weiaijiayou Posted January 2, 2009 Report Share Posted January 2, 2009 When planning to go with one's spouse to Guangzhou, do most people buy a round-trip plane ticket in advance? (e.g., planning for about a week and a half in the prc) Or, alternatively, do they wait to see interview results before buying the return ticket(s)? A related question is: if one receives a blue slip, it is generally not resolved quickly (i.e., with 2 weeks), correct? Link to comment
MikeXiao Posted January 2, 2009 Report Share Posted January 2, 2009 When my wife had her first visa interview back in March of '05, I was so sure that she would pass that I was ready to buy her plane ticket. The lady at Northwest airlines talked me out of it, and I am thankful. My wife did not get her visa, and when she finally got it, it was 4 months later. It is a tough decision, but I would not buy a ticket before you have the visa. Link to comment
georgeandli Posted January 2, 2009 Report Share Posted January 2, 2009 There are many things that "could" cause delays. Wait and get the ticket after you have the visa IN your hands. Link to comment
jhammer Posted January 2, 2009 Report Share Posted January 2, 2009 There are many things that "could" cause delays. Wait and get the ticket after you have the visa IN your hands. There may be 2 questions here ? One is, does the AC buy a round trip ticket? I will. I have already moved around dates of tickets after purchase. Check with your airline on the fee (s) associated with that. In my last case, with KAL, it was only $75 penalty fee, or something like that quite low considering the stranglehold US airlines US exercise upon us. However, here is where you need to do a little more research: you will be required to pay for the current going rate of the new flight you choose, so any great bargain you had evaporates into a likely much higher priced ticket in most cases, unless you didn't get any bargain, perhaps as much as $1000 more. So you also want to check the going rates on these other flights on days you may need to switch to and note the difference before making up your mind, and it doesn't hurt to ( you really should ) contact the airline in advance with all these questions and potential realities. One other thing I have found is dealing with yahoo travel, while convenient to find flights and market prices, is a nightmare when you need to make any change and they will take you and your wallet for a ride in that case. I began dealing once again directly with airlines and found better service ( people that speak English well and work for the company they are representing and very well informed w/o having to go research my questions before answering just to come back with no-can-do ). I can't believe how much money in more than one case yahoo travel has taken from me. Good luck over there! Link to comment
MikeXiao Posted January 2, 2009 Report Share Posted January 2, 2009 You should buy the RT ticket. Wait until your wife gets her visa then buy hers. Make sure that you have plenty of time from the interview until the flight. Consider that you will need to go back to her home city to repack for the trip to the US, if she gets the visa. Link to comment
Richard & Li Posted January 3, 2009 Report Share Posted January 3, 2009 I agree with Mike. I had a roundtrip ticket for myself. But waited unitl the visas were 'in hand' before purchasing tickets for Li & our son. We had no trouble getting the visa (many thanks again to CFL). But, it was far from certain before it actually happened. Link to comment
Guest Rob & Jin Posted January 4, 2009 Report Share Posted January 4, 2009 even GUZ tells you not to buy tickets until visa in hand. Link to comment
Guest Dylan W Posted January 4, 2009 Report Share Posted January 4, 2009 I agree with Mike. I had a roundtrip ticket for myself. But waited unitl the visas were 'in hand' before purchasing tickets for Li & our son. We had no trouble getting the visa (many thanks again to CFL). But, it was far from certain before it actually happened.How difficult was it to get your seats next to you on the airlines? Any difference in price for buying later? Link to comment
Richard & Li Posted January 4, 2009 Report Share Posted January 4, 2009 I agree with Mike. I had a roundtrip ticket for myself. But waited unitl the visas were 'in hand' before purchasing tickets for Li & our son. We had no trouble getting the visa (many thanks again to CFL). But, it was far from certain before it actually happened.How difficult was it to get your seats next to you on the airlines? Any difference in price for buying later? The China Air domestic flight was no problem. On the main leg (13 hour flight) I was able to find two seats together by changing my seat, our son sat nearby. On the short hop in America, we did not sit together (it wasn't a big deal, it's only about a 90 minute flight). Link to comment
Randy W Posted January 4, 2009 Report Share Posted January 4, 2009 How difficult was it to get your seats next to you on the airlines? Any difference in price for buying later? Check online the day before, if you can change your seats there. Or at the ticket counter when you check in. Lastly, you may be able to swap seats with someone on the plane. My experience in our trip to Beijing was that ticket prices went down (and never went back up) as it got closer to the flight date, but this was because of the decline in fuel prices. Link to comment
Guest Dylan W Posted January 5, 2009 Report Share Posted January 5, 2009 How difficult was it to get your seats next to you on the airlines? Any difference in price for buying later? Check online the day before, if you can change your seats there. Or at the ticket counter when you check in. Lastly, you may be able to swap seats with someone on the plane. My experience in our trip to Beijing was that ticket prices went down (and never went back up) as it got closer to the flight date, but this was because of the decline in fuel prices.I guess we will see how things go. I'm playing things by ear now and hoping for the best in due time. Depending on the airline I suppose. Link to comment
chilton747 Posted January 5, 2009 Report Share Posted January 5, 2009 We waited until after the visa was in hand. Link to comment
Guest Dylan W Posted January 5, 2009 Report Share Posted January 5, 2009 We waited until after the visa was in hand.Was it more expensive? Link to comment
rogerinca Posted January 5, 2009 Report Share Posted January 5, 2009 I agree with Mike. I had a roundtrip ticket for myself. But waited unitl the visas were 'in hand' before purchasing tickets for Li & our son. We had no trouble getting the visa (many thanks again to CFL). But, it was far from certain before it actually happened. I did the same. Purchased my roundtrip through my always low-fare Chinese/American travel agent in SoCal, knowing that I could adjust my return flight if needed, for only a small service fee. We purchased the return one-way tickets for wife and daughter at the China Southern office in downtown GZ, as soon as I had the visas in my hot hand !! My business woman wife negotiated an obscene low price on both tickets and we even got three adjoining seats on the right side of the China Southern B-777, locked in. My travel agent even took the time to call me on my cell phone in China to ensure I had made the link up ok It all went like clock work, from my arrival two days before the interview, until we were wheels up at CAN on route to LAX. Link to comment
chilton747 Posted January 5, 2009 Report Share Posted January 5, 2009 We waited until after the visa was in hand.Was it more expensive? It was the usual advertised price for this flight. It was not more expensive. Link to comment
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