I'm responding in this thread instead of the slightly more on point Shanghai Airport Hotel

...because I figured this thread has more staying power...though it's a close call.

Having gotten that preamble out of the way, I ended up booking a room at the Ramada tonight for the first time because I flew into PVG, was thinking about leaving on another international flight tomorrow, but I didn't want to stay in the Dazhong (I also haven't actually stayed there myself, so perhaps my bias against it isn't fully justified).

On the one hand, I'm certainly not wowed by the Ramada. On the other hand, it definitely lives up to the "peaceful neighborhood" billing that several others have afforded it.

The location is astonishingly bad wrt subway access (i.e. no stations on within ~9 km).

There is a mid-sized Lianhua across the street from the hotel.

For 外卖, you're looking at McDs, KFC, Dominos, some random Chinese restaurants, and most of the usual suspect chained convenience stores.

I happened to luck out on the airport shuttle front because I called just prior to booking the room, and one of the scheduled runs was minutes away. Otherwise, it is loosely scheduled service, and they want you to arrange it at least 2 hours in advance.

I guess my ultimate conclusion (at this point in time) is that while I'm unable to offer a glowing endorsement, I'm hard pressed to think of any specific examples of properties that better suit the layover mission, for those that hope to escape the airport environment.

 

I passed by PVG last Thursday, where I was finally able to do an in-depth look of S1 as it currently looks like today. As it is currently close to 2:00 am where I am as I write this, allow me to share some notes first:

• Remember my guide to restaurants? Nearly all the restaurants I covered are now closed, likely victims of the pandemic. The only restaurants still open in the international section are Starbucks (two branches), Hope Kaweh (two branches; the one upstairs took over the space left by Papa John's), Mr. Choi and Sukiya, which finally opened as it was closed pre-COVID. Burger King, De Xing Guan, Sunya and Shuo Yi Wan/Hongye still have intact storefronts so they may reopen, but who knows when. There are, however, more open restaurants in the domestic section from what I can see.
• There is a corridor at the departures level connecting S1 and S2, but it looks like only airport staff can cross the corridor. Has anyone tried?

 

Store openings and closings are 'special' in China as a general rule, with or without Covid.
Covid did have a huge impact of course, and my guess is, a good portion of now-closed stores/restaurants will indeed open again once traveler numbers increase.
PKX airport was opened just a few months before Covid hit, so a lot never even opened and are still boarded up.

But store closings/openings are always a thing in China.
At PEK's T3 I recall a Burger King tucked away in-between the parking garage floors...now closed (not surprising).
The Dio Coffee closed and re-opened as Costa (is it Costa?)

Holiland near where I used to live had a terrible internal layout, and they used to close every few months (it seemed) for a complete re-model only to re-open looking exactly the same.

Within 18 months, a duck restaurant opened in the little mall next to my apartment, only to close and re-open as a noodle restaurant. Last time I saw that closed down now too, and it's a hair salon.

 

My mother in low is flying Austrian Airlines, transit in Shanghai and then to Haneda with ANA. Apparently she needs to collect baggage in Shanghai. Is that correct? How difficult is the process to collect and re check? She is a very old and I�m concerned about the process. Will she need to clear security again?

 

We have an 4 hour connection at PVG when traveling BKK-PVG-VIE. The first leg (BKK-PVG) with TG and the second leg (PVG-VIE) with OS. Do we have to collect and check in our bags again at PVG or will it be possible to check-in for both flights at BKK?

 

My mother-in-law recently had to collect baggage and check in again on a VIE - PVG - HND with OS and NH.

 

THank you. Then we'll assume that it also applies to us. I guess we should be fine with 4h connection time and both flights in the same booking.

 

Any guidance on single ticket Lufthansa to Air China or EVA at PVG intl to intl connection?

Booking ticket on Lufthansa that can connect to either Air China or EVA to Taipei. Is there direct connections without going through customs? Is it better to book Air China or EVA for a better connecting experience (both around 2.5-3 hours connecting time).

 

Assuming all other factors were equal, I'd try to pick based on which of those flights is least likely to get a satellite gate (g prefix). I don't know the ins and outs of gate assignments myself (well, some flights always use the same gates), but if you look at several days of departures data, you should be able to get a decent idea about your candidate flights. I have gotten a G gate on the noonish BR flight before and today's 11a CA flight is using a G gate, fwiw.

With 2.5 hours to connect, the S2 thing isn't that big of a deal, but I prefer to maximize my time in lounges or restaurants (which, are kind of pleasant these days ).

 

thanks� so regardless of satellite or actual gate, with a through ticket, should be able to check bags all the way and go to connecting gate directly after arrival without going through passport control?? Looking at some of the posts above and other sites, seems like maybe, sometimes, maybe not .

 

PEK usually doesn't have trouble to check-through your bags, unless it's a domestic* final destination (then it's usually a drop your bag without going fully landside when connecting onto CA)

* Domestic meaning within Mainland China, not HKG/Macao/Taiwan which are considered "international" for travel purpose.

So on an international-international connection through PEK, your bags will be automatically transferred, you'll have to pass through a security control (no priority lines...) and then you'll be airside again.. not the best, not the worst transfer.

Regarding Eva vs. CA: I'd prefer Eva, all being equal. But since PEK is a hub for CA, chances are if something goes wrong, their recovery is quicker/faster.

 

Hong Kong is much better than anywhere in the mainland as a transit point between Europe and Taiwan, but myperks presumably has reasons for picking PVG.

 

thanks... i'll see if there are any connecting flights in PEK versus PVG.

this is a business class award flight and i only currently only see PVG. I rather connect through BKK or HKG but as of right now only PVG shows up on my date of travel. I can monitor the availability as travel date nears to cancel and rebook.

 

If I were in your shoes, I'd definitely switch to HKG if it becomes an option, and would probably also prefer somewhere in Europe that has nonstop flights to TPE, but I'd stick with PVG in lieu of BJS or BKK because it's closer to TPE and there are more flight options (though half of them entail a terminal switch).

As prior posts in this thread suggest, there's a decent chance you'll find yourself in the departure lobby during your stay at PVG, and this seems to even harder to pin down than the likelihood of satellite gate assignments. That process isn't quite as bad as you might fear. Your LH flight almost certainly won't get a G gate, so you'd be able to walk to immigration and get through to departures within 30 minutes. On the way out, checkin and exit shouldn't take more than 15 minutes. Then, you'd either be near your gate (and the lounges/restaurants) or near the subway to S2 (which, you sort of need to board 45 minutes before departure... there's a bit of leeway here because many people cut it closer than that and airline staff are used to chasing them down).

 

Hello!
Sorry if it's been answered elsewhere but I didn't find anything definitive (or even 90% ) on the topic!
Will be doing AKL-PVG (F) PVG-ICN (Y) on MU in Feb 25 but on two different tickets (but I am still flexible with the second leg, and could go for J, or even KE if it changes anything, on the PVG-ICN).
Any idea about the odds of obtaining that the luggage be checktrough at check-in in AKL?
Is that even possible?

Thanks in advance!