Review of China Airlines flight from Xiamen to Taipei in Economy

Background/Routing

After our stay in Minnan visiting Quanzhou and Xiamen, it was time to head off to our next destination with a short 200 mile hop across the strait on China Airlines, which markets this route as Mandarin Airlines. The bonus at the end will be of Xiamen for this report.

Arrival at Gaoqi

Located on the island, Xiamen-Gaoqi is very easily accessed as a terminus of Metro Line 2. It will be sad when the new airport in Xiang'an opens and takes over operations since it will make city access much more time consuming. Since we were staying less than 10km from the airport, we booked a ride at 09:20 targeting arrival at 09:40, 2h ahead of departure.

We are quickly reaching Gaoqi T3, which handles the International operations.

The architecture of Gaoqi T3 is quite unique, it is shame that the airport will soon be replaced.

After being dropped off, we head inside to check-in after proceeding through the standard security checks to enter airports in China.

Check-in and Security

Inside, we head straight to the international check-in area.

With our SkyTeam Elite Plus statuses we used the Sky Priority lane. We were handed our boarding passes, lounge invitation cards, and were directed towards immigration.

Immigration is upstairs at the departures level.

Immigration and security took less than 20 minutes combined and we immediately circulate into the terminal.

The terminal is a single long corridor with gates on only one side.

Despite the age of the airport, the cleanliness was good and there were several cultural areas throughout to break-up the monotony.

We were instructed to use the First Class Lounge (No. 17) located at the end of the terminal up a set of escalators.

First Class Lounge (No. 17)

Upstairs, we handed over our lounge invitation cards and were shown to the right.

Some models as we enter. They clearly are refreshed regularly since the KE model has the new livery.

The buffet area was closed as the transition from breakfast to lunch was occurring so we went over to the snack/drink area first.

Plenty of nice seating areas throughout.

The noodle bar.

Eventually, the hot food was brought out for lunch. The staff was checking the temperature of all the dishes, which was reassuring.

My offering.

The lounge was quite impressive for a Chinese airport, but it was soon time to leave to catch our plane.

Boarding

Down the escalator we go to find our gate.

Reaching our gate, the green shirt tour group was clearly going to be on our flight.

Spotting is not easy, but our A333 was visible outside. We will get B-18306 today, a 20 year old plane that has spent its entire life with CI and features a C36 (2-2-2) and Y277 (2-4-2) configuration.

A PR A321 next door.

Boarding was called on time and we headed in with the Sky Priority line. The nose of our plane as we make our way down the jet bridge.

At the end of the jet bridge were earphones, but the crew also handed them out on the plane.

Passing through the J cabin with its 2-2-2 configuration. These are the same seats that OZ has on their A333s.

Reaching the Y cabin with its 2-4-2 configuration.

Our seats for this flight.

These seats are very old, but also very comfortable with lots of padding.

Seat Tour

Pitch is decent at 32".

The seat back featuring a tiny screen, mirror, coat hook, and a small net for an early 2000s cell phone.

The headrests are a fixed shape.

Under the seat is a 110V outlet.

Legroom is restricted almost all seats with entertainment boxes.

The controller for the IFE is in the armrest.

Seat back contents.

Safety card.

The view from our seat, no surprises but MF dominates operations at XMN.

MF B789 landing as we await push back.

Push Back and Taxi

A new safety video, which was completely different than what I had seen flying CI in May, played as we pushed back on time.

MF B788 next door.

CZ B738 (B-5598) with China-ASEAN Expo special livery.

MF B738 (B-5688) with 100th Boeing special livery.

Goodbye Gaoqi.

G5 A320 landing.

SQ B737-MAX8 landing.

We let a local leave first. 

Our turn to align onto Runway 23.

We take off at 12:09 crossing T4…

then T3…

Great views over the island.

Goodbye Xiamen.

Kulangsu will be featured in the tourism bonus. The Taiwanese island of Kinmen County is on the top of the photo and the previous day there were several Chinese naval ships at the docks on the bottom of the photo.

Entertainment

There is obviously no Wi-Fi on this plane, but the IFE was active after the safety video played and features the most recent interface despite the age of the screen.

Meal Service

We kept a SW routing out of XMN, due to the closed military airspace along the coast.

The purser immediately approached us and thanked us for flying with CI and for our ST loyalty. Status is almost never acknowledged on *A airlines, so it is good to see that ST still acknowledges status holders. They gave our son an activity book as well and informed us of a short 60-minute flight today.

The CHML was brought out quickly, which was a very solid tray featuring main, fruit, yogurt drink, bread, and dessert.

The main was pasta, vegetables, and pork in a sweet sauce.

Battling the Japanese carriers for kawaii dessert awards.

The carts reached our row as we were starting our u-turn to head back up to Taoyuan.

There is no option on this flight and everyone is given the same meal. There is the option to pre-order special meals online.

The meal unpacked. For a 200 mile flight, there is nothing to criticize with this catering.

The nicely seasoned and fresh starter.

The main consisting of chicken, vegetables, and rice.

Melons for dessert.

A chocolate cookie and strawberry juice.

CI uses metal cutlery in Y along with a refreshing towel and toothpick.

Coffee and tea were offered after the carts passed. All other drinks needed to be requested due to how short the flight is, which is understandable.

Arrival in Taoyuan

As the meal concludes, we are already into our descent into Taoyuan.

Our route today nearly doubled the great circle distance to avoid military air space in the Strait.

Cloudy in Taiwan today as we approach the airport.

We landed on Runway 05L at 13:13 well ahead of schedule on a day that looked to be threatening some rain.

We had a short taxi past the A gates.

KE B77W.

JX A339neo.

We take our slot next to several A330s of new and old.

Deplaning

On stand, there is some wait to deplane, but the green shirt tour group ahead of us was quickly gone having almost no cabin items.

One last look at our plane as we make our way into the terminal.

I'll leave off this series here as we arrive in Taoyuan.

Flight Information

Mandarin Airlines, AE992
Equipment: Airbus A330-300 [B-18306, delivered July 2005]
Departure: 11:40 (ATD: 12:09)
Arrival: 13:30 (ATA: 13:13)
Flight time: 1:04