chaschas

Hello all...

I have three dead days next week and I wanted to do a quick ORD-HKG-ORD.

Here is what I am looking at:

AA 2337 ORD 9/9/2015 08:35 AM DFW 9/9/2015 11:18 AM

AA137 DFW 9/9/2015 12:20 PM HKG 9/10/2015 06:00 PM


KA996 HKG 9/10/2015 11:00 PM PEK 9/11/2015 02:15 AM

AA186 PEK 9/11/2015 10:10 AM ORD 9/11/2015 09:55 AM


My concern is the layover in PEK from 2:15am to 9:55am.

Do I need a VISA? I am reading very conflicting reports. Has anyone ever done this layover in Beijing before? Can I just hang out in the terminal?

CruisingAltitude47

This should technically work, as HKG is a 'third region' for the 72 hr rule. I don't know about staying in PEK, but I'd assume you'd have to exit customs, then re-enter and go back through security.

If possible, I'd go to the AA counter in HKG and try to get your boarding passes for your flights all the way back to ORD, rather than dealing with it in PEK. Also, be prepared with your full itinerary printed and the 72 hr TWOV rules in case the agents don't understand clearly. I've done this, but the routing was ORD-PVG-NRT-ORD, so an onwards connection.

Thinking logically about this, the agents in ORD will print your tickets through the HKG flight, which doesn't require any visa, and then once you're in HKG, those agents will just be checking you in back HKG-PEK-ORD, which is also a fairly standard connection from there. My issue when I did it was actually in ORD, trying to get on my first flight that went direct to PVG, and I had to have my onward JAL reservation to explain to them it was valid.

If anyone has done this exact itin, please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong...

Good luck!

Madone59

No you do not need a visa as you are transiting onto a country other then the one from which you came. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/china...er-thread.html. Check out the China thread for more transit/ PEK questions.

Tafflyer

While not needing a visa to enter China, you're unlikely to be out of the airport much before 3:30am and will need to be back by 8, so is it really worth leaving the transit area for just over 4 hours of smoggy Beijing at night?

jamesb2147

I can't add much except to confirm TWOV rules worked fine for me on my ORD-PVG-HKG itinerary. There was actually a separate desk for transfers, but it was closed when I arrived. I ended up going through the Chinese resident lane thanks to the security guard who pointed me there even though I'm not a Chinese resident, but the clerk didn't care. In fact, she called over another guard just to laugh at my poor passport photo.

And in PVG, you're dumped outside security after going through immigration, so have to go through security again after clearing immigration (just like the good ol' US of A!) to get to the terminals.

I don't see any reason PEK should be any different from PVG.

High Flying

Yes, I remember it being the same system at PEK. Also make sure you've disposed of any liquids etc before you go through security again, even for transit passengers.

IceTrojan

I don't know where you're reading conflicting reports, but this is pretty simple... you should be ok, presuming that you have a US passport.

I'd be more worried about what you're doing to do at PEK. Definitely not worth going to the city that late at night just to come back early in the morning.

moondog

Beijing's air is the best I've ever seen it this week (e.g. even better than during the Olympics), and I expect that it will still be good on 9/9 (just 4 days after the end of this new holiday), but I agree 3a-8a is a pretty poor time of day to visit. If I were the OP, I'd try to rearrange the flights in order to get at least 24 hours on the ground.

x1achilles

no visa required if you are an american. You can even stay up to 72 hrs in beijing. Hong kong is considered a separate country as far as the transit visa rules go.

moondog

+1, refer to the link in post 3.