Hi,

I am arriving at PVG with LX F at 6.35am and thinking about booking the 10am flight from SHA to CGO with FM Y.

How can I transfer from PVG to SHA and how much time do I need? 3h30 is enough I think but I want to make sure before booking. There are other flights leaving from PVG but not with FM, and I need to use my *A Gold status because I will have almost 50kg of baggage... That's why I have to depart from SHA instead of PVG...

Thanks in advance,

Hi - sorry if I'm telling you news you already know - but you know FM is no longer a Star member from November (I think). So I'm guessing you're flying before then.

As for the transfer - I think 3.30 is too tight. You certainly don't want to take the underground between the two - that would take hours.

others on here will have advice on how to get between the two (although I thought I already saw a thread on it??). I think the options are a direct bus link, taxi (very expensive), maglev+taxi or private car.

(and apologies for what, on rereading, must be one of the most uninformative replies I have written to anything )

That was my first thought as well. But, upon further reflection, I will change my tune. Reasoning:

-international arrivals from Europe tend to be on time, if not early
-should be able to get to curb by 7:05a without much trouble
-the bus between the two airports rarely takes more than an hour because traffic usually moves pretty well on the highways
-your target arrival time in SHA is 9a, so even if you didn't get in motion until 8, you'd still be fine
-most importantly, if you are running late, you can cancel your ticket up until the check-in deadline (~45 mins at SHA, iirc) if not a bit later than that; just be sure to keep your travel agent and/or airline phone number in your cell phone

BTW, have you considered flying via PEK? Less backtracking and no need to switch airports.

Thanks a lot for your advises.
I think 3.30h is enough after reading other posts. However, I'm still trying to figure out how to go from PVG to SHA. A direct bus would be perfect, but I need to be sure that there is one and how to book it. I don't speak Chinese yet, even though I live here

Shanghai Airport website is useless. They have not translated the website in English...

I can't cancel the ticket, cauz it's a 360RMB ticket. No change. No cancellation. But thanks to *A Gold status, I will be fine with my 50kg of baggage. I could fly direct from PVG to CGO with China Eastern, but I think 30kg of overweight will be very expensive.
Check-in time for domestic flights is 40mn, and I had no problem doing it within 30mn. Being *A Gold and a having a foreign passport helps a lot. I would not be surprised if they would re-route me for free on the next flight, if I missed the 10am one...

The reason why I'm flying to PVG is because SWISS goes there. Backtracking is fine, it's a 1h flight.

I saw that they are extending the Maglev and that once it is finished you will be able to transit between PVG and SHA in 15 minutes... Amazing!

There is a direct bus (~3x per hour) and there's no need to book anything; just go to the bus area (well marked) and jump on (the correct bus, obviously).

30 minutes was the universal rule for all domestic flights until 2008; now 45 minutes is common at many larger airports. If you miss that mark, there is no guarantee that they'll help you. Even if they don't let you change to the 130p flight for free, they'd surely let you apply the value of your ticket towards the purchase of a new ticket.

I wouldn't bet on this. In fact, I'd be surprised if the Maglev wasn't mothballed within the next 10 years.

Wikipedia () states:

The plan for the extension to Hangzhou was first approved by the central government in February 2006, with a planned date of completion in time for 2010. Work was suspended in 2008, owing to public protests over radiation fears.[4] According to China Daily, as reported on People's Daily Online February 27, 2009, the Shanghai municipal government is considering building the maglev line underground to allay the public's fear of electromagnetic pollution, and the final decision on the maglev line has to be approved by the National Development and Reform commission.

The extension to Hangzhou was finally approved in March 2010, with construction to start in 2010 [5]. The new link will be 199.5 km (124 mi) long, 24 km (15 mi) longer than the original plan. The top speed is expected to be 450 km/h (280 mph) but limited to 200 km/h (120 mph) in built-up areas.

^

We're 70% through 2010 and not a peep has been made about this since March. The Hangzhou extension has actually been approved several times (and given rise to short-lived threads on FT), but these approvals have proven to be meaningless thus far.

I think there has been a translation error somewhere. The original report in Chinese says that they're still doing studies on the project so construction isn't likely to start any time soon. There has been no reports since March so one would presume that it's on the back burner.

At least in the opposite direction in 2008, it used to be the #1 bus, although the bus did not necessarily have a display that said "#1" in any script I could recognize at that time (I'm a little better with Chinese now, but not much).

I think I took the bus both ways. It was distinctly easier to find at PVG than at SHA. I think it was 30 RMB each way. Not too difficult, even if you don't speak Chinese, except for finding the bus in the SHA->PVG direction (which I take it you are not doing). It may be useful to know the Chinese names of the airports, which are "PuDong" (PVG) and "HongQiao" (SHA). Given that you're at an airport, saying one of these even without the correct Chinese tone will probably get you a certain amount of mileage.

A taxi will probably cost a couple of hundred RMB, and may be a little faster than the bus, with less wait at the originating airport. On the minus side, you have to make sure they don't overcharge you, which won't really be an issue with the bus.

I think 3.5 hours should be fine as long as nothing goes wrong (no late arrival, no immigration/customs difficulties, etc.).

If they actually do it, it will be great, but right now, the maglev isn't good for much else than being able to tell everyone you took the fastest train in the world ...

Yep I agree with you..
I don't take it anymore. Especially when I have lots of luggage. I flew PVG-CTU last month with 50kg of baggage and I found it easier to take a taxi from the hotel all the way to PVG rather than a taxi to the Maglev and carry all the luggage again...

With no luggage, then I would take the Maglev of course.