Taking too long to post this but better late than never.

Back in July I traveled on a United award booking from ORD-MEL, via PEK and SZX. Air China had just introduced a 3x weekly flight from SZX to MEL so I was able to snag a business class award during peak summer travel season.

Upon check-in at O'Hare, the agent was surprised to see my itinerary included a domestic flight within China. I asked him if he would like to see my Chinese visa (which thankfully I had - more to come later), but he said there was no need for a visa, as I was transiting. Somewhat strangely, he could not issue my boarding passes for the ongoing flights, but assured me several times that my bags had been checked all the way through.

Chicago to Beijing was a great flight in a mostly empty United business class. Upon arrival in Beijing, I had to clear immigration as I was connecting to a domestic flight, and the back up for those needing transit approval only (not on visas) was hours long. I would have missed my flight had I not had a 10-year Chinese visa.

Then, despite being told my bags were checked all the way through, but giving it a bit of rational thought, I decided to wait at baggage claim. And my bags came out. Of course, I was connecting to a domestic flight so like anywhere in the world, one needs to claim their bags and clear customs. Thankfully I questioned this and acted as I did, otherwise who knows what would have happened to my bags.

I collected my bags and proceeded through customs and back through security again, and then to Air China check in (for international connecting passengers). Frustratingly, and perhaps tellingly, the agent would only issue me the one Air China boarding pass from Beijing to Shenzhen, and not both. And she told me I'd need to pick up my bags again in Shenzhen.

I proceeded to the lounge and then waited, painfully, for hours while flights departed for Shenzhen, but mine kept getting delayed. I approached the desk every time, asking could I get on a different flight as I had an international connection, and was told "No, sit down, we'll call you when yours is ready".

Finally, several hours late, my flight to Shenzhen was ready for boarding. At this point I would just make the connection - or so I thought.

We proceeded to sit on the runway for 4 hours, and all the flight attendants could offer me was a phone number, which calls to resulted in only being told "deal with it when you get to Shenzhen".

I arrived in Shenzhen around 4:30am, missing my 12:50am flight to Melbourne by a long shot. I proceeded to the customer service counter, only to be told to wait until 6:30am until they opened.

As I sat, around 50+ angry passengers collected, all having misconnected to the Melbourne flight from other Chinese cities. There was absolutely zero non-Mandarin language ability from anyone on the customer service team once Air China finally opened, so I found two students to translate for me. Over several hours, everyone in the queue was being told "sorry not our problem" or "we'll get you out 5 days later". Eventually those who could started buying new flights on their own and leaving the airport.

I finally phoned United, as every time I approached the desk I was told (via translation) "You booked through United, their problem, not ours". Which is incorrect, as the flight was operated by Air China. But arguing was getting me nowhere.

I reached a CSR who was amazing. I wish I had recorded her name. She spent the next 2 hours (and a fortune in mobile phone roaming fees for me) searching and searching for a way to get me back to Melbourne, despite the fact that it was technically not United's issue to re-book me. She finally found something via Shanghai on Air China, with a long layover and two days later, but hey, I was going to take it given everyone else in the line seemed to be marooned in Shenzhen for at least 5-7 days. However she couldn't confirm that she had ticketed it, and had me approach the Air China counter to confirm it was in their system - it wasn't.

An hour later she found something back through Beijing, the next evening. It had a tight connection which already had me concerned but she told me it was all she could find. I had even had her search HKG, BKK, TPE, and any other city near-ish to Shenzhen - I'd find a way there to get back.

I finally went to a hotel on my own and awaited the next evening's flight. Upon arrival at the airport the next evening, I was told at check-in that the Air China flight back to Beijing was already delayed (check-in staff spoke some English, but not International customer service). I was told I'd likely miss my Beijing-Melbourne connection, and the next flight out was 4 days later.

I cancelled my check-in (why travel only to get stuck in Beijing, even further from Melbourne) and went back to the hotel, where I purchased a new one-way fare on Singapore Airlines (via SilkAir from SZX to SIN) for the next day. That flight went fine.

The bottom line and why I am posting this is:
1) Avoid any and all bookings (business class or otherwise) via Air China if there are domestic connections involved and you are continuing on to another international destination (not somewhere in mainland China)
2) You DO need to collect your baggage if connecting domestically (which is obvious, but I was told it was checked through and not to worry)
3) A Chinese visa is a good idea. While you don't need one for transit connections, the lines can be hours long and if you get stuck, you need one unless you want to sleep in the airport
4) United did a fantastic job trying to help me out of a terrible situation when it wasn't even their issue but at the end of the day I threw away half of an award booking in business, and payed cash for a replacement flight. Yes, this was my choice as the only way to re-book again would have been to fly to Beijing, mis-connect again, and then go through the entire process, missing another several days at work. But if you find an award or paid booking which involves a domestic Air China transfer to another international destination - JUST DON'T.

Hope this saves someone a bit of my pain.