Is it possible Travel within China using only Avios BA miles?-
 

Plan on traveling with wife to a few places within China in Nov. I currently have about 400,000 Avios miles. Plan to burn some BA miles but not sure if possible to use them if only traveling within China. I know BA air partner with Cathay Pacific/Dragonair but that involves back and forth travel transfers in HK and trying to avoid that routing.

Plan on travel from home to China, Changsha (CSX) then CSX to Chengdu (CTU), then CTU to Guangzhou (CAN). From Guangzhou its an easy train ride across the border to HK for a few days before returning home from there.

Will it be possible to use Avios miles for the flights travel within China?

I have no trouble using AA miles from home to China and back from HK as using AA will avoid hefty surcharges.

I just did a really quick search on ba.com. its possible to go from csx-ctu, but you would have to route through HKG (from the availability I saw. I checked only 1 date and then clicked through the calendar until I found a date with availability. I found a second day with availability as well and the routing was the same). Doesn't look like you can go from CTU-CAN on BA.

Did you do a search on ba.com?

BA / Avios has no domestic Chinese partners, so you would not be able to redeem for internal Chinese flights without connecting in HKG or some other external airports.

Do note that while CX imposes surcharges, in my experience, it tends to be more reasonable for regional flights (around $40 - $60 USD), so while connecting in HKG is not ideal in terms of schedule, it may not be a bad value in terms of mileage and surcharges required.

Thanks, I know CX is partner for China travel but wanted to avoid using CX as its a back and forth with wasted time travel with the HK connections. Didnt want to waste the extra travel time if more direct China city to city was possible using BA miles.

Transiting in HKG is not only time consuming but also takes a toll on the number of "entries" to China one is permitted under their visa.

One World is a useless alliance for purely domestic China travel. However, if you look for and book in the right places with the right timing, flights are often cheap enough inside China that you might not get good value from your miles anyway.

Seems to me that the best way to play this would be:
--Home-CTU (via HKG connection) using miles
--CTU-CSX (nonstop, domestic paid ticket booked online in mid-October for November travel, should be able to get for around RMB 800 all-in)
--Changsha-Guangzhou via bullet train, RMB 504 1st class/RMB 314 2nd class seat *
--Guangzhou-Hong Kong intercity train, about RMB 150 standard seat.
--HKG-Home using miles.

* This journey on G train is only 2.5-2.75 hours depending on departure selected. Since the security and boarding procedures are more streamlined and you don't have to wait for bag claim on the arrival end, it actually ends up faster in elapsed time than the plane sequence, and with next to no risk of delay due to ATC, WX, or MX factors.

I am also avios rich. But transiting in hk is just plain stupid.

Avios are so stressful to use in China and aren't a great value except in certain situations.

Basically the only time I ever use them is when I need a last minute PEK-HKG or PVG-HKG. Revenue tickets to Shenzhen and GZ are Always affordable, so really the only use is when one NEEDS to be in HK.

Also, there's the 50$ or so fuel surcharge that makes them even less valuable when a revenue ticket is $100

Using CTrip should be about $100 for Changsha-Chengdu, and another $100 for Chengdu-Guangzhou. The through-train to HK is about 30$ if I remember correctly

I've been using mine to go to HK even in cases when I end up spending more time in Shenzhen. KA is at least twice as nice as Spring, and those lounges in HK are simply awesome (HKG is the only airport I've ever been to do that warrants me actually making time for a lounge visit).

Is it possible to book Ctrip in the US? I think I tried that several years ago and had trouble using a US credit card with their service. Only accepted cards from asia or china at that time. Not sure if they change that.

Ctrip's credit card policies change frequently, but they have a US phone number so it's worth a shot. As much as I dislike Travelzen, they have always accepted foreign plastic.