rogerluli Posted January 25, 2009 Report Share Posted January 25, 2009 Laopo heads off to the homeland tomorrow nite and I have finally convinced her to do most of her travel within China by air... For safety reasons she will only take one credit card... So what card will work best for this use??? I'm thinking AmEx since it cannot be used so widely outside of travel in case it gets "lost"... but if Visa or MC are better we can use that too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard & Li Posted January 25, 2009 Report Share Posted January 25, 2009 Li has always paid cash for Chinese domestic filghts. (Except flights that are on an itinerary I booked in America.) I don't know if she got a discount that way or why that's what she wanted to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy W Posted January 25, 2009 Report Share Posted January 25, 2009 Does AmEx work in China ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogerluli Posted January 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2009 Does AmEx work in China ?? Yup...I've used it several times to pay for hotels in Guangzhou (I like to spell it out just to prove I can... ) But I think never for airfare... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogerluli Posted January 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2009 Li has always paid cash for Chinese domestic filghts. (Except flights that are on an itinerary I booked in America.) I don't know if she got a discount that way or why that's what she wanted to do. Ther's a complicating factor to paying cash Richard... She's arriving at Guangzhou noonish and then flying out threeish for Hunan...We only have about 1000 RMB in left over RMB cash, she will not have time to go out of the airport to a bank to change $$$...The flight to Hunan is 800 RMB++...I suspect if she uses a Franklin at the ticket counter she'll get the world's worst exchange rate... and she'll need money once she arrives in Hunan before she can get to a bank... Ah it's always something... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian Posted January 25, 2009 Report Share Posted January 25, 2009 (edited) Ask her to recheck the fares on www.ctrip.com . She can purchase with plastic online, even setup e-tickets, but if international credit card, is 2 to 3 percent surcharge. I am happy to pay surcharge for the convenience of e-tickets for Chinese domestic travel, always. You may want to make sure she uses ctrip.com for her flights, as she can accumulate points and also get some discount from 'full fare ticket' prices. I wouldn't think on comparing 'amex vs mc vs visa' - instead, I would look at which ones have the higher limits, in case of an emergency, and take 'that one'. Good Luck ! Edited January 25, 2009 by Darnell (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeFisher3 Posted January 25, 2009 Report Share Posted January 25, 2009 Are you sure Guangzhou doesn't have a Bank of China exchange service in the airport like they do in Beijing? My wife is using her Bank of America visa card that has her picture embedded in it, if you don't have a card with her picture on it you might check to see if one is available. Sure does make a stolen card more difficult to use in person. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tony n Terrific Posted January 25, 2009 Report Share Posted January 25, 2009 Laopo heads off to the homeland tomorrow nite and I have finally convinced her to do most of her travel within China by air... For safety reasons she will only take one credit card... So what card will work best for this use??? I'm thinking AmEx since it cannot be used so widely outside of travel in case it gets "lost"... but if Visa or MC are better we can use that too... If have not done this already you should notify your credit card companies that your wife is going overseas. If not they may not honor the charges she will make. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogerluli Posted January 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2009 Laopo heads off to the homeland tomorrow nite and I have finally convinced her to do most of her travel within China by air... For safety reasons she will only take one credit card... So what card will work best for this use??? I'm thinking AmEx since it cannot be used so widely outside of travel in case it gets "lost"... but if Visa or MC are better we can use that too... If have not done this already you should notify your credit card companies that your wife is going overseas. If not they may not honor the charges she will make. I never heard of this requirement??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonado Posted January 25, 2009 Report Share Posted January 25, 2009 Visa is better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard & Li Posted January 25, 2009 Report Share Posted January 25, 2009 Ther's a complicating factor to paying cash Richard... She's arriving at Guangzhou noonish and then flying out threeish for Hunan...We only have about 1000 RMB in left over RMB cash, she will not have time to go out of the airport to a bank to change $$$...The flight to Hunan is 800 RMB++...I suspect if she uses a Franklin at the ticket counter she'll get the world's worst exchange rate... and she'll need money once she arrives in Hunan before she can get to a bank... Ah it's always something... Ah, I see. You're probably right about the exchange rate. I don't have any info about plastic in China. If that doesn't work out: Any chance of a relative in China purchasing the ticket for her? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeFisher3 Posted January 25, 2009 Report Share Posted January 25, 2009 Laopo heads off to the homeland tomorrow nite and I have finally convinced her to do most of her travel within China by air... For safety reasons she will only take one credit card... So what card will work best for this use??? I'm thinking AmEx since it cannot be used so widely outside of travel in case it gets "lost"... but if Visa or MC are better we can use that too... If have not done this already you should notify your credit card companies that your wife is going overseas. If not they may not honor the charges she will make. I never heard of this requirement??? It's not a requirement, but their fraud division may put a hold on the charge until they can verify with you that the card has not been stolen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnxiaoying Posted January 26, 2009 Report Share Posted January 26, 2009 I never heard of this requirement??? I notify my credit card company and my bank (debit card) about my itinerary before I leave the US. They note in your file when you expect to leave and return. It prevents disapproval of charges. It's also a good idea to make a copy of your passport, credit cards, etc in case you need to call and cancel a card because it has been lost or stolen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Posted January 26, 2009 Report Share Posted January 26, 2009 (edited) rogerluliI never heard of this requirement??? johnxiaoyingI notify my credit card company and my bank (debit card) about my itinerary before I leave the US. They note in your file when you expect to leave and return. It prevents disapproval of charges. It's also a good idea to make a copy of your passport, credit cards, etc in case you need to call and cancel a card because it has been lost or stolen. Leefisher3It's not a requirement, but their fraud division may put a hold on the charge until they can verify with you that the card has not been stolen. I call Bank of America every time Ying and I go to China, give them the card #s and how long we'll be there. Whenever we need to hit an ATM I always look for a China Construction Bank. BofA has an ownership stake in the bank I can draw funds from their ATM with no extra charges. Edited January 26, 2009 by Carl (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bert Posted January 26, 2009 Report Share Posted January 26, 2009 Laopo heads off to the homeland tomorrow nite and I have finally convinced her to do most of her travel within China by air... For safety reasons she will only take one credit card... So what card will work best for this use??? I'm thinking AmEx since it cannot be used so widely outside of travel in case it gets "lost"... B) but if Visa or MC are better we can use that too... If have not done this already you should notify your credit card companies that your wife is going overseas. If not they may not honor the charges she will make. I never heard of this requirement??? It's not a requirement, but their fraud division may put a hold on the charge until they can verify with you that the card has not been stolen. That's a very good point. The credit card company might reject it or you might have to call them. The company may reject it if they sense any possibility of something being wrong. I have ran into this issue twice before. I have also ran into an issue trying to use a Visa card with Platinum stamped on it. They insisted that it was a Platinum card and not a Visa card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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