I recently learned that China’s only Skytrax 5-star rated airline, Hainan Airlines, operates a triangular Beijing-Edinburgh-Dublin-Beijing routing once a week. I was very keen to get my first experience of Hainan Airlines’ long haul business class product at a fraction of the cost of flying to China, so I made flight bookings. The Hainan Airlines Edinburgh (“EDI”) to Dublin (“DUB”)  sector departs at 7am, so I had to fly to EDI the night before and sleep in an airport hotel.  So after a 5am wake-up call and a quick shower, I walked the half mile or so to the terminal building and checked in at 05:30.

Check-in was swift because no other pax were around and I was told business class was ‘wide open’ so I had a full choice of seats.  I hadn’t been allowed to pre-select my seats at the time of booking from Hainan’s website, and they didn’t offer online check-in either.

Hainan’s business class pax can use the Aspire Lounge at EDI, which is on the small size and a fair hike from the gate the airline uses. It was quite busy in the morning rush-hour, but I found myself a table and had a light breakfast of granola, fruit, yogurt and coffee from the self-service buffet.  The lounge didn’t appear to have apron views, but it was still dark anyway, at 06:00 in late February.

I made my way to the gate when the departures screen showed the flight to be boarding. Flight HU749 was displayed as going to Beijing. At the gate there was a bit of a queue for a single line, but I cheekily walked to the front, where they check-in lady who handled me earlier recognised me as a Business Class passenger and beckoned me through.

I walked along the airbridge at 06:35 and when I got to door 2L of B787-9 Dreamliner B-1140 I was warmly welcomed by FAs speaking good English.  This was the first indication that Hainan were a good airline, with better Western-level service standards than I had encountered last year when flying First class on China Southern Airlines.  Female FAs were wearing their beautiful new uniforms of pale blue and flowers, the men looked smart in beige suits.

I was surprised and delighted to see that this newly delivered 787-9 Dreamliner had Hainan’s latest Business Class product; a 1-2-1 reverse herringbone layout (instead of the 2-2-2 on earlier delivered aircraft). Only about 6 of the 30 seats in this cabin were occupied, so it looked really spacious and private.  It seems that Hainan offers both configurations on both its Dreamliners and its A330s which serve the UK.

I was surprised and disappointed that this new seat didn’t appear to be well designed, manufactured or installed. “Shoddy” is how I would describe it. The seat back wobbled back and forth, an unusually large footrest wasn’t properly attached or supported, but most concerning of all was that in the flat bed position, where the seat cushion and backrest met there was a hard ridge where my lower back went, so I can’t imagine having too good a sleep on an intercontinental flight.  But otherwise it was a good configuration with sufficient cubby holes for stowage of personal items.  There was a bottle of water in one of those stowages, power sockets to hand and a fold-out TV screen, though I didn’t use the IFE on this short flight, and I can’t recall if wi-fi was available.

When I was shown to my seat my jacket was taken away to be hung in a wardrobe and I was asked if I wanted breakfast. I assumed this was to be served after take-off, but no, on looking around the cabin I saw people eating. I just had a cappuccino and a croissant (they have Nespresso coffee machines).

Before the doors closed at 06:45 one of the pilots spoke to everyone on the intercom (is that still a word in the 21st Century??). I really like it when flight crew speak to the pax; it was something I really noticed to be lacking on China Southern.

We pushed back from our stand ten minutes early at 06:50 and we took off on runway 24 at 07:02, heading away from the rising sun on a beautiful, clear morning. During the flight I asked the FAs to show me a copy of the menu available for the sector to Beijing and found it to offer a decent choice of Western dishes and “non-scary” Chinese food, plus a good selection of wines, including Champagne. This was certainly better than China Southern had on offer last year.

We landed in DUB just 40 minutes later, and parked on stand fifteen minutes earlier than scheduled, but I’d seen enough to make me think that if the price was good, Hainan Airlines would be a good choice to fly with long-haul. Although I had some misgivings about the seat comfort and build quality, the ‘soft’ onboard product was noticeably better than the other Chinese carrier I’ve flown with, and it’s that great service which would make me happy to spend ten hours in the air with them.

This flight cost me £278. The only drawback for the frequent flyer is that Hainan is not a member of a global airline alliance, so the only way to collect points with them is to join their ‘Fortune Wings Club’.

8/10