I'd rather think of it as having those who can't be bothered to avoid the fee subsidise those who can. After all the service must be costing ctrip something.

Ever since I discovered wx train booking, I've abandoned ctrip for this mission (when booking locally isn't an option; ALWAYS do this if possible).

But, if I were to stick with ctrip, I'd take 5 minutes to figure the opt outs....and, another 5 minutes a month later when they inevitably redesign their ui.

I still book plane tickets on ctrip, and remove the insurance as a matter of principle....unless the weather is bad or Mr xi is visiting Shanghai.

Hi Moondog,

what is the wx train booking?
I have Ctrip account,

On Ctrip Chinese site, I cannot use my U.S. issued Credit Card (I tried to use WeChat payment too, but, I have not been able to add U.S. issued credit card to WeChat either).

On Ctrip English site, I could use my U.S. issued Credit Card (tried it 2 months ago), but had to pay RMB 20 (C-Money).

I want to know all my options since I will land in Shanghai HongQiao airport (around noon ish) on December 5th, would like to take the high speed train (between 2 pm- 3 pm) to Xuzhou- may buy either first class or business case ticket ahead of time, and pick up from the train station.

by the way, I am a Chinese American (naturalized), Chinese is my native language.

If you are paying the high price of a VIP or business class ticket, why not keep it simple and pay a few $ to an agent to do it for you.
Frankly, I find that people sometimes spend an inordinate amount of time saving peanuts while they could make a lot more money using that time productively.

Thank you JPDM,

I live in the U.S. (S. F. Bay Area), do you recommend an agent (online or local) that can get the train ticket (out of Mainland China)?

In the worse case, I will pay the 40 RMB C-Money to buy the ticket from Ctrip English site.

I doubt any agents will be able to physically deliver tickets to him between noon and 3p at hongqiao....so will call it is.

Apart from delivery service, I see no conceivable advantages to using an agent.

@bosco: wx = wechat; their train booking process is really easy

Thank you Moondog, i have Wechat, but I am having a tough time to add my U.S. Issued credit card to Wechat payment, and kept getting " 您的操作一提交， "
message.

I just sent A request to 腾讯客服 to see what is going on.

Thanks again.

It will take them around a day to get back to you. If you are pressed for time, my advice is to just go with Ctrip and suck up the Y40 (all of the agencies catered towards foreign travelers charge a lot more than this).

Thank you Moondog,

I did get a reply from 腾讯客服 within 3 hrs , not very helpful at all, I immediately send a second online request , the reply was even less helpful.

Not sure Wechat cares (someone not using Chinese Bank Card),

No I'm not pressed for time at all (it is for December),

As to Ctrip, I just re-checked my credit card bill and I did indeed succeed in booking on the Chinese site at ticket face value in May with a non-Mainland card. However, I just tried to do a test booking on the desktop Chinese site and it wouldn't accept the same card.

However, the May booking was on the mobile site and perhaps that makes a difference. You might try that or try the ctrip app.

Note that because the rail booking system shuts down for mainenance every night, you can't get a confirmed booking on ctrip 22:30-07:00 Beijing time. Your booking will be held over. (Late evening closure is one of the frustrations of online rail booking in China; somehow the airlines manage without closing overnight every night.)