Originally Posted by
MSPeconomist
I would have advised checking TIMATIC ahead of time, not the Chinese consulate. Chinese embassy and consulate websites are years out of date regarding transit visa rules. The airline agents will use TIMATIC to determine whether one can board or not.
I didn't recommend the Chinese consulate's WEBSITE, I recommended the Chinese consulate (phone? personal visit? Email?). Actually, my info came from Timatic, but it is obvious in this case that the airline agents did NOT use Timatic to determine whether one can board or not. If they had, they would have realized it was OK :-).