Originally Posted by
JPDM
+13RMB service fee plus they charge you the price of a lower sleeper even if you get an upper sleeper. Comes to 50RMB extra charge.
I had not tried their site for a while and it continues to be terrible for trains. I tried two different browsers and could not get beyond page one of results (and overnight trains are on page 2...... I finally found it by putting Z19, a train number. Not very user friendly. I had similar issues when I did a comparative analysis of various agents a few months ago. At least it is not longer freezing all the time.
Back to the original question, booking a Beijing-Xi'An overnight train just a few days before departure is a risky plan.
So should I use ctrip website or is there a better alternative? My ex is chinese and I will be seeing her tomorrow, so I could ask her to translate a website if it is in chinese. I would still need to be able to pay with a US credit card though, because she has been here awhile and I doubt she has active chinese accounts at the moment although I could ask her.