Originally Posted by
eintracht
Going to Shanghai in December flying on CA986. Shows as a 747-400 combi. Also aircraft change in PEK. I am flying First Class and was wondering if anyone could tell me about the product and the experience. Also, with the aircraft change in PEK, do passport and customs formalities get done at PEK or PVG? Do transfer passengers go through security again in PEK?
You'll need to clear border control in PEK. For your bags, you can either short check them to PEK and clear customs there, or check them all the way to PVG, in which case they get segregated from the other bags for you to pick up in the international arrivals area (pre customs).
But, that's a pretty lousy way to get from SFO to PVG (even though I'd still probably choose it over UA857). Why not look into options that involve newer airplanes and avoid the PEK connection altogether？ If you're locked into CA, you might at least want to consider flying into SHA instead of PVG.