Transferring flights in Beijing without a visum
 

Has anyone here tried transferring flights in Beijing to a non-connecting international flight without a visum?

I am trying to get a hold of the travel agency to see if I can "connect" a flight to my existing booking, but they are having techincal problems and can't help me at the moment. And I am leaving soon, so I don't know if it will be in time, or if they can help me at all since it's an economy trip with no changes/cancellations.

I don't have time to get a visum and I've read that it should be possible, atleast if I can get an electronic ticket, and then get the ground crew at my departing airport to get my luggage transferred. So now I am going to go for a last ditch effort and order tickets from air chinas website and try to get them electronic and print them out just before I leave if I can't get this fixed in any other way.

Rules regarding visa

Visas are not required of aliens, who hold final destination tickets and have booked seats on international airliners flying directly through China, and will stay in a transit city for less than 24 hours without leaving the airport.

(I am sure they mean staying airside of course)

More here:http://visa.ywpw.com/visatypes/visa_g_en.html

Thanks for the reply. I saw that information earlier, the problem being "hold final destination tickets." My "first" final destination as per the tickets I land with will be in Beijing. Then I will have a new set of tickets outwards. Will there be a problem with the arrival tickets being "final" in Beijing?

It seems like you have two issues - one is the visa free transit, the other is to move luggage from one flight to another without you having to collect it yourself and re-check in.

Actually there is a mechanism where you can transit China without a visa and you CAN go ground side.

I've asked the moderators to redirect this thread to the China forum; in the meantime look at this thread

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/china...e-transit.html

On the baggage issue the question is whether or not the two (?) airlines involved interline. What are the airlines in question?

If you would like a more specific response, suggest you give full info, ie flight number of arriving and departing flights and the date that you are travelling, also your nationality (I don't think this is necessary but might be useful). Off the top of my head even if you have final destination tickets to PEK if you have another ticket departing PEK within the timeframe this should be ok.

Please continue to follow in the FT China Forum.
Thanks..
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator

Thanks dsgtc0408, just hearing someone who seems knowledgable think it is possible lifts a huge weight off my shoulders. And thanks for asking the mods (Edit: And thanks obscure2k!), I swear I searched all over this site for such a forum without finding it.

As for the airlines, it will be KLM from Oslo - (#1146) - Amsterdam - (#897) - Beijing and probably Air China to Hong Kong but I haven't ordered that ticket yet. Travelling on the 20th of july, arriving 21st, norwegian nationality.

So afaik KLM has a booth at Oslo where I'll ask if they can connect my luggage to the Air China flight, and then hope I'll get on it myself. If the baggage doesn't make it I'll file for lust luggage, have it sent to the hotel and get some cash on the insurance to survive on for a few days.

Another big issue is the boarding tickets for the Air China flight to HK. Can I get these somewhere at the Beijing airport without having a visa? Or do I have to have them printed out from home?

I'll check out that link as well, if I can actually get out of the transit area with that visa-free thing, then I can just go get the luggage as normal and check in as normal and get the boarding passes as normal. That might be ideal, but I have never dealt with visa-situations before, I'm worried I'll screw up or misunderstand and get sent back.

There is nothing to worry. You can transfer int'l to int'l without visa. You need to pick up your baggage, go through transfer immigration and check-in for your next flight, go through passport control again, then board your flight.

Connecting KL to CA means changing from Terminal 2 to Terminal 3 which is something to avoid. So if possible (you say you're not ticketed to HKG yet), go for China Southern or Hong Kong Express, Hong Kong Ailrines (there's one at 11.55 am which connects nicely to your KL) or Capital Air flies as well.

Thanks Chinatrvl, I just talked to my agency and they said they can't change the tickets, so I'll have to do it this way. I'll see about getting one of those other airliners as long as the price is reasonable.

What I'm wondering about then is the layout of the airport (I've tried some maps, they weren't really helpful), specifically:
a) You mention getting my baggage as the first step, is that really so? Before any visa/passport/document stations, I can go get my baggage?
b) After I have my baggage, I then fill in some visa-free form, walk past transfer immigration and into the transfer hall?
c) In the transfer hall I can check-in for my next flight, drop off the baggage and then go through passport/security to boarding area?

Thanks for your patience and help, I would've been in a deep state of panic without you :)

Your KLM flight is codeshare with CZ. Which might allow you to
have your check in forwarded to a CZ flight to HK.

You need to buy a ticket from PEK to HK before you depart to PEK.
After deboarding the plane in PEK, look for the INTL Transfers sign
with arrow. Follow it to the first desk to get a boarding pass
for your PEK-HK flight, if you don't already have one.

If you already have a boarding pass, skip the first desk, proceed to
immigration and look for the desk marked INTL Transfers. Present
your passport and boarding pass. They will stamp your passport
with a diamond shaped transit stamp.

Then retrieve your checked baggage. You will be in Terminal 2.
If your flight to HK leaves from T3, then take the bus to T3.

It is also worth asking at the check-in in OSL to have your luggage checked all the way to HKG.

A lot of airlines have interline agreements and will check your luggage through if you show them the second booking info. It should be fairly easy when airlines codeshare [KL/CZ].
Last time I've done this was on UA>UA>US>US [one one ticket]>AZ [second ticket] and had no problems. Bags made all five flights :)

Also, it helps if you hold status with the [first] airline/alliance or travel in high class.

If you can schedule a PEK-HKG flight on CZ with departure about 2-3 hours after the KLM arrival at good price, do that. It will keep everything in T2 and likely you could interline luggage on Skyteam partners KLM->CZ and avoid the baggage pickup/recheck step. But even if you must pick up, not a big issue. Immigration as described above and on the FAQ under TWOV (transit without visa).

If price/availability has you purchasing a ticket on Air China, Cathay Pacific or Dragonair to HKG, you'll be leaving from T3 and will need to shuttle between the 2 terminals on the free shuttle bus. With this sort of transfer on non-partners, you might not be able to interline (though try it anyway) and will need to pick up luggage at T2 and take on shuttle bus to T3. Buy a ticket that allows you at least 3 scheduled hours to do this. It's not that the actual process takes that long...but sometimes PEK has air traffic delays into (and out of) so I put a little flex time into my estimates to accommodate that.

If you happen to schedule a longer layover in PEK--say 6-7+ hours that are during the day/early evening, you can also check-in or put luggage in Left Luggage and go into the city to sightsee. No visa required as long as your arrival->departure is less than 24 hours.

The T2-T3 transfer really isn't the end of the world. When I missed a DL flight last year, I rode the bus ~4 times (it works).

That having been said, T2 (old) really is better than T3 (new). A single decent restaurant in T3 (air side) could tip the scales in favor of it, but the current situation is pretty sucky (and the lounges don't help much).

Due to my *G hitch, I still use T3 often (for the lounge access and the extra baggage allowance), but I'm not so fond of the long walks.

T2 really is better.

T3 gives you a slight glimpse at China "today". Worth a look
if you want to see why China isn't refered to third world anymore.

Thanks all of you. I will go for the CZ flight at 11:30. Unfortunatly all flights with CZ must be made on their website and they require the passport at the time of ordering, so I'll have to wait with the order until my friend I'm travelling with gets his.

Are you sure that the 11.30 is a non-stop flight? Having a stop over is not only time-consuming, but an interesting question in regards to transit visa...
Pickung up your baggage and transferring to UO/HX (book online) isn't a very inconvenient option either.

You can book CZ on any internet site like expedia, but will most likely get cheaper prices at chinese ones; I prefer www.elong.net for int'l travel out of China.