Originally Posted by
narvik
Completely disagree with both of your assessments here.
For anyone not familiar with these airports, not being solely focused on traveling from A to B, and coming from a country where massive airports are far and few between, I think a visit to the new PKX and TFU are definitely worth it and have quite a bit of appeal.
OP already mentioned they are an "air travel nerd", so I
ABSOLUTELY recommend a slightly prolonged visit to those airports and enjoy their design and expanse.
I kind of agree here. The OP has expressed a preference for flying and airports, and has the unique opportunity to visit six airports in three cities. Really cool! As big as these airports are, my worst travel experiences in China, by a country mile, have been in train stations.
Originally Posted by
FindingFoodFluency
Flying in China generally means "expect delays," so a slightly prolonged visit is already included in the OP's ticket at no extra cost.
Checking-in is still painful, food options are subpar, security checks way too suspicious of my umbrella and Japanese yen, and again, delays are to be expected (be it for military reasons, weather, mechanical, or someone's QR code isn't loading).
OP wrote they are traveling in domestic first, checking in will be better than most countries. Security is what it is, but there are priority lanes in most of China's big airports.
OP, Air China is still flying 747s domestically (SHA-PEK) so you get a chance to choose from a wide variety of aircraft. Other than that, perhaps consider flying into the old airport and departing from the new one where possible. You won't be able to spend as much time on arrival.