Xian
 

I am thinking of visiting Xian to see the Terra Cotta solidiers. The first question, is XIY the right airport. If so, is Hainan Airlines a good choice to fly from PEK, in F if necessary? Flying from HKG seems to be much more expensive and much longer. Any help from those in the know would be very much appreciated.

1. XIY is the right airport.

2. I don't have a ton of experience with domestic flights in China, but Hainan was just as good (or bad) as all of the others as I recall

3. Flight from HK should be maybe 1-1.5 hours longer than in Beijing.

4. Any question on why to fly such a short segment (if from BJ and even HK) in F? Flying from HK will be more expensive (it's seen as an international flight), but one could bus/train/drive/ferry into Shenzhen (SZX) from HK and do SZX to XIY which will be much cheaper than in HK.

All other things being equal, I would go with an airline that has more frequencies on that route (CA or MU).

+1

I flew PEK-XIY last week on MU and XIY-PEK on CA. Both were fine. It's only about 1.5 hours in the air, I wouldn't bother with the expense of F.

nickyboy

I disagree. When you factor in the cost of your time and the train to/from Guangzhou, I wouldn't say you're saving much at all.

Also, you get the whole plane to yourself. Last time I flew HKG-XIY on MU, there were less than 10 pax. ^ It was about 2/3 full on the way back. :(

Random search on 12/22:

SZX-XIY = y650+120 = y770 = $116
HKG-XIY = hkd 2770 = $356

That's a difference of $240. Since most tourists don't travel solo, we're talking about at least $480. I'd estimate that the Shenzhen shuffle wastes two hours (over the time it takes to get to HKG). Since I make less than $240 per hour, I'm do the Shenzhen thing, but YMMV.

Maybe I am being a little slow but I read it that OP had a choice of which ariport to fly into, HKG, PEK etc.

If that is correct the SZX shuffle probably doesn't apply. Just fly to PEK and then PEK-XIY. Better than PVG as this will probably (but not necessarily) require a t/f to SHA

But in any case, moondog is correct, as usual. Savings outweigh the extra time in going to SZX instead of flying into the mainland from HKG. Also usually a much wider choice of flights and destinations

nickyboy

The last time I flew from Shanghai to Xi'an (2 years ago), all flights departed from PVG.

But, PEK is better because it is a shorter flight from the US and to XIY.

When I went, the difference was around $180-200 per ticket. Most couples also work so you've got to factor in the time savings for both people.

Factor in the time (my estimate was around 2.5-3.0 hrs extra, EACH WAY), convenience, and amenities (great lounges at HKG), it just wasn't worth it to me. For me, the time savings was more than worth the $ premium.

But, hey, more power to you for going through Shenzen to save some $.

I kind of agree with you. In spite of all of my rhetoric, I've only done the Shenzhen shuffle two times during the course of the past 10 years, and I had reasons to visit Shenzhen on both occasions.

Furthermore, I shall concede that if I really wanted to fly from HK to XIY on 12/22, I'd find a way to do so for less than $350. Hell, I'd buy DL miles... 20k can fetch HKG-XIY-PVG-NRT, with a stopover.

We often get threads about F v. cheap economy here, and I always vote for the latter. But, my feeling on the HKG v. SZX thing is much more conflicted. I have a friend that has missed two SZX-SHA flights during the past 3 months because his bus was late (totally his fault for overestimating the timeliness of the bus) and ended up waiting an extra 5 hours and buying up to full fare each time; that's no way to live.

Back on topic, the OP can avoid all of the above if he accesses XIY from PEK/ICN/NRT/PVG.

SZX is mostly used for flights to secondary cities with no or few non-stop flights from HKG. For major ones like Beijing, Shanghai or Xian, one probably find the extra cost of flying from HKG worth it.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this discussion. Since our tickets included both PEK and HKG, it seems to make much more sense to fly to XIY from PEK. Hainan flies at the right time for us, so that decision is made.

Now, for another question from someone who really doesn’t know anything about China. People here brought up the idea of Guangzhou, known to my generation as Canton. I was there once with friends from Macau, but all we did was have a big party in a hotel restaurant on the former concession island and then head straight back to Macau. Those of us with Brazilian passports didn’t even bother getting China visas and the border police didn’t seem to care. There is apparently a nice train from Hung Hom to Guangzhou. Would that make a pleasant day trip, or does Guangzhou have lots of sights that might make it desirable to stay overnight?

I vote, "no". Since you probably want some sort of explanation, imo GZ simply isn't a very nice city.... pollution, traffic, crime, etc.

General thoughts about flights in China (again, not hard rules).:

1. Typ mainland to HKG is more expensive than mainland-mainland flights
2. HKG vs SZX isn't really just an "hour" difference, that's best case depending on where you are coming from. If you take the HSIA to Shenzhen Airport via ferry sure that's an hour, but the ferry's aren't that often. You can ride Kowloon to Shenzhen airport again, but again not common and schedule isn't posted on the web. Any other way expect 2-3 hours Hong Kong City to Shenzhen airport (bus, ferry to Shekou, subway to border then cab).
3. F isn't ever really worth it in China as most flights are under 3 hours, vast majority under 2. You get meals on all flights, better than the US (but don't expect anything great).

Depends on what you like/want. First timers to China, I'd say better places to go. But Guangzhou has a lot to offer, and if you haven't seen the Canton Tower and where the Asian Games were held it is pretty cool.

Guangzhou has limited appeal for tourists, as well as areas that present safety risks -- my recollection is that there is more crime in Guangzhou than any other Chinese city. I go to Guangzhou fairly often, having friends and relatives there. However, they (and my wife, who is Chinese), know where it's okay to go, and where it's not. There are a number of restaurants in Guangzhou that we like a lot but, otherwise, I wouldn't recommend the city as a destination for foreign visitors.