Hainan Airlines Reviews | Opinions of Hainan Airlines shared by travelers

I would not recommend Hainan Airlines if you are flying with pets!!!! We had a terrible experience and we found them to be incredibly dishonest, careless, and generally unprofessional. It was literally the worst customer service experience I have had on an airline.

They state on their website that they charge 1.5% of the price of a full fare economy class ticket per KG for pets. We were flying from Beijing to Berlin. We bought our tickets through them for about $550USD one way, but we assumed from the start that "full fare" would be more expensive. We were even prepared to have to pay 1.5% of double the amount we paid for our tickets.

So, we emailed HA to confirm what the total price would be and the amount they quoted per KG was 1.5% of $2,000USD just for the Beijing->Berlin leg of the trip!!! They were trying to claim that a "full far economy" one way ticket from Beijing to Berlin would cost $2,000USD. Clearly, you can fly first class one way for less than that. The total price per KG was also DOUBLE what they charge for excess baggage fees (EB fees are what most other airlines charge).

It wasn't just that they charged this much, it was also that everyone we spoke to quoted a different price!

So, we felt like this was a ridiculous charge, especially since we checked around and pretty much every other airline charged less (and later found out Hainan has had some pretty high profile pet issues in the past that involve poodles being shot on the runway, etc.). But the worst part was how misleading their website is. There is no straightforward price. They can claim that any amount of money is what a "full fare ticket" costs. There is not way to look up the "full far" price (we asked), and everyone you speak to quotes a different price. This is just entirely dishonest!

In addition to the deliberately hidden outrageous fees, we had to literally speak to 6 or 7 customer service reps to nail down the exact price. Everyone gave us a slightly different amount, said they didn't know the price, or told us someone would call us back (of course that never happened). This went on for weeks.

Which led the the worst part of this whole situation. Finally, a manager contacted us via email and told us that they would charge us 1.5% of OUR ticket price ($550USD, rather than the made up "full fare" price of $2,000USD) after we sent an unhappy email to customer service. So, of course, we sent back an email thanking him for addressing our issues and also just to confirm the final price...AND...THEY TOOK IT BACK!!!! They promised us this price and then when we emailed them again they told us that this wouldn't be the price and went back on their word!

The even worse part is that the manager who promised us the reduced price told us in his email just to go to the airport on the day of the flight and the ground staff would give us this adjusted price. So, if we hadn't emailed them, we would have shown up at the airport with the animals in hand, prepared to move to Germany, expecting to pay half of what they then would have tried to charge us! Also, from the money, this is not the procedure for taking pets on their airlines (you are supposed to pay and make arrangements before the day of the flight). Who knows, maybe we wouldn't have even been able to take them on the flight at all, all because they gave us bad information for the tenth time!