Extremely Disappointing Experience with Xiamen Airlines
Xiamen Airlines has given me one of the worst airline experiences I have ever had. They cancelled my original flight scheduled for 10 October 2026 and offered me an alternative flight on 9 October 2026, one day earlier, completely disrupting my travel plans and ruining the end of my holiday.
What makes this experience even worse is the lack of communication and customer service. I have tried to contact them to resolve the issue, but they have failed to respond to my messages. As a customer, I expected professional service, clear communication, and a reasonable solution, but I have received none of these.
My family and I planned our holiday carefully, and this last-minute cancellation has caused unnecessary stress, inconvenience, and uncertainty about our journey home.
Cancelling a flight is already frustrating, but failing to communicate with affected passengers makes the situation even worse. Customers deserve to be treated with respect and provided with proper assistance when an airline changes their travel arrangements.
I am extremely disappointed with Xiamen Airlines and would think twice before booking with them again. I hope they take customer complaints seriously and improve their communication and handling of flight cancellations.
Based on my personal experience, I cannot recommend this airline.
The worst Chinese airline ever. Do NOT fly with them!! They cancelled my middle domestic leg and rescheduled for 2 days later. Tried calling their help desk 5 times (asking to change destination on the same day three times got denied, cancelling the flight for lounge access denied and cancelling the flight altogether denied - they say if I miss this domestic leg 2 days later I miss my last international leg). This airline is absolute trash and the customer service team is useless and incompetent.
Gosh where to start...! I reserved seats and a meal (for my allergy); at the airport I was informed neither requests came through so I was sat next to the toilet - which smellt like a urinal - with a seat that wouldn't even recline. And with no food for my 24 hour trip.
Check in online also didn’t work.
At the Xiamen airport for my 6 hour layover I was unable to access the wifi, I tried every way possible. I even bought an Airalo simcard for China and even that didn't work.
Paid for wifi twice in the airplane and both times it didn’t work. Had the crew try help me twice but alas. The headset they give you for the screen is also horrible, you can barely hear the audio. Wifi worked for 10 minutes at one point during my 11 hour flight but everything was blocked including WhatsApp and Instagram so I could only use EMAIL.
The lounge at the airport also didn't accept my MasterCard or American Express so I ended up having to change money and pay cash - Money changer charges 35% (!!) Commission.
If you’re on a super tight budget and dont mind not having any wifi, food, seats or proper headset to watch a movie go for it. Otherwise, try Qatar or China Airlines, more worth your money. In the end you end up paying over €100 on extra costs anyways so you might as well book a better airline
I always fly with Xiamen Airlines between U.S. and China and between China and Japan. Their service is consistent, professional, friendly, their food is beyond expectation. Their safety standard is also reliable. Every time I feel my money is well spent on this airline.
[Lightning Avoidance] Xiamen Airlines General's incompetence, tired to death of the three armies
[Lightning Avoidance] MF8719 Hangzhou-Macau prepared to land in Guangzhou, which was delayed for nearly 8 hours. The crew avoided communication throughout the whole process, and the Egret members' rights protection were directly blacklisted by Xiamen Airlines applet customer service.
First of all, let's talk about the premise: I am a paid member of Bailu. I fly all year round. I always recognize that safety is the first. I fully understand that the captain chooses to prepare for landing for weather reasons, and do not question the safety decision of preparing for landing. However, the emergency response, crew communication and after-sales rights protection experience of the whole MF8719 incident have refreshed my many years of experience.
Flight Information: MF8719 2026.08.02 Hangzhou Xiaoshan T4→Macau
It was planned to take off at 14:55, but it actually took off at 15:25; the destination Macau encountered a thunderstorm, failed to approach many times, and landed at Guangzhou Baiyun Airport; finally landed in Macau at 0.45 a.m., and the whole process was delayed by nearly 8 hours.
The whole story of the incident
1. After the landing place in Guangzhou, the information vacuumed for a long time
The flight landed at Baiyun Airport, and hundreds of passengers on board were trapped. Everyone was most concerned about two core issues: when can it take off again and how to arrange the follow-up itinerary.
The crew did not take the initiative to synchronize and clarify the time node, and the crew could not answer the passengers' questions; the captain did not leave the cockpit for nearly 10 hours, and the captain did not calm the passengers through the broadcast.
Follow-up ground special police arrived at the scene for coordination and communication. The captain still chose to refuse to come out, leave the cockpit, and refuse to respond to any passenger's demands.
At the same time and the same route, NX225 Hangzhou to Macau seized the weather window and landed smoothly. The situation of the two flights was completely different. We respected the captain's decision to land, but we could not accept the complete closure of the subsequent information for several hours.
2. The plan warning after the emergency landing is completely insufficient.
There is no clear notice of when you can return to Macao again, and you are not informed whether you can get off the plane. The information notification is not clear, and it has been changing all the time, and the caliber is not the same.
After the flight was prepared to land at Guangzhou Baiyun Airport, the passengers were trapped in the sealed cabin for a long time, and the crew never released a stable and clear restart take-off time. The itinerary news fluctuated repeatedly. After a while, it was informed that the queue was waiting in the airspace, and after a while, it was notified that the Macau meteorological red warning could not land in the short term. The information was contradictory and constantly consumed the patience of passengers. The flight attendant could not give a definite answer, so he could only repeatedly persuade the passengers to wait in place.
It was not until a child in the cabin suffered from hypoxia and discomfort due to a long-term closed environment, and the ambulance was called on the spot to arrive at the seat, that the airline agreed to open the hatch to allow passengers to disembark. If there is no passenger health risk, all passengers will continue to stay on board.
During the stay, the ground staff (who came not Xiamen Airlines but from China Southern Airlines) also provided passengers with the termination of the itinerary agreement to guide the signing. The terms of the agreement are very strict: signing is regarded as a voluntary waiver of the voyage and cannot be refunded. The airline does not bear any compensation. At the same time, it is not responsible for arranging the local accommodation guarantee in Guangzhou. Everything needs to be borne by the passengers themselves.
If i can give -5 stars, that would be it. The airlines changed the departure time 7 hours later, and never informed or send out info to customers. I reached the airport early, as a first time customer of Xiamen Airlines, to find out this news. All my travel plans is in tatters, hotel for which i already booked and lose money. This, they cannot even reimburse as a gesture but kept on INSISTING that email has been sent. So you as a customer should know. But i checked all my inboxes, text messages, spam folders and all, NOTHING! Worse part, not even a single sorry for the inconvenience but just asked to come back 7 hours as counter is not open for check-in. This route is flying from Jakarta, PLEASE for the love of god, AVOID THIS AIRLINE AT ALL COST IF YOU VALUE YOUR TIME.
Better opt other airlines that treats you better and like a customer.
UPDATE 1 JUNE 26: No offer of sincere apologies. Just normal as you as a customer should have known better and check by yourself. Flying for more than 6 hours on this flight, the entertainment is your own phone mostly. I find the seats is quite small and very thin on seats padding. Staff service at least was Ok, pity how the corporate makes the experience a big disappointment from the very start. It definitely affected my happiness on starting my journey and ending.
XiamenAir messed up my flight schedule and makes me pay for cleaning up the mess
I booked several flights with XiamenAir. Within 12 hours after booking they changed two of them. The result is that I will now stay in China for 31 days which is not permitted.
I therefore want to cancel my inbound flight because I don't want to violate Chinese law.
XiamenAir is in no way cooperative in this matter. The only thing they do is repeat the ticket conditions, which say that I have to pay a cancellation fee.
I do not recommend flying XiamenAir.
Edit 30-04-2026: After several emails we were allowed to cancel the flight without paying a cancellation fee. Problem solved.
Still it is annoying that flights were cancelled immediately after booking and it takes almost a week to come to a solution
Edit 01-05-2026: I tried cancelling a flight without cancellation fee at the helpdesk. This failed: people at the helpdesk are not cooperative at all. It appears I have to go to a lot more trouble to get what I'm entitled to. Also, if you call the Amsterdam number you can only speak to someone in Chinese.
Problem is not solved.
I do not recommend flying with XiamenAir.
Edit 02-05-2026
XiamenAir promised to call be back to solve the problem. Instead I got an email in which they withdraw their promise to cancel the flight without cancellation fee.
Words cannot describe how incompetent this company is.
Never ever book a flight here!
Dealing with the customer service is a total nightmare!
Edit 08-05-2026:
After several more emails, a complaint and a few phone calls, I got an email suggesting that I cancel all flights for a full refund. Mind you, the only option given by XaimenAir is to cancel everything. I really wonder why the just dont let us cancel the one flight. This sounds like they want to get rid of us, because we only want to cancel one flight, not four.
So the choices are: accept the current flight schedule, which makes us violate Chinese law or cancel everything for a full refund, which leaves us empty handed.
I do not recommend flying with Xiamen Airlines.
Absolutely horrible exprience. They rescheduled my flight back home 3 times in a day, causing me and my family to wait for the next transit flight home for 5 hours. And the worst part of it all, we were only notified of the rescheduled flight while we were on our first flight from kunming to xiamen.
Imagine if we were to only find out the horrible truth that our flight has been rescheduled to an earlier flight timing during out touch down in xiamen? What were gonna do if we only have 30mins to catch the next flight? Absolutely no consideration for their passenger at all!
Absolutely unacceptable for the airline to reschedule the flight 3 times for 1 trip back home. Will never take this airline again, horrible experience.
A Stressful Experience with Xiamen Airlines Over a Simple Name Error
I recently flew with Xiamen Airlines, and unfortunately my experience was very stressful due to an issue with the name on my ticket. I booked my flight through FlightHub, and the ticket displayed my name as Dawn Ratchel Veniegas, while my passport shows my full legal name Dawn Ratchel Remoquillo Veniegas.
When I arrived at the airport, Xiamen Airlines told me that because the names didn’t fully match, they could not check me in. I explained the situation, showed proof, and asked if there was any way to correct it, but they said it was too late to make any changes. It was frustrating because the mismatch was small, and we did everything we could to show them the documents, but they still couldn’t proceed.
The staff weren’t rude, but they also weren’t able to offer any solution, which added a lot of stress—especially since my flight was leaving soon. I understand that airlines have strict rules for security and accuracy, but I wish they had a clearer or more flexible process for honest mistakes like this, especially when the traveler can prove their identity.
Overall, the situation left me disappointed and anxious, and I hope the airline improves how they handle ticket name corrections and supports passengers better during situations like this.
The worst experience I’ve had with this airline. The staff are rude, disrespectful and they threaten customers. The staff yelling at you any time and they think all people around the world speak Chinese. I don’t recommend at all .
Worst international airline ever. Weight of 2 pieces luggage was within the limit. However, counter staff don’t even accept 1kg overweight luggage. A budget airline can do better than you!
[Not sponsored by Xiamen Airlines]
I wish I could give this airline 100 stars! I flew with Xiamen in July 2025. My way from Amsterdam to Xiamen was just great. Got fed well with plenty of meals. In-Airlines was solid. But my return flight was perfection. Xiamen Airlines offered an AMAZING Hotel by the name of "Air Lakeside hotel" in Xiamen for my long transit. From start to finish, I got blessed during my transit time in Xiamen. It made my 11 hour transit very pleasurable (which would normally be hell if I had to wait at the airport). I got offered free breakfast at the hotel, free shuttle bus to the hotel. Staff was amazing. When I woke up, they had a taxi back to the airport for me straight away. No waiting time. The hotel is absolute perfection. It had all the amenities, great shower.. everything. Xiamen Airlines managed to turn a transit into a holiday. Well done. Would recommend to everyone 10/10.
Terrible aircraft and service — copy-paste replies, no accountability
My flight MF864 (QR5578 codeshare, 1 Sept 2025) from Doha to Beijing was one of the worst travel experiences I’ve had. The aircraft had poor ventilation, visible dust on the ceiling, and an overall sense of neglect. Xiamen Airlines’ customer service repeatedly sent the same copy-paste replies in broken English, refusing to answer simple questions or provide video evidence of the aircraft condition.
They offered only a 100-yuan voucher — about £10 — as compensation, which is insulting given the discomfort and stress caused. I have proof that Qatar Airways later upgraded my next flight free of charge as a goodwill gesture, confirming there was an issue.
Xiamen Airlines refuses to take responsibility or communicate professionally. I strongly advise avoiding them. Their customer service feels robotic, their English responses unreadable, and their aircraft maintenance standards questionable.
Positive: cheap, very nice departure times, friendly services (speaks no English but Google translate brings a solution).
Negative: bagage lost... no compensation, a week later on departure... no compensation.
Conclusion: t is a low budget carrier and as long as everything is getting well it is okay!
It doesnt even deserve 1 star. They are a disgusting airline, has no customer service and tell lies to let you pay for the extra luggage. And on top of that they were racist to black races. Dont do it its not worth it.
Worst company ever !! DO NOT BOOK with them a disaster poor customer service, cancel flight without telling you and give you bullshit excuses. NEVER EVER AGAIN this company should bankrupt shortly that is all the deserved. I work with lots of TA and DMC trust me I will make their promotion. TRUMP was right on one thing !!! You should be ashame !!!
Booked a flight with an ile seat in mind in economy. They changed plane and got a random different seat. KLM said Xiamens problem, not us. Xiamen said well you didn't pay for a special seat so nothing we can do. Absolute bullshit. Nothing you can do except leaving a bad review and just not buy tickets from them anymore. Buyer be warned
I booked a flight with Xiamen Air mostly due to it being in the Alliance with AirFrance-KLM. The entire experience has been a disaster at best: I have taken hundreds of flights across the world and this must have been the most frustrating one I ever took. My flight was delayed by 5+ hours without any proper information provided (none of their staff could speak English) and they refused any type of compensation (including paying for the flight I missed due to their delay). Their staff actually even refused to provide the document acknowledging the flight delay when I asked for it.
Additionally, their website doesn't sell tickets (which must be done via 3rd parties). They don't have an app. Online check-in (and services such as seat selection with airline status) is not possible. They also refuse to provide miles and XP for the airline status despite being in the Alliance, which is hidden when booking the flight.
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