Asia - Best Way from Shanghai to Beijing

I guess the main two ways are train and plane. From those who have been there, i'm looking for the most "comfortable" way to get there. Are there any high speed or more luxurious trains or is plane the best way to go. If plane, which airline is suggested.

GoingAway, SanDiego1K, SeeYa, and I flew from SHA to PEK on Air China in First. We did this route on a 744 and it was very decent. Service was good and we had no complaints. Fare was $211 OW and I purchased it directly from the Air China CTO in Downtown San Francisco. The others purchased from itn.net and had to pay a ticketing fee, plus expedited shipping. Shipping options from itn were either overnight or 2nd day.

i'm guessing i've written over 5,000 words on this topic on ft over the past 5 years, but here are a few more.

i recently took one of the z trains (all soft sleeper) from shanghai to beijing and was quite impressed. i did a trip report which you should be able to pull up rather easily by using "beijing shanghai z train"

all 5 trains depart between 7 and 8 and rarely sell out tmk. cost is around y400 + a delivery fee of about y50 if you want to book through a concierge rather than deal with the mayhem at the train station (easily the least enjoyable aspect of train travel)

while lots of fters pay $200+ to fly, i've long since urged people to be a bit more frugal because: 1) the flight is less than 2 hours; 2) premium classes are nothing to write home about even on widebodies; 3) fares can be very cheap --- less than y300 even, if you get a little lucky.

Just fly Y class. Book in Shanghai and pay about 50 bucks for a one way tix. Its not worth the time to take the overnight train and it not worth it on the less than 2 hour flight to take business or first class. There are tons of flights per day between these two cities.

Its not worth the time to take the overnight train and it not worth it on the less than 2 hour flight to take business or first class. .

of course i agree with you on point #2, but my recent train experience was extremely positive. my friends that haven't tried the z train all think i'm crazy ("how could you possibly sacrifice a night in beijing or shanghai and pay a premium to do so?" they query), but i recently convinced two of my pals to try it out several weeks ago and they also had a great time.

Just fly Y class. Book in Shanghai and pay about 50 bucks for a one way tix. Its not worth the time to take the overnight train and it not worth it on the less than 2 hour flight to take business or first class. There are tons of flights per day between these two cities.

sorry, big disagreement here

i always fly domestic F (or front cabin if its C) when available

the extra cost is often (when purchased in China) $25 or $50

the added advantage of going to the first class desk and avoiding the Y mob scene is worth it. plus, SHA or PVG have lounges, too!

but, its often aircraft roulette- you never know what will be rolled out for you- a 3-class international Air China 747 (on its way to europe) or a brand new A320- i think it was China Eastern- and i was alone in first

just make sure you are departing from SHA (much closer in) or PVG (and its fun to try the monorail but the hassle of getting to the station, shlepping your luggage, etc. makes the trip longer than a cab to SHA)

btw- i can walk into almost any local travel agency and buy a ticket- without speaking chinese-whereas the concierge at the Ritz Carlton wanted a 50% service fee for obtaining the ticket- from a TA in the same building!!

and if you have local friends they can get a better deal, too

sorry, big disagreement here

i always fly domestic F (or front cabin if its C) when available

the extra cost is often (when purchased in China) $25 or $50

the added advantage of going to the first class desk and avoiding the Y mob scene is worth it. plus, SHA or PVG have lounges, too!

but, its often aircraft roulette- you never know what will be rolled out for you- a 3-class international Air China 747 (on its way to europe) or a brand new A320- i think it was China Eastern- and i was alone in first

just make sure you are departing from SHA (much closer in) or PVG (and its fun to try the monorail but the hassle of getting to the station, shlepping your luggage, etc. makes the trip longer than a cab to SHA)

btw- i can walk into almost any local travel agency and buy a ticket- without speaking chinese-whereas the concierge at the Ritz Carlton wanted a 50% service fee for obtaining the ticket- from a TA in the same building!!

and if you have local friends they can get a better deal, too

i disagree with you on a number of points (that's the spirit of ft, isn't it?):

-i'd say your $25-50 premium applies less than 5% of the time (i do the route in question at least 5 times a month so i have lots of data under my belt). in most cases, y is between $40 and $65 while c is around $150. that said, some routes (short flights and limited frequency flights) are pretty much full fare all the time, in which case your theory holds.

-i only fly c/f in cases where a client is forcing me to go to a meeting that wastes my time and benefits them in a superficial way (e.g. white face at meeting with government officials)

-a/c types are established in advance. ime the only time "roulette" really applies is when your 5p flight gets mysterious canceled and merged with the 6p flight. this happens far too often btw, as i documented in another trip report, entitled "beijing-shanghai-jiaxing"

-the portman concierge is imo one of the single best resources in town. i've bought lots and lots of plane/train tickets from them over the years and have never run into obsene surcharges. what's more, if you ever find yourself lost in a taxi or on foot, just dial 6279 8888 and they will make things nice. i try to tip around y100 per month during times when i use this service frequently. (i also belong to the gym so i feel morally justified in taking advantage of the said services)

moondog, thank you for the guidance

however, when a hotel concierge tells me the surcharge has to be paid in cash (can't be charged to the room) and the Travel Agency is right downstairs (oh, okay, and up another elevator) i felt ripped off