China Romance
General Discussion and Useful Links => Ask An Experienced Member => Topic started by: ttwjr32 on August 15, 2009, 06:07:45 pm
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ok i have a question for you guys. i am booking a one way ticket to guangzhou for mid sept. i usually use AAA travel here but i noticed on
CHEAP AIR FLIGHTS i could get a ticket for 526.00 usa dollars. has anyone used them?? after you book do they mail you the ticket or some type of confirmation letter?? just dont want any problems when i get to the airport. also its 505.00 plus 21.00 charge any other type of hidden charges or restrictions?? any input would be appreciated.
ted from stockton soon guangzhou.
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Ted,
I'm not from the USA, but i hear about a lot of ticket misrepresentation going on there. The only way you will find out the true cost, is to call the agency and ask them for a total cost on that ticket. CS shark advises to purchase tickets from Chinatown travel agencies, Say's they are always the cheapest in the US.
Our ticket system in the UK has far more controls on ticket advertised pricing than the US, and even we get shafted with the true cost of the ticket at times.
As i say always call the agency direct to get the true cost of the ticket before just sticking it on the card. Normally, if the time allowed allows them to post your ticket on to you, they will do it. If the time allowed is not of sufficient time, you pick the ticket up at the airport, you may have to pay a small charge for that service. They will give you your ticket code number, which you need to give to get your ticket at the airport. So you give your name and the code number and they give you your ticket . you may also need the credit card that you purchased the ticket with.....
Hope that's been a little help, if not wait for your fellow yanks to tell you there experiences with airline ticketing
David......
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Ted is it called Cheap air flights? or Cheapair or cheapoair. Cheapair is ussualy the best place to buy tickets it you can play with the dates and times that is even better.
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maxx,
its called cheapoair and when i was nosing around all the sites like expedia and so forth were in the same price range. i just never used an onlnie site like that always used AAA travel and of course it would be almost 800 thru them so i am trying to be frugal as i will be in guangzhou for 5 years. ted
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I used flychina.com but didnt get prices like that. I flew out of San Diego and they were quite helpful in setting up the connecting flights. It's not as cheap as you've found but I had no problems with my flight arrangements.
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CheapOair is who I used to get my wife's one-way flight to America on 23 August. But that one-way ticket was unfortunately 1300USD. You have a great deal going, it may be limited and gone tomorrow. These prices change daily and are usually best in the morning.
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Ted Yes I have used Cheapoair before.That price you qoated sounds like the tax is not included.If you go to the booking part of there web page.Scroll down to the bottom of the page they will have the price with the tax included.
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Hi Ted,
What do you need a ticket for? You are so high on emotion for Sisi you could open your arms and fly yourself here!!
You have one great lady waiting here.
Whichever way you arrive then at least we should not be missing each other phone calls. And it wil be cheaper than calling you in the USA.
In the UK they usually send us E-tickets online as soon as you have paid.
Willy
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Hey Willy,
Your right i could probably fly there. but i could get faa clearance hahahaha
looking forward to seeing you and xia when i get there. i told sisi about stopping
over at zhuhai for a week but that didnt go over to well. but she was just
joking back with me.
ted
Hey Maxx,
yes there is a aditional charge of 72.00 for the taxes and fees so it takes it
to 598.00 still not bad for 1 way. are you in china also? just curious
ted
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Recently I have been planning my trip again, CheapOair, Expedia, are all junk, decent starting price until they tack on about $300usd or better for service charges and various other stuff.
Best route is to contact a travel agent in China with one of the more reputable tour companies and websites, it is about the same with local China Town agents. A lot of the tour agencies in China deal with agencies in the states, and they are all networked together very well.
Also if you let the tour agency know what you wanna do, like just hotel arrangements they can get decent Chineseish prices on most hotels. This comes in handy if your lady has to work and you are bored..
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If any of you ever need a travel agent in China, you should use Winser Zhao. He is a very good man who runs China Travel 2.0. His web site can be found at http://www.chinatravel20.com/ (http://www.chinatravel20.com/) and he can get your tickets, apartment rentals, and reservations at some fantastic places all throughout China!
And back on topic, usually you get an eticket. Print it out to be safe, and take it to the airport along with your passport.
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Nik, I have used him before and yes he is very good, I'll be using his services again in Feb.
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Question for those that have used the Chinese airlines...
Do they have a different policy about checking bags or charge extra for checked bags, and how much carry-on do they usually allow?
Thanks,
Scott
As far as I remember China Air has the largest allowance for checked luggage. 30 kgs economy whereas the others are all 20kgs.
But I believe that the 7 kg is the limit for carry on but, within reason) they do bother too much with carry on.
Willy
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Just be careful with the cheaper tickets listed on websites. The biggest caution would be making sure that the connections can be made. one time, when i was looking up flights, there was a 20 minute connection between flights. Realistically, you can not make this kind of connection. Just be aware of this.
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Willy,
That sounds a lot like Cyprus Airways, there official checked baggage allowance is 20Kg but i don't think I've ever been less than 28Kg and sometimes a little over 30 Kg. They just post a Heavy sticker on the case, I've never seen them bat an eyelid at me when I've checked baggage in... Or had any problems with carry on luggage.....
You'll find airlines don't talk in Kgs for carry on baggage, but in Ib's Officially it's around 7 to 10 Ibs but in reality you should have no problem with a correct sized bag/case weighing 7kg or thereabouts...
David....
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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
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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.
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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.....
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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
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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
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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.