Online versus Travel Agent for Internal flights

[pipedream]

Hi,

I'll be going to Beijing in May travelling from the UK. I'm also going to be visiting Xian, Guilin and Shanghai and have been researching internal flights on this forum and elsewhere.

I've checked on ctrip.com and there seem to be some good deals there. What I need to know is:

1) Is it cheaper to book online on ctrip.com from UK and collect & pay for my tickets when I get to Beijing? or would it be cheaper buying directly from a Travel Agent in Beijing

2) When should I think about booking? Are there last-minute deals or does it booked up a long time in advance?

3) Are there any internal airlines to absolutely avoid (I've read some bad stuff about China Eastern)?

Sorry if all these have been answered elsewhere - I just haven't spotted them yet!!

Cheers,

pipedream

[smalldog]

The cheapest tickets are to be had by buying etickets on the airline websites. However I think you need a Chinese bank account with internet banking to do this. China Southern in particular has some very cheap tickets if you book ahead, but for most airlines the cheapest tickets are available a couple of weeks before you fly. Prices on ctrip/elong are unlikely to be much higher than travel agents in Beijing. If you can pay by credit card and get etickets that will save the hassle of having to collect and pay when you arrive.

[jak__]

I tried booking some domestic flights on ctrip last week and after going through the whole process found out that the discount prices quoted online weren't available for the flights I wanted. So the prices they quote aren't always the ones available I think.

I have heard that prices are high if you book way in advance or at the last minute, and that the discounts show up like one month in advance or something like that. I could be wrong tho.

Also for some of the sites I think the prices they quote can be around 130 RMB lower than what you end up paying once they tack on taxes and fees and what not.

[flameproof]

I have heard that prices are high if you book way in advance or at the last minute,

I can confirm that. I have used also Ctrip and Elong. I also sometimes keep the travel page in the daily chinese newspaper and call up a few of those numbers. They can usually deliver the tickets to your location when you are in China.

[bianfuxia]

I'm pretty sure they speak english at ctrip so even if someone doesn't speak chinese (like me) they can look up the fare on their website and just call them. This might be more effective than trying to do the whole thing online - assuming it fits within the person's timetable etc.

They simply deliver the e-ticket receipt to your house (anywhere with the 5th ring, as far as I can tell - got delivery to my old place outside the 4th). You hand over the cash. It works fine - I've done it three times in the last few months. They can also deliver to hotels which I've also done.

I've flown China Southern, Hainan Airlines, Air China and China Eastern. They're all....ok. Personally I thought China Eastern (Beijing to Shanghai) was the best! A nice new A330, and food you could actually eat. The food on all the rest was either non-existent or really inedible. They all had western planes, mostly old except the brand new one. The flights themselves were just like any other domestic flight I've ever been on. Nothing special, nothing bad.

I'd heard legends of how the Chinese passengers are all up and out of their seats crowding the doors before the plane has even finished landing but this didn't happen on any of my flights - the few brave souls who tried it were promptly forced back into their seats by the cabin crew. This discipline held pretty much until the plane reached the gate.

[Rincewind]

I have recently used travel agents and also bought on the day at the airport. I tried to use some online agents and the airline websites, but found their systems to be a bit flaky and so never completed my order. When I used the travel agent local to me in china, I have sometimes ended up with an e-ticket that they printed out. A month ago I bought at the airport just hours before the flight and got a perfectly reasonable price.

As to which airline. In the last 3 months I have been on Air China (four times), China Southern (three times) and China Eastern (once). The quality of plane has varied considerably. Most of them have been fine but on a Air China flight form Beijing to Shenyang, I had a Boeing 737 700 that had some dodgy seats. The springs seemed to have gone in the seat backs and so the food trays popped out every time the person in front moved position. And on the leg before form Hong Kong to Beijing, my seat wouldn't stay upright. As we took off, it tilted back and wouldn't lock forward again. The Beijing to Hong Kong leg was a significantly better plane. A boeing 767 with video screens in the seats.

I once had a China Air flight form Shenyang to Beijing canceled due to fog and snow at Shenyang (the plane was still at Beijing) but they transferred me to a China Southern flight that was already parked in Shenyang so I actually ended up 50 minutes early.

The food on all these airlines can vary quite a bit. Typically for a short jump you'll get either a hot-dog in a bun or a packet of peanuts. On longer flights you should expect a larger meal though airplane food is never any good really.

As to price: I've found China Southern and China Eastern to be significantly cheaper than Air China. For example, Air China form Shenyang to Beijing booked a week in advance cost me 750RMB where as the return flight on China Southern, bought at the airport on the day of flight, came to just 450RMB (price all inclusive of tax and fees).