I was searching for a flight from Shanghai hongqiao to Ningbo and to my surprise elong found 2 daily flights with MU. For both of the flights allocated aircraft is TRN. Finally I spotted the flight time, which was beyond 3 hours. It's train alright.

Interesting enough, at least elong adds taxes and fees of 80CNY on top of the base price, which was as high as 720CNY oneway. How does this work in reality? Do you get MU miles for the trainride or can you check in your luggage at the railway station if you have a connecting flight from Ningbo? Has anyone tried this?

I can't recall how much D-train between SHA and NGB cost, but shouldn't be more than 200CNY even in 1st class?

1st class D train tickets on this route about RMB 120.
Why would you even be considering a flight on this route? It takes longer to get through the airport rigamarole and then endure the inevitable flight delays. Trains are like buses, should be able to buy walk-up for next out. I'd take my chances doing the ground transport switch by taxi to airport in Ningbo. Sounds like you don't have business/stopover in Ningbo. I don't know answer to your mileage question or the luggage rail-to-plane transfer question, don't know anyone who's tried this or even inquired of MU.

Which brings up another question? Are you going all the way to Ningbo just to catch a plane? Why not change and fly to wherever from Shanghai? Your profile says Shanghai so I'm curious why you don't already know all this, or found answers locally.

I was looking for last minute South-East Asia getaway for the Labour day holiday and all flights from Shanghai were getting extremely expensive. I have flown from Hangzhou couple of times before to save money and was wondering if same could be done for ex-NGB flights.

I just got curious about the concept of taking D train with MU ticket. I have never seen that before in China. I believe at least KLM has offered similar service in Europe. Also if I'm not mistaken Etihad has some sort of bus/train connection from DXB-AUH with an EY flight number?

OK, now I see. Fly-rail connections are available in other parts of the world, but I've also never heard of them in China. Now you've got me curious, too.

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ETA: found this information. Linked announcement for Wuxi and Hangzhou (though by now Ningbo must be added as an option). So the service exists! Intended to be used in conjunction with international arrival on MU ticket. So...likely not available for you heading outbound. Also states that they can't check through baggage from air to rail, so presumably you pick up at the airport and take with you to train. Also says have to book at least 3 days in advance.

Now we need some FT'er to give it a try! However, this service is for connections out of Hongqiao which of course has limited international arrivals. Would be more useful if connected to Pudong arrivals. Even if the distance to Shanghai Hongqiao (or Shanghai Main) is still considerable, having a seamless MU pick-up at international arrivals after Customs exit, transport directly to train would eliminate a lot of transfer hassle. Would be a nice little competitive advantage for MU in their home port. Goodness knows they need to provide all the incentives they can to entice passengers to fly their !@#$% airline.

*Cough* its been done for fuel dump tricks.