China Master Transportation Thread
#46
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In the past I haven't either, but several days ago on ctrip I thought I spotted some fares that used the RMB 200 tax rate, but seemed to be journeys under 800 km. I was looking idly at a bunch of things so can't recall specifics and didn't take notes. When I have a bit of time in the next day or so, I'll poke around and see if I can find them again, and also check flight distance in case my gut is wrong and the journey is longer than I thought, and thus a legitimate RMB 200 tax/fee.
#47
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Location: Shanghai
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in the past i haven't either, but several days ago on ctrip i thought i spotted some fares that used the rmb 200 tax rate, but seemed to be journeys under 800 km. I was looking idly at a bunch of things so can't recall specifics and didn't take notes. When i have a bit of time in the next day or so, i'll poke around and see if i can find them again, and also check flight distance in case my gut is wrong and the journey is longer than i thought, and thus a legitimate rmb 200 tax/fee.
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#48
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#49
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-fares are based on distance (slight premium/km for really short flights)
-discounts are clearly labeled
-"50+x" is always disclosed
Flying around China isn't cheap anymore, but I fail to see any deception.
#50
Join Date: Oct 2007
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I have changed the main posting on Intercity Airline to reflect the new fuel tax rates. The cut between short and long (80 RMB vs 150 RMB fuel surcharge) is officially 800 km. However, I would not be surprised if agents and perhaps airlines directly are charging passengers the higher rate for journeys in the 500-800 km range.
I strongly assume that taxes are linked to the fixed Y/C/F prices - i.e. they come from the central authorities. If your agent overcharges, at least the ticket will be issued correctly, which is enough to challenge your agent.
Last edited by Chinatrvl; Aug 15, 2011 at 7:07 pm
#51
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#53
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#54
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I would be interested to see your example. IME, this stuff is super transparent:
-fares are based on distance (slight premium/km for really short flights)
-discounts are clearly labeled
-"50+x" is always disclosed
Flying around China isn't cheap anymore, but I fail to see any deception.
-fares are based on distance (slight premium/km for really short flights)
-discounts are clearly labeled
-"50+x" is always disclosed
Flying around China isn't cheap anymore, but I fail to see any deception.
SHA-CSX, CSX-NNG, NNG-KMG, DLU (Dali)-CGK. The NNG-KMG segment has the total tax/fuel at RMB 130 short journey level, others all at RMB 200. After checking back with multiple different flight distance sources to try to get an unbiased picture, I came up with:
SHA-CSX is over 800 km (about 880)--my gut was wrong--so that's a legit RMB 200.
CSX-NNG is under 800 km (around 770-790 from multiple sources), so my gut was right, and the Chinese are "rounding up" to 800 and collecting higher tax.
NNG-KMG is well under 800 km and RMB 130 level is correct.
DLU-CGK is under 800 km (770)--again, my gut was right--so Chinese are again "rounding up" and collecting the RMB 200 level.
Perhaps the distance map they are using is one with Chinese characteristics? Clearly, they are taking advantage of the closeness to the breakpoint to assess the higher tax.
Last edited by jiejie; Aug 17, 2011 at 2:01 pm
#55
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I strongly assume that distance is based in actual distance travelled - just like flight and train prices - and not on the shortest distance on the 'great circle'.
I strongly assume that distance is based in actual distance travelled - just like flight and train prices - and not on the shortest distance on the 'great circle'.
#56
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Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.2.1; en-hk; u8800 Build/FRG83) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)
I strongly assume that distance is based in actual distance travelled - just like flight and train prices - and not on the shortest distance on the 'great circle'.
I strongly assume that distance is based in actual distance travelled - just like flight and train prices - and not on the shortest distance on the 'great circle'.
I guess I'm just tired of making and hearing excuses for Chinese chiseling--in all sorts of matters. The fuel tax breakpoint of 800 km is stupid on the face of it. Fuel is a direct function of distance, so with Chinese base ticket prices themselves based on km distance, it makes more sense to levy fuel YQ as a % of base ticket price.
#57
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My guess is that a low level employee of CAAC (or whatever it's called these days) made a mistake (i.e. it wouldn't surprise me if that person had a stack of 1,000+ routes to review and simply eyeballed it because he was getting tired) a few years back and misreported the distance between CSX and NNG.
I will try to follow up on this the next time I meet my well-connected aviation guy in Beijing... primarily for the benefit of our curiosity, but all the better if we can save CSX-NNG travelers a buck or two.
#58
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#59
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I fly a triangle trip next week; PEK-HGH-CGO-PEK (BJ > Hangzhou > Zhengzhou > BJ ) the total of the 3 tickets with tax was only 2020 rmb.
The combined airport tax & fuel surcharges is 580 rmb, or 29 %..
And on one of the CZ flights, i did get a W fare !.
#60
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The flying is not cheap, but there are some mid-week deals with 4 day advance purchase.
I fly a triangle trip next week; PEK-HGH-CGO-PEK (BJ > Hangzhou > Zhengzhou > BJ ) the total of the 3 tickets with tax was only 2020 rmb.
The combined airport tax & fuel surcharges is 580 rmb, or 29 %..
And on one of the CZ flights, i did get a W fare !.
I fly a triangle trip next week; PEK-HGH-CGO-PEK (BJ > Hangzhou > Zhengzhou > BJ ) the total of the 3 tickets with tax was only 2020 rmb.
The combined airport tax & fuel surcharges is 580 rmb, or 29 %..
And on one of the CZ flights, i did get a W fare !.