CZ China Southern Guangzhou Baiyun airport transit accommodations guide
China Southern is offering free transit accommodations for some transits at GuangZhou Baiyun airport. Because CZ might not be as polished as some airlines (ie the transit might not be as smooth as expected), I thought it would be nice to have a short guide on how to.
Requirements
You need to research this yourself, as it is likely to change over time. This might be a starting point:
http://www.csair.com/en/tourguide/tr...ccommodations/
There are also many different combinations getting you different quality of hotel, so that is an aspect aswell. Currently, for "Hotels of grade A" you need
- I/I or I/D connection of between 8-48 h with at least one international segment in J or F, or
- D/D overnight connection of less than 24h where no same-day connection exists, with both segments in J or F, or
- connections as above and Skyteam EP
In all cases, it needs to be CZ operated flights or a few approved codeshares. If anything out of the ordinary, you need to research.
Booking accommodations
You are not required to pre-book accommodations yourself, but it will most likely save you time and nerves. Also, if you prefer to stay at the airport, the pullman is your choice and you may need to reserve a room quite some time in advance.
To pre-book accommodations follow the steps below.
NB! It is important to do this through the app. The other avenues offered (different pages on their website) does not seem to work for travellers without a Chinese id-number in the reservation. You cannot call either - call-center will only tell you to use the website.
- Book a connecting flight that meets the requirements. Make a note of your e-ticket number
- Download the CZ app. It is filed under its Chinese name, but you can search for the publisher "China Southern Airlines" or "China Southern Airlines Company Limited".
- Launch the app and switch to the English version
- There are 2 alternative interfaces in the app. If you use "classic" go to "My order" then "Transfer accommodations". If you use "New version" go to "More" then "Transfer accommodations".
- Enter your e-ticket-number without the dash as "Document No." and your name on the form "SURNAME/NAME" with the slash and without any spaces. Go to next step and wait while it searches for the booking. Input format is very important to succeed. If no luck, it might be that the name needs tweaking. Some FT'er have had luck with adding "MR" or by altering order of names.
- Add your contact information. ONLY +86 phone numbers works, so don't bother if haven't got one. Add e-mail instead.
- Choose your hotel - you will get a order number on the form "XYYYYMMDDnnnnn". Don't be sad if the e-mail-address added in previous step is not showing under "Contact method" - You need to enter it but it usually doesn't stick. Take a screenshot of the confirmation. You can pull up this reservation in the app at a later time by doing these steps over again, but having a screenshot is easier.
Transit, visa exempt and hotel
For the transit you also need to follow this guide. The info written on csair.com is not really aimed at foreigners and might be guiding you to a transfer desk landside. Which might be difficult to reach without a visa.
This is written as if you arrive at A section of the airport. (B section is likely similar)
You may be met at the gate but if not you can find your way yourself.
If arriving on a jet bridge, follow signs to international transfer, which is at the southernmost tip of the A-building. If arriving on bus, you arrive at the southern end for starters, but at ground level so just take the stairs up.
Transfer hall can be chaotic at times. Make your way to channel number 10 marked as "Transit accommodations" on the far right of the hall. You may have to bypass a long line of people queuing to get into the transit hall, look for "Sky Priority" which is on the right.
At desk 10, present passport, current and onward boarding passes. (If you don't have onward BP, show ticket and you'll get onward BP). Now is the time when the screenshot of the hotel-reservation comes in handy! If you didn't pre-reserve a hotel, they will sort it for you but you are going to get whatever is available.
Once cleared they write the hotel voucher number on your onward BP. Collect all your stuff, turnaround 180° and make your way back to where you came from. Find Arrivals, which is just next door to Transit. (If transit desk isn't too busy, you can ask to be walked but IME they are, and you may have to wait a while for that to happen.)
In "Arrivals" you should go to the line handling "Visa Exempt 24/72h transit", but it is not always advertised as this. If not, look for the "Special" line. In my case it was to the far right. You'll need to have the normal "Arrivals" card filled in.
Once cleared for immigrations, escalators go down for bag collection (but yours are likely checked to final destination) and customs inspection. After customs, you are landside and you can now go to the hotel or go look for the bus that takes you to the hotel.
If you are staying at the pullman, just go up one floor, cross over the check-in hall to get to the north side of the airport where you will see the pullman a few hundred meters to the north. When entering the pullman from airport side, you'll need to take escalators down 2 floors to find the reception. Passport and boarding pass (with the voucher number written on) is needed.
Departure
Like any normal departure - You'll need the departures card filled out.