Connecting / airport transit inside PVG Shanghai Pudong [Merged PVG connection thread
 

Hi all,

Looking for some advice regarding a connection in Shanghai (PVG). I'm flying in from Kuala Lumpur (KUL) on Malaysian Airlines, arriving at 2:10p and then connecting on AA to ORD departing at 4:10p. I'm a bit worried that the 2-hour connection time may not be sufficient. Both arrival and departure are at Terminal 1. But will I need to collect my luggage and/or clear customs etc.? Would greatly appreciate any advice from folks familiar with connecting through PVG.

Thanks in advance!

Joe.

I'd be comfortable with that connection. I believe 45 mins is AA's official check-in deadline at PVG, but when bookings are heavy, that figure occasionally morphs into 60 minutes. But, even 60 minutes (based on your 2 hours total) is more than enough time to comfortably make it from your first flight to the AA check-in counter (PVG only has one operational terminal btw). Furthermore, ime inbound delays for regional international flights are not all that common.

Also, on the remote chance that you are flying on a single ticket, I dare say you have nothing at all to worry about because there are a lot of flights on which you could be protected (UA to ORD, AC to YVR/YYZ, MU to NYC, etc).

Shanghai Pudong (PVG) showers
 

Hi

Is there anywhere to shower at/near the airport, for reasonable cost? In lounge (I'll have access to *G lounges)? Public showers? Transit hotel or reasonably priced day room?

Thanks in advance.

I've heard the spa (plus swimming pool and gym) at the Ramada is decent.... and infinitely better than any place in the airport itself, regardless of whether or not any showers actually exist there. They have a shuttle bus, but I'd probably just walk over there myself (you can see it from the terminal).

Thanks moondog - I was worried I'd have nothing available. Any idea on cost?

I was going to reply with a guess ($10-15), but then it occurred to me that I could simply pick up the phone and end the mystery.

I was right: y80 (just over $10).

On the other hand, I was under the impression that their massage prices would be similarly reasonable.... they're not. y380 gets you a 45 minute body or 60 minute foot massage. Aromatherapy, oil, hot rocks, and the like are all at least 60 mins and price in the y600 range. This is still expensive, but comparatively better than paying 380 for the basic stuff.

Thanks again.

I've only done one int'l to int'l connection at PVG, but based on my experience that time you will have to go and collect your bags and go through customs and immigration. IIRC someone (perhaps moondog even, though maybe not) had mentioned that PVG was working to simply transfer procedures and would eventually not require the same immigration process as if you are entering PRC, but I don't know if that is implemented yet.

As the PVG transit hotel is in arrivals before immigration I ended up not trying them or checking them out. So I still don't know if they have showers.

Thanks, all, for the great advice. Just wanted to update and say that I made the connection through PVG with no problems. I may have been lucky, but I breezed through immigration, quickly collected my luggage, breezed through customs, and had no line at the AA desk. Got to the gate with plenty of time to spare.

In fact, the entire process was about 10x smoother than the process of collecting my luggage in BOS at the end of the trip, ugh.

Thanks again.

That may or may not have been me, but I am pleased to report that PEK has already started to move in this direction. They now have transfer counters that allow pax to transit airside as long as they are flying out on CA metal. Not the greatest arrangement, I know, but a good start nonetheless. Furthermore, I'm willing to go on the record in predicting that, by the time the "pumpkins" open for business early next year, we'll be within striking distance of NRT and ICN in terms of int-int convenience. Unfortunately, until the Chinese figure out how to clear their airways during rush hour (I've heard that the PLA is largely to blame for this frequent phenomenon), those afternoon delays will continue, particularly on the PEK-HKG sector (all destinations in between --Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Changsha, Shenzhen, Guangzhou-- and beyond --SIN, BKK, SGN-- also apply).

Pudong transit info
 

Greetings.
Later this month I will be flying from BKK to PVG on China Eastern connecting onto Delta to ATL. This will be my first time in China. I will have approximately 2 1/2 hours between flights.

I would like to know what the procedures are for making a transit at PVG. I have tried to find this info on the Pudong website but I couldn't find what I was looking for.

My main concerns are:
1. Do I need to retrieve my checked bag or will it be transfered for me?
2. Do I need to pay the airport construction tax? If so, do they take US money or will I need to exchange some?

Anything else I need to know please feel free to pass it along.
Thank you.

This has been addressed many times in this forum.

Just go to the transit desk, show your passport and onward boarding pass and get a stamp and walk to the gate.

I do not believe Chian Eastern and Delta are part of the same alliance so you'll have to retreive bag. You can double check with them directly. Though last time I flew AA to PVG to connect to MU, and they said they will check it through, but as I was in transit I happened to have seen it on the baggage belt, so I grabbed it...luckily. Otherwise it would've been left in China.

Taxes are included in airfare, no paying at the airport. No US money accepted at china airport. Use credit card or change before u arrive. I arrived late so all banks were closed, could not change money.

Thanks for the info.
I appreciate it.

Update Nov. 9, 2008 I found this info at Delta.com. It is as current as it gets:

09NOV08

National U.S.A. (US)
Transit China (People's Rep.) (CN)
Destination Thailand (TH)
ALSO CHECK DESTINATION INFORMATION BELOW
China (People's Rep.) (CN)

TWOV (Transit Without Visa):
Visa required, except for Those passengers continuing their journey within 24 hours (or within the same day at Guangzhou - CAN) to a third country by the same or first connecting aircraft, and holding documents and confirmed tickets for their onward journey.

Leaving the airport transit area is allowed. Overnight facilities are available outside the airport:
Visa required, except for Nationals of U.S.A., provided arriving at and departing from Shanghai Hongqiao or Pu Dong airports only, continuing to a third country within 48 hours and holding confirmed onward tickets and all documents required for next destination.

Warning:
- Passengers not complying with the entry or transit
regulations will be deported by same or returning aircraft.

(For details see below)


09NOV08

China (People's Rep.) (CN)

Warning:
- Passengers not complying with the entry or transit
regulations will be deported by same or returning aircraft.

Fines for the transporting carriers varying between CNY 500.- and CNY 2,000.- will be levied for each passenger arriving in China (People's Rep.) without proper travel documents, with an additional fine which varies between CNY 5,000.- and CNY 10,000.-. NOTE: Immigration is now carrying out stronger document checks.

CHECK TINEWS/N1 - ELECTRONIC SYSTEM FOR TRAVEL AUTHORIZATION (ESTA) FOR VWP TRAVELERS TO THE USA

http://www.delta.com/planning_reserv...tion/index.jsp

Connecting through PVG
 

Hi,
I am planning to connect from a SQ flight arriving from Singapore to a Air China Flight. I have 1 hour and 50 minutes till the Air China flight depart to Tokyo. Do you think I should be able to clear everything on time to get to the gate? Flight from SIN arrives at 3:15 PM and the Air China flight departs at 5:10 PM.

Glad to see the OP made it. However, here are some more considerations for a 2 hour connection at PVG based on my limited (~8 international flights so far and ~3 domestic flights at PVG):

Your flight may have 300 people on it. Your luggage may take 30 minutes if you are unlucky.

Customs and immigration have always been very fast/efficient for me. (~under 10 minute to pass through both)

Your arrival terminal may be different than the departing terminal (1 and 2). They are a good 10 minute walk. If you have luggage, or trouble walking, plan for more time.

The check-in wait line (queue) may be very very long. On my last flight using China Eastern, I waited over 30 minutes. On a previous NWA international flight, I wait between 20 to 40 minutes.

Add those times together and you will see that you are at risk to miss your flight!

Once you got your boarding pass, you are pretty much ok, because from the security gate to your flight is probably under 10 minutes. (Security is very efficient, even with the crap that some people try to pull.. My last crossing, I saw someone with a frozen chicken with a frozen bottled water jammed inside it to keep it cooled. The funny thing was - After security cut the chicken in half (they have a big cook's knife!) took the frozen water bottle out, they packed the chicken back up and gave it back to the passenger! I wonder what it will smell like when she get to her final destination....

By coincidence, I am taking the 5pm CA flight to NRT today!

I think you should be OK, as long as the SQ flight is on time.

Your arrival and departure flights are from the same terminal, Terminal 2, at PVG. Try to get SQ to tag your luggage (if you have anything checked) all the way to NRT.

When you get into the terminal, you have a long walk from the gates SQ use to immigration. When you get to the stairs down into the immigration hall, do not take them. Instead walk past them. Just after that, on the left hand side, are some International Connections desks. These are usually available for connections on Star Alliance airlines, but are not always staffed.

If the connections desks are staffed, then they should be able to give you your CA boarding pass and verify your SQ baggage tag numbers. You then go through a security check and upstairs into the international gate area. If there are no Air China staff on duty, they can call for someone to come and process you. This takes a little longer but you should still have time. It is helpful to have a printout of your itinerary or at least the eticket number, in case of queries.

If the desks are not staffed at all, or if you have luggage that is only tagged to PVG, then you need to go through immigration and customs (should be fast at that time of day) and then upstairs to check-in. Note that Air China have separate domestic and international check-in areas, so keep an eye on the signs. Also, note that international check-in for Air China at this time of day can be a zoo. If you are running close to 1 hour to departure, go to the Business of First Class desks and ask either them, or the supervisor sitting next to them, to check you in.

Once you are checked in, it is easy. Through security and getting to your gate should take 15 minutes or less.

Connecting CO --> CA at PVG
 

Hello all. I will be arriving into PVG on CO's flight from EWR at 14:55. There is a 16:00 departure on CA for a connection to SZX. Assuming that the CO flight arrives on schedule, is it realistic to think that I will make the CA connection?

Never been to PVG before and would appreciate any advice.

You will not make this connection. Book another flight.

very very tight, you need to go through customs and then security. if you have a baggage to claim, definitely won't make it.

Yesterday departed 18 minutes late.
As its in T-2 probably could have made it with no checked bags.

On-time Rating: 0.2 of 5

CA922
Departure Status Details
Airport: (PVG) Pu Dong Airport
City: Shanghai, CN
Scheduled: 4:00 PM - Fri Jan 22, 2010
Actual: 4:18 PM - Fri Jan 22, 2010
Departed gate 18 min later than scheduled
Terminal: 2
Local Time: 12:56 PM - Sat Jan 23, 2010

Is there any chance you can switch to the HKG flight? If not, I'd be inclined to roll the dice on the 4p flight, provided:

1) seats near front of plane
2) business class bag tags (or no checked luggage)
3) willingness to perform an "OJ" upon arrival at PVG
4) store travel agent or airline cancellation number in cell phone and/or ask third party to monitor your flight for you and authorize this person to cancel on your behalf in the very unlikely event your inbound flight is more than an hour behind schedule

Your goal is to make it from the airplane to the checkin counter in 35 minutes or less; aggressive, but possible.

CA 922
Over an hour late for departure yesterday.


Airport: (PVG) Pu Dong Airport
City: Shanghai, CN
Scheduled: 4:00 PM - Sat Jan 23, 2010
Actual: 5:01 PM - Sat Jan 23, 2010
Departed gate 61 min later than scheduled
Terminal: 2
Local Time: 2:58 AM - Sun Jan 24, 2010

Thanks for the input. My ticket on CA would be changeable/refundable, so I am tempted to book the 16:00 flight and make a run for it. I won't have any checked bags so maybe I've got a shot.

I considered flying to HKG instead of PVG, but it is substantially more expensive for some reason.

I'm willing to put a gigantic beer (stein) at Paulaner on the line behind the OP. Any takers (other than smg77)?

That's a fairly even odds bet.
CO 87 could be late as shown on today's flight
and CA 922 could be on time. Then it would be a miss.

But statistically you got to go with making the connection.^



CO 87
Airport: (PVG) Pu Dong Airport

City: Shanghai, CN
Scheduled: 2:55 PM - Mon Jan 25, 2010
Estimated: 3:26 PM - Mon Jan 25, 2010
Estimated to arrive at gate 31 min later than scheduled
Terminal: 2
Local Time: 1:02 AM - Mon Jan 25, 2010


CA 922
This flight has an average delay of 33.0 minutes with a standard deviation of 41.01 minutes.

PVG international-international connection
 

I'm wondering how international connections work at the PVG airport in Shanghai. I will be flying ICN-PVG on either China Eastern or China Southern, and will fly PVG-SIN on Singapore Airlines (SQ) on a separate ticket. I arrive into PVG around 8pm and depart a little after midnight.

Can I stay airside or do I have to clear immigration/customs and then check-in again on the onwards flight?

Also, (maybe I should ask on the SQ board) but anyone know if I can check baggage through to SIN?

Well.... there IS an international-international transfer desk at PVG!

However - I have never once seen it staffed in the 15 or so arrivals I have made into PVG (at various times and days of the week) in the last year.

I also note that it only advertises very limited int-int transfers - I think VS, NZ and LH?? or something like that. Now that doesn't necessarily mean they don't handle other airlines...

However - given I have never seen it staffed I guess the easiest thing you can do is to use the transit visa-free option (if your passport is eligible) and just go out and pick up your bags and then head up one level and check-in again.

Check-in or the SQ flight should open 3 hours prior to departure, so by the time you have disembarked, done immigration, picked up the bags and gone upstairs you won't have long to wait (maybe 30 mins or so).

I remember seeing a similar thread to this on FT - might have been the China forum - but I can't remember if the answers were any more conclusive.

Thanks! I guess I won't count on being able to transit airside ... I will have a multi-entry China visa so I'll just exit and check-in with SQ.

I won't have long to wait -- should I interpret this to mean that disembarking/immigration/customs/SQ-checkin/security/immigration will take a long time? I thought a 4 hr window would be sufficient on a Thurs night.

Chances are the ICN-PVG flight on MU or CZ will arrive at T-1. PVG-SIN is
definately T-2.

So you might have to walk thru the underground to T-2. (10 minutes)

Did you ask SQ about changing to an ICN-SIN flight?

It's a UA award ticket that's already been ticketed, and I am spending a few days in Shanghai before flying out to ICN. At this point it's cheaper just to buy a PVG-ICN roundtrip (~200USD).

Hehe... no. Sorry for the ambiguity!

Arriving, diembarking, immigration and baggage claim should take an hour tops. That is allowing for long immigration queues (which you may or may not get... the longest i have waited was about 30 minutes and that was for a very long queue). Generally however I have done all of the above much much quicker - like 20-30 mins.

So by the time you have done all the above then the check-in for SQ will be open not long after.

Going back the other way is generally very quick - but even with long exit queues for immigration I have only waited about 20 mins.

PVG is a very good airport in terms of speed for arrival and departures.

Connecting in Shanghai: how long minimum and is visa required?
 

Can one make an air-side connection in PVG without going through customs/immigration? If not, what kind of visa is required?

Also, how long would a safe minimum connection be? I'm looking at (ORD-PVG-HKG) and seeing just over 2 hours going out and about 3 hours going back...

Assuming you have a US passport, you'll be able to stop over for up to 48 hours in each direction without a visa. I think 2 hours is safe, especially on the west bound... for the other direction, you should check on the on time stats for your HK-SH flight; some of them are pretty poor. If you're determined to avoid the (infinitely more convenient) nonstop on this route, you might as well do a true stopover or two, and maybe catch Beijing instead in one direction (24 hour max there without visa).

Thanks much for the very quick reply! I've got a US passport, and will double check the time statistics on the HKG-PVG (or HKG-PEK leg) - there are quite a few flights that seem to qualify on this fare on this

I'm looking to take advantage of the AA double EQM ex-PIT/STL/RDU which only qualifies on AA metal, so the direct flight out of SFO (much preferable otherwise) is out of the question. I'm not sure if it excludes stopovers - if it does not exclude them and it doesn't increase the fare by too much, doing a stopover in one or both sounds like a very good idea.

Thanks again!

On international itins, stops of less than 24 hours do not constitute "stopoevers", so you should be in good shape.

In SH, you can check out Expo (sounds pretty awful to me, but as long as you're there...), and BJ is just plain cool.

Since AA's PEK schedules are dreadful at the moment (maybe not an issue if you're flying a few months out), you'd probably want to save BJ for your return (i.e. arrive in afternoon and leave really early the next day).

Good point; I'd forgotten that. A quick check of fares shows a ~17-20 hour stop in each has no cost impact if I route back through PEK (out could be either way, although I'd do PVG to get more miles) and adds about $250 if I route back through PVG (may just be the individual days, thought.)

Both on my list of places to see, and if I can get a day without a visa in each direction, it's definitely too good to say "no" to (even having spotted on some days a "saner" routing ORD-NRT-HKG with the last on a codeshare instead of a non-mile-earning KA/CX flight for the last leg.)

This would be in November/Dec, either the week of Thanksgiving or the week immediately after.

Thanks again for the advice!

Hey nkedel - would you care to share the routing and price? Also, have you checked with AA to find out if they'll let you board without a visa?

Thanks

I predict that AA's PEK schedule will similar to United's by October, so you'll probably have the option of a sane stopover in either direction. That having been said, it still makes better sense to go there on your way back.

Assuming it gets switched to a 5p departure, 2p flights out of HKG would make the cut.

Have you considered getting a PRC visa? You have lots of time, it's not extremely expensive ($150 plus agency fees), and you'll be able to start building a visa history. If you've never been to BJ before, you'll surely regret the fact that your stay is limited to 23:59... though 48 hours in SH is more than enough.