I flew Fukuoka to Sydney return and my cheap tickets required transiting in Pudong, Shanghai. Out was a 4~5 hour wait in the airport, but back was an overnighter. I researched the Internet for information on my options regarding visas, transit procedure, and places to stay. Well, my research basically went round and round in circles. Many people posting advice were basically guessing formalities based on information that was unclear, different people at different times had had different experiences and the information was conflicting itself all over the place. I prefer not to take such advice as "You should be OK doing xyz". Not when facing the possibility of getting expelled or locked up. So I thought I'd come in here and share my experience for anyone in the future who may be interested.

First off, visa regulations can be found quite easily, such as at the Visa & Passport Information at delta.com. Basically, at this time, as a UK passport holder, I get 24 hours transit without needing a visa, while US folk get 48 hours. The Japanese (which includes my son) get 2 weeks… To cut a long story short, I didn't need to arrange anything at all before I went.

At Fukuoka the check-in clerk asked if I wanted my bags to go all the way to Sydney, and I said I did. Note that I flew the same airline (China Eastern) FUK-PVG-SYD. If you change airline I have no idea if that would make a difference. The clerk gave me a stick-on badge to wear at PVG to show I was transit, but I don't know who looked at it. (Aside: I printed seat plans of the planes from seatguru.com and used them to get decent seats at check-in. The FAQ at that website explains how to find out what kind of plane you'll be flying.)

Arriving at PVG we disembarked in the middle of the runway and everyone piled on a bus to the terminal. Then we went up an escalator and came to a counter with some kind of 'Transit' sign over it. At this point I didn't have a clue what we were meant to do (and after reading various travel forums, wasn't expecting to). At Fukuoka I'd been given boarding passes for both legs and I waved these at the clerk at this desk, but she said "No good" and pointed somewhere in the opposite direction, saying I should go to the first floor then up to the third floor. Err…OK…

Turning around, I saw the only way out of there was through immigration. There is NO airside departure lounge! Everyone was filling out Arrival-Departure forms and since, bar one or two people, they were all presumably Chinese, there was nothing clearly indicating they were in transit like me. There were a couple of airport staff sitting by an X-ray machine off in the corner, and I showed them my boarding passes and asked if I needed to complete a form. They said I did, so we duly filled them out (there is only one kind of card, so the part asking for my address in China or whatever I just marked 'Transit') and went to line up in the clearly marked Foreigner line.

That was no problem. My son's Japanese passport was a mere formality, but when it came to my passport she called someone over. Visions of Richard Gere jumping roofs in the movie Red Corner…but he just signed something in my passport and I was through. The officer told me to go down to the first floor. At least there was consistency as far as which floor I was meant to be on.

I remembered a forum post from someone who (at PVG) was expecting his luggage to go through to his final destination, but happened, by chance, to see it on the baggage carousel, so we went to the carousel to make sure ours hadn't been taken off. We had hours to kill.

Luggage-free, we then moved to the Transit Lounge - clearly labelled - next to the carousels. I was going to sit down and wait, but something made me show my boarding passes to the clerk sitting at a desk and asked what I should be doing. Unexpectedly, she opened a door near her desk and told me to go up to the third floor.

Up there we came to the check-in area. 1.3 billion Chinese, and most seemed to be checking-in. Flashing our boarding passes, I asked a uniformed what we should do, and thankfully he told us to go through to the necessary gate.

Eleven days later we left Sydney (SYD-PVG-FUK). I told the clerk we wanted to pick up our suitcases at Shanghai (as we had a hotel booked). The procedure at Shanghai was the same as before, except we had an address where we were staying in Shanghai to write on the Arrival-Departure form. We got through immigration easily. We picked up our luggage from the carousel and fumbled about trying to work out where the shuttle bus to our hotel was (Ramada Pudong AIrport Hotel). Coming back the next day we had to queue up at check-in with the other billion or so, but got through pretty quickly, and nothing of note happened.

Bit of an anti-climax really, after all the research I'd done and conflicting - or at least ambiguous - results. Bottom line is: make sure your passport is in order, expect to go through immigration with a completed form even for transit, and remember which floor you're on.