Mrs. and little wrkrs are transiting with me in PEK soon and we have an overnight layover this time. We don't really have interest in seeing more of Beijing or going all the way into town. We are thinking it would be quite nice to just wander around T3 and sleep/eat as we have crammed enough into our schedules during the past several weeks already.

We arrive in Terminal 3 in the afternoon on an international flight. Our departing flight (SFO) leaves at noon the next day. We won't yet have boarding passes for that flight. We want to get back into Terminal 3 departures when we arrive in PEK and use a combination of the Air China lounge and the hourly hotel near Gate 10. Since these are all airside, we will need to have boarding passes.

1) Can we check-in at the airport 18+ hours before a flight? If not, what's the soonest we could check in with UA in PEK for a noon flight? (Does Mr. Chickin Online print a real boarding pass for ex-PEK flights?)

2) IME, there are only Air China staff at the international transfer desk in T3 before arrivals immigration. Does anyone know if they can issue UA boarding passes and let us down onto the departures level, like HKG or NRT or any number of other proper non-US int'l airports? Previously in PEK I have always cleared through immigration and gone back to the terminal check-in counters but this is a hassle I'd like to avoid this time.

3) If we have to go back to the UA check-in counters on curbside level 4, assuming we get boarding passes for the next day's flight, do you think the security checkers will have a problem with us trying to enter for flights departing the next day?

Anyone with experience checking in super early, please chime in. Thanks!