FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - China 24, 72, and 144 hour Transit Without Visa ("TWOV") rules master thread
Old Jul 14, 2015 | 7:00 am
  #1007  
moondog
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Originally Posted by ozstamps
Well no.

As I clearly pointed out "waiting like everyone else" does not work - or it did not a week back in PEK.

AFTER we got to the normal booth, as the TWOV one was unmanned, the guy grunted, and waved his hand to other line of booths, grunting it seemed to use the one right at end marked "APEC" which if course is totally non-intuitive to anyone.

If I'd had waited in line for 30 minutes to get the grunts I'd be less than impressed.

You possibly speak fluent Mandarin, but I do not, and masses of arriving tourists do not. So clear marking of booths at a major entrance gateway is essential.

Even this afternoon arriving from Mongolia with a SUPER tight connection (our bags did not make it, and sitting in Baggage claim typing this) transit to Seoul it was a mess, and the signposting to assist with where to go was near non existent.

Not helping was the fact the Seoul flight was out of Gate E35, which I am sure must be a mile from the arrival gate.
Yeah, PEK entry formalities can take a long time (typically much longer than PVG and SHA), but I don't agree with the idea that multi-day TWOV passengers should get any sort of special treatment. IMO they should wait in the same lines as the rest of us, which would go a long way towards addressing the confusion you mentioned. That having been said, I support the idea of the special process for people making true same day connections like yourself. This is actually already in the works (infant stage; give them a year or so to optimize).
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