Avis du vol entre Xiamen et Beijing en classe Première avec Xiamen Airlines

Hello everyone, and the merriest of holidays to you all! I hope everyone is enjoying the best time of the year with your loved ones, and having some of that good food! Welcome to my last trip report of the year, and finally, finally, I get to experience Xiamen Air's F. Three times this year, during my time in Shanghai, I've booked this cabin, only to be told at 1am that morning that an aircraft change from the 787-8 to 787-9 rendered my ticket moot. This was my last day in Shanghai, and I thought perhaps it'll be in the stars to finally work out for me. After long deliberation and quite a lot of praying the night before, I was ecstatic to wake up and see no downgrade text. It was finally time, for Xiamen F!

Right before we get on to this review, I wanted to highlight some flights coming up in the near future, ones I am absolutely ecstatic for. Quite a few are very peculiar experiences, I'll just list those, and I am so looking forward to sharing it with you all. The first is on Condor from Sanya to Bangkok ( can't believe this is even a route offered, we love fifth freedom flights), and second is Garuda Indonesia on their only F route from Toyko Narita to Bali. Those two I've tried to squeeze in for over a year, and finally this opportunity has come. I can't wait! Alright, back to today's review!

Out of the mainland carriers, Air China and China Eastern are the only two others maintaining a F cabin. Having done reviews on those earlier, you will clearly be able to see with my experience today that Xiamen are really the only ones taking F seriously, and oh my word leaps and bounds beyond the other Chinese carriers. The expectation and norm for the others really is Business class food in a F seat, even sometimes for long haul flights. I have previously seen other Chinese vloggers document their trips on Xiamen F over to Australia/Singapore, but having clarified with the crew during my trip, Xiamen to Beijing Daxing is now the only route that offers this special experience. Xiamen Air labels this as "摘星奇旅", which essentially translates to "the magical journey where you fly with the stars" (i think). Even the reverse flight from PKX to XMN doesn't offer this special experience. I was informed they are on season 5 of the culinary experience, and welcomed me to return for their future changes. Having read up on what I was in for, you could imagine my excitement especially on Christmas day. 

This experience was largely positive, especially compared to other Mainland carriers. The catering, in particular, in my opinion trumps some of the world's best airlines, I'd love to hear how you guys feel. But some aspects do have room for improvement, but incredible regardless.

My route today took my from Shanghai Hongqiao to Xiamen on their narrowbody, then from Xiamen over to PKX in Beijing. I had originally booked both flights with Xiamen air customer service, but was told in Shanghai that my luggage couldn't be tagged to Beijing so I had to leave the airport in Xiamen, pick up my luggage, and re-check them. On the bright side, I managed to receive the full ground experience. 

There is a dedicated premium check-in area, taking customers on First/Business, Sky Priority members, and  Xiamen's hightier rewards members. 

Immediately after sharing my passport, the agent made a few calls mentioned I was flying with their F cabin, and two Xiamen staff came around to greet me. They offered a nice branded Luggage cover, which really would have come in handy when I last flew Delta and they completely shattered my bag:(.

This is what it looked like in action. 

Quite a cute little moment when the agents scrambled to find me my "star" to stick on my boarding pass. Given the hassle and consideration they gave I thought it was going to be something massive, turned out just to be a little golden star like those your teachers would give out to students back in Primary school!

A lovely staff member then escorted me over to security, and sebsequently through it and over to the lounge. During our journey was when I asked about which other routes this service was offered, to which she replied only Xiamen to Beijing  currently. When I inquired about the bag tag, she mentioned part of the reason is due to Gaoqi airport's age and struggles when it comes to logistics, luckily all of MF are moving to a new airport next year. 

I guess the small size of the airport helps all crew be quite friendly with each other and have close relationships. My MF taff member seemed to be good friends with the airport agent checking my passport before security, as they had a nice chat about why my boarding pass had a star on it.

Once we were through security, we were off to the lounge.  MF's lounge, labelled "First Class lounge", separated into two sections (left and right). I was told by the staff member there was a special section dedicated to F passengers. However, that area had around 10 gentlemen there, none of whom ended up on my flight, and considering only my flight had the F cabin, I'm curious as to what else constitutes access to "special section for F passengers". Obviously not a complaint, just curiousity. 

Upon entering, I was offered some (incredibly delicious and fresh) fruit, and a warm lemon water. 

I had mentioned to the staff member bringing me to the gate I hadn't gotten much sleep, and was hoping to stop by Starbucks for a coffee. She let me know they had special brews in the lounge for me to try, and without me needed to communicate again with the lounge staff, an Iced Americano was brought over. Excellent service!

On my (left) side of the lounge, there was only a small setup of snacks while the main dining area was on the right. I guess they weren't kidding about the large coffee selection. This was quite the display.

Opposite the coffee flex, was an alcohol and cocktail flex hahha. I know it was only noon, but it's Christmas and I'm goin first class, a Whisky sour for me please!

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Next to that was the small display of food. Just some crackers, cold cuts, and more fruit. They also had some specialty desserts, which I tried the small sesame cake. Quite good, much better than the ones CA offer (the ones no one eats at the lounge and so they bring it onboard as part of the meal)

This was the seating area on my "exclusive first class" section. Honestly not too different to the other side of lounge, and far too many seats if they were truly dedicating this space to only F class passengers. Considering this flight only utilizes the 787-8 twice a week, this entire area would be empty almost weekly!

I then headed over to the other side of the lounge to check out the food options. Since it was around brunch time, there was a noodle bar offering some made-to-order dishes. I went with a Shacha noodle soup, which is a Cantonese style sauce with seafood.

Other than that, they had a solid buffet with quite a few options. I did notice, however, despite the large number of offerings, they didn't seem too appetizing. Considering the overwhelming number of guests preferring just the noodle soup, I guess they weren't big fans of the buffet either. 

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Back to my end of the lounge, here are the aforementioned cold cuts.

The dessert and wine display on my side does add a touch of class and elegance that isn't offered on the other side of the lounge. The desserts especially seem to be freshly made as opposed to the most likely packaged ones on the other end. Fresh panna-cottas were also offered, it's nice to see MF make an extra effort for F passengers.

There was also a Christmas display. A lovely agent ended up gifting me one of the boxes, which had two apples inside. In China, the word for apple sounds like the one for safe, and she emphasized this and wished me and my loved ones safety in the New Year.

Here's the spread I went with. Honestly the highlight was probably the fruit. For someone who isn't really that excited over fruits, this was honestly some of the best I've ever had.

The freshly made sesame cake.

This was the gift box I was offered. 

A while later, a staff member came by with a freshly made spiced mull-wine. It had a strong scent of cinnamon which I really like. A bit sweet for my taste though:)

Some more pastries offered.

Before heading over for boarding, I checked out the lavatory, of which there are two with one on each side of the lounge. The restroom is extremely clean and offered some nice amenities. I snatched the last mouthwash:)  They also offer disposal toilet seats and instructions on how to change them, which is a nice touch.

Around five minutes before boarding, an agent came around and checked up on me, and another MF staff member escorted me to my plane. All the staff members in the lounge were extremely lively and professional, especially the lady who offered my the present and apples reminding me of my family members, super cheerful and kept trying to feed me more food! 

One last snap of our lounge. I would say until next time, but it seems next time they'll be at the new terminal! My agent also mentioned the new lounge would be nearly 6x the current one. Incredible!

Over to gate 8, the first look at our 787-8 (thank god not 787-9) over to Beijing!

My lovely MF staff member escorted my over on the jetbridge.

Welcome aboard! The first look at our cabin for today. Now, some early mixed impressions. MF is known for their sleek blue color, which I love. I'm not too sure why they went with a dark red for F. Albeit this cabin has been around for a while, but an interesting choice of color. An unpopular opinion, one that I continuously questioned myself about the more I thought about it. But this cabin lowkey reminds me of AF's La Premiere, minus all of what's good about it. No curtain, no modern sleek design, it looks like what a La Premiere cabin would have looked like 20 years ago, or maybe a La Premiere cabin after they installed only the chairs, before any of the glitz and glamor. It's mainly just the seat layout that I found slightly resemblant, but again I was running on 2 hours sleep and 2 whisky sours in.

I had a lot of stuff with me, and the crew offered to strap in my big laptop and some fragile objects in the seat next to me. Only me in F today!

Here's a look at my seat, 1A. They had a red pillow which matched the cabin colors, a BLUE NOT RED blanket, some headphones in the back, and a real rose which was taken away from me before landing and I never saw again.

Ah my precious, oh how I miss the twenty minutes or so we spent together.

There was in-flight wifi offered, free of cost, which I tried out and was in fact quite speedy. On the bottom there is the very elegant menu card, which I will show page by page in a second. 

For reference, the very bottom of the menu card shows the three michelin star restaruant MF collaborates with for these F experiences. The Chinese on it is far too cultural for me, so I've utilized the expertise of Google Translate: 
Cultivating flavor through time, skill, and tradition;
Understanding its essence, cherishing its taste.

MF has a large painting at the front of each F seat, with one larger one spanning the middle two seats. You can scan the QR code and learn more about it, quite a nice touch highlighting Chinese artistic culture.

The IFE screen is also showing its age. But as I'll show after take off, they actually have quite a large selection, one of the better (or perhaps best) of mainland carriers. 

The Ottoman opens up as storage space, and is perfect to place your shoes when changing into slippers. These slippers look exactly like the ones offered on EK, except for the color. It's the only other airline I've experienced that offers these, as opposed to your usual slip on ones.

The controller, again showing its age, is placed on the left side of your seat next to the pre-plugged in headphones, and a bottle of Voss water. Although the IFE had some solid selections, the controller was rather unresponsive and often took me a couple tries to get a reaction from the screen. 

Another look at the cabin. Note the business cabin is in an older 2-2-2 configuration, as opposed to the 1-2-1 herringbone on their newer 787-9's which don't have a F cabin but offer transatlantic service.

Welcome drinks were offered, with a champagne and a Chinese tea. Alongside them were some nuts and dried mushrooms, which were surprisingly tasty. I was also offered a hot towel and a MF branded Steam eye mask. 

As we began to pushback, I spotted a Cathay 330 arriving from Hong kong. I actually took that route back in 2020, during the Covid days.

There were two charging sockets at the seat, one here near the ottoman and another next to the controller. I ended up using this one in-flight, which worked perfectly. This might be a small detail, but still appreciated since around 50% of the time plugs don't work on Air China. I recall a flight back in 2019 from Heathrow to Beijing in economy with my buddy where none of the power sockets on the entire plane was functioning, that was an experience.

I was quickly offered a refiill of everything as soon as the crew noticed I had finished.

The crew member then came by to introduce herself, followed by the purser. One of my only criticisms throughout this flight was that the crew member taking care of me seemed rather cold and distant. A few times I tried to engage in conversation, she only replied with a few words and hurried back to the galley. The purser was very chatty, but she only appeared once before take-off and once after landing. I have no problem with a professional crew, but would have loved it if she was slightly more personable. Of course, only a very small thing considering how amazing this experience was. Some of the vloggers who took this journey all had lengthly chats with their crew who all seemed to be the ones carrying the conversation. I guess my crew member was on the shy side, no problem!

There's a small lamp on the left side of my seat. I didn't get to use it, but again it's also showing its age.

As we began pushback, my drinks were taken away. We took off at 10:55, 5 minutes ahead of schedule. Will never get tired of looking out the windows as we drift through the cloud, is there a better feeling in the world?

After confirming on the ground that she could start food service as soon as we took off, the crew jumped into service. This marked the beginning of one of, if not the best, meal experiences I've had in the air. 

As there were five (technically four, the first being a drink) different courses, as illustrated by the menu, I'll attach each page of menu as it corresponds to the course served.
The first, was a beverage, which was continuously topped up throughout the meal. I wasn't too sure what this was, but it was quite sweet and refreshing. The Chinese on each page is similar to the cultural language at the top of the menu. Again, take google translate with a pinch of salt: Harvest large fruits that are over ten years old, and process them through six years of nine steaming and nine sun-drying processes.

Our first course was up next. The menu was structured in a way where a colored sheet with a single word would introduce the dishes which followed on the next page. Although the colored sheet is somewhat see through, I've attached them separately. This chinese word means "fresh". 

This was honestly incredible. So immaculate and tasty, absolutely nothing different to what you would actually receive at this michelin star restaurant. The crew informed me that the restaurant freshly prepares all the dishes and only brings them to the airport nearing take off, and it reflected in the taste. The little red bowl was some red vinegar, which I was instructed to brush over my dishes with the small green brush made of vegetables. This was wonderful.

Up next, first again the menu card. This Chinese character translates to "concentrated", but in the food context refers to something having great flavor.

This was the only course I had some mixed feelings about. The sea cucumber with rice was excellent, so was the broth of the vegetable dish. However, the mustard leaves were quite bitter, which isn't anything about the preparation, but rather the vegetable itself comes with that flavor. 

I forgot to show this little rock that came with my meal. The little icon can also be found on the menu card under the label "chef Xiamen Air". Sadly I didn't bring this home, I didn't inquire it but I didn't want to put the crew in an uncomfortable position if I couldn't. 

Taking a quick break from the meal service, lets quickly check out the IFE. As mentioned before, quite a solid selection with various English Options. The IFE system is same with their transatlantic routes, which I never got tired of watching during my journey to Doha. So quite a good selection.

Before the next course, the crew brought out the Champagne I was being served. I took a quick search and this retails around 50 USD per bottle. Perhaps a better choice could be argued for with a F class flight.

Next up, also our final savory course. Once again, menu card comes first. I'm not sure how to translate the Chinese character. But in Chinese, 丰收 means harvest, so potentially this character resembles something along those lines.

This rice was by far my favorite. This was absolutely incredible. The sauce that accompanied it was impecable, truly resemblant of the Three-michelin star restaurant. There was also a small card that illustrated how to best enjoy this course. I was really sad when it ended, and really could have used some more rice. The only thing with the entire dining experience was that the portions were on the smaller side. I guess with fancy Michelin-star restaurants, they do tend to prioritize quality over quantity. I've never really understood this concept, as the few times I've been to a fancier restaurant, I end up chugging down a cheeseburger afterwards (which sometimes is more enjoyable than the meal).

With the last dessert course up next, I noticed some pins my crew member had on her uniform. I kindly asked what they were, and she replied that these demonstrate that she is certified in tea tasting and recommendation (the green one on the left), a MF alcohol/bartender certification (the bottom one), and another professional alcohol certificate not associated with MF, but sponsored and highly recommended. I kindly asked if I could grab some pictures of it on my table, as I didn't want to accidentally snap her face in a picture with them on her uniform. 

Finally, our dessert course. Again, menu first.

Again, a beautifully presented course. The fruit as good as the one in the lounge, and pastries also incredible delicious. 

As the meal service concluded, and having barely slept, I asked the crew to put down my seat for the last hour and a half. I was also presented with a small red bottle, I think it was a drink meant to help digest alcohol, also branded with MF. I really do love these small touches, showing they do indeed go above and beyond for a F service (CA, MU, take notes please).

I also took a small trek around the cabin, and checked out the main painting hung in the center.

There are switches and controls under the window panes as dreamliners offer, but they had no effect as I'm sure the windows are controlled by the crew. They did kindly dim the lights in the cabin so I could grab some rest.

As with everything good, it ends way too soon, and shortly I received the PA message we were descending into Beijing. The purser, who I hadn't seen since before take-off, came around to thank me for flying, and hoped I would return for their next season (season 6) of this F experience. 

We ended up parking next to a China Southern A350. Now with China Southern essentially moving all Beijing operations to Daxing (including international flights out to Heathrow). they are truly the dominant carrier here.