Airfare within China

[PJ]

Hi All,

 

Well, I'm trying to figure out, once I am in China, how will I buy plane tickets to go from area to area? Will it be more difficult since I am an American? Also, any idea how much intra-China travel costs?

 

Got my list of immunizations and a doctor's appointment next week. Trying to work out a budget and itinerary now.

 

Thanks,

 

P.J.

[Eric&Yuhui]

Hi All,

 

Well, I'm trying to figure out, once I am in China, how will I buy plane tickets to go from area to area?  Will it be more difficult since I am an American?  Also, any idea how much intra-China travel costs?

 

Got my list of immunizations and a doctor's appointment next week.  Trying to work out a budget and itinerary now.

 

Thanks,

 

P.J.

P.J.

What's your itinerary ?

No, as far as I know airlines don't charge you more because you are a foreigner.. but hotels do , unless sweetie book it for you in her best Mandarin/ Cantonese and add on a good 15 mns 200 mph chat at the check in counter

[PJ]

Don't have the full itinerary yet. Work in progress.

 

Hmm, I'm hoping to learn enough Mandarin to try and pass for a native when I'm making reservations. Or at least someone from Hong Kong, since I have heard they do not speak perfect Mandarin. Figure the conversation should be short enough, maybe I can BS it.

 

P.J.

[PJ]

Eric,

 

Sorry to sound negative, but ...

 

Not all of us share your luck, and some of us are still single.

 

P.J.

[Eric&Yuhui]

Eric,

 

Sorry to sound negative, but ...

 

Not all of us share your luck, and some of us are still single.  

 

P.J.

Sorry... I overlooked this and actually realized it after I posted..

But what I said still stands.. Airlines won't charge you more because you are foreigner.

[SBS]

Hi PJ,

in my area around Shanghai and Hangzhou. it is always easy to buy plane ticket. You can either call the local air ticket office and order in the phone or order on line. wherever you booked a ticket they will bring this ticket to the place where you stay and this server is always free.

You can go to this website and check out the ticket on sale. while i went to Guangzhou visa interview I book ticket here and it is so easy. the single way cost 700RMB from hangzhou to Guangzhou. But if you wanna travel from Shanghai to Hangzhou or Suzhou. the better choice is taking good condition train. the soft seat is around 50 RMB and it is comfortable as well.

 

well here is the wesite that you can book hotel or plane ticket . http://www.elong.net/

 

 

Send me email if you have questions

[Eric&Yuhui]

Hi PJ,

in my area around Shanghai and Hangzhou. it is always easy to buy plane ticket. You can either call the local air ticket office and order in the phone or order on line. wherever you booked a ticket they will bring this ticket to the place where you stay and this server is always free.

You can go to this website and check out the ticket on sale. while i went to Guangzhou visa interview I book ticket here and it is so easy. the single way cost 700RMB from hangzhou to Guangzhou. But if you wanna travel from Shanghai to Hangzhou or Suzhou. the better choice is taking good condition train. the soft seat is around 50 RMB and it is comfortable as well.

 

well here is the wesite that you can book hotel or plane ticket . http://www.elong.net/

 

 

Send me email if you have questions

Took SOFT seat from Shanghai to Xian.. 16 Hrs.... I was crying for the nearest airport.. LOL

I was kidding..Actually, Chinese trains are quite comfy... But 16 Hrs was way beyond my league.... Yuhui and I 2 days ago took the High speed train between Paris and Southern France ( about 310 kph) .. Wow...

She keeps calling those the MAGIC train.... meaning MAGNETIC trains, although this one is not... Just a regular electric train.. Sooo cute.. Anyway downtown to downtown in 3 hrs flat, 1000 kms away

[luckxinxin]

HI,PJ. another good website http://english.ctrip.com/ they won't take extra because you are a foreigner.. good luck!!!

[Guest enight]

Hi PJ, glad to hear you are going to China! wow, life has so many various surprise and changes

 

usually you can buy a airline ticket for 20% up to 40% discount, no discount for train ticket though.

 

and... hope you don't bring too much cash with you, in some part of China, it's not safe to carry cash around. American credit cards are able to draw money from ATM machines in many of the Chinese cities. (Look for Bank of China when you are travelling, it's one of the most stable and secure national banks in China)

 

we are looking forward to hearing your adventure ! good luck

[SBS]

Hi PJ,

in my area around Shanghai and Hangzhou. it is always easy to buy plane ticket. You can either call the local air ticket office and order in the phone or order on line. wherever you booked a ticket they will bring this ticket to the place where you stay and this server is always free.

You can go to this website and check out the ticket on sale. while i went to Guangzhou visa interview I book ticket here and it is so easy. the single way cost 700RMB from hangzhou to Guangzhou. But if you wanna travel from Shanghai to Hangzhou or Suzhou. the better choice is taking good condition train. the soft seat is around 50 RMB and it is comfortable as well.

 

well here is the wesite that you can book hotel or plane ticket . http://www.elong.net/

 

 

Send me email if you have questions

Took SOFT seat from Shanghai to Xian.. 16 Hrs.... I was crying for the nearest airport.. LOL

I was kidding..Actually, Chinese trains are quite comfy... But 16 Hrs was way beyond my league.... Yuhui and I 2 days ago took the High speed train between Paris and Southern France ( about 310 kph) .. Wow...

She keeps calling those the MAGIC train.... meaning MAGNETIC trains, although this one is not... Just a regular electric train.. Sooo cute.. Anyway downtown to downtown in 3 hrs flat, 1000 kms away

haha my husband and i took soft sleeping seat once for more than 24 hours. can't realy remeber how long. we thought we can see some nice views but after that experence we will never never take that kind of long train anymore.

 

[owenkrout]

For the train, plane and boat schedules, reservations, etc. see: http://www.redflag.info/transportation.htm

 

The train is the way to travel around China. You want soft seat though. The hard seat is only for those who can't afford soft seat and believe me, you don't want to travel that way unless absolutely necessary. I have. For any long distance, you want to get a sleeper. Hard sleeper is fine. There is a soft sleeper where you have your own enclosed compartment, but even then you are sharing it with three other people. And even a deluxe soft sleeper, but neither is worth the extra money unless you can't get a regular hard sleeper or want to hobnob with the cadre. The cadre elite fly or have their own car and driver.

 

Busses are acceptable if you are not going too far and if you get one of the newer private industry cross-country busses. Don't even consider the sleeper busses. They are dirty and notoriously unsafe.

 

Except around a few places like Shanghai, everything is cash. Some travel agencies do accept credit cards (They have someone stand in line with the cash) but don't count on it. Here in Shenyang it is cash only.

 

You might pass yourself off as from Hong Kong except for the fact they will still ask to see your passport or ID card. Also being from Hong Kong qualifies for being over charged also. Not as much as American, which is about a four to one ratio, but still higher. I have been refused a room in Beijing for being American. They had rooms when they thought that I was Canadian. No dogs or Yanks allowed.

[Myles]

Aloha from Hawaii,

Soft seat ( first class ) is the way to travel long distances. The cost is much less than

air fare and is a good way to see the country side. To pass the time you can play the

Chinese version of chess or card games with other travelers.

 

Post your travel plans. People who are familiar with the areas can help you.

Myles aka Annakuen'GG

[sarah36]

Well, I'm trying to figure out, once I am in China, how will I buy plane tickets to go from area to area?  Will it be more difficult since I am an American?  Also, any idea how much intra-China travel costs?

 

 

P.J.

Hi, PJ:

In China, in most cities, there are some ticket companies selling discount plane tickets-----only plane tickets have discount price, train or ship tickets dont have. YOu will have to get such companies' contact information by people or local newspaper. Try to avoid call the ticket center in hotel or airplane company because usually their price is full. The discount sometimes will go down to 60 percent, which should be lowest. And the discount will be different according to different time and different cities you will go. When booking tickets, all you need to do is just call through the booking number, then later on they will send the ticket to you. I think their service is pretty good. This comes to the problem of your PuTong Hua. Maybe you can just find your neighbour to call for you.

 

About the costs of intra china, that will depend on where you want to go and by what media you want to take. By train is cheap, but if you can get discounted airplane tickets, then sometimes the price is almost the same or similar but with more pleasant travelling feeling.

 

Sarah (the above is most confidential )

[chinadave2001]

Hi PJ,

I'll had my two jiao here.

I have flown about 20 times now inside of China and in my humble opinion, Flying is definately the way to go for anything more than a short distance.

Tickets are very inexpensive, especialy when compared to what one would pay in the US. Also, tickets are all same price regardless of when one books the ticket and there is no difference between one way and round trip. ( one way from Qingdao to Beijing is 60 dollars - r/t is 120.)You can book a ticket last minute and get the same price as everyone else. Yes, you can get discounts as Sarah and others have mentioned which can make the price even better. Basically, there is none of the BS like there is in the USA with all of the pricing games and stupid restrictions. I have never seen any price difference for foreignors except that we are less likely to know about and be able to access the discounting services. There has never been a problem for me as an American once Sarah started booking discounted tickets for me. The planes are mostly new American ones with some Airbusses as well. Overall I'd guess that the average age of an aircraft in the Chinese fleets is less than five years old, generally much newer than what one generally finds in the US. I wouldn't take a train unless you really needed to save money and were looking for a real Chinese experience. The only negative thing that I have seen happen is sometimes flights can be cancelled because they are not full enough and you get bumped onto the next one -usually an hour later.

dave

[sarah36]

( one way from Qingdao to Beijing is 60 dollars - r/t is 120.)

I could always buy discounted tickets, which have messed up Dave's conception for the standard ticket price in China. The full O/W price between Qingdao and Beijing is $80.

 

 

 

Sarah