As covered in a previous post, flights between Australia and Europe have been surprisingly cheap in recent months. In early June, I decided to act on this by booking a ticket from Sydney to Amsterdam with Xiamen Airlines.

If you haven’t heard of Xiamen Airlines, don’t worry, neither had I. They aren’t one of China’s big three airlines, which you’ve likely actually heard of: China Southern, China Eastern and Air China.

Xiamen Airlines flies to Sydney and Melbourne from its base in Xiamen, China’s 25th biggest city. From there, you can get to Europe with connections to Amsterdam or Paris.

Price was of course the main motivator for my booking. The one way flight from Sydney to Amsterdam in mid-July cost me just over $500 one way. You have to pay a bit more when booking one way. Return tickets can easily be found for under $1,000.

Now that I’ve taken this cheap flight, would I recommend it? Absolutely, as long as you know what to expect. Let me run through my experience…

Sydney to Xiamen

The check in lines for Xiamen Airlines at Sydney Airport were surprisingly short the morning I visited. It was just a few minutes before it was my turn. I only brought carry on, which is technically limited to 5kg according to the airline’s website. Thankfully they didn’t weigh my backpack in either Sydney or Xiamen, as I was definitely slightly over that.

Boarding was meant to start an hour before departure but really began 20 minutes before. We took off around 20 minutes late as a result. Full bottles of water and packets of mixed nuts were at every seat, along with a small pillow and blanket which were about the same as you’d find on any other major airline.

A quick browse through the in-flight entertainment showed 40 “Hollywood Movies”. A big chunk of these were film series like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and The Hunger Games. Additionally, the only TV series I recognised were Fisk and Young Sheldon (what a combo). Based on this, it’s probably a good idea to bring your own entertainment.

The seat itself was also pretty much what you’d expect on any major airline. I thought the legroom was fine, but as usual taller people will probably want to book an exit row.

Food on Xiamen Airlines

The first meal was brought out quickly around 45 minutes after takeoff. The options were either chicken with mashed potatoes or fish with noodles. For each meal I had on Xiamen Airlines, three small dishes were served alongside the main. In this case, that included a small salad (tabouleh with a random slice of ham on top), fruit and a dessert as well as bread.

This meal, and all the food I had on Xiamen Airlines, was perfectly acceptable but unsurprisingly not amazing. I’m not sure if it is because I was towards the back, but the timing of the service was consistent in that I always finished the food before getting anything to drink. They do come around twice though, and I usually got a full can of Coke Zero.

One annoying thing worth pointing out is that I thought the tray table was low. I couldn’t really sit normally without my knees bumping it. I can’t remember this being a problem on other airlines, but maybe I just have a bad memory. The flight attendants were always quick to clear things though, unlike some other airlines, so the tray table didn’t stay down for long.

Snacks were brought around about halfway through this leg, which was over nine hours. I didn’t actually see what they were, but probably more of the same nut mixes everyone already got.

A second meal came out about 2.5 hours before landing. I was told the options were chicken rice (my choice), beef rice or pork and tomato. Again, it was fine. Nothing else much of note happened really. I will say that all of the flight attendants I interacted with were great.

Xiamen transit

A video plays before landing detailing the transit process. I arrived into Xiamen at just after 7pm while my flight to Amsterdam was at 12:40pm the following day. I followed the instructions on the video to enter China, which is easier than ever thanks to the new visa-free entry.

Tickets booked with a transit time of 6-24 hours are eligible for a free hotel. You just head to the transfer desk once you’ve cleared all the arrivals procedures. The exact location of the desk is in the video, but basically just walk right once you’re landside.

There are a few quirks to this perk. Firstly, you don’t know where you’ll be staying, so you can’t really fill this in on your arrival form like you’re meant to. I just left it blank.

Free transport from the airport to the hotel is included. For me, this involved a half hour wait in 36 degree heat for a bus. There are multiple stops and also multiple similarly named hotels, so make sure you get off at the right place.

Despite what Xiamen Airlines says, I didn’t need to share a room as a solo traveller. Maybe this was only the case in the past or it might just depend on which hotel you get. The paperwork I got did say to pay extra to get a private room but the reception said “one person, one room” when I asked.

I’m pretty sure my hotel was “Xiamen Airlines Hotel” but it isn’t on Google Maps. The room was okay but needed some maintenance. I’d say it was similar to a regional motel.

You get free breakfast but it is super basic and mostly local options. I wasn’t expecting a full English or anything close, but the only real western option was weirdly pizza.

Back to the airport

You’re on your own when it comes to transport back to the airport, which doesn’t make much sense to me. You can’t rely on Uber since they don’t exist in China. DiDi is the main player but I had issues despite using the app in Australia before.

I settled on getting a taxi, but the payment options are either cash or local services like Alipay. I got cash out to pay, which meant tracking down a nearby foreigner-friendly ATM. The minimum withdrawl at all the ATMs I saw was 100 RMB but the taxi is 20-30 RMB so you’ll have cash left over.

I asked for a taxi when checking out of the hotel, but the worker ended up just booking a ride share (presumably DiDi) and asked for 25 RMB in cash. Not what I was expecting, but if it works, it works.

After returning to the airport and going through all the security, I spent some time wandering around before my flight. I spotted three food options including a Burger King as well as a coffee shop.

This second flight from Xiamen to Amsterdam left 50 minutes late, which was apparently due to weather. Everything was pretty much exactly the same as the first flight, only a couple hours longer.

Options for the first meal were chicken rice or seafood pasta. I and seemingly everyone else went with the chicken, since they came around later offering the seafood pasta to anyone who’d take it.

Suggestions for Xiamen Airlines

The second meal at the halfway point of the flight was either seafood noodles, which is suspiciously similar to the first meal, or pork rice, which I went with.

I reckon Xiamen Airlines should change the timing of the meals. They brought out a crappy packaged sandwich prior to landing when it would surely make more sense to serve that as a midway snack.

It might also be a good idea to publish menus to give a better idea of what the food actually is. Maybe that seafood pasta was amazing! Presumably they don’t print menus to save money, but they could at least put details on their website or in-flight entertainment.

Once again I couldn’t fault the service, which was friendly but efficient. It’s a pity my fellow passengers were significantly worse on this flight, but that’s always the risk of flying.

Tweaks to the transit process would definitely improve the whole experience. Knowing which hotel you’ll be staying at, and having transport back to the airport locked in, would be a big help.

All in all though, you don’t get much better value wise when flying from Australia to Europe. If you can look past the faults and the quirks, I’d say give Xiamen Airlines a go.