- which was a lot nicer. We decided not to eat a meal while there because food had been so nice on our trip out. That was a mistake. The venue contained a number of things we could not eat and while I understand that meals come fully prepared there was no alternative. For breakfast we got bread, butter and yoghurt - we had to beg for jam.
All of this would have not been so bad if they did not destroy a brand new expensive suitcase. Their correspondence is all 'sorry, but no sorry' while gaslighting the customer. A 5 star airline they are not.
⭐️ 1 STAR — DO NOT TRUST THIS AIRLINE
Absolutely disgraceful experience with Hainan Airlines.
My sister travelled with Hainan Airlines in September 2025 and was refused boarding at Melbourne Airport because staff claimed there was an issue with her visa. There was no visa issue, and Hainan Airlines later acknowledged that the problem was due to an error on their side.
You would think that once an airline admits it was at fault, the matter would be resolved. Unfortunately, that has not happened.
My sister is still waiting for her refund to this day. We have sent numerous emails and followed up repeatedly, only to be ignored and left without a proper resolution. It has been almost a year of chasing money that should have been returned to her.
The treatment we received at Melbourne Airport was also appalling. The staff member dealing with us was extremely rude, dismissive and seemed completely unwilling to communicate with us or properly address the situation. We were made to feel like a nuisance rather than customers who had been unfairly denied boarding.
We also felt that we were being treated differently because we were wearing hijab. While I cannot know the staff member’s intentions, the way we were treated left us feeling uncomfortable, disrespected and singled out.
What makes this even worse is that the airline apparently acknowledged its own mistake, yet has still failed to provide the refund and has continued to avoid our attempts to contact them.
Hainan Airlines — taking someone’s money is one thing, but refusing to take responsibility when your own mistake has caused the problem is completely unacceptable.
If you are considering booking with this airline, I would seriously think twice. Based on our experience, I would not recommend Hainan Airlines and certainly would not trust them to properly resolve a problem if something goes wrong.
September 2025 → September 2026, and still no refund. Absolutely unacceptable.
Our experience with Hainan Airlines has been completely unacceptable.
We originally travelled with Hainan Airlines from London to Melbourne, transiting through Hainan. My sister was travelling on an Afghan passport and was allowed to board and transit through Hainan on the outbound journey without any issue.
When she was due to fly back from Melbourne to London, however, Hainan Airlines suddenly denied her boarding.
We were told that immigration in Hainan would not deal with or approve her transit. This explanation made very little sense to us considering my sister had already travelled through Hainan successfully on the outbound journey.
We had also contacted the relevant immigration authorities ourselves. We provided them with a copy of my sister's passport and her details to check the situation, and we were told that her transit was fine.
Despite this, Hainan Airlines still refused to allow her to board.
What makes the situation even more confusing is that my mother also travelled back from Melbourne to London with Hainan Airlines using an Afghan passport and was allowed to board and transit without any issue.
My sister urgently needed to return to London because she had her graduation to attend. She therefore had no choice but to purchase a last-minute replacement ticket with a completely different airline and travel back that way.
As a result, we were left approximately £2,500 out of pocket.
Hainan Airlines are now also refusing to refund the ticket for the journey that they themselves prevented my sister from taking.
The situation simply does not add up. My sister was allowed to transit through Hainan on the outbound journey. My mother was allowed to make the return journey on an Afghan passport. We had contacted immigration ourselves, supplied my sister's passport details and were told the transit was fine. Yet Hainan Airlines denied my sister boarding, blamed immigration and are now refusing a refund.
If immigration genuinely refused her transit, Hainan Airlines should provide evidence of that decision and explain exactly what immigration requirement prevented her from travelling. They should also explain why this supposed restriction did not prevent her outbound journey or my mother's return journey.
Instead, my sister was left stranded, had to urgently arrange a replacement flight with another airline to make it back for her graduation, and our family was left approximately £2,500 out of pocket.
We have tried to resolve this with Hainan Airlines, but their refusal to provide a satisfactory explanation or even refund the unused journey has made an already terrible experience even worse.
Based on our experience, I cannot recommend Hainan Airlines. I would certainly not trust them again with an important international journey.
They c ancelled our flights 16 days out from departure, we were refunded but its cost us 2000 euro to book another airline at such short notice . Never again . Disgraceful. They wouldn't even ĺet us keep the return flights. SCAM
Air China
China Eastern
Qatar Airways
Emirates
Global Juneyaoair
Norse Atlantic Airways
Etihad
Cathay Pacific Airways