Hainan Airlines

No other airline fails so completely across the board to provide even the bare minimum of decency like Hainan airlines. They are rude, incompetent and money hungry, with absolutely no sense of dignity or pride in their jobs. Here are some examples:
1. If you have to change your flight for any reason, miss your flight, miss a connection, even due to HNA’s fault or another airline’s fault, you have to pay a $ 250 processing fee on top of any actual change, and the numbers for the change always are impossibly exaggerated to the tune of $ 300 – 500. This means making any change can easily cost as much as booking a new trip entirely.
2. Check in lines regularly take over an hour to get through because there is no automation/​online check-​in/​kiosks, their undertrained employees don’t know what they are doing, and for anything they don’t know how to do, you have to call their customer support center.
3. There are 3 different customer support centers, in Seattle, China, and Chicago. All 3 have different strengths and weaknesses, no single one can solve your problem alone, and it seems that you (the customer) has to ensure the 3 can communicate with each other, and of course all 3 are in different time zones with different work hours.
4. They will try to blame any problem on you, other airlines, the airport, the travel agency, or anything else besides admitting fault or helping you solve the problem. They will leave you stranded in a foreign airport with no remorse. They will wait it out thinking you have no other option but to pay them extra.
5. When you’re finally on the plane, seats are packed, and the planes are very hot, leading to smelly, cramped cabins. The flight attendants will scold you like a child if you use your smartphone, even in the middle of the flight, even if you show them it is in airplane mode. Every other airline allows this kind of use.
Hainan Airlines projects exaclty the rude, greedy, uneducated image that China is trying so hard to shake. If you choose them because they are cheap, you will regret it and likely pay even more than if you chose a real airline.

First class was the definite way to go. Had a drink called a Refreshing Moment. Wow, if I could find it again, I’d love to, it was awesome. Had very attentive staff and they were all so nice and helpful and happy to talk and answer questions about our destination.

Compared to every other airline this is the best! They have never charged me to check bags and I have always got the seat I booked when I bought the ticket. The meals are good and free and the seats have more leg room than the American airlines. This is important to me as I’m over 6′ 3″ tall. They have a large area in the back for people who can’t sit for the 10+ hour flight to China. I spend a lot of time back there and while there you can help yourself to water or juice and some snacks. The in-​flight entertainment is great and is plenty to pass the time by during your trip. Oh. the flight attendants are the cutest of any airline I have even been on too ;) This is the only airline I will fly when traveling to China or back or even in china, it is my airline of choice.

More like 3.5 stars.
Flight was from Seattle-​Beijing and then Shanghai-​Seattle.
Travel company booked the flight for us in economy seating.
Seattle-​Beijing flight departed right on time and landed right on time! Maybe it’s because it’s May and the weather has been good in Seattle and in Beijing.
Shanghai-​Seattle return flight was delayed 2 hours, due to storms in Shanghai. However, the pilot apologized and the crew served food and started the entertainment console for us while we waited.
Staff was extremely friendly and helped me put luggage up into the bins.
Food was OK. From the other reviewers, first class or business class is the way to go.

This is the worst airline ever! If I can give it a negative rating, it will be negative infinity. There will be a storm this weekend and I try to call to reschedule my flight as suggested by the airport and Alaska airline, the carrier of my first stop. But I called Hainan Airlines for at least 10 hours. No one answered the phone call. I wrote emails, no one responded.
My flight is around the corner, I can only cross my fingers and wish the storm will not affect my flight.
Hainan Airline is the worst of the worst.

Flew from Seattle to Beijing. Hated it on the outbound and inbound. Airline is simply not up to par compared to major U.S. airlines, and truth be told most U.S. airlines are pretty crappy already when it comes to international travel. The flight attendants on Hainan don’t speak English very well and whatever they announce on the intercom in English comes out as complete gibberish. Okay, so I speak Chinese to them to make things easier. Most were very polite and helpful. But on the flight to Beijing and back there was at least one flight attendant on the flight who responded to my helpful gesture by treating me like I was a Chinese national who had never flown international before.
That’s because there are plenty of Chinese customers on the flight who have never or rarely flown international, and some of the flight attendants talk to many of them in a very condescending manner.
Meanwhile, the policies of this airline are backwards. They won’t let you turn on your smart phone or phone charger for the ENTIRE 12 hour flight to China, not even if your phone is in airplane mode. No other airline is this backwards but Hainan Airlines acts like you’re the crazy one for thinking you could have your phone on above 30,000 feet.
The clientele is a very Mainland-​China based one. This means it’s a noisy flight. Lots of loud talking or shouting in Mandarin. Don’t count on getting any sleep even with your earplugs on. There’s a lot of people coughing up phlegm, so make sure you’ve got your hand sanitizers and Airborne.
The food is awful, and the movie selection is the worst I’ve seen on any airline since I began flying back and forth between here and Asia 20 years ago. Just an awful experience.

Overall the in flight experience was good. I flew from Toronto to Beijing, October 19^th, business class. The seats were wide, lots of good storage space. There is an uncomfortable metal bar once you lay the seats flat, I used my wool coat underneath me to cover. There are more international movies than I had expected — a lot of good choices. The food was well presented and about as good as on United or Delta business class. The service of course was much better! These flight attendants were very attentive, not tired of customers like US staff are. The wine was better than US business class as well.
Negative– their baggage policy is three smaller carryon’s — not two carryons (one suitcase, one personal bag) like everyone else. So they made me take out shoes, magazines, etc from my suitcase and carry them in my hands so that I could meet the weight requirement — the carry on weight requirement –before I could finish checking in. When I got to security I put them back in, and when I boarded the plane no one asked me. Its ridiculous, you want a customer to have 3 smaller bags, fly to the US or Canada and then what… push one bag into another so that the customer can fly on a US airline where they only allow two bags? I have to change my number of bags when I transfer from Hainan to another airline?
And their frequent flyer page in english wouldn’t let me sign up. I had someone in china do it for me.
I am due to take them on the return trip next week Sunday (november 1^st) hope the flight itself is as good, now I know about the stupid baggage requirement. My business class round trip ticket was $ 2000 — amazing compared to US or Air Canada business class (at $ 4 – 7,000).

At this point this is the only airline that I will fly when going to China. Not only do they have direct flights to Beijing, but recently they change their entire fleet to the new dreamliners. For someone who is addicted to their phone and watching videos as much as I am, the USB charger at each seat is HEAVENSENT. I’ve been flying with this and I had since I was 12 years old and while the service and food have always been decent this April I was flying to Beijing and was given an upgrade to first-​class. Not only do I truly appreciate the upgrade which was the first time I had ever flown first-​class the service was absolutely impeccable and on point. Immediately upon seating I was given a bowl of warm nuts and a cocktail. Shortly afterwards mail services begin and we were then given the most wonderful airplane meal I have ever had, a meal that really does rival restaurant food. Appetizers included king crab legs and shrimp, and I was given plenty of alcohol to keep me happy! The seats are comfortable and reclined very well and I was offered a blanket and pillow immediately so I could stay warm. Fresh fruit cheese ice cream and desserts were offered in the galley at all times and we were constantly asked if we were doing ok, if we were hungry, or if we needed another drink. Thank you so much for making my trip extra special!

Tres décevant
J ai voyagé de Bruxelles à Pékin en business .
Les hôtesses … né sourient pas ! On a l impression de les déranger
Le champagne servi était tiède
1 H et demi pour avoir un dîner .très moyen
Enfin si on peut tres bien s allonger sur les couchettes, il y a une cloison de séparation à hauteur d épaule entre moi et ma compagne (!)

Wow, I am glad I didn’t read these reviews before booking. I traveled business class from Boston to Shanghai on 09/​08/​2015 and returned 09/​12/​2015. I choose this airline because it was non-​stop and had flatbeds on business class. The plane (probably dreamliner) was comfortable with very good inflight service. Check in was efficient and plane was on time both inbound and outbound.
Some negatives: although food was good and choices excellent the temperature of the food was always luke-​warm and not hot enough. The VIP (business class) lounge in Shanghai airport was pretty dismal/​depressing. Also the inflight movie selection was quite limited.
Positives: In flight service was very good, departure and arrival was on time both in bound and outbound. Food choices and drinks were excellent. Seat and flatbed were comfortable.
I will definitely use Hainan Airlines again to China.

If I could I would give them 0 star for the review. My worst experience ever and will never take hainan airlines again in the future. They left me a message saying that my flight would be cancelled without bothering giving a reason and told me to call their customer service line to reschedule my flight or cancel for a refund. I tried MANY times to contact them but the phone number given can NEVER be connected! Also, I tried to contact them online but all I got was a Robot answer like «our customer service number is blah blah «Thus, I asked my family in China to try to contact them and finally they answered their phone but they hung up the phone call shortly saying they do not know about the cancellation of my flight and they are not responsible for this issue. WTF?! My family tried to contact them again and then some customer service representative (I guess more experienced) helped. Overall, I think hainan airlines is the WORST airlines I have ever experienced. I feel their lack of customer service and no reputation. I should have read the previous reviews and should not have booked this flight with them!

This airline is very shitty. The customer services so bad. The Seattle office phone never been answered by a real person, only the cargo manager Donna answered as a jerk.

So they cancelled my fight without any reason last minute, told me they would put me on a later flight and I was all set. As it turned out they did not do their job and I was without a flight. I am lucky because I called Expedia before my trip to confirm and they saw that I was not on a flight! I would never book this airline again, it is absolutely horrible, they do not do their job, and they cancel the flight last minute without any good reason. I know it’s cheap but I would be extra careful with them…

I arrived at Seattle Tacoma International ready and excited to travel to China for the first time. Little did I know that my trip would be ruined by Hainan Airlines.
It was an unfortunate reality that there was typhoon in China and we could not fly in. However, the real natural disaster was Hainan Airline’s horrendous customer service. Aside from the very kind liar who assured us that we would definitely leave at 8 PM there was also an inhumanely cruel individual who refused to book a hotel for us for the night. I am disgusted that Hainan Airlines would stoop so low. I think all would agree that shelter is a basic human necessity and by depriving us of this, Hainan Airlines has greatly wronged its customers.
At the time that I am writing this review, the flight has been delayed by 21 hours. In the next few hours, who knows how much longer the flight will be delayed – perhaps a week? I wouldn’t be surprised after knowing what Hainan Airlines is capable of. And of course, if the flight is delayed, it would be too difficult for Hainan Airlines to inform any of its customers. Why do they go out the way to get our numbers if they are just planning on ignoring us? Do not fly Hainan Airlines. I would give them 0 stars if I could.

They cancelled my flight and promised to rebook me, but I never got a confirmation. Cannot reach the guy who emailed me and its very fustrating. They may be cheap, but you might lose all your money or travel plans. Do not book with them. I wonder if there is a way to sue them.

WORST EXPERIENCE EVER! DO NOT BUY NO MATTER HOW CHEAP! From Chicago to Beijing. No agent at front desk for 2 hours! People cannot check and there is long line! They frankly do not give a crap about customers! Phone number does not work neither. ZERO customer service. You are on your own once you buy the ticket. Period!

Tried out Hainan Airlines for the first time for a roundtrip to Beijing, will not fly with Hainan Airlines again. Just nothing goes right with them.
on the trip out to Beijing, the flight was delayed for 5 hours with no information as to what happened.
On the trip back to the US, the company moved me from the previously booked window seat with no explanation and the new seat does not recline! The flight attendants were very nice and tried to help me resolve this problem — I know this is not their fault with the faulty equipment — and put me in a seat near the bathroom as the flight was full. The seats near the bathroom does not recline as much as a normal seat and also smelled like crap.
I was really excited to try out this airline because it received 4 stars in skytrax but really disappointed. The food is horrible and they really did not help themselves by announcing at the beginning of the flight that «we have prepared delicious and exquisite cuisines for you». LOL

August 23^rd, 2014. Seattle — Beijing
My bad experience started at Seattle airport check in gate, the person at the gate, who printed out my boarding pass did not speak or understand English and I wasn’t able to get my desired aisle seat.
We all had to wait in the plane for over 1 hour without air condition. It was a hot day and it was unbearable in the plane. The flight attendants were not very friendly or accommodating. The food was horrible I have never had such bad food in any airline. When we arrived in Beijing had to wait 1 hour again for the plane to park, in total over 2 hours delay.
My return flight again was delayed, I missed my connecting flight even through ran like crazy and my baggage did not make it to my final destination.
This is the first time I used Hainan airlines, I have used Catahy Pacific before and the service was amazing. After my horrible experience I will never use Hainan airline ever again.

I booked a round-​trip ticket nonstop from Seattle to Beijing on Hainan Airlines through their partner American Airlines. It was the first time ever I splurged for business-​class tickets on this extra special flight. We were excited to be flying on the 787 which was built literally in our backyard. I know that Boeing takes great pride in this aircraft as does the regional area. Hainan clearly does not take pride in their fleet as they do not provide good maintenance on these aircraft, at least inside the cabin. This was going to be THAT trip of a lifetime and my husband and I both had recent back injuries. We splurged on business class so that we could travel 12 hours in comfort without pain.
After we boarded the flight and were served our one glass of champagne we realized that our sleeper seat would not even recline!!! This was seat 5A and B. The flight attendants attempted to make an adjustment but were unable to resolve the issue. There were no alternate seats available to move BOTH of us to functioning seats together. We took turns sitting in our reclining seat on this 12 hour flight.
As soon as we landed in Beijing I sent American Airlines an email. I received an automated reply back with the reference number. That was over a month ago and I still have not received a phone call. Then on June 4 we boarded our 4 PM flight in Beijing to fly home to Seattle. Before we took off I had the forethought to ask my husband to check his seat (3A). Can you believe it was not functioning either!!! The flight crew once again attempted to jiggle the mechanism to fix the seat however it would not work. They were able to move us to seats 3C and D so that we could sit together in functioning seats.
I sent an email and made a phone call to customer service at Hainan and finally got a phone call back. They have graciously offered to send me a «model aircraft of the 787 as a token of their apology». What a hoot!!! Show me the money$$$$ I believe the fair thing to do would be for Hainan and/​or American airlines to refund me the difference from my business-​class fare to what I would’ve paid had I sat in a functioning seat in coach.
DO NOT BOOK AN AIRLINE TICKET WITH AN AIRLINE TO FLY ON A PARTNER AIRLINE. YOU WILL HAVE NO RECOURSE WITH ANY DISSATISFACTION. I will give Hainan one star because they did get me there safely.

ABSOLUTE 0 STARS! UNRELIABLE, NO CUSTOMER SERVICE. STAY AWAY! This review is to update my review to one star as my previous review was based on just the first leg of my trip (this second one of my return leg of my round trip confirms this airline deserves a one star).
The return leg of my trip was the most horrendous itinerary I have ever taken. The original flight that I bought for my return trip was to return from Bangkok — Beijing — Seattle, all with Hainan Airlines. As my initial review stated, before I left for Bangkok, Hainan changed their mind and cancelled their Bangkok to Beijing flight last minute, causing my return trip a hassle. They ended up changing my return trip to Bangkok — Hong Kong — Beijing with HK Airlines and Beijing to Seattle with Hainan (and initially was simply going to cancel and refund money that doesn’t even cover half the cost of finding my way back to Seattle at the last minute). I initially wasn’t too happy but it was what it was, so I let it happen.
Well on the day of my return trip, I went to BKK airport to check in at HK Airline… turned out Hainan messed my ticket up. They didn’t confirm my ticket with HK Airline, and as a result, I wasn’t able to board my flight and get to Hong Kong (and subsequently Beijing) to board another Hainan Airline flight to Seattle. They were not able to find any flights for me, so I ended up having to stay at airport for another 4 hours beyond boarding time to locate tomorrow’s flight last minute to fly back to Seattle. They ended up having to put me in a 3 star hotel nearby airport (covering just breakfast voucher for next day) and asking me to come back to airport the next day.
Well, the flight they found e the next day was Bangkok — Hong Kong — Beijing (both through HK Airlines) — Chicago (with Hainan airline) — Seattle (with American Airlines)! Imagine how pissed off I was, having to take 4 flights to get home (instead of original 2 connecting flights as I initially bought the ticket. Worse, I ended up having to pay for my own luggage fee once I arrived in Seattle since the airline was not able to check my luggage through Seattle (they could only do so via Chicago).
The process that I had to go through to get back to Seattle was unbelievable. Customer Service and manager at airport were rude. He literally not only said «I am very angry with you» and clenched his fist almost ready to punch me in the face when I told him that his handling of this situation was unacceptable that I had to deal with luggage fee on my own once I get to Chicago (to get on a flight to Seattle).
Bottom line, I learned a very good lesson: stay away from Hainan (or any other low cost regional airline for international travels for that matter!). The airlines may want to expand internationally but their customer service minds and ability to resolve problems for you are definitely lagging. You get what you paid for. Looking back I should have paid extra several hundred dollars to go for other airlines for this whole return trip to save the whole hassle, time and frustration dealing with Hainan.

I’ve flown Hainan twice, once to go to Beijing and the other to get back to the States. I loved the airline. Like most Asian-​based airlines, Hainan Air prides themselves on exceptional service, clean and spacious aircrafts, and a hardworking crew and pilot.
Okay. I admit it. I’m a wee bit biased because my husband and I got upgraded to first class for no reason at all. Shocking! I guess that particular flight was underbooked and the agent took pity on two sleepy looking people.
So we got our personal flight attendant, a four-​course meal, Bvlgari gift bags, a fully reclining chair aka BED and our flight attendant even covered my husband up with a blanket when he fell asleep without his. It was 14 hours of pure delight and time FLEW by. (You tell that to someone having to fly coach).
Alas we were not so lucky on the return trip home and sat in the cattle car aka coach. Even so, we received attentive and polite service and the food was decent. (My decision of «decent» food on airplanes is that it doesn’t make me barf, because one time it did.)
And you get your own little movie screen and you can watch whichever movie you like instead of being forced to watch Twilight or some crap.
Love this airline! Will use it to fly to Asia in the future!
Hainan also had people going around in airports making sure their travelers were doing okay and had no needs. Their airplane was GORGEOUS, even prettier than the well-​established China Air and EVA Air (and I love those two airlines too).