Skytrax, which ranks airlines with star ratings, recently unveiled their seventh five star airline. The six airlines previously on the list were Asiana, Cathay Pacific, Kingfisher, Malaysia, Qatar, and Singapore. Any guesses as to what the next five star airline is? Maybe Etihad? Emirates? Swiss? ANA?
Nah, none of those. Instead, it’s Hainan Airlines.
And while they’re no doubt a decent airline, I’m pretty sure Skytrax loses all their credibility with that, calling Hainan one of the top seven airlines in the world…
My experience with HU... 1 of the two times poor attitude in cabin staff. Rough handling of my carry on and snarky. Small seats. Poor looking cabin interior . 6 hour delay due to mechanical problems 2 days ago in Toronto to Beijing.
Skytrax: they rejected my review, and somehow 77 client reviews seem to give this airline 4.5/5.0 . Something smells funny to me.
I guess the general public perception of 'made in china' products contributed a little to the reaction of some people here. As a matter of fact, the Chinese make a lot of cheap craps, and they also make a lot of high quality stuff, which is often overlooked.
Just flew Hanian from XIY to PVG.
They were wonderful! Brand new 738, full meal in Y on 2hr domestic flight.
I don't know that they're five-stars, but I was very impressed.
Forgot to add that George Soros provided some initial investment to Hainan Airlines back in 1995, and now still owns a sizable interest in the airlines.
I have flown Hainan Airlines. Looking Skytrax's Five Star list, I have also flown CX, SQ, OZ, MH but not Kingfisher or Qatar.
IMHO, Hainan is a fairly good airlines. Their business class services and hardware are very good. Y is comparable to SQ, and better than MH, OZ and CX. However, my experience is limited to only a token of flights. I would say Hainan is better than my favorite - United Airlines by...
I have flown Hainan Airlines. Looking Skytrax's Five Star list, I have also flown CX, SQ, OZ, MH but not Kingfisher or Qatar.
IMHO, Hainan is a fairly good airlines. Their business class services and hardware are very good. Y is comparable to SQ, and better than MH, OZ and CX. However, my experience is limited to only a token of flights. I would say Hainan is better than my favorite - United Airlines by a mile in terms of cabin services, amenity, etc.
Hainan codeshores with Brussels Air ( *A Carrier) on Brussels-Beijing route. I had thought about switching my often travelled Brussels trips to the direct Hainan flight (instead of the one-stop LH service) until I realized the amount of EQMs and RDMs I would lose.
I cannot comment on Haina's frequent flyer program, lost baggage experience, customer services during irregular operations or its website.
Although I do wonder whether ANA or Swiss are more deserving than Hainan to get on the list, I do also wonder why MH is on the list.
THEY BOUGHT THE 5 STARS RATING!!!!!! SKYTRAX IS SO CORRUPTED!!!!!!
HU definitely deserves this. Their route network may not be large but their service is exemplary and their hard product on par with five star standards.
they are for sure the quality airline of China in terms of domestic service, I haven't flown them international, but I'm guessing the Skytrax people forgot about everything else when they saw the smoking hot FAs.
@ magiciansampras -- In no way am I bashing them. As a matter of fact, I specifically said that I was sure they were a decent airline. However, there are certain aspects of an airline you can judge without flying them. Take a look at their lounge in Beijing. Take a look at their business class seats. Take a look at trip reports with pictures of their food. It all looks decent, though the product...
@ magiciansampras -- In no way am I bashing them. As a matter of fact, I specifically said that I was sure they were a decent airline. However, there are certain aspects of an airline you can judge without flying them. Take a look at their lounge in Beijing. Take a look at their business class seats. Take a look at trip reports with pictures of their food. It all looks decent, though the product is in no way on par with the likes of Etihad, which isn't on the list. And that doesn't even account for the fact that they have any truly premium services, like those offered by some other airlines that aren't on the list. So I'm not denying that they're a good (or maybe even great) airline, but no matter how amazing their in-flight service is, I don't see how this can be considered one of the world's top seven airlines...
The award seems to be based on ass-kissing lounge and cabin service, which is usually the stuff Lucky loves, so what is the problem here?
Alright haters...look at their website. Tell me if it looks like it belongs to a 5* airline. You don't think that oh, say, Etihad deserves it before Hainan?? HU has a small route network that lacks frequency.
Hainan air is the best airline company in China. I'm just wondering if someone's bias around this topic which may indicate country like China do not deserve a five star airliner? Maybe I misunderstood. With all due respect, is any person who has never flown with Hainan qualified to make such a statement? BTW: Hainan Air is not a private company. It's a state owned airliner company listed in Shanghai and Hong kong stock exchange.
Quite reasonable upgrades with Hainan. And you can convert Wyndham points into Fortune Wings Club miles.
Gee, think someone could actually fly with them before bashing them? Who has more credibility, a website that ranks an airline you've never heard of or someone doubting the ranking of an airline they've never flown?
I personally took flights on Hainan Airlines and Malaysia Airlines, which are both Skytrax five star airlines. To my point of view, Hainan Airlines is way better than Malaysia Airlines in terms of cabin service.
@Reader What does the fact that they only fly to Seattle from Asia have to do with this?
Not necessarily disagreeing that they shouldn't get that rating, but an airline flying or not flying to the USA has no bearing on the quality of the product they provide, just the breadth of their network. Asiana don't fly to Amsterdam and Cathay don't fly to Rio. So what?
Can someone who's actually flown on Hainan Airlines comment on its quality?
Can't speak to the quality but they just started service to YYZ recently.
They are starting flights to Sydney next week from Hainan, via Shenzhen... With only economy an business class. I have flown Shanghai airlines and Air China and each were horrid, but maybe the fact that Hainan airlines is a private company has something to do with it...? I certainly would select ANA or SWISS over freaky Hainan any day...
LOL! This must be a joke. Hainan Airline's website is the first signal that they are not a 5 star airline. And don't they only fly to Seattle from Asia? Do they even qualify as a real airline?