Originally Posted by
fransknorge
If I want to reduce the cost an open jaw is out of the question. And European carrier fly only out of PVG (I will not take a chinese carrier for the international part). I could take a domestic flight to go back to PVG though. 12 days there seems also a bit much to me but then maybe I can take a bullet train to somewhere not too far (Wuhan ? Xiamen ? )
1. Many European airlines that fly to PVG also fly to HKG (e.g. BA, AF, KL, LH).
-Getting "Europe-Shanghai<open>Hong Kong-Europe" to price in the same ballpark as a Europe-Shanghai round trip might require a bit of finessing because some airlines treat Hong Kong as a distinct region.
2. I'm amazed that KL is the only European airline that flies to Beijing (at least through the winter schedule). They are presumably extracting a price premium for this, so you've already ruled them out?
3. Have you looked into CX (many destinations in Mainland China, if you don't mind connecting in HK twice)? They aren't quite as Chinese as the Mainland carriers.
4. Some of the Chinese airlines that fly out of Beijing have codeshares and/or JVs with AF, KL, BA, LH, etc so it is possible to combine them with an outbound to Shanghai for around the same price as a round trip to Shanghai. Personally, I prefer most of them to most European airlines these days, but they all overfly Russia (at least, for now).
5. TK and several of the Middle Eastern carriers also have more Mainland China coverage than Shanghai.