lkar

I’m seeing this pop up again today through end of schedule. Including for flights over the holidays.

zbeebo

Great find. seeing lots of dates through September.

Flying for Fun

If you have a long layover in XMN they will provide a 5 Star hotel if flying in J. They also provide a hotel on an economy fare in a 4 or 5 star hotel but on a share with someone else basis. My neice is in DPS right now on a YVR-HKG-DPS routing in Y. She made a friend on the flight and they shared a room. Her flight return ai was $514. Great option if your are traveling with someone.



XMN hotel on Y ticket / shared


XMN hotel on Y ticket / shared


XMN also offers free tours to local attractions.

ATLConsultant

Do you need a China visa to take the tours? I know if you're transferring and only transiting through for like 24 hours you don't need a Chinese visa.


ATL

Flying for Fun

XMN has a 72 hour Travel without Visa Waiver for 53 countries. Even on a transit of <24 hours you are going land side to the hotel so yes you can do the tours too.

James

accrue450

Just saw this fare as well, when direct flights from other US airlines are at $7k+. For a moment thought maybe Xiamen Airlines's J is more like premium economy or something, but seems like it's pretty legit. I gotta say this seems like an insane deal to me and a major market pricing failure. How could several airlines charge for $7k when another can operate by charging $2.6k, and the latter even costs more since it has a layover in China? Incredible.

alpenrock

Flying for Fun

Xaimen will also provide free hotel accommodations on the 12 hr layovers. Nice properties too.

RockyMntFlyer

So, I just flew LAX-XMN-SYD round trip in business class on Xiamen Air a few weeks ago and I can say it was pretty great. I booked at the $2600 RT fare. On the outbound we had a long layover (16 hours) in XMN. FYI, I utilized the Transit With Out Visa (TWOV) option because we were in XMN for under 24 hours and we are citizens of a country that China allows TWOV. So, I did not get a visa for China in advance. We took the hotel option and Xiamen Air put us in the Langham. As others have noted, we only had to pay for our taxi fare to and from the airport (which was cheap and simple). The Langham was very nice (as you would expect from Langham). I have stayed at the Langham in Melbourne (southbank), but this Langham in Xiamen was more modern. My only suggestion when you check into the hotel is to ask for 'non smoking'. This is China and all non smoking hotels are rare. I forgot this. The Langham had an absolutely amazing buffet. I am not a fan of buffets, except in Asian hotels. There was everything from freshly made sushi, Chinese, to western breakfast offerings. It was great.

Langham Tripadvisor

Much has been asked and mentioned about Xiamen business class experience and the transiting process when continuing on to a third country (transiting XMN). I can provide my experience.

1 - Departure LAX:

Check in for business class at LAX TBIT was empty and our luggage was checked through to SYD. No need to pick up and recheck baggage at XMN on transit. The agent checking us in was very professional and quick. He was multilingual. I don't speak or understand Chinese other than a few words, but he spoke with others around him. As others have reported, we only received boarding passes for the LAX-XMN flight and not the next leg to SYD. He explained this would be provided upon re-checkin in XMN.

We were given a pass for the Korean Air lounge and directions to the lounge post security. This lounge has been extensively reviewed online and I share most people's opinion that it is just 'ok'. Food and beverage offerings are limited. The staff cleaning up the lounge and clearing plates were really friendly and helpful. It was pretty crowded due to all the late flights. I took a shower (waited about 20 minutes). The shower room was clean enough and had no amenities other than soap, conditioner, and a towel. At TBIT, the only other lounge I have experienced is the Star Alliance Lounge. The Star A lounge is far superior to the Korean Air Lounge. However, it was fine for the couple hours we spent there.

Our departure at LAX was from a regular gate at TBIT (not a bus gate as others have experienced). This made the boarding easy and fast. The agents come around prior to boarding and do a final passport/visa check and mark your boarding pass. You do not need to queue up for this, they come to you. The ground staff did a great job of organizing the various boarding groups by row. This kept the boarding gates clear for those with limited mobility and business class to board first and comfortably (not fighting crowds around the gate).

On board, we had a great experience. The flight attendants were fantastic, professional, and so helpful. The seat (B/E Diamond) on the 787-9 was one of my favorites. Its generally wide enough for me to sleep on my side and I don't feel so confined. The food was good. I suggest the Chinese offerings. My only slight criticism would be the drinks service with the meal. Many times I would not get my drink until after I have completed my meal or course. Not sure if this is just the way it is or if it was a one time issue. What I learned it that the flight attendants will come promptly if you ring the call button and need anything. Overall, the flight and service were great. I also slept soundly.

2 - Transit XMN:

Upon arrival in XMN, we deplaned and you are directed towards immigration (even when transiting). You go down a number of hallways and downstairs, then walk through an environmental check, then there is a line for foreigners at immigration. There was no line when we arrived and we were called up right away. On the plane, the flight attendants had provided an immigration card. Note, if you are transiting, you need the blue immigration card (not the yellow one). The blue is for passengers to an international third country (Australia in my case). The flight attendants have these, but I had to specifically ask for the blue card for transiting. Where the card asks for address in China, just put NA - Transiting. Also, make sure you have a print out of your onward ticket to the third country and a print out of your visa (if required). Explain that you are transiting when you get to the agent. They do have a list of transiting passengers to check you against, but they do not know to check until you tell them. I did not tell them and they kept flipping through my passport looking for a visa (only to find a couple out of date Chinese visas and got confused). They did view the print out of my onward travel (on Xiamen Air) to SYD, but they did not ask for my Australian visa info (good to have just in case though). They stamp your passport with a 'Temporary Entry Permit'. I was through immigration is approximately 7-10 minutes. Then walked on to the 'nothing to declare' customs exit. Upon exit you do need to put your hand luggage (backback in my case) through a scanner. We were out the door with no issue and in the main terminal.

Terminal 3 at XMN is pretty small. Upon exiting customs into the terminal we turned right and went down the stairs to the transfer services desk. Its very easy to find and marked. No line and two staff members at the desk. They examined our passports and printed flight info for SYD. They made a call and a few minutes later we had a print out for the Langham with the address in English and Chinese. We asked about an ATM. The ATMs are on the upper (check in) level. We took about about $30 USD/RMB equivalent. We then grabbed a coffee (as it was very early still) and then went to the taxi queue on the arrivals level. It was early, but I was shocked at how quiet it was for China. My experiences in China are typically frenetic. There was a long queue of taxis with no people waiting. I realized all the cars were not running. I suspect they are not allowed to idle when waiting for passengers. I saw some drivers pushing their cars in neutral to move them up without starting them. It was just quiet and calm, which seemed odd for China. We went to the head of the taxi queue and showed the driver the Langham in Chinese and we were on our way. Ten maybe 15 minutes later we were there. We paid cash; however, the driver was not prepared for this. Most people (I believe) pay for the taxi with AliPay or other electronic means with their phone. He took our cash, but at first had issue finding change for us.

I talked about the Langham above. The checkin was fairly quick. We had to ask about the included breakfast. I also used their gym, which was very well set up (everything I needed). They have a in house spa, but we did not use this. The rooms and amenities were what you would expect from a high end hotel. We did not explore the City, but did go wandering around the adjacent Mall and streets of shops/restaurants. I can't really speak to Xiamen as a City, but I would like to go back and explore more in the future. A few hours before our flight, we checked out (no cost for us) and took a taxi back to Terminal 3. Be sure you go to INT Terminal 3.

3 - Onward Checkin XMN-SYD:

Upon entering Terminal 3 you will see sliding doors behind a screen with a security guard. It is marked for INT Departures (along with HKG, TPE, and MFM). You must show your passport to the guard and then go through the doors to get to check in. Once in, there is a very recognizable business/first class check it with a big red carpet. We checked in here in minutes (small line). We were then directed to immigration. There is a regular line (we went through) and a 'E Channel'. I assume the E Channel is for Chinese citizens. The regular line was lengthy, but we were through in 15-20 minutes. Once through immigration, you are directed to security. The lines were long, but there is business/first class entry to the far right. Show your boarding pass, and the guard escorts you to the front of the line. Security was comprehensive. I was pulled aside for further inspection each time I went through on the trip.

Once through security, you are in the main secured area of INT Terminal 3. Its not huge and has a few shops and restaurants (nothing great). We went to the 'First Class Lounge 6' which was directly next to our gate for SYD. Other reviews commented on how good this lounge was. I think differently. Its fine and better than sitting in the terminal. But I did not find it anything special. Limited drink and food offerings. On our return from SYD, we wanted to shower and were told they would call us once they were open. We never got called. Something may have been lost in translation. Maybe its better than other mainland Chinese lounges. My only other mainland lounge experience is at the Air China lounge in PEK (which I also was not impressed with). Again, better than sitting in the terminal. I had a couple Sprites, washed my face, brushed my teeth, and then boarded for the next leg back to LAX. A shower would have been really nice though after 9ish hours from SYD, in preparation for the 13ish hours to LAX.

4 - Return Flight:

Our return flight SYD-XMN-LAX, also went off without a hitch and had similar great service. We only had a 2 hour layover in XMN (actually arrived early, so we had 2.5 hours). Within the 2.5 hours, we did the same as the outbound (but all at once) immigration, customs, enter the terminal, check in (on the red carpet), then immigration again, security, and back to the lounge before departure. The whole process (getting to the lounge) took about 1 hr. I suspect this would be much longer if we were not in business class.



So, this is a bit of a more complex way to transit, but given the service of Xiamen Air and the good price for business class, I would not hesitate to do it again. Overall, I was very impressed with Xiamen Air.

The link below is a good video blog review of Xiamen's business class on the 787-9 with a 1-2-1 configuration in business class (same plane they fly to/from LAX). SYD was on a 787-8 with a different business class configuration (2-2-2)


Hope this helps others.

jimmygottfredson

I noticed this fare yesterday looking through some LAX-SYD flights. Thank you RockyMntFlyer for the nice write up.

CHUD

lkar

I'm seeing it on all the usual suspects through momondo and on xiamen's website too for a little big more (closer to $2800 or $2900). I just did a quick check of sample dates 8/2 to 8/16 at random.

Ayoob Latif

I have purchased tickets from Cheapoair.com in the past with no issues.

CHUD

I don't have any prior experience. I just looked up their reviews and many people complained about bait & switch.

Psychler

Thanks for all the info! I just booked from 9 September to the 16th. $2546.00. First few times (3) I kept getting an error message when I spit in my credit card information but the fourth time was a charm.