Originally Posted by wlau

With AA buying into CZ, I think it's just a matter of time they will leave SkyTeam. I had to host a meeting very late and CI didn't have a flight leaving late, and I didn't want to get up super early on a Saturday, so I decided to try Xiamen Air (MF) connecting flight going from Taipei to Shanghai (connect in Fuzhou), figure they may become the second dominate ST partner in China. I had very little expectation but was very surprised by my experience.

Positive:
1) Wonderful service on the ground - Check in is super smooth, bag with properly tagged with yellow priority label, and for the 1st time in recent memory, my bag was one of the first to come out. As a Diamond, my bag almost never come out in the first group flying DL when on connecting flights. It seems when connecting on DL, DL ground crew would load priority bags first but never load them into the plane in such order that it would get unloaded first.
2) Wonderful service in the air, even in economy - After boarding, purser came to me with a gift bag and thanked me for my loyalty to ST and my ST Elite Plus status!! While the gift bag just contained newspaper and a bottle water, it's way more than I ever gotten from DL on domestic flights. They also repeatedly checked on me during the flight for any special needs. This happened on both of my flights, so it's not a fluke.
3) Surprising decent food - My journey contained 2 flights of 1:15 hr duration each. They served a "light snack/meal" which is more than the DL's transcon full meal. While nothing fancy, food was good quality and reasonably tasty: hot entree, banana, apple juice, snack cake... I am amazed that Xiamen can serve a meal for a flight of 1:15 hr, while Southwest can't even serve a bag of peanuts without FA complaining about "rough air". Xiamen crew did the entire service with grace.
4) Professional looking crew - PC aside, Chinese airlines definitely hire the best looking flight crew, both women and men. They all looks very very well put together - great personal grooming and pristine uniform. Always speaks gently and with a beautiful smile.... I guess we all know the FA of the big 4 US airlines. Not that one's looks is that important, but it's certainly nice to see an airlines holds high standards on all areas of their operations.
5) Nice aircraft - both of my flights were on 737-800 and they are the newer version with Sky Interior. The interior was clean (tray tables were clean) and plenty of leg room even in economy. It's a wonderful change from Delta and it's super old fleet. Xiamen flies exclusively Boeing, 737, 757 and 787 and all are fairly new.

Neutral
1) My flight had an overnight connection in Fuzhou, so they offered a transit hotel for certain fare class and above (Xiamen was the lowest fare of this route and I still qualified). It was good to have the opportunity to get some shut eyes, but it leads to a bad thing next...
2) This is actually a positive - ST Elite Plus benefit delivers again. The transit hotel is for 2 occupancy but ST Elite/Elite Plus and Xiamen's own elite customers can have 1 occupancy room, which is very nice. I didn't want to room with some stranger.

Negative
1) The contracted transit hotel is almost 30 min non-stop driving from Fuzhou airport. It is a "nicely build" hotel but has been neglected beyond belief. 2/3 of the lights in the room do not work and all but 1 AC outlets do no have power!! Every room is smoking allowed room with ashtray and matches. I asked for non-smoking room and the front desk lady laughed. Bathroom is dirty and smelly. It re-defined the term "transit hotel" - you best put a towel over everything that may get in contact with your body and don't sleep bare skinned.
2) Oh so scary breakfast - the breakfast is included but even for a brave eat-anything person like me, I would not touch anything there. All the food are fully exposed with flies buzzing around and hot items are not being kept at food-safe temperatures.
3) Transportation to/from hotel is not covered - they are arranged through another contractor. 20RMB per person if you ride in a group or 40RMB if you want to ride solo. I didn't mind paying 40RMB but the driver wouldn't agree to take me solo. He waited to load up the entire van full of people and luggage stacked to the ceiling of the van!!! I guess it makes sense, 6 pax @ 20RMB ahead, the driver certainly makes more money than taking a pax at 40RMB solo.
3) Payment for the contracted van is difficult - China is very advanced in electronic payment and everyone uses WeChat Pay or AliPay - cash is frown upon these days. I offered to pay the driver in cash because foreigners are not allowed to setup WeChat Pay or AliPay, but he refused. I had to tell him in Chinese that cash is all I have, take it or leave it before he took my money!!! Can't believe I have to almost threaten someone to take my money!!

All in all, I think Xiamen Air delivers wonderful service, even notably better than Delta. However, if you have to connect in Fuzhou or Xiamen (two of their hubs), it's best you don't do an overnight transit if the schedule permits. Of all the 3 ST partners in China, I think Xiamen leads the pack and better than both MU and CZ.