Hainan Airlines regional international and domestic business class review: Good and excellent value but not quite five star.

[Austman]

Recently I took 4 x flights with Hainan Airlines, HU, all in business class.

It was a return ticket from KUL (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) to NNG (Nanning, China) via Hainan's hub HAK (Haikou, China). So regional international and domestic business class.

The flights:
1. KUL-HAK, scheduled at 3h30.
2. xHAK-NNG, scheduled at 1h15.

3. NNG-HAK, scheduled at 1h30.
4. xHAK-KUL, scheduled at 3h40.

The cost was USD 606.00.

The good:
Excellent value.
All flights were on time or early.
The cabin crew were delightful.
Check-in experiences.
The lounges offered in KUL and HAK (domestic and international).

The OK:
All flights were 737 operated with recliner seats in a 2-2 configuration.

The not so good:
In-flight meals and drinks were very limited on the KUL-HAK and HAK-KUL flights and non-existent (zero in-flight service!) on the HAK-NNG and NNG-HAK flights.
The domestic lounge offered in NNG was pretty poor. But all the domestic airlines, except China Southern, used it.
There was no IFE at all on 3 of 4 flights.
There was no Wi-Fi on any flight.
Although a partner with Velocity, there was no earning at all on the KUL-HAK and HAK-KUL flights.
They use KUL T2.

 

[Austman]

1. KUL-HAK, scheduled at 3h30.

Hainan use KUL T2. One of the few full service carriers that do. They have just one flight each day. I tried to find out how early check-in opened but it was impossible to find! I guessed it would be 3 hours before departure and I was correct.

At exactly 3 hours before departure, counters in row Z opened. And there was one for business class.




It was all nicely done and I was issued with a lounge invitation:




I was having almost a full day transit in Haikou so only my KUL-HAK boarding pass was issued.

With 2 x 7kg or 2 x 10kg carry-on allowed in business class, and I was HLO, I wondered how the KUL T2 LCC carry-on "police" would let me through with 1 x about 11kg at the entrance to departures. The answer is they check your boarding pass and if not Air Asia or another LCC, you are directed to a separate line where your carry-on is not checked.

I had no issue with my single carry-on on any of my 4 flights.

 

[Austman]

The Travel Club lounge at KUL T2 was surprising good!

It's located out near the P gates where HU depart:




If you have a Business Class invite, you can get house wine.




And there's a sizable dining room with quite good food options:

 

[Austman]

On board and you are offered bottled water, other soft drinks, nuts a moist towel and slippers before take off:




The seats are quite comfortable. Two rows of 2-2:




But food and beverage is limited.

It's a 3h30 international flight and there is no choice of food. It's a single offering on a tray with various items.

And the only alcohol is beer. There's a choice of two. No wine. No spirits.







The crew are delightful.

 

[Austman]

I had a rather long transit in HAK (18h50) so decided to make the most of it at a good hotel in Haikou.

Next will be my domestic flight experience, HAK-NNG.