Airline tickets

[Alex]

My So has her interview Dec 3rd. If she passes I plan to fly her and her daughter here asap. I have a travel agent who has arranged all my trips in the past, but I want some input from CFLers.

 

I cannot be there for the interview, so I want to purchase the tickets and have her pick them up at the airport in GZ on departure day. Can this be done?

 

My ideal plan...She and her daughter will fly non-stop to L.A., via China Southern Air ... I will meet them there , then the three of us will fly back to Texas together.

 

BTW...I had thought of sending my SO the money to buy the tickets in GZ, but I don't believe the Western Union limits will allow me to send enough to cover purchase price.

[dave&lan]

I usually use Expedia.com. They have tickets for around $1000 for a 1 way trip. I paid $1200 last Feb. to visit round trip and had plenty left for fun.

[shalaowai]

I purchased the tickets for my roundtrip to China, and the one way for my fiance to return with me this December. I booked our tickets over the phone on United. As far as buying for just her, I payed for it and if I needed to I could e-mail her the E-confirmations that we need to take to the Ticket counter in Beijing. So I'm sure you could do something similar to that for your SO and her daughter.

 

[eeyore]

Most airlines allow the purchaser to choose the passenger and ship tickets to that person or if you purchase the tickets on line they usually e-mail a copy of the tickets to your or the passenger, they can be printed off and taken to the airport to get the boarding pass.

[Carl]

I got this off the Western Union website. You decide.

 

5. How much money can I send from westernunion.com ?

 

Initially, the maximum amount of money you can send online with a revolving 30-day period is $999.99. Once you have used the Western Union Money transfer service on the web, at least once over the course of 120 days, you may send up to a maximum of $2,000 within a revolving 30-day period. If Arizona is your state of residence, you may only send up to a maximum of $950 per transaction.

 

Carl

[ed and ying]

IMO and experience, any tickets you purchase here will be full fare or almost full fare. Picking them up in GZ adds another dimension.

 

You could expect signficant reduction in fares if your SO could purchase tickets from a local agent, while asking for a discount. The mode of air travel in China, even for some international destinations is to not book too far ahead and ask for discount. It does add some flexibilty to the plan. It is not easy to judge flight load and avalibility of discount on Chinese air line. But most likely if flight is booked in China, it will be significantly cheaper.

 

If specific flights/times are most important - then book ahead, with specific reference to having the ticket available in GZ. Make sure of what time the counter is open, etc. I used flychina.com once to prebook a flight during golden week, but ticket was sent to me in US.

 

Google CS to see if they have US office. Given the situation, knowing you do not want any problems, it may be best to deal with CS directly.

 

If possible, the home run option is SO buys tickets in China, informs you of date/time and you can meet her. I have never been comfortable with the buy/change ticket at A, pick up at B, unless I have the originating ticket in my possesion - I fly a lot - have seen other people's problems. Once I had to buy a new ticket, luckily I had enough RMB on hand, later it was eventually sorted out.

 

Not to scare you, but crap happens. IMO, have SO buy ticket locally if that works for your situation.

[lele]

My So has her interview Dec 3rd. If she passes I plan to fly her and her daughter here asap. I have a travel agent who has arranged all my trips in the past, but I want some input from CFLers.

 

I cannot be there for the interview, so I want to purchase the tickets and have her pick them up  at the airport in GZ on departure day. Can this be done?

 

My ideal plan...She and her daughter will fly non-stop  to L.A., via China Southern Air ... I will meet them there , then the three of us will fly back to Texas together.

 

BTW...I had thought of sending my SO the money to buy the tickets in GZ, but I don't believe the Western Union limits will allow me to send enough to cover purchase price.

Air China can sell you that one-way ticket for about 375$US one way.

 

I remember having seen it on a website. However, you can also just use any travel agent in any china-town to get that deal. If you want, via PM, I can send you the phone number of an agent that I use for that.

 

Good Luck with the Interview!!!

[lele]

My So has her interview Dec 3rd. If she passes I plan to fly her and her daughter here asap. I have a travel agent who has arranged all my trips in the past, but I want some input from CFLers.

 

I cannot be there for the interview, so I want to purchase the tickets and have her pick them up  at the airport in GZ on departure day. Can this be done?

 

My ideal plan...She and her daughter will fly non-stop  to L.A., via China Southern Air ... I will meet them there , then the three of us will fly back to Texas together.

 

BTW...I had thought of sending my SO the money to buy the tickets in GZ, but I don't believe the Western Union limits will allow me to send enough to cover purchase price.

And if you want to send money, I strongly recommend using this service. I have used it before. It is cheap ($15 to send up to $3000 at one time), fast, and the cash can be withdrawn as either RMB or US$, so that if there is extra left over, she can take the cash as US$ and bring it back with her.

 

http://www.bocusa.com/bocny/html/remittances.html

[Bryan_Qunying]

My wife, her daughter and I are going through this, this week. I have 2 checking accounts with my wife's name on them and she has the Visa / check cards with her. She has the money readily available for her at this time with no waiting.

 

As for the plan tickets, my wife has found 2 tickets for her and her daughter priced at 5,050RMB (aprox. $618.12 @ $= 8.17RMB) per ticket. This is $250 per ticket, less than what I have been able to find through all the on line services, including flychina.com. Her flight originates in Chongqing with a 6 hour layover in San Fransisco and then on to Chicago arriving @ 10:08PM, Nov. 25th.

 

I don't know what kind of schedule you are looking for, nut this seems to be the cheapest we have been able to find, this time of year. Good luck finding your tickets!

 

Bryan

 

 

BTW: The cost to us for ATM use is only $1.50 per transaction. Yhe first 2 are free. Are total fees for her to have this money will only be $6.00!

[CaliforniaDreamin]

Alex,

 

Since you plan to use China Southern (the only direct flight from GZ to the US),

I would suggest you call them directly and I believe their phone number is

(323) 653-8088.

 

I have flown LAX to GZ 3 times via China Southern and would never use another carrier, because the direct flight is so much easier.

 

I think you can pay for them directly (credit card), but you need to clarify this point with them.

 

Good luck on the interview!

[ghall20]

My So has her interview Dec 3rd. If she passes I plan to fly her and her daughter here asap. I have a travel agent who has arranged all my trips in the past, but I want some input from CFLers.

 

I cannot be there for the interview, so I want to purchase the tickets and have her pick them up  at the airport in GZ on departure day. Can this be done?

 

My ideal plan...She and her daughter will fly non-stop  to L.A., via China Southern Air ... I will meet them there , then the three of us will fly back to Texas together.

 

BTW...I had thought of sending my SO the money to buy the tickets in GZ, but I don't believe the Western Union limits will allow me to send enough to cover purchase price.

If you move the money from your bank to her bank it only takes 2-4 days..

as far as the tickets go. My wife has arranged for the travel agency to give her the tickets after the interview---and yes---it's Dec. 3--same as yours..

She had arranged two options one through LA and one through Japan... The La route lets you take more luggage... anyway--It's about 400 USD r/t from gaungzhou to Portland Or... Much cheaper than I could find In the USA.

So Im just sending her the money and letting her handle it

If you can figure out the money issue---I may be able to get the phone # of the agency she used for your SO.

My wife planes on waiting at a resturant after the interview to get the tickets and then go get her shots while there...

[lele]

My wife planes on waiting at a resturant after the interview to get the tickets and then go get her shots while there...

*shots* ?!?!?

 

Are they required before entrance into the US, or just before the AOS is filed? I was not aware of this requirement!

 

Thanks for your help and good luck with your interview and arrival in the US.

[Stats]

My So has her interview Dec 3rd. If she passes I plan to fly her and her daughter here asap. I have a travel agent who has arranged all my trips in the past, but I want some input from CFLers.

 

I cannot be there for the interview, so I want to purchase the tickets and have her pick them up  at the airport in GZ on departure day. Can this be done?

 

My ideal plan...She and her daughter will fly non-stop  to L.A., via China Southern Air ... I will meet them there , then the three of us will fly back to Texas together.

 

BTW...I had thought of sending my SO the money to buy the tickets in GZ, but I don't believe the Western Union limits will allow me to send enough to cover purchase price.

My wife flew to LAX from GZ on the China Southern flight. So I can give you a little feedback.

 

It was cheaper for her to buy the ticket in Shenzhen, so I sent the money by Western Union. I had no problem with the limit, as I had been sending money for awhile. I can't help you there.

 

The flight was good and there were no problems. I met her at the 1st floor in Terminal 5. I waited outside a door by the escalator with about 100 other people.

 

One piece of advice. Sine we were traveling to Houston, we stayed overnight at the LAX Hilton (I am a Diamond so the room upgrade was automatic). IIRC, the flight arrived at about 7 pm (it was April). I knew she would be tired, so we took a Continental flight the next morning.

 

Also my mother lives in LA, so she got a chance to meet her for breakfast.

 

Unless the flight times have changed, you would be getting back to Texas pretty late. I would seriously consider staying at the LAX hotel of your choice. There are many of them.

 

Where in TX, btw?

 

Also, it is a Delta code share for those who like miles, FYI.

[ghall20]

My wife planes on waiting at a resturant after the interview to get the tickets and then go get her shots while there...

*shots* ?!?!?

 

Are they required before entrance into the US, or just before the AOS is filed? I was not aware of this requirement!

 

Thanks for your help and good luck with your interview and arrival in the US.

Not a requirement on the shots---just cheaper to get done there. since her son is traveling with her Im going for cheap shots while there... maybe save a few bucks...