The 11:30 is a not a direct flight, but it is the only one that leaves mid day. The other ones I can take leave at 22 or 23 in the evening. I hadn't considered the implications of transit visa, because this flight would then be domestic -> int'l, right?

And it was via expedia I tried booking CZ, but they directed me to flychinesesouthern.com or something and said I had to research there. I'll check out elong.net

I found a HONG KONG EXPRESS AIRWAYS LTD flight that was direct and at a much lower rate, thanks for the tip. And since I'll be passing by the baggage pickup anyway, I might as well get this flight instead. Seems like they leave from T2 as well. Seems they also require passport info immediatly, damn.

IME, if you cross an international border (and HK counts), expedia is often hard to beat. Reference the FTer who snagged PEK-XIY-HKG-SHA for $200 all in?

Whilst the latter is an outright unbeliavable deal, my experience is that HK flights are best booked via either elong (particularily MU, FM, CZ) or Hong Kong sites like priceline.com.hk.

I hung out with him and his crew in BJ, lent him a phone, and he managed to return it to my friend in SH with a surplus of funds on the SIM card. In my book, this proves he is an honest fellow. Even if this weren't the case, I feel compelled to reiterate that I've had very good experiences with Expedia ($20k ytd spend, all on nice fares). As you must know by now, I am a huge fan of ctrip, but Expedia consistently wins wrt to cross border flights... though I try to use miles whenever possible for the SE Asia stuff (enormous savings, even in Y).