International-domestic transit at CAN
 

I couldn't really find a thread on this...so starting one.

We had a set of flights BKK-CAN-PEK yesterday with CZ. It was very smooth, but I think, as with much in China, one can't generalise.

CZ checks baggage through from BKK to final destination, but it depends completely on origin and transfer point: e.g. going PEK-SZX-HKT, they refused to check through!! My understanding was that even for CAN, it depends on origin and airline whether baggage can be checked through.

On arrival, clearly marked to immigration: there was absolutely no line at all: something I have never, ever experienced at PEK in dozens of international arrivals. Possibly timing straighter after CNY, so 99% of passengers are Chinese may have helped, but I think CAN in general gets fewer non-Chinese incoming pax compared with PEK and PVG. After immigration, clearly marked lines for international-domestic transfers. You enter a "holding hall": you need to wait until your baggage is "cleared" before proceeding out of this hall: this is all done remotely, i.e. no need to claim and recheck as in the US. But here, staff were not helpful in enlightening us...however, our wait was less than 5 minutes, so it was very smooth. After that, there is a dedicated security channel to enter domestic departures.

One small point: strollers and presumably other gate-checked items are through-checked to final destination, i.e. not available at CAN. Since we had a very short transfer, this was actually to our advantage: didn't need to wait around at the gate for delivery etc, but for a long transfer, it might have been a pain...

tb