TICKETS TO CHINA

[TomFisher]

I'll add my 2 cents worth to this topic.  I have used FlyChina.com  and got a very good rate and the service was AWESOME!!!! When I was in Zhanjiang in May I had a big problem, China Southern changed the departure time of my return flight to Guangzhou and nobody told me.  I called China Southern and they were moderately helpful but said they could not change my connecting flights (2) with Delta.  I called Delta and explained the situation and they told me that they would only change my flights if I agreed to pay the highest penalty rate.  My Chinese wife and sister in-law learned much American profanity at the end of that conversation.  I called Tammy at FlyChina and explained the situation to her and she took care of everything.  When I wokeup the next morning I had an email with my new confirmation and e-ticket numbers and all was well.  I payed $1200 round trip from Daytona Beach to Zhanjiang.  That's from a low traffic airport where it cost me $1400 to fly to Minneapolis.  The service will keep me coming back.

Peace,

Tom

[TStop]

A lot of times the price those small websites quote initially is the price "pre-tax" which ends up being significantly cheaper than what you will actually pay, in the end.  There's all sorts of federal (even internationally) taxes on planes, stuff like airport usage fees (each airplane has to pay so much to land), and so on, that gets lumped in.

I was able to fly to Shanghai from Chicago last March for around $700 (total), which is about as good as you can typically find -- I think.  It really depends on where you are flying into.  In most cases, flying into Shanghai, Beijing, or Hong Kong is going to be considerably cheaper than anywhere else.  Legend has it that some of the air carriers will sometimes offer ridiculously low rates, on the order of $400 round trip, etc.  But I have yet to find such a rate in my own explorations.  ;-)

To contrast, the best rate I could scrounge up from the states to Guangzhou this summer was about $880 -- and that was flying out of NYC-JFK or LAX.

[David5o]

Airfares are crazy, in all the years I've been traveling around this world i have never quite got to the bottom of how they price a bum on a seat!! Prices can regularly be seen at one price and the day after, or the day before, ... the same flight is 3 times the cost.

I'm in Larnaca Cyprus, you would think it would be cheaper to fly to Hong Kong from here via the Middle East Gulf States, .....Wrong, it's about half as much again as flying from London. So if anyone here can enlighten me on this subject, I'd really like to hear from you. But i wouldn't mind betting big time, that no-one here can come close to answering how the airlines price bums on seats..... haha!!

David.....

[TomFisher]

Hey Michael, when in February are you going?   I'm planing on going back for the Chinese New Year. I'm probably going to leave around the 10th.  Maybe we'll run into each other during our travels.

Peace,

Tom

[zook144]

Was wondering if anyone in the states had flown United through Chicago to go to China. Seems as though they have the cheapest
rates. However, I dislike both United and Chicago airport. They are always delaying or cancelling flights. I usually try to fly Delta, but
I am headed for Hong Kong (I think, the last of October) and all of there flights seem to arrive there around 10:55pm. That is not a real
convenient time. So, has anyone experience with United and Chicago on international flights?
Don

[Chet Sams]

United isnt all that impressive to me. Flew it when i did my trip to australia. From vegas to LA. small plane. Turbulence bouncing the plane one way then the other. Miserable flight. Took southwest a few times to Chicago. But the terminals there. Did not like compared to vegas terminal. Did you try either a different day. Or switch around starting times to and from. I did that for a long time to get my december vacation in line. Found some good time frames on both sides. Except the dreaded wait time in LAX. The wait until i think 1 am before the flight off to Beijing.