Currently on my way to PVG.
My wife does not have a valid visa for China. We booked BOS-PVG with AA and have a flight on same day from PVG-HKG. No issues in Boston, in Chicago, I spoke to the GA and told her that we will be transiting only in China. Immediately she tells me that this will not work, that we need to have it all on one itinerary. I called BS, I have traveled many times without a visa to transit and explained that to her. Her response was that she was "98%" sure that we will be denied boarding, unless something changed in 24 hours that she didn't know about. Supervisor comes by, looks at our onward tickets goes "they are good and can travel". It would be nice if they had GA's who knew the damn rules.
Thinking of going to the consulate for get my wife a visa so we don't have to deal with this BS.