Originally Posted by LHR/MEL/Europe FF

I'm with you on this. The transit without visa (china-embassy.ord) states the TWOV is available to people with booked seats (my bolding).

A non-rev ticket is kind of stand-by right? Does it qualify as a 'booked' (which implies confirmed) seat?

If you were holding confirmed seats and you became ill, or your flight was cancelled/delayed I think that is a different matter to being potentially stuck in China for x number of additional days because you are on standby.

This may be a problem when you come to leave China. If you are two days late and the reason you give is not a flight cancellation/illness they might then look at your ticket and see non-rev and then the trouble starts.