Originally Posted by
moondog
Yes. I think they might have prohibited transit for a brief period or two during Covid outbreak(s), but Taiwan has been a viable transit point throughout most of the pandemic.
That having been said, it was not useful for getting us TO Mainland China because:
-with the direct flight requirement, it was completely off limits
-after the direct flight requirement went away, it became somewhat viable, BUT it is necessary to spend 2-3 days IN the country prior to the final flight to Mainland China; most of us don't have permission to enter Taiwan
Hong Kong and Macau don't have the same pre-flight PCR test requirements, so airside transits are fine. Of course, it's easy to get to HK from many places nonstop. This isn't the case with MFM, so Taiwan might be useful.
While I'm on the Macau topic (again), I met up with several of you guys last night at trivia, and hotel booking appears to be the main current snag. Apparently, passengers need to reserve q hotels on their own, and there isn't a smooth system in place for this yet. I'm sure things will become clearer within the next week or two.
I am not quite clear on what you mean by "Hong Kong and Macau don't have the same pre-flight PCR test requirements, so airside transits are fine" so just to clarify in case anyone reading this doesn't pick up on these nuances ...
- Transit through Hong Kong
to mainland China is still suspended still;
- I am fairly (but not 100%) certain that transit at Macau (MFM) is still suspended (and has been since March 2020) - and there is still a pre-flight PCR requirement (within 48 hours of the departure of the flight sequence, including transfers if applicable, to Macau).
Re: Taiwan, transit through Taiwan airports was suspended from May 2021 to June 2022 (around 13 months). Allowed again from end of June, with the exception of flights to and from China. Transfer through Taiwan is indeed though a useful option for getting to Macau if this new option of quarantine in Macau then entering China without quarantine work out to be doable.