The Xiamen Airlines “First Class” Lounge (also used by business class and SkyTeam ElitePlus passengers) is a respectable lounge in Xiamen, with one aggravating feature.
Xiamen Airlines First Class Lounge Review (XMN)
After stepping off our flight from Jakarta, we had a couple of hours before our connection to Taipei. After completing transit formalities, we found the lounge.
Access + Location + Hours
Located between Gates 12 and 15, Departure Hall of Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport, look for the “First Class Lounge No. 6” sign. If you’re on the upper level, you’ll take an elevator down to the lounge (there’s also a lower gate area with a direct entrance to the lounge).
While there are no set hours, the lounge opens from the departure of the first international flight operated by Xiamen Airlines until the departure of the last flight.
Access is reserved for Xiamen Airlines and SkyTeam business and first class passengers, as well as SkyTeam ElitePlus members traveling internationally (and one guest).
Seating
Seating included dozens of wing chairs flanked by end tables, a handful of couches, and a dining area with tables and chairs.
F00d + Drink
While the one thing I wanted I could not find (scrambled or fried eggs), there was a wide selection of food, including dumplings, noodles (made to order), cooked vegetables, congee, bacon, sausage, sandwiches, yogurt, and fruit. Not bad, right?
Coffee, tea, a weak selection of wine, soft drinks, and water were available (self-serve).
The Aggravating Feature: Internet
The internet is such an annoyance in Mainland China…with the “great firewall” meant to allow the communist government strict control over the control of information. This lounge was no different…you need a local Chinese number or to scan your passport in order to get an access code…yes, Big Brother is watching.
Bathrooms + Showers
Unless I missed it (I don’t think so), the lounge not only had no showers but no bathrooms.
CONCLUSION
I appreciated the comfortable place to wait for our connecting flight and thought the food section was quite respectable. The internet is so annoying in China, but I can hardly blame the lounge for that…
I had no internet problems using my mobile phone data in China, so when I had problems with the airport/airline internet, I went back to using mobile phone data at the Chinese airports.
Yes, same.
I wasn’t sure if the pictured XMN lounge had bathrooms to the right of the check-in counter or if there were bathrooms in the lounge right around the corner from where the refrigerator with chilled drinks (and the coffee/tea station) was located. I didn’t ask or look for a bathroom there.
I think they did have toilets behind/around the counter area.
That was my sense too. There was a person who looked like a male guest in the lounge and went up to the check-in counter to ask for something and then he disappeared without having exited the lounge. I assumed it was a lounge guest who disappeared into a bathroom in the lounge but I wasn’t sure where he went and who he was.
In tangentially related news, VS have confirmed that any tickets upgraded with their credit card vouchers won’t get automatically credited to other Skyteam FFPs.
However, to be completely fair to them, they were really good about liaising with SAS for a manual intervention, As a result, I now have 15/17 airlines credited and my million’s in the proverbial bag!
Yay!