FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - FAQ: PRC Visa-Free Transit (AKA Transit Without Visa or "TWOV")
Old Dec 31, 2011 | 7:37 am
  #236  
swallowtail
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 3
Originally Posted by swallowtail
If anyone could help me with this

I have the following A-B-C-D routing and wonder whether it applies for TWOV.

HKG-PVG-PEK-SVO

with HKG-PVG-PEK on China Eastern and PEK-SVO on Aeroflot, both segments booked separately. All in all I will stay less than 24 hours at PVG and PEK together.

In the FAQ this routing is described as legal, however in the FAQ on the China Eastern website I found this:

"Visa is required, except for [...]: Passengers continuing their journey within 24 hours to a third country by same or first connecting aircraft and holding documents and confirmed tickets for their onward journey. Leaving the airport transit area is allowed."
No mention of a A-B-C-D routing here.

So my question is, will China Eastern let me on board at HKG (of course I will show them all booking confirmations even the printed boarding pass of PEK-SVO). Both airlines are in Skyteam, so checking it out should not take so long, i guess?

Has anybody successfully done such routings before (especially with China Eastern involved) with TWOV?
just want to report briefly that it worked out transiting on this A-B-C-D routing. I wouldn't recommend anybody to repeat this, though. It seems to work fine with Air China, but China Eastern did not know anything about TWOV on an A-B-C-D routing. I appeared at the counter in Hong Kong 3 hours before departure and they first wouldn't let me on board saying that I need a visa. I explained to them that I talked to Chinese Immigration at Shanghai Airport on my way to Hong Kong and that they confirmed to me that such a routing is eligible to TWOV. However, I trusted them and did not ask for a written confirmation. So, at the checkin-counter in Hong Kong, after I explained that it is actually legal, China Eastern staff started calling Chinese Immigration, faxing my documents forth and back. Finally, after 2,5 hours of waiting, half an hour before take-off they gave their ok and let me check-in. A horrible experience with a happy ending.
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