Hello everyone, welcome back to another flight review. Today, a shorter (but still action packed) trip, my final mainland flight of my time last year in Shanghai, over to Xiamen. This was the first of two flights with the second already being posted on my account featuring MF’s only First route over to PKX. The entire purpose of today’s flight was to bring me over to Xiamen. Three times I booked these two flights but every time I was downgraded on the second flight, eliminating my F ticket, thus rendering today’s journey moot. Luckily, last time’s the charm, and no downgrades today
I arrived (for the final time) at SHA on a brisk and rainy Shanghai morning. I had spent the evening sending farewells to my colleagues, and they helped me pack up my apartment late into the night, thus I arrived on little to no sleep. It was a 7:00 am departure, so I was probably not going to sleep tight anyways (the excitement of MF F on my mind!)
Unlike essentially all the other mainland carriers, MF leaves out of a different section here at SHA. The checkin desks were at an area I hadn’t seen before, and that speaks to its unique location since I’ve been through SHA at least 20 times in the past year. I immediately spotted this MF dedicated priority checkin area and headed over to take a seat.
This resembles MU’s dedicated priority checkin area here, and its golden finishes adds to the luxury.
Upon approaching, the first issue presented itself today. Since I was leaving Shanghai for good, I had two large suitcases and a Van Gogh Sunflower lego set fully built (and covered I many, many layers of protection). The agent couldn’t find my second booking to Beijing, and after showing her my booking she informed me she was actually “not an official MF representative” . I genuinely had no idea what she meant by this. I asked why then does it say “Xiamen Air” all around us, she said this is only an “independent checkin area” Alright then? After a good ten minutes of confusion, we finally got in contact with the MF official hotline and they said they were only able to tag luggage to a final destination when flying internationally, meaning I would have to pick up suitcases up and recheck them in Xiamen. Very frustrating. To make matters worse, the agent mentioned I needed to pay 360 RMB for my checkin, and since my WeChat pay doesn’t work, she said they couldn’t accept Alipay. Her “only” solution was for us to wait 30 minutes for the “actual MF agents” at the airport to show up. Wonderful… She then thought maybe she could pay for me and I could send her the money on Alipay, but immediately after she suggested this she wondered if she would get in trouble, then began a call to her supervisor, who declined her request.
Around 10 minutes later, one of her coworkers showed up and managed to get the payment through. Great One of the most confusing checkin experiences yet. On the bright side, we were finally through. There is priority security being in K, and I was into an area of the airport very unfamiliar to me.
Immediately after going through security, I realized this area housed only 10 gates or so, but that meant extremely cramped spaces for a huge number of passengers. Luckily, I had access to the lounge, branded as a “First Class Lounge”. Quite a nice entrance, and up the elevator I went.
The lounge wasn’t too big, but since this area of the airport is minuscule compared to where other carriers fly from, it wasn’t too full.
There were some snacks, fruits, and desserts. The desserts actually don’t taste plastic (looking at you, CA).
There’s a made-to-order noodle bar with three options,
I ordered the peanut butter noodles and was told around a five minute wait. Although there’s only around 6 or so tables at the dining area, the lounge opens up deeper inside to lots of lounging space.
The toilets are at the very end of the long hallway, and we pass by quite a few cultural decorations along the way.
Also this VIP room.
The toilet… or was it half toilet half storage room, first time for everything, I guess.
It had been a good ten minutes since I placed my order and upon retuning, I found no noodles waiting for me.
Apparently the chef would just continuously bring out dishes and it’s first come first serve, which was fine but I was just informed otherwise earlier. I was waiting for the next batch when a muddle-aged couple came and walked right past me, continuously bickering about how they’re in a rush and “NEED” the next batch to be theirs. I love China, but this isn’t an element I’ll miss at all. I genuinely could care less if they wanted the bowl before mine, but oh the complaining and yapping the entire time was just beyond frustrating.
I finally got my noodles and headed back to my seat. Also I grabbed some seaweed salad and half a salted duck egg. The noodles seemed drenched in the peanut sauce but honestly wasn’t too bad.
The receptionist suddenly came over and informed me I had a call. I picked up and it was the checkin agent from earlier, informing me that I was actually entitled to free checkin bags due to my Delta status. This meant after a good hour of arguing earlier, it was all for nothing as I didn’t need to pay anyways. On the bright side I got my 360 RMB back!
Some more snaps of the lounge
Once I was done was breakfast, boarding was imminent and I headed down the elevator. MY 737 Max 8 in the distance.
Upon boarding, I was immediately informed I was the only passenger in J today, awesome! I did wish I wasn’t as tired and I would’ve spent some time trying out every single seat in the cabin.
Waiting in the safety card storage were some slippers and a bottle of Voss water.
The crew, as I always feel on MF, were extremely friendly and immediately began teaming up to find the perfect solution to protecting my Lego build. They decided on putting it in the seat on the other end, with my laptop being strapped in next to me.
A small “towel” was offered. It seemed more like a klorox wipe. My apologies for the blurry shot, running on no sleep :(
Welcome drinks were offered, and I went with an orange juice. You can sort of see a better shot of the "towel" here, it really was just moreso a wet wupe.
I did appreciate the fleece blanket tha was offered, immediately opened up and placed over my legs! Something about MF’s blue color always adds to the experience.
A close up of the offerings. MF always offering Voss in J adds an element of luxury to the experience.
As the sun started rising, I noticed a (couple) Spring Airline jet parked next to us.
The TV then came down and played the safety video. MF brands their J cabin as "Apex World Class",, which is also embroidered on the walls.
The crew then came by to share breakfast options, one Chinese and one Western option. Usually I always stick with Asian food on Asian carriers, but hearing that today's Chinese breakfast featured quite a few elements I wasn't a fan of (e.g. pumpkin, yams), I decided to try the Western one.
MF generally try to brand their in-flight dining as one elevated above other mainland carriers. But with my experience flying them on long haul trips to Doha, I'm not too sure.
We then began to pushback and blasted out of SHA at 7:01, nine minutes ahead of schedule.
I took this picture of my empty cabin, and an opportunity to show off my bright yellow hoodie:). I think I forgot to mention this earlier, but there were also blue pillows at each seat.
Breakfast soon came around, all presented on one plate. For the drinks, I went with an iced coffee and a coconut water. The dish featured an omelette, baked beans, piece of bacon, pumpkin porridge, some fruits, a piece of dumpling, and some savory fermented vegetables. The red packed was chili sauce, which I used with the dumpling.
Overall, this wasn't bad. It was strange a pumpkin porridge came with the Western option. MF also loved having one piece of dumpling with their meals, the same on the flight to Doha. The omelette was quite bland, and both the omelette and 'bacon' were cold. My biggest problem with MF's transcontinental catering is the small portion, leaving me hungry for most of the flight without any snack options even upon request. For a two hour flight today this was alright, but I think the lounge noodles helped me out. I think if the omelette was warmer, finishing it all would have filled me up. But I was left thankful my lounge visit.
Nothing much happened after my flight, and I quickly dozed off while looking out at the empty cabin in the distance.
I ended up sleeping through the entire flight, and didn't wake up until the moment we touched down in Xiamen. I spotted the UN livery 787 during taxi, the same plane that took my from PKX to Doha in 2024.
Xiamen Gaoqi airport is due to be eliminated with the new airport opening soon, moving all of MF's service to the new terminal. It seems all the crew and ground staff feel bittersweet with all the memories of their old home, a major part of mainland aviation's history.
Before disembarking, the crew had a chat with me about my plans in Xiamen. When informing them I was due to fly over to Beijing, it took a quick moment for them to ponder why I would transit through Xiamen, before realizing I must be flying their F product.
