Originally Posted by
WWads
The general point is that mainland China airports are a mess and you shouldn't transit through them unless it's the only option.
A rebook through ICN is the perfectly reasonable and you shouldn't get any resistance. Just be willing to stand up for yourself if you get a bad agent.
They're a mess, yes, but an organized mess. While I won't compare PVG or PEK to, let's say, ICN or NRT, it's certainly better than many other airports, and I know what I'm getting when I pay $400 for, let's say, LAX-PVG-MNL rather than pay $200 more to transit through NRT, ICN, TPE or HKG.
I remember a time when China had absolutely no sterile transit while at the same time having TWOV. The situation now is much better than it was nine years ago.