Carl Ito

Hi
Just reas this post, did you finally travel via PVG? How did you do? Did you pirchase a refundable ticket?
I travel to europe next month via PVG, i was thinking buying a refundable ticket until i get through and board in my standby flight then cancel the confirmed flight.
What do you think?

Thank you

corporate-wage-slave

Welcome Carl Ito to Flyertalk and welcome to the BA forum, it's great to see you here and I hope your travel plans work out well for you. Unfortunately I can't help at all with your question, ID90 travel is something of which I have very little knowledge. Welcome to the forum.

Carl Ito

Thank you.

Wandered

I have done a lot of staff travel to China, but for the most part, have possessed a valid visa. Before the visa, I always used firm flights. ICN-PVG-NRT-ICN being a favourite. The rules are explicit, confirmed flights. How lucky do you feel?
As an illustration, In my many flights operating to China, over 100, there have been a handful of visa issues.
Operating crew member had their partner on board without a visa , I advised them to book a commercial flight to HKG and flip their staff travel to HKG-home, that was permitted.
Another in the same situation on another flight, decided to book a flight with another European carrier to their home base then staff travel back to home. Took so long that by the time the passenger presented themselves at immigration, they were denied entry.
Also carried back a pair of staff travel passengers who had been denied entry due to no visa and no confirmed flights.

flatlander

... all of which indicates that one should not try to transit without visa in China without an onward flight ticket confirmed at the time you arrive.

Whether you actually leave on that ticket or change your plans is less important.

Just do make sure you leave on time (given that's 144 hours for PVG it should not be hard!).

bricksoft

I'm just curious.

What is your plan if the flights you are standby for are all full and the TWOV expires before you can get on a plane

windowontheAside

I don't think you'd get TWOV unless you are already confirmed on a flight out to a third country.

flatlander

and if you miss or cancel that confirmed flight and then a standby seat doesn't materialise, then you've got yourself into trouble and my sympathy is fairly limited. I would suggest looking for budget carrier options to countries you can enter easily before the TWOV expires and you attract the sort of Chinese government attention you don't want.

Speedbird676

Has this recently changed? I used TWOV both to and from Taiwan via China in 2017.

PER-SIN-PVG-TPE-PEK-SIN-PER

mgiarc

I assume the issue is that the OP was originating from TPE, so travelling back to TPE would not be transit.

Carl Ito

Thank you all for your answers and advises.
I will never fly via PVG if I dont get high chance to get on board. Regarding the visa i plan to buy a refundable confirmed ticket in order to get through custom, fill the blue paper, (arrival depzrture) then as soon as i have my luggage, if i manage to get on board, i will cancel the other ticket.
What do you think?
Thank you all

Speedbird676

Doh... missed that!

GinFizz

This seems workable - as long as you fully intend to use the refundable ticket if your stand-by place does not materialize (and have a back up plan to get to your final destination).

Note though that there are some constraints in terms of departure time to consider when buying the refundable ticket - it needs to be the same day so that you can reenter the airside area (you mention collecting luggage), and should be at least a few hours later than the BA flight (so that even if that flight is delayed you will still have time to secure the seat and then cancel the other ticket). Ideally you should only cancel the other ticket after the boarding complete announcement, but that might be leaving things a bit tight.

Carl Ito

Thank you for your answer
If i take the risk to go via shanghai, i will do it only if i am sure at 95% that i will board in the standby flight otherwise i dont, i will book the refundable ticket for 5 days later (which match with 144h transit) like that that will give me more time in case i miss one flight.
My worry was more about the immigration itself, but i think it will be fine as long as i leave the country before the 144h...
Thank you for your help

pamela001320

I stayed in PVG for 3 days with the TWOV before hopping to BKK with a confirmed ticket. I'm just going to wish you luck because the chinese customs personnel don't play around. They even requested to see the hotel confirmation and asked me what my plans were while staying there. It took them ten minutes of checking papers, asking questions and looking at the computer to finally let me through. I was thinking about getting a 10 year visa so I could non rev through PVG every time I would visit any other country in Asia but I don't know if that can even be possible