Air China - safety

[Xander]

Just to short questions.

How safe is it to fly from Beijing to Dalian with a domestic airline?

Are plain tickets getting more expensive closer to the departe date if I do not buy them over the internett?

[Senzhi]

I've had no problems with the flying itself. Although, the service might not be the same as you would expect at home. But that's everywhere the case.

Flight tickets can be cheaper or more expensive closer to departure date. It all depends on availability of seats, and can fluctuate in both directions from one day to another. So, in general, just do a search for the cheapest price and book, as speculation is not always advised.

[yonglin]

My experience is that service on domestic flights in China is a lot better than on the average intra-European airline (and SAS in particular ), given that most European airlines are now offering about the same level of service as Ryanair...

AND I've never seen such a detailed safety-video as on my Urumqi-Beijing flight: they even adviced us to remove ear rings and other sharp objects before jumping onto the evacuation slide.

However, you may also experience things like a four-hour delay, because of "waiting for security clearance from the air traffic tower" (which must be BS....)

[simonlaing]

I have found domestic flights great. Often I been in big AIrbuses and Boeings.

On air tickets , the best situation is if you know someone who is a travel agent. They can get family member discounts of 40 % or more sometimes.

Also I once used the guys handing out cards in Shanghai. The price was also substantially lower than the airline website price like 30 % or 40% Cheaper. I was flying Shanghai to Guangzhou. You call them and they deliver to your hotel, You have to use cash, but the tickets are the same.

Also if you are a student at a Chinese University you can get 25% discount on most plane tickets and 50% I think on train tickets. Definitely can save a few hundred yuan.

Sometimes being a day or two flexible with the travel agent will also give you discounts.

Still the best I have found is knowing a travel agent and using their Guanxi, (hook up).

Have fun,

SimoN:)

[yonglin]

Also if you are a student at a Chinese University you can get 25% discount on most plane tickets and 50% I think on train tickets. Definitely can save a few hundred yuan.

That is probably not true if you're 留学生 status. I know with 100% certainty that you cannot get a discount on train tickets unless you are a Chinese national studying at a Chinese university. They're very strict about this and check it very rigorously.

I usually have no problems getting a student discount on various tourist attractions with a foreign-student Chinese university ID. However, I think they're tightening it up, making it an exclusive right for Chinese people. I had a particularly interesting experience at the Xinjiang provincial museum in Urumqi this summer. I was travelling with my Chinese-american friend enrolled in the same Chinese-for-foreigners program as me, with the same kind of student ID (in which it said that we were enrolled in 汉语班). Since we had noticed that ticket sellers at various tourist attractions would usually look at my pale European face and say that the student ticket was only for Chinese, I let my friend go before me and buy the ticket on his own. He had no problems getting the ticket, but when I stepped forward with the same kind of student ID, the ticket seller said that the student ticket was only for 中小学生 and sold me the ordinary ticket (three times the price). Actually, a couple of Chinese university students behind me in the queue overheard the discussion gand ot a bit upset when they thought they couldn't get student tickets. I'm sure she calmed them down later on and told them the actual reason though.

This would never happen at a train ticket agent though: they're meticulous.

[WangYuHong]

I also wondered about the prices...

I bought my ticket online about two weeks before travel, but I tracked the price for about a month beforehand. It started off cheap, but got progressively more and more expensive until I finally purchased the ticket online.

I don't really know what the average person does in China... is it mostly travel agents? Or do they just go to the airport looking for available flights? I imagine using guanxi is the best way to get a deal...

Anyway, I've found the domestic flights to be very pleasant. The flight attendants were nice, and on a 2-hour flight from Beijing to Shanghai we were even served a meal (it was pretty much take off, get served drinks, get served food, land). Compare this to domestic US flights where you're lucky if you get pretzels. Even on an 8-hour flight to Hawaii, the only meal they offered was a sandwich pack, and you had to pay $5 to get that. And my return flight from China to the US had mostly American flight attendants, and they didn't really seem to care if you were happy or not (even though they were stuck with you for over 13 hours...)

About the only problem I've had with domestic Chinese airlines was the numerous delays, which for the most part seemed to stem from an earlier flight not arriving on time (probably because it was delayed as well...) so they didn't have an airplane to board people on... But I'd say the actual flight itself was more comfortable than the recent state of domestic US flights...

[Rincewind]

If you are flexable about the date and time you can usually find a good deal. Have an idea of what the going rate should be. If you see something better than that price, then buy. If you don't shop around and wait.

I've had good deals form travel agents, and I've had bad deals. Online sites sometimes list a good deal and sometimes don't. I've also twice just turned up at Beijing airport and asked for a flight that day. Both times I got a very decent price (If they give you a high price, ask if there's a cheaper seat on the next plain or on a different airline).

I've flown with most of the domestic airlines. Air china, China Southern and China Eastern. I haven't had much to complain about with any of them. Most use the same Airbus and Bowing plains as you see with the domestic European airlines. I did once get a Air china flight on a 737 that looked rather old and in need of a refit but that seems to be unusual.

The level of service is comparable to back in Europe. Not as bad as Ryanair but not as good as Easyjet (not that either of these are something to aspire to.) For a short flight, the food is usually a pack of peanuts and a small hot dog in a bun. Longer flights will usually get a slightly better meal though do be prepared for a Chinese menu (e.g. preserved cabbage).

[simonlaing]

I have received the student discount and the teacher discount (only 10-15%) at numerous times buying plane tickets. Some times they say the tickets set aside for discounts have been sold. but usually it was not a problem.

I only tried to get the train discount a few times, it might be less than 50% off ,might be 30% but i remember it being substantial, and had some Bejing traveler friends doing a tour of kung fu masters who said they got the discount every time they took the train. I am not sure if things have changed or ticket people are not asked much for the discount from foreign students. If you have the Chinese skills use'em . They will save you money.

Have fun,

Simon:)

[Xander]

Hi,

thank you for all the good replies. I think I will buy the airplane ticket when I land in Beijing. I am going to fly from Beijing to Dalian. Just two more questions:

Is the airplane just as overbooked as the train prior to uni/school starts?

How much should I expect to pay for the ticket? I am somewhat flexible.

Thanks in advance

[anonymoose]

I just checked the China Southern Airlines website, and it looks like the full-fare ticket costs 710RMB in economy class.

Chinese airlines regularly offer discounts which do fluctuate up to the date of departure. However, the price never exceeds the maximum published price, so you won't have to pay more than 710RMB* although the closer you leave it to the time of departure, the greater the chance that all the seats will be sold out.

*There is also an airport tax of 50RMB and a fuel surcharge of 50RMB which are fixed regardless of other discounts, so if you end up with a full-fare ticket, the most you should have to pay is 810RMB.

However, I have flown Beijing to Dalian before, and as far as I recall, I paid in the region of 500RMB, though I did book several days in advance.

[Rincewind]

Just remember to watch out for the scammers at Beijing airport. They'll 'help' you check-in then demand a tip. Typically a 100 yuan tip. A simple, "No thanks, I know where I'm going." should see them off.

FYI, the flight to Dalian will probably leave form terminal 2 (if going china southern or eastern) where as the international arrival is usually terminal 1. Air China check-in is usually terminal 1. The information screens in each terminal don't tell you about what's happening in the other terminal. So if you don't see your flight on the screen, don't worry, you're just in the wrong terminal. It's about a 10 minute walk along travelators to go form one terminal to the other.

[WangYuHong]

Hah, I remember when I was departing the Beijing airport. They have those free carts for your luggage and are at every entrance.

We had some guy come up to us as we got out in the arrivals section, 10 feet from the curb, and 20 feet from the free cart stand, and he proceeded to help us load our suitcases onto a cart he was holding. After we got to the door, he asked us about a tip... to which we said "no, thanks". He was quite upset about it... but I mean, the carts were right there, how much a tip does he think he'll get?

Sometimes, I think the best part of being a foreigner is that you can just pretend you don't understand them when they ask you or tell you things you don't want to do.