bigcahonna

I am currently in Seoul and have not been to China since the start of the recent virus outbreak. I have a flight in a few days where I am supposed to connect in Qingdao, China before going to SFO.

Will I have to self quarantine myself as a US citizen even though I am just connecting?

paperwastage

supposedly yes.

talk to the airline (or travel agent) to find an alternate routing. it is possible for chinese airlines to start cancelling flights to USA (given non-USA nationals cannot fly from china to USA) - you don't want to be stuck in china in this situation

one way Seoul to SFO isn't too bad ($500 via EVA/Taiwan or $572 via Tokyo, or $530 nonstop via asiana). take prorated refund from original ticket
https://www.google.com/flights#flt=/...;sd:1;t:f;tt:o

travelinmanS

I’d advise you not to transit through China for the time being. Not so much because of risk of contracting the virus which I think is quite small; but to avoid any hassle on return to the USA which may be quite substantial. Also there is the chance that your TAO-US flight gets cancelled and you get stuck in China. Definitely not fun.

lsquare

I just read that Singapore is banning all Chinese nationals from entering or anyone that's been to the Mainland, but what if US or EU passport holders sre just transiting in PVG or PEK to SIN? I guess technically they've been to the Mainland, but no st the same time. If they're barred, then I'm assuming the Chinese airlines will have to start suspending all SIN bound flights?

travelinmanS

You’d be denied. Why would you want to transit the mainland now? Just avoid until this thing settles down.

Q49iy5

(I'm a US citizen, heading home.)

Flew out of Kunming KMG the afternoon Friday 31 January on Cathay Dragon KA761 in business class on a flight that was supposed to connect in Hong Kong HKG with Cathay Pacific CX7680 the following day, Saturday 1 February, final destination DFW (Dallas, Texas.) The connecting flight to Dallas was postponed and then ultimately cancelled, with the airline giving me a seat on AA126 the afternoon of Monday 3 Feb from HKG to DFW. That was postponed a couple of times and then ultimately cancelled as well.

I am still in Hong Kong. Have booked a seat on Japan Airline codeshare flight with American, #4818 to NRT (Tokyo) on Tuesday 4 February. Will fly out of Tokyo on AA8408 to LAX (Los Angeles) the same afternoon if all goes according to plan. Will spend the night there and proceed to DFW the next day.

This has been quite a hassle. Lots of reservations and changes. Lots of uncertainty and fast footwork required, both with the airlines and the hotels. Had to waste way too much time online.

All this is to suggest that if you have any choice in the matter, best not to fly through China just now. The logistics are challenging.

moondog

Transiting in China is an incredibly bad idea at present. While it's true that Chinese airlines haven't cancelled many flights yet, they clearly don't have any chance of making money in (the increasing number of) cases in which destination countries deny entry to people who have been in China.

trueblu

I'm pretty sure the Chinese airlines have been told to continue by the central government to allow PRC citizens to come back home. But with the current spate of border closures, I'm not sure how Air China/ Hainan etc will be able to operate to US/ Australia/ Singapore etc, since I presume the vast majority of their staff are not citizens or LPRs of the respective countries. Is the US, for example, making an exception for Chinese (or Malaysian, whatever) cabin crew?

tb

stevento

are you saying CX flights to US are being canceled as well?

delpiero223

At least for Singapore this doesn't seem to be the case currently. Currently CA, SQ and others are still operating flights from mainland China to SIN.

According to information from the Singapore Department of Health, transiting in China does not count as "travelling to mainland China".

I couldn't find any explicit information for travellers from e.g. Europe yet. However this is true for Singapore residents as well as cabin crew:

source: https://www.moh.gov.sg/docs/librarie...2020-1850h.pdf

source: https://www.moh.gov.sg/docs/librarie...8a5a797c3a.pdf

Booking such a connection is obviously not risk-free though, if e.g. a flight gets cancelled or other countries set up other bans.

paperwastage

the USA ban has an exemption for crew, though I'm not sure if the self quarantine is waived (self quarantine 14 days due to travel from China. Travel history from Wuhan/hubei is a mandatory quarantine)

trueblu

Wow, this is super-interesting, and odd....given that the most 'at risk' individuals on any flight will be cabin crew. Unless they are escorted to their accommodations and then monitored, I'm not 100% sure how this is secure. I'm reasonably skeptical the closing of borders will work anyway, but surely this is a definite weak point.

tb

siw

I have a forthcoming trip in April with XiamenAir from AMS to BKK with a transit in XMN, with a return one week later.

Although I am going to a different country I just have a query with regards to the Singapore DoH saying that transit passengers are not considered as having travelled to mainland China.

Firstly, having transitted in XMN before you have to exit airside at arrivals, go to landside and then return to airside in departures. And secondly, if the transit it more than 4 hours (which I have on my return journey) then I can use the XiamenAir hotel in the city. The first case is mandatory but I assume still not classed as travelliing to mainland China since you do not need to exit the terminal building. But the second case I guess now is not allowed, as before you can go into the city for a few hours. So would the Singapore DoH refuse entry if a passenger went into a Chinese city during a transit?

trueblu

Today's transit allowed might be become tomorrow's travel ban...really don't recommend for now. And unless you're a singapore citizen, do you want to risk it?

tb

ETA: April is basically the next era for this outbreak, all travel bans may be lifted by that time if this goes global. Remember that 2 months ago, there were only 1-2 cases, and that's in retrospect.

delpiero223

I'd say as soon as you've been landside and got a stamp in your passport, entry will be refused. But these are only my own speculations. A call at Singapore's MoH might be the only option for clearing it out - there's a hotline number mentioned here:
https://www.moh.gov.sg/2019-ncov-wuhan

But then, of course, it might change until you arrive there.Personally I don't think that Corona will be too much of a problem in April.