Originally Posted by
moondog
In all cases, I strongly recommend making changes over the phone or online (I prefer the phone though) rather than in person.
I agree with this, even though admittedly I have not had many experiences with changing and reissuing airline tickets after making the initial purchase. I learned early from my travels to China that exchanging tickets at the airport is a major PITA. The check-in agents don't handle money transactions, so if you try to check-in to a fight with a different ticket, you will be directed to the ticket counter to have the right one made before you can join the queue again to check-in. My impression is that this ticket policy is fundamentally the same across all intercity modes of public transport in China (air, rail, and bus).