Dave&Hong Posted June 21, 2009 Report Share Posted June 21, 2009 I'm looking for low cost alternatives for Chicago to Guangzhou. I'd like to keep layovers to a minimun if possible. Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnoblett Posted June 21, 2009 Report Share Posted June 21, 2009 United has a direct Chicago to Hong Kong, then HK to GUZ is easy ground trip (Bus, Train, or Boat). One way $500 or so. Or United from Chicago to Shanghai and then a domestic to Guangzhou.One way 600 or so without domestic. http://www.united.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikepellicore Posted June 21, 2009 Report Share Posted June 21, 2009 (edited) I tried Hong Kong once, and I will never do it again. Especially with luggage! I/we have used Asiana, we are Asiana Club members. It is 15 hrs. approx to Seoul, and then 3.5 hrs. to Guz. total aprox 20 hrs there and 19 hours back. On time and great pilots. $900 to $1,100 depending on the time of year. You can get your seat assignments when you make reservations. For total time and convenience, we will be flying Asiana in the future too! Yizhen asked why we didn't use Asiana when we came to the US the first time, I didn't have a very good excuse. I got to work 4 extra 12 hour days, but the extra money was spent traveling between HKG and GUZ.Also, HKG was via Newark(POE on return). I like O'Hare better for Immigration and Customs, quick and easy. Good luck, Mike & Yizhen SUMMER FLIGHTS are higher! ($1,946) with a stop in LA(POE) on the return. maybe you can find something less expensive, that's what I tried in 2007 (HKG) but it ended up being more expensive and alot more inconvenient with all Yizhen's luggage. Edited June 21, 2009 by mikepellicore (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave&Hong Posted June 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2009 (edited) United has a direct Chicago to Hong Kong, then HK to GUZ is easy ground trip (Bus, Train, or Boat). One way $500 or so. Or United from Chicago to Shanghai and then a domestic to Guangzhou.One way 600 or so without domestic. http://www.united.com/ That United flight sounds good. Thanks! How much trouble is it to catch the train to Guangzhou for a non Chinese speaker? Do i need to get a visa to enter Hong Kong or will my China visa cover it? Edited June 21, 2009 by Dave&Hong (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lche195 Posted June 21, 2009 Report Share Posted June 21, 2009 I took American Airlines chicago to shanghai it arrives about 2:00 PM then there are a number of domestic's to guangzhou the same afternoon for about $ 150.00 USD, I did this four times never any problems. leon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Posted June 21, 2009 Report Share Posted June 21, 2009 United has a direct Chicago to Hong Kong, then HK to GUZ is easy ground trip (Bus, Train, or Boat). One way $500 or so. Or United from Chicago to Shanghai and then a domestic to Guangzhou.One way 600 or so without domestic. http://www.united.com/ That United flight sounds good. Thanks! How much trouble is it to catch the train to Guangzhou for a non Chinese speaker? Do i need to get a visa to enter Hong Kong or will my China visa cover it? I did this just a couple of weeks ago and it was a piece of cake. First, a US citizen does not need a visa to enter HK - you will automatically be given a 90 day stay stamp in your passport upon arrival. For the train you will just need to make your way to the Hung Hom KCR station in Kowloon where you can buy your train tickets. Everyone that I dealt with at the train station spoke English - so there were no problems. The train takes a little less than 2 hours to get to GUZ and is not a bad ride at all - the train is pretty nice. The cost is about $190HKD or $25US. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikepellicore Posted June 21, 2009 Report Share Posted June 21, 2009 (edited) The train is OK if you don't have much baggage, but the return with Yizhen's bags for moving to the USA was terrible, there are no baggage cars, you must carry all the bags, and keep them with you on the commuter train (no luggage racks), then you must get them to the airport. I would at least fly from GUZ to HKG for the return. Mike the train has weight and size limits, so we had to pay more than the ticket price for our baggage allowance. Edited June 21, 2009 by mikepellicore (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy W Posted June 21, 2009 Report Share Posted June 21, 2009 United has a direct Chicago to Hong Kong, then HK to GUZ is easy ground trip (Bus, Train, or Boat). One way $500 or so. Or United from Chicago to Shanghai and then a domestic to Guangzhou.One way 600 or so without domestic. http://www.united.com/ That United flight sounds good. Thanks! How much trouble is it to catch the train to Guangzhou for a non Chinese speaker? Do i need to get a visa to enter Hong Kong or will my China visa cover it? No visa is needed for an American citizen to enter Hong Kong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveandrong Posted June 21, 2009 Report Share Posted June 21, 2009 as was pointed out to me early in our relationship, the biggest key to cheap tickets is what i call the "window of opportunity" which basically boils down to the timing of the purchase of your tickets. if you purchase 3 - 6 weeks prior to departure, you will find the tickets will be at their cheapest. Clark Howard had an article on this and it has helped me save a bundle on my many visits to china. you can check on this by going to cheapoair.com and pricing tickets with varying departure dates. i would always find that 4 - 6 weeks out from departure date was the cheapest. of course, with summer being the prime tourist season, tickets will be more expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Posted June 21, 2009 Report Share Posted June 21, 2009 The train is OK if you don't have much baggage, but the return with Yizhen's bags for moving to the USA was terrible, there are no baggage cars, you must carry all the bags, and keep them with you on the commuter train (no luggage racks), then you must get them to the airport. I would at least fly from GUZ to HKG for the return. Mike the train has weight and size limits, so we had to pay more than the ticket price for our baggage allowance. Did you take the HK-GUZ Through Train (the one with no stops)? My fiancee and I had not problems even though we had a lot of luggage. They have luggage racks above all the seats which can accomodate all but the very large size bags and then we were able to place our large sized bags at the front of the car near the door. We actually rode it several different times because we decided to also squeeze in a HK shopping trip while waiting for her visa to be printed and each time we had a good experience with no problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnoblett Posted June 21, 2009 Report Share Posted June 21, 2009 United has a direct Chicago to Hong Kong, then HK to GUZ is easy ground trip (Bus, Train, or Boat). One way $500 or so. Or United from Chicago to Shanghai and then a domestic to Guangzhou.One way 600 or so without domestic. http://www.united.com/ That United flight sounds good. Thanks! How much trouble is it to catch the train to Guangzhou for a non Chinese speaker? Do i need to get a visa to enter Hong Kong or will my China visa cover it?I have flown the Chicago to Shanghai flight a couple of times, it is a LONG flight, Chicago Hong-Kong is about 2 hours longer. The equipment United uses for this extra-long flight is the Boeing 777, an excellent and comfortable plane. As others have said the train is easy, however if you have extra baggage it can be a pain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave&Hong Posted June 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2009 (edited) I have flown the Chicago to Shanghai flight a couple of times, it is a LONG flight, Chicago Hong-Kong is about 2 hours longer. The equipment United uses for this extra-long flight is the Boeing 777, an excellent and comfortable plane. As others have said the train is easy, however if you have extra baggage it can be a pain. I have a bit of experience traveling by train in China so It wont be a problem, Hong and I traveled from Zheng Zhou, Henan to Xi'an by train during New Years last January! Quite the experience! My only worry is getting around without speaking the lingo. Sounds like it won't be a big deal though. Thanks for all the replies! {Edit} Fixed broken Quote Tags. Edited June 24, 2009 by dnoblett (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted June 22, 2009 Report Share Posted June 22, 2009 I took the American Airlines ORD/PVG flight, which is also a 777. I dunno about how the seats are arranged on a UA plane, but having been on several AA 777s, I recommend the window seats on rows 41 and 42 which give you a few inches extra room between the seat and the bulkhead. Other fine points for coach seats:* Row 41 has cigarette style plugins for laptops if you want to watch movies on that.* I'm a rightie, so I prefer A seats, which also seem to exit a little faster.* Avoid seats facing bulkheads or the first row of 4 middle section seats in the back so you have armrests that swing up.* If availability looks very high on your flight, try to get into an empty middle section, with a lot of luck you can score a ghetto lie flat. On my last 4 777 overnights, I saw this happen twice. Have a comfy flight. Christopher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaige Posted June 24, 2009 Report Share Posted June 24, 2009 go to seat guru and check out your seats, different airlines have different seat layouts, pick from there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff n Jianli Posted June 24, 2009 Report Share Posted June 24, 2009 I have flown to Hong kong(HKG) from Chicage(ORD) 5 times using United each time. Never a problem. Average cost $1,100. 14 hours there and 13 back non-stop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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