China - Anyone with experience from YOEE.com or Chinese E-tickets

I have made some reservations for domestic air tickets on http://www.english.yoee.com

They have charged my credit card but I have not yet recieved any E-tickets by email.

When I emailed them about this they said that I don't need any printable E-ticket and that I only have to show my passport at the airport check in.

Is this true? Does anyone have similar experiences when making reservations through yoee.com?

I have used them in the past and this is what I can recall. You do not receive your e-tickets over email, it is just in the system and you go to the e-ticket desk for the airline you are flying at the airport with your passport. I would suggest printing out a copy of your itinerary from their "my trips" section of the website, and having this with you. As long as your ticket is listed as "issued" you are okay. I also felt the process was a bit confusing at first but it worked just fine.

AandT is right on the money. I recently used Yoee.com to buy tickets for my May china trip on five different flights and it worked beautifully. Just print out a copy of the itinerary from My Trips and then when you get to the airport go to that airlines e-ticket desk and collect your ticket, and then head over to the regular ticketing desk. its not really an e-ticket the way we consider it in the U.S., but still better than having to pay extra for the paper ticket to be shipped to you from China!

how does the pricing on yoee compare to buying from a TA in china?

how does the pricing on yoee compare to buying from a TA in china?

It has been my experience that everyone seems to have the same prices in China. TA's, online agents, airline booking counters, etc. There seems to be an amount of seats for each discount level of fare and everyone has acces to it. Once the discount is gone from one site or location it is gone from the others too. I have tried checking several different sources before and always have been given the same price. This is despite the fact that here in China there are always people on the street handing out cards with different booking agents numbers and advertising great discount rates. When calling them though they never seem to have a better discount than everyone else. This has been my experience, so I suggest just booking tickets online.

It has been my experience that everyone seems to have the same prices in China.

This has been my experience ~80% of the time. In the remaining ~20%, prices vary by channel. A good example of this is HU between SHA and PEK. HU's flights tend to be the least popular due to a variety of reasons, but their fares often match the rest of the field. However, if you walk into one of their ticket offices, you might find yourself pleasently surprised. Also, in the past, local agents have had access to more inventory than agents in other cities; this is less often the case these days.

Hi - I have a few more questions about booking domestic flights in China that I was hoping someone could answer.

1) Which of ctrip, elong, and yoee (and any other sites that ppl can suggest) allow booking intrachina flights using credit cards from the US? From past threads, I'm pretty sure yoee does, but am not sure if the other 2 do and if any of them have an additional surcharge for using international credit cards

2) Out of the above sites that allow international credit cards, does anyone recommend one over the other or does it not really matter? I've found that they all have similar fares

3) It appears that most of the tickets I'm looking to purchase have a 5% of the fare cancellation fee. I'm planning to purchase discounted tickets and if the fare goes down even more, cancel the ticket and repurchase it - does anyone see anything wrong with this? Is it easy to cancel?

4) Has anyone seen discounted Xian->Guiyang tickets? I haven't found any discounts for any date so I plan on just purchasing them now

1) Which of ctrip, elong, and yoee (and any other sites that ppl can suggest) allow booking intrachina flights using credit cards from the US? From past threads, I'm pretty sure yoee does, but am not sure if the other 2 do and if any of them have an additional surcharge for using international credit cards


yoee & elong; both charge 5% for that service. ime elong is deceptive and consitently charges more than other agents.


2) Out of the above sites that allow international credit cards, does anyone recommend one over the other or does it not really matter? I've found that they all have similar fares


i've been pretty impressed with yoee, but you should able to shave at least 1% off by dealing with a local ta that accepts credit cards (and can put a ticket in your hand within 5 minutes).


3) It appears that most of the tickets I'm looking to purchase have a 5% of the fare cancellation fee. I'm planning to purchase discounted tickets and if the fare goes down even more, cancel the ticket and repurchase it - does anyone see anything wrong with this? Is it easy to cancel?


don't waste your time


4) Has anyone seen discounted Xian->Guiyang tickets? I haven't found any discounts for any date so I plan on just purchasing them now


no clue, but i see no reason to purchase now. if you are still so inclined, at least attempt to purchase on the airline sites themselves. if they do take your credit card, they'll be less likely to nail you for the 5% (unlike hole in the wall travel agents, air china is a little more inclined to play by visa's rules).

Moondog answered your questions pretty well, but I will add in my two cents as well...


Hi - I have a few more questions about booking domestic flights in China that I was hoping someone could answer.

1) Which of ctrip, elong, and yoee (and any other sites that ppl can suggest) allow booking intrachina flights using credit cards from the US? From past threads, I'm pretty sure yoee does, but am not sure if the other 2 do and if any of them have an additional surcharge for using international credit cards


I have used yoee. I tried to use elong when I was in the states a few months ago and they said they could not take my credit card online. I think they could have done it if I faxed my card to them but I did not have fax access at the time. Yoee is all online, and I believe ctrip just set it up for all online purchase as well. There is a surcharge, that is charged by the payment service used. Yoee had 2 or 3 options you could choose for services. The one I choose, the Agriculture Bank, had a 4% charge. The other option was 5%.



2) Out of the above sites that allow international credit cards, does anyone recommend one over the other or does it not really matter? I've found that they all have similar fares

They have all the same fares as far as I can tell. I personally have used Yoee several times and been happy with them. I have not tried the others so I can not really say. I have used elong from within China, paying cash on delivery, so I can not say on their e-ticket service from overseas.


3) It appears that most of the tickets I'm looking to purchase have a 5% of the fare cancellation fee. I'm planning to purchase discounted tickets and if the fare goes down even more, cancel the ticket and repurchase it - does anyone see anything wrong with this? Is it easy to cancel?

I agree with moondog- don't bother. It is probably more hassle than it is worth. That being said, it may be possible to do, but there is no telling just to what degree of hassle involved.


4) Has anyone seen discounted Xian->Guiyang tickets? I haven't found any discounts for any date so I plan on just purchasing them now

If there is no discount there is no harm in waiting. In cases like this where there is only one airline serving the route it is much harder to get a discount. With limited flights though you may want to purchase, if you are worried about the flight selling out. Usually on these one airline routes they do not even offer discounts at the last minute. That has been my experience anyways.

I'll have 1 week to visit Shanghai and Beijing Nov 12-19. From Shanghai, I'll take the night train to Beijing for a couple of days then fly back to Shanghai to take a flight to Saigon.
Should I buy the one-way ticket PEK-PVG in advance from the US or should I wait until I get there and buy it when I arrive in Shanghai? Any idea how much is the one-way fare PEK-PVG?
Thank you!

I'll have 1 week to visit Shanghai and Beijing Nov 12-19. From Shanghai, I'll take the night train to Beijing for a couple of days then fly back to Shanghai to take a flight to Saigon.
Should I buy the one-way ticket PEK-PVG in advance from the US or should I wait until I get there and buy it when I arrive in Shanghai? Any idea how much is the one-way fare PEK-PVG?
Thank you!

i suggest you buy it in beijing. full fare is y1140; discount fares run all the way down to y300 or so; a y50 tax and y60 fuel surcharge gets added on to all tickets. as long as i'm talking numbers, a top birth on the train costs y478 and a bottom birth costs y499. there are also deluxe soft sleepers available that cost more, but i've never bought one on that route so i'm not sure about the pricing.

moondog,
My flight will arrive PVG at 7:30pm. Is it possible to buy the PEK-PVG ticket at the Shanghai airport? Do you know what time the ticket counter will be close? Hope Air China will still have discount tickets available at that time.

moondog,
My flight will arrive PVG at 7:30pm. Is it possible to buy the PEK-PVG ticket at the Shanghai airport? Do you know what time the ticket counter will be close? Hope Air China will still have discount tickets available at that time.

sure, you could do that, but i think you should wait until you get to beijing because buying tix is as easy as: 1) making a phone call and leaving cash with your concierge; or 2) walking into any travel agency.

although less and less true, agents at the origin city often have access to more discounted inventory than agents in other cities. in china, discounts seem to bottom out at around the 3 day window (there are exceptions to this rule, of course).

also, have you considered flying directly from pek to sgn. i know there are flights, and i would guess that the cost is no more than $250. so, once you back out the cost of your pek-sha leg, you're looking at a ~$150 penalty for ditching your pvg-sgn ticket, assuming you can't refund/change it.

Thanks moondog! I'll arrive Beijing (night Z train from Shanghai) in the morning of Nov 16. I'll have to fly back to PVG in the evening of Nov 18 to take the midnight flight PVG-SGN (via SIN). I'll stay at Holiday Inn Downtown Beijing (is it a good location?), so I'll ask the concierge to book the air ticket for me. It's not too late to get the ticket at that time, right?

I need a couple of tickets BJS-XIY on 9/1 and back on 9/2. When I look at ctrip, I already see several discounted prices below the list of 1050 OW, some as low 830. When I look at yoee, all I see is the 1050 list price. When as we get closer (when I will buy) is it reasonable to assume that the discounted prices that yoee and ctrip have will be about the same?

I need a couple of tickets BJS-XIY on 9/1 and back on 9/2. When I look at ctrip, I already see several discounted prices below the list of 1050 OW, some as low 830. When I look at yoee, all I see is the 1050 list price. When as we get closer (when I will buy) is it reasonable to assume that the discounted prices that yoee and ctrip have will be about the same?

I would not assume that, but I would certainly adopt the "wait and see," approach.

I would not assume that, but I would certainly adopt the "wait and see," approach.

Thank you, moondog. I will wait and follow the action.

Is it likely that a late afternoon/early evening flight on a Saturday to BJS from XIY will come down in price?

Also, from reading the forum, it appears that on arrival at the airport, I need to go to an 'exchange desk' and show them my eticket receipt, and they will give me a 'piece of paper' to take to the check in counter?
If so, where is the 'exchange desk' and how do I identify it? Is there a separate exchange desk for each airline? Right now it appears that China Eastern has the earliest flight out and the latest flight back, so the odds are good we will be on it.
Thanks
Ed

Assuming you end up getting an eticket, you'd want to go to your airline's eticket desk; these are fairly easy to identify. Then you'd proceed to check-in. China Eastern is probably the easiest carrier to use in this respect because its eticket desk is right next to its check-in counters (Area Q, iirc), which are at the front of the terminal near the street. Air China isn't quite as straight-forward, but I have confidence that you could navigate their protocols as well.

If you wind up ordering paper tickets, they will be held at a separate will call desk or at your travel agent's counter (ctrip, elong, and yoee all have counters at PEK tmk). Incidentally, if trying to pay with your credit card drives you crazy, you can always order tickets over the phone and pay upon pick-up.

Based on a quick glance at fares for this Friday, I'd say that odds are fares will drop a bit between now and then, but your guess is as good as mine.

Oh, in the absence of amazing fares, I would wait til you get to Xi'an to buy your tickets back.


Thank you, moondog. I will wait and follow the action.

Is it likely that a late afternoon/early evening flight on a Saturday to BJS from XIY will come down in price?

Also, from reading the forum, it appears that on arrival at the airport, I need to go to an 'exchange desk' and show them my eticket receipt, and they will give me a 'piece of paper' to take to the check in counter?
If so, where is the 'exchange desk' and how do I identify it? Is there a separate exchange desk for each airline? Right now it appears that China Eastern has the earliest flight out and the latest flight back, so the odds are good we will be on it.
Thanks
Ed

I'm based in Guangzhou and do a minimum of 4 domestic flights a week and use my US-based credit card entirely on Elong.com to book tickets.

Mind you im very suprised that other users find the same rate on Ctrip or other sites for flights and hotels. In my experience, Elong always has better rates.

Also customer service at Elong is far far superior to that of Ctrip. I originally used to use Ctrip but then they burned me over a date change in domestic F on Air China. I had to depart a day earlier than planned and being a full fare F ticket i called up Ctrip and asked them to change the date of the reservation accordingly and they said it was no problem and to go to the Ctrip desk upon reaching the airport to get it changed. Well the Ctrip lady had no clue and insisted that i had to buy a new ticket, went to Air China who also had no clue and said that the agent must change the ticket for me. Long story short, the Elong desk was right next to Ctrip and they man there came over and took control of the situation by taking me to the Air China duty manager and changing my reservation. Been loyal to Elong ever since and they haven't failed me yet....

I'm based in Guangzhou and do a minimum of 4 domestic flights a week and use my US-based credit card entirely on Elong.com to book tickets.

Mind you im very suprised that other users find the same rate on Ctrip or other sites for flights and hotels. In my experience, Elong always has better rates.



I just tried booking an E-ticket on Air China from PVG-XIY from Elong, but when I go to pay, they force me to pay for the ticket on delivery with no option to pay via a US-based credit card. When I picked the flights from the first screen, I chose E-ticket, but when I went to pay, there is only a deliver option. Has anyone else ever bought e-tickets successfully using a US credit card on elong?

I have been looking at C-trip before running into this post, and although I didn't complete the transaction, it seemed they let me purchase with a US credit card, but they seem to have the price wrong since they didn't account for the new fuel surcharges as of 9/1/06 which have me a little worried about ctrip's credibility. Also, I've read people don't trust giving ctrip their credit card numbers.

Thanks in advance for any help

Well, it looks like Ctrip only takes Chinese credit cards. I thought I did read that somewhere. Anyway, does anyone else have successful stories booking intr-china tickets on elong.com with a US credit card?

just call ctrip and tell them you will pay for the ticket when you arrive in shanghai. they will issue the ticket for you and hold it at their counter so you can pay with cash or credit card.


Well, it looks like Ctrip only takes Chinese credit cards. I thought I did read that somewhere. Anyway, does anyone else have successful stories booking intr-china tickets on elong.com with a US credit card?

just call ctrip and tell them you will pay for the ticket when you arrive in shanghai. they will issue the ticket for you and hold it at their counter so you can pay with cash or credit card.

Thanks for the advice. However, where is the ctrip-counter in Pudong? In their online page before purchasing, there is an option for pickup, but they list it as in the Arrivals hall between gates 6 & 7? What are these gates? I was planning on arriving in Shanghai, and picking those tickets up before heading to the city.

Thanks for the advice. However, where is the ctrip-counter in Pudong? In their online page before purchasing, there is an option for pickup, but they list it as in the Arrivals hall between gates 6 & 7? What are these gates? I was planning on arriving in Shanghai, and picking those tickets up before heading to the city.

I'm am guessing they meant "doors" 6 & 7, but I am not sure because I have never used their ticket window there. Why not just call them and ask them?

Thanks for the advice. However, where is the ctrip-counter in Pudong? In their online page before purchasing, there is an option for pickup, but they list it as in the Arrivals hall between gates 6 & 7? What are these gates? I was planning on arriving in Shanghai, and picking those tickets up before heading to the city.

Ctrip counter is located at between gates 6 & 7 in PVG airport lounge, if you need to pick up the ticket at PVG, cash is not acceptable, you have to pay by China based creidt card. There is remarkable sign of gate #, easy to find.

Add: if you pick up the ticket any place in down town, cash is available.

Hi y'all...

I am traveling to PEK on 9/13 and I needed to get to PVG on 9/16. I used a Chinese discounter to book my one-way ticket, and I was able to use a US credit card to do so. The discounter I used was ticket.9588.com. I was able to book the same flight as my colleagues, for about $50 less than what they got thru Expedia.

When I originally got my confirmation e-mail, it didn't have any info listed on it...so I sent an e-mail to ticket@9588.com, asking for a complete copy of my confirmation --- which I promptly received. ^

Hi y'all...
The discounter I used was ticket.9588.com. I was able to book the same flight as my colleagues, for about $50 less than what they got thru Expedia.


Thanks for the pointer. I just booked my PVG-XIY trip through them and they take US credit cards! (with a 5% fee) I also asked them to email me the receipt and the itinerary as I'm a little nervous about E-tickets for domestic Chinese flights. I'm thinking I'll need that receipt to be able to go to the checkin line for my flight.

Used Yoee.com to buy two tickets on MU PEK-XIY-PEK, out this Friday AM, back on Saturday PM. Outbound the discount from coach (1050Y) was 45% and 55% on the return (This was substantially better than what CTrip was offering, for the same flights). Still waiting for a confirmation email, but will go to the MU eticket counter on arrival in PEK Wednesday to make sure everything is OK. The website is a little 'funky'.

Well, the eticket system works, sort of. We arrived at PEK at 525 AM a fe minutes ago after a 25 minute cab ride from the St. Regis. On arrival at the China Eastern Check in couter, there were two eticket machines, with a big "Wellcome, please insert you passport" on them in English. Unfortunately, both werre broken and we were directed to the regualry check in lines. To my surprise, the guy handling it found the reservation and quickly printed boarding passses. I will say that we passed the Air China check in counters where there were 3 working eticket machines and a live personn next to each.

We have made it as far as the Priority Pass Air China lounge, which is not bad. I am about to try the pumpkin congeee

The following isn't really newsworthy, but I am posting just to underscore the point that walk-ups are doable.

I was hanging out with two of my colleagues in Xidan today, while one was seriously contemplating forking over y900,000 for a special telephone number (we can start a new thread about that, if you like) when I got a call to get to SH asap for a 9p meeting.

I asked Mr. Hu (who we had already hired for the day) to take me to the airport, but he took me to the Xidan airport bus stop instead because he had a more imporant engagement at 6.

Anyway, I boared a 5:10 bus and made it to the airport at 5:46, in spite of ugly traffic on the second ring.

I called ctrip when I was on the bus, but they offered no love. However, they did point me towards Shanghai Airlines, which had a 6:30 flight.

I then bought a qi-zhe ticket (30% discount) for a whopping y940, checked in, and got on the plane. Amazingly, it was on time on all fronts, in spite of the double bus gate scenario.

The taxi line at Hongqiao was fierce so I did the McDonlad's trick and made it out of there in a matter of minutes. What's more, I got to the restaurant before everyone else (8:50).

The moral to this tale is that there's no point obsessing about booking weeks in advance because you can stilll get there. While it's true that I probably paid too much for my ticket, all was well in the end. I spent an extra $40 to take a flight that was actually on time (I asked before handing over my money). To me, that was money well spent since the alternative would have been sitting around the airport for 3 hours to fly to PVG.

I made about 12 intra-chinese flights in the last 24 months.
All but one on paper tickets.
I had e-ticket from Shanghai to Beijing-Guilin- Shanghai.
My Chinese friend made an e-ticket resevation for me.

Getting out of Shanghai was a hassle. Leaving for the airport in Beijing I noticed that my friend had the wrong date on the ticket it was yesterday's date.
Try explaning that to the clerk.
She said my name was in the computer but no ticket attached.
I had to purchase a new ticket and they only had only first class left. no refundsor credits on the e-ticket.
If I had a paper ticket they would only chage a small fee for the date change.
Getting out of Guilin was a hassle too, they had to print a paper ticket for after waiting 20 minutes.
'No chinese eticket for me

Well, the eticket system works, sort of. We arrived at PEK at 525 AM a fe minutes ago after a 25 minute cab ride from the St. Regis. On arrival at the China Eastern Check in couter, there were two eticket machines, with a big "Wellcome, please insert you passport" on them in English. Unfortunately, both werre broken and we were directed to the regualry check in lines. To my surprise, the guy handling it found the reservation and quickly printed boarding passses. I will say that we passed the Air China check in counters where there were 3 working eticket machines and a live personn next to each.

We have made it as far as the Priority Pass Air China lounge, which is not bad. I am about to try the pumpkin congeee

Just a followup

I am now back home in NJ. The return from XIY went well. We arrived a few hours early and found an MU 'eticket' desk, opposite the check-in counters. After the woman behind it finished a 5 minute telephone convresation with a friend, we gave her our passports and copy of the Yoee.com confirmation. In about 30 seconds she printed out 'paper tickets' (actually, just a pin feed dot matrix 1/2 page document) for each of us which we took across the floor to the check-in counters and had no problem checking in. They changed our seats to our aisle preferences without a hassle.
The credit card charge hit my account while on the trip and was converted at 7.42.

All in all, an acceptable experience. Of course there are many things that can go wrong (THIS IS CHINA), but I suspect, like the US, more and more travel will be by eticket in China. The only thing I might have done differently was to use Air China outbound, since they really seem to be working hard to make etickets in China work.

The big plus in all of this is the ability to access in advance (buy 2-7 days before the flight, as recommended by moondog), low chinese domestic airfares from the US. My average of 500Y each way was exactly what moondog suggested was the lowest cost for this trip generally available from local agents.

I would do this again, with the only caveat being, this is China, so expect the unexpected and just deal with it.

Edited to add:
BTW, the pumpkin congee was OK, but pretty bland :)

I have been using a web called qunar.com but the problem is they don't often have available seat even it shows on web

however, it maybe a good try

I have been using a web called qunar.com but the problem is they don't often have available seat even it shows on web

however, it maybe a good try

Now what good would that be... booking a ticket and then finding they have no availability? no thanks...

Now what good would that be... booking a ticket and then finding they have no availability? no thanks...

The first time ctrip pulled the same trick on me (maybe 5 years ago), I was angry... to the extent that I raised a bit of a fuss (it should go without saying that my fuss went nowhere). IIRC, I boycotted them for a month or two in protest. But, then a true "bricks and mortar" TA left me in the cold (literally), so I decided to make peace with ctrip.

Takeaways:

-this sort of dishonesty is the norm in the China internet travel space
-ctrip is cool because, assuming you are a decent customer, it is the ONLY point in the PRC travel process that you can push for resolution when things go awry

The second point is key. Perhaps Elong is similarly situated; I wouldn't know it because I don't use them. But, with ctrip, you have a company with resources to bail you out of jams that are unmatched by any other players.

While I've yet to receive any true air-side assistance, I predict they will be the first to make such happen.

The first time ctrip pulled the same trick on me (maybe 5 years ago), I was angry... to the extent that I raised a bit of a fuss (it should go without saying that my fuss went nowhere). IIRC, I boycotted them for a month or two in protest. But, then a true "bricks and mortar" TA left me in the cold (literally), so I decided to make peace with ctrip.

Takeaways:

-this sort of dishonesty is the norm in the China internet travel space
-ctrip is cool because, assuming you are a decent customer, it is the ONLY point in the PRC travel process that you can push for resolution when things go awry

The second point is key. Perhaps Elong is similarly situated; I wouldn't know it because I don't use them. But, with ctrip, you have a company with resources to bail you out of jams that are unmatched by any other players.

While I've yet to receive any true air-side assistance, I predict they will be the first to make such happen.

I've stopped using bricks and mortar TAs in China having being badly let down last year - failed to tell me of a cancelled flight that resulted in an expensive rerouting that could have been avoided and no reimbursement of extra cost

I likewise use ctrip and have some confidence that they have the resources to deal with issues - I particularly like the fact that they have desks in most major airports both landside and airside. Don't know how effective they would be, but it feels quite reassuring

nickyboy

,,,,,,,,,,,I particularly like the fact that they have desks in most major airports both landside and airside. Don't know how effective they would be, but it feels quite reassuring

nickyboy

I was quite surprised in finding a ctrip-desk at NNG. No English spoken, nonetheless trying to be helpful.

Now what good would that be... booking a ticket and then finding they have no availability? no thanks...

qunar.com is a meta-search engine. Frequently you encounter the same problem on kayak.com, saying the price you were quoted has increased.

Overall, qunar.com, kooxoo.com, and other meta-search sites are working well.