Originally Posted by YuropFlyer

Yes, he was asking for the 72 hours TWOV permission just as we were, I don't know what he got in the end, but apparently he didn't "fought" for it as we did. CAN was a bit different about the old 24 hours TWOV compared to PEK (which used to have a similar one before having the new 72 hours in addition) so I can't really comment on this.

Anyway, I have a (slight) assumption that the thing that went wrong lies with what jiejie said - the airline needs to check visa, and if using TWOV apparently sending the authorities a message (or not, I don't know, but that's my best guess of what went wrong, unless our experience was really what is "normal", which I really hope NOT for anyone using TWOV in CAN) prior to arrival.

We flown LX to BKK and TG to CAN, so LX checked us all the way through, checking our "non-existing" visa (ie, TWOV) and verified it's ok, but probably didn't know how to send a message to CAN (if that's indeed needed) - while TG who might have known (naaaah, probably not, but just using logic, that's the only way I see it) didn't know we had "no visa", and therefore never sent anything to CAN about us. But then the other passenger was (probably) starting his trip in BKK, so at least for him it should have worked anyway.. so probably the theory is that the Chinese immigration in CAN is just one bunch of idiots who are unable to do one of the most basic things their superior wants them to: Attract tourism and bring money to the region.