All About China > Your trip to China
Going on my 2nd trip in 1 month, anyone booked internal flights within China?
Jan:
From Chengdu to Hainan and back + all hotels (5 days). We paid a little under 5000CNY for all of that. We transferred the money to the travel agency via bank transfer. And we went to the airport. Gave the airport ticket seller my passport and her ID card. We got the tickets at the same desk we gave our luggage at.
I was rather scared about the luggage weights and the carry on baggage weights... But as I found out. There is none. Some girl had over 50kg stuff to put in as cargo, no problem although it took her some minutes of talking. And the Chinese also bring huge luggages with them as carry on. Hehe.
So you should buy the tickets inside China, I think the prices become half cheaper or something.
You should get your girl to ask the travel agencies for prices. Different agencies give different prices. Because it depends on who they know or are related to. Then they can get cheaper prices if they are well connected. And then they gain and their friend gains because its their names who are listed as the "seller". And get a bonus later on.
We compared 4 different agencies. And the prices varied by over 2000CNY... The cheapest one was someone her family knew and helped us a little.
Also note that not all travel agencies accept foreigners. They need some special permit to sell to foreigners apparently?
But you should get your girl to compare some agencies and get the cheapest price. It is also better to book some/all hotels via the agency. Because the hotel room prices will become cheaper as well.
As an example we got to sleep in a 5 star hotel for 1 day, 1 other good hotels 2 days, and one hotel I did not really like but was decent as well one day. For our 5 days duration of the trip. And the prices were included while we booked our flights and hotels... So I must say, it was really cheap.
Ask your girl to ask, if she knows anyone that knows anyone that works in a travel agency. If you know someone that knows someone... It becomes so much cheaper and easier. And just in case compare prices, there are travel agencies all over Chengdu and most likely all over every city in China. To find the cheapest one.
The one we used was located at Shuangliu, maybe 30 minutes away from the airport.
Pineau:
ctrip, elong, cheapo for travel inside china.
DON'T use CHEAPO for international unless you do a lot of research on airlines before you book it. Their reservation will book you on different airlines with connections almost impossible to make and on airlines that do not have reciprocal baggage agreements. Meaning you need to go to baggage claim and collect your bags and recheck you baggage to the connecting airline.
elong is Expedia's Chinese partner.
Ctrip will get you some good deals.
Vince G:
"go to baggage claim and collect your bags and recheck you baggage to the connecting airline."
yeah but at least you know your baggage made it that far?
Neil:
Air Canada left my bags in Vancouver, last trip. Beijing makes you collect your bags when transferring from international to domestic, but every time I've flown through Hong Kong, they have transferred my bags from international to domestic. Hong Kong is an awesome airport.
seagull:
I did a search on some of the sites suggested and found some much cheaper flights. Thank you, you guys are a wealth of information.
But my latest drama...I need my lady's passport or ID card to book a flight for her.
I like to be organised and book everything as early as possible. In exactly one month time I will already be in Chengdu, ready to leave for Shanghai. I hate leaving this to the last minute leading to the possibility of missing out on getting flights or being extorted for a ticket.
The problem is my lady is really slow and disorganised when it comes to things like this. This is why I want to book this myself rather than rely on her.
I asked for her to give me her passport or ID card details so I could book the flights, and she is always so slow to respond. Now she will be in Hong Kong for the next five or so days and won't be contactable until she gets back to Chengdu. I don't know what it is with her, or why she is like this, but this is frustrating for me.
I am cutting a fine line with trying to get this sorted in time! I will have to wait and see what happens. Thanks again.
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