China 72 hour transit visa. Need to inform Air Canada?
Hi all
My girlfriend and I are both Canadian citizens, we are travelling to China in transit to Australia on these flights: Arrival into PVG: AC25 14:10 Sat Apr 15 (booked through AC) Departure from PVG: CA175 19:35 Tues Apr 18 (booked through UA on a mileageplus award) In doing my research on the 72 hour transit visa, it seems we are eligible for this visa despite the fact that we are staying just over 72 hours. The 'visa clock' begins at midnight on the night of our arrival. My research also says we need to inform AC at check in. I'm thinking there are a couple of reasons why we might anticipate problems: 1. We are exceeding the "strict" 72 hour requirement even though we are eligible for the visa 2. Our second flight is not booked through AC, so they won't be able to confirm it from their system. Are these legitimate concerns, or am I being paranoid? Should we apply for chinese visas to be on the safe side? Should we inform Air Canada before check in? Thanks Dave |
Originally Posted by david_oz
(Post 28112295)
Hi all
My girlfriend and I are both Canadian citizens, we are travelling to China in transit to Australia on these flights: Arrival into PVG: AC25 14:10 Sat Apr 15 (booked through AC) Departure from PVG: CA175 19:35 Tues Apr 18 (booked through UA on a mileageplus award) In doing my research on the 72 hour transit visa, it seems we are eligible for this visa despite the fact that we are staying just over 72 hours. The 'visa clock' begins at midnight on the night of our arrival. My research also says we need to inform AC at check in. I'm thinking there are a couple of reasons why we might anticipate problems: 1. We are exceeding the "strict" 72 hour requirement even though we are eligible for the visa 2. Our second flight is not booked through AC, so they won't be able to confirm it from their system. Are these legitimate concerns, or am I being paranoid? Should we apply for chinese visas to be on the safe side? Should we inform Air Canada before check in? Thanks Dave The 72 hours TWOV is now 144 hours at certain airports. Details here and also an excellent thread "China 24, 72, and 144 hour Transit Without Visa ("TWOV") rules master thread ..." https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chin...er-thread.html That said, and others here may agree, if you have the time to get a Chinese Visa, then that solves the issue of whether you qualify under TWOV and avoids having issues with various airlines. |
Originally Posted by david_oz
(Post 28112295)
Hi all
My girlfriend and I are both Canadian citizens, we are travelling to China in transit to Australia on these flights: Arrival into PVG: AC25 14:10 Sat Apr 15 (booked through AC) Departure from PVG: CA175 19:35 Tues Apr 18 (booked through UA on a mileageplus award) In doing my research on the 72 hour transit visa, it seems we are eligible for this visa despite the fact that we are staying just over 72 hours. The 'visa clock' begins at midnight on the night of our arrival. My research also says we need to inform AC at check in. I'm thinking there are a couple of reasons why we might anticipate problems: 1. We are exceeding the "strict" 72 hour requirement even though we are eligible for the visa 2. Our second flight is not booked through AC, so they won't be able to confirm it from their system. Are these legitimate concerns, or am I being paranoid? Should we apply for chinese visas to be on the safe side? Should we inform Air Canada before check in? Thanks Dave All this applies to transits. If a Chinese 72-hour visa-free transit airport is your point of turnaround, you might be denied boarding. (I had been denied boarding this way, fortunately it was a refundable ticket.) Although I didn't investigate whether the agent was right in denying me boarding (I assume he was). |
Originally Posted by YYT82
(Post 28112340)
All this applies to transits. If a Chinese 72-hour visa-free transit airport is your point of turnaround, you might be denied boarding. (I had been denied boarding this way, fortunately it was a refundable ticket.) Although I didn't investigate whether the agent was right in denying me boarding (I assume he was).
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Originally Posted by eigenvector
(Post 28112585)
Assuming you mean you doing something like Canada-China-intermediate point-Canada, that agent was making it up as he went along. As long as you depart China to a 3rd country, whether it's your "destination" or not is neither here nor there. The Chinese government does not care about airline routing rules. Canada-China-US-Canada is perfectly valid, for instance.
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Originally Posted by YYT82
(Post 28112619)
But it has to be a 3rd country though correct? And I was just trying to avoid having to obtain a visa by staying in PVG for less than 72 hours before coming back on the same routing.
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even when I am right and give agent the timatic (system they use) screen shots, it is a pain. took 3 trips and was initially denied checkin
getting our china visas as soon as we get new passports since ours are full. |
Hi all. We are at YYC this morning. We had quite a bit of trouble but finally made it onto the plane to YVR on the way to shanghai.
They insisted three times that we needed a visa, and each time I insisted they were incorrect. Luckily I had a printout of both our timatic printout and onward reservation handy. I'm not sure what they were looking at on their screen, but it was clearly incorrect. Eventually a phone call to some department cleared up the issue, but it took about 30 minutes total time. |
Originally Posted by david_oz
(Post 28177396)
Hi all. We are at YYC this morning. We had quite a bit of trouble but finally made it onto the plane to YVR on the way to shanghai.
They insisted three times that we needed a visa, and each time I insisted they were incorrect. Luckily I had a printout of both our timatic printout and onward reservation handy. I'm not sure what they were looking at on their screen, but it was clearly incorrect. Eventually a phone call to some department cleared up the issue, but it took about 30 minutes total time. |
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