Edgerfly

Total opposite experience I’ve taken Hainan many times to China, and never had a bad Flight. The staff is always so courteous, and the inflight cabin crew really tries hard with their English to help the white folk. FA’s are always very accommodating onboard, and try very hard to deliver excellent inflight Service. Dare I say I wouldn’t mind flying them to Asia ever. Although my experience with them is completely limited to J.

CDKing

I just flew BOS-PEK in Y (seat 48G to be precise) its definitely much better than US carriers. 32" pitch and some damn good recline (though had the not so stereotypical, super tall asian guy behind me, so felt bad about full recline) . The planes were clean, it was funny seeing the FA's going through the aisle picking up crumbs and such from the carpets by hand. Menu's in coach along with hot towel service, with real cloth. Only complaint is how many seats they blocked. 50% earning on some of the cheaper fare classes helps as well. The real downside is the darn taxes on awards.

keitherson

You would think that being both alliance reject airlines they could figure out their partnership...

TProphet

That isn't a tax, it's a fuel surcharge similar to BA. The flip side is that it's hard to find a redemption requiring fewer miles to Asia.

One other issue with Hainan is phantom award availability. Call in to find out whether the space confirms before assuming it's there and transferring in points. I have run into this issue repeatedly. If a representative won't do it because you don't have the miles in your account yet, HUACA until you find someone who will.

Rich Boykin

I wanted to update my experiences flying Hainan - both times in J on award tickets booked through AS

- SEA-PVG (April '17) the trip I mentioned above - unable to select seats in advance (system won't let you retrieve booking even with their confirmation code), but I did confirm in advance both through AS and Hainan that the tickets were in fact booked and valid. We had access to the lounge in SEA (I could have gotten in anyway with PP) which was nice, and the flight was very pleasant. Service in flight was good and attentive, even accommodating my wife being a vegetarian wasn't an issue. We landed at a bus gate in PVG, and they had a separate VIP bus for those of us in J...nice touch. We arrived at immigration well ahead of the rest of the plane and breezed through

- SEA-PEK-BKK RT (May '17) - as before, couldn't access booking through their site, but there were no issues despite even on the AS site the itinerary showing a phantom flight leg that nobody could clear out. In flight service was excellent, and despite not being able to select a seat everything was good. One of the FAs from my april flight was working J cabin on this flight and recognized me and said hello. Transiting in PEK was interesting as a J on Hainan - at the end of the jetway I was met by a customer service agent who walked me over to a transfer desk to print out my next boarding pass, and then he escorted me to a separate small immigration/transit desk where he checked my passport, and then a small security checkpoint to re-scan my bags. It was just myself and one other gentleman who used this checkpoint. I was then escorted to the Hainan lounge where they were expecting me and greeted me by name. I had about a 2 hr layover and their lounge in PEK is quite nice. Next flight was uneventful and unfortuantely Hainan does NOT provide VIP customs tickets as some other airlines do when arriving in BKK (Singapore air for one), so it was the usual cattle call lines. Not a huge issue, but would have been an nice touch on the final leg of the outbound journey.

Return trip was similar - no VIP transfer in PEK on the return trip, but I did have access to the lounge, priority lanes, etc.

Edgerfly

For those of you that want to assign seats ahead of time, do not use their website as it’s totally useless and a waste of time.

However their customer service will assign you seats through their 1800 number, or through their email support. You can also add your Alaska frequent flyer number if you should need to through these avenues. Although I always double check at the airport, and of course save my boarding passes.

Also dont forget about the free limo service they provide if you’re in J at your origin and destination. I am uncertain if they provide it to you if you have an award ticket. In any event, it absolutely helped me when they had those cheap business class flights LAX to Changsha, as the English in that city is almost non-existent, and I have no idea how I would’ve gotten to the hotel and back from the airport.

The email address to get the free airport transfers is [email protected]. All you do is provide your pick up and your destination and your times and your reservation confirmation number. Also I always request that they send an English-speaking driver, although in some cities this is not always possible.

eethan

LAX lounge is the same one JL uses for Premium economy. There is spam sushi, instant noodles, and no showers. Sucks when you're flying out at midnight.

I spent 5 hours in Hainan's own PEK lounge since I didn't want to chance a 2.5h connection (PEK delays seem to be the worst in the world). The website made the lounge seem like one of the best in the world, but it's more like a Cathay business lounge. I had been really excited to try out the "traditional tea art display," but the attendant apologetically told me they cannot do it - perhaps it really is just display. Also, lunch is only from 11 - 1, so you better hustle or make do with lackluster beef noodle soup. Most if not all of the people using the lounge were J passengers, and even then the medium/small place got pretty loud with people videochatting. Funny that a laowai held up the line trying to get in on a coach ticket. After some back and forth, the attendant saw that her no's weren't getting anywhere, and so directed him to purchase a pass from the airport authority.

Edgerfly

This is helpful for me because I am taking them to Beijing in January. I was hoping that their lounge was a lot better in Beijing on the departure, but that is unfortunate.

also what is a “Laowai?”

Jma12

It means foreigner, but mostly refer to westerners . In Cantonese, we call them "Gwei Lo" instead.

Edgerfly

Ah yes. I know gwai lo because my aunt is chinese-Malaysian and speaks Cantonese and we always use this as a joke.

Jma12

Oh she is not a real Gwai-Lo, maybe jok sing at best

Edgerfly

My uncle married a Malaysian woman, but they are Chinese. Her family immigrated from China where the Chinese in Malaysia are terribly discriminated against in Malaysia so she tells me all the white people and black people jokes in Chinese.

CDKing

Limo is not available on awards. R is also being dropped from eligible classes too, must book by 11/30

I learned that free transit hotel on forced overnights is available for all but G class (Group sales) and a lounge with lie flat seating if same day 6+ hours. If flying coach you have to present to some service desk. As a J passenger when I arrived in PEK from SZX (overnight connection to XIY) there was a rep with my name and seat number on a sign at the bottom of the airstairs. Of course I had already booked a hotel not realizing it, so agent carried my hand luggage and walked me from T1 to airport express (nearly a mile)

https://www.hainanairlines.com/HUPor...E=US&PAGE=TSER

Edgerfly

Wow that is good to know I didn’t know they get free hotels. I don’t understand their fare classes because I is higher than the letter R. However I earns the least amount of elite qualifying bonus, and R earns the most with Alaska so this is frustrating.

CDKing

I was told transfer services is something Chinese carriers, other than Air China, offer but I have not looked into the other airlines. R was considered first class at the time the agreement was done up which is why it earns more points. It will change at some point. There is another fare out there that was reclassified to discount coach that credits as F/J which will meet the same fate.