I feel your pains. I finally came to the conclusion no amount of money would convince me to stay longer, and the process needing to be at San Francisco for a week to do all the tests to be eligible to apply for a green code to come to China is just too much for me.
No Stockholm syndrom for me, fortunately.

Fair enough!
I'm still in full "Stock-Drome" mode, and will be returning in September/October! :cool:
(Haven't spent this long in China in one stretch for a VERY long time, so instead of 2-week China / 2-week USA as I had been doing, it's probably going to be more like 2 to 3 months China / 2 to 3 months USA from now on? At least that way the impact of quarantine length is somewhat manageable)

I messaged expat friends in Shanghai last night. They’re at the Shanghai Tennis & Racquet Club. They’ve already been under lockdown for 12 days and don’t expect to get out until after the Puxi lockdown is over. They can, at least, walk the common areas of the complex. I’d be going crazy if I had been stuck in my building in Xujiahui if I were still there.

Everyone should clear the upgrade, as J is wide open for any 858, unless some 858s got canceled.

I think even though Shanghai has locked down, they allow you to fly out of Shanghai to USA.

I have to agree.

I am watching this closely since my flight SFO-PVG is on May 8 and I need to make a decision by May 1.

If I want to fly to SFO for 7 days self-quarantine and do 4 different tests.....

If the situation in China gets worse....

Exposes your body to all parts of the virus it can make antibodies against, not just a small part of it.

Interesting; it looks like UA857/US858 is still flying in to/out of PVG without interruption.
Unfortunately, NZ has NZ289 canceled until April 4th....when it is scheduled to fly AKL-PVG again, and return as NZ288 on April 5 as NZ288, I am booked on that 5th April NZ288!

Another Chinese nail-biter coming up!

They’d need to let you out of lockdown twice. Once to get the Covid test which China requires to enter PVG and the US requires to board the flight and once to go to the airport. This is not gonna happen. We’re stuck here until the lockdown ends.

Luckily (?) I don't have that particular problem, as I would be coming from PEK ---> PVG ---> ....

I'm booked on UA858 on Thursday, 3/31. Getting out of here.

I'm in Puxi, so I can go get the PCR test today, then make my way to PVG tomorrow. I'm thinking my best bet is the Airport Line 1 bus from Hongqiao. Currently there's conflicting information on bus frequency. I'm working on confirming that right now.

Flight itself looks pretty empty, at least in J.

Fingers crossed on getting out of here hours before Puxi lockdown.

But you don't get attacks against the whole thing, you get attacks against some random piece. If that piece happens to mutate rapidly your immunity doesn't last very long. The whole point of the mRNA is targeting a more stable part of the virus.

still waitlisted for PZ ?

I bought J directly (for me and my son). Didn't want to take any chances, plus I have 0 status with United. If it were just me I would have seen if there were friends with upgrade instruments to share, but lockdown was coming, distance learning is not ending, and I just wanted out ASAP.

Good luck and hope you get out! Keep us posted.
I have done the Hongqiao to Pudong bus. Great peaceful ride and cheap. Hope it runs smoothly.

Smart decision.

March 31 UA 858 : J is booked 49/60 with lot of people on upgrade list.

Without status you might miss the upgrade!

We called the bus operator and he said the Hongqiao Pudong bus is packed now, with hours-long lines. He suggested a couple of others (line 2, 4, or 5). We're going to take line 4, from Hongkou Longemont.

(Moderator, this maybe we need to split this into a "exiting China" thread)

Good luck! I’ve been seeing others in my we chat moments who have been posting pics from pudong bragging about getting out so I guess it’s possible! Hope it all goes smooth.

It’s a complete mess here at the moment. I can’t believe they did this to their supposedly global city.

The NZ flight PVG-AKL might actually fly on the 5th, but now all flights BJS-PVG are cancelling.

Is there a way to get from SHA -----> PVG???

The bus is running now. No word if it will still run from 3am tomorrow morning when they put all of puxi in jail.

Just like you’re winging it to get out of here, the government it likewise winging it with their lockdown. They change things all the time so what you hear today likely isn’t relevant tomorrow. Most important is they keep a baozi loving man happy, locked up citizens with no food don’t matter so I doubt they’re worrying too much about some guy trying to get to Auckland.

As far as I know there is, at least at the moment. It is Airport (bus) Line 1 (机场一线). What the operator told me though was that there's oftentimes hours-long queues.

And, as TravelinmanS says, rules are changing all the time. I'm leaving in a couple of hours to ride one of the airport buses. Will report back once I'm settled in the lounge.

I am less concerned about them being worried about it, and more about whether it's possible or not! :p

They posted a few hours ago on the shanghai we chat account that it seems busses are going to be available from hongqiao to PVG during the puxi lockdown. You’ll need a ticket and a test result to board. Don’t take this as definite info but it looks promising.

You should definitely follow 上海发布 on wechat and look up the most updated info.

Good luck!

I saw that.

SHA to PVG definitely offers bus service. I think taxi is off the table.

I hope you made it on the flight alright? I see the flight is out on its way.

The pictures of food rationing in shanghai have been funny and sad.

Yummy

https://www.shine.cn/news/metro/2204023906/

Maybe Vincent can procure some pork rations for the squad. Or perhaps some nice chicken feet.

I second this brilliant idea, although I prefer sea bass.

I got out of Shanghai on March 31 on UA858, hours before Puxi locked down.

I took Airport Bus #4. I was told that the Hongqiao - Pudong bus (line 1) was super crowded with hour-long waits possible.

In any case to board the bus, besides the plane ticket, you needed to show a PCR test within 24 hours. They were strict in checking the date.

US consulate in Shanghai set up a call for Americans living in the city today to get some more info about what’s going on and what steps they are taking to try and help us. I think there are over 20,000 American citizens in Shanghai. They used zoom for the call with a 500 person limit. Neither myself or any of my friends was able to connect😂

Apparently it’s not just the Chinese government that’s having problems with the situation these days!

This was sent to me by a former Chinese colleague over WeChat.

here is a better version - summary shared from Dan of the US Consulate Town Hall:

Summary of Points:

1) Food & Water: Our top priority is to make sure US citizens have access to these basic needs. We understand there is severe delay. If you have problems accessing food, work with neighborhood committees. if you can't reach them and your family has nothing to eat, please contact the consulate so they can do their best to help you

2) Access to emergency medical treatment. Govt. has announced hospital emergency rooms will be open for emergency medical treatment. call us at Emergency 85314000 if you are not able to get access to emergency or critical medical treatment and we'll do our best to support.

3) Parent/Child Separation: Yes, they will place Covid-positive children in covid quarantine centers. We have had cases where US citizen children have been separated from their parents until they have been able to pass the discharge requirements (no reference if this is on entry or local cases). If this happens to your family call Emergency 85314000 and we will make every effort to support however possible.

4) Testing treatment facilities: We are engaging on this issue, but the consulate has extremely limited ability to intervene in local quarantine or control measures.

5) Access to International flights: Commercial flights remain available but are limited. We are monitoring this carefully for travelers who have confirmed tickets. And contact us at Emergency 85314000 if you have an emergency need to travel, have a ticket, and are locked in due to pandemic control measures.

Q & A Session:
6) When will lockdown end: Short answer, nobody knows. Diplomatic community is engaged with shanghai gov, but difficult to say.

7) How to contact the consulate? (+86) (21) 6433-6880 or for emergencies 85314000

8) How to get to the airport for non-emergency flights: Will check on that, don't know about that and aware people are having great difficulty.

9) Birth of children and those that have been born: Follow up directly to [email protected] and we will be able to respond.

10) What can the consulate do to assist with children separation? Answer: Bit of a moving target, as they were preparing, an update came through that stated children under age of 7 can remain with parents if both positive. At the moment, the government has affirmed covid positive children will be placed in covid treatment facilities

11) How to get passports: We know people are worried about picking up passports. All passports will be held and continue to be held until we are allowed to re-open we'l be able to distribute.

12) Do you have to test negative to travel to the United States? Answer: email [email protected] we'll help.

13) Pets - How can we get support for pets, will the Consulate support getting pets out or what will happen if they go to centralized quarantine? Consulate Generals dog passed away a year ago, so he is deeply concerned about this. They are concerned about humane treatment of pets, but consulate cannot assist in travel of pets.

14) Access to MRNA Vaccines: Fosun has the license to produce the Bio-N-tech (Pfizer partner) but has not been allowed to do so yet. Moderna and Pfizer are not available yet.

15) How to help if we refuse to go along with separation? Call the Emergency 85314000 and we'll do what we can to support.

16) Will there be US Government supported Charter flights out of China to the US? No, there are US Airlines still flying out of PD Airport.

17) How can people go to Beijing and Guangzhou to make appointments, assuming they are able to travel there? There are appointments readily available, so as soon as covid conditions allow Shanghai residents to travel they'll be able to go right away.

Thank you!! Extremely helpful. It’s a rather grim situation here at the moment. Amazing how they are choosing to let people starve in their apartments to fight omicron. Absolutely stunning stuff.

THANK YOU.

This is extremely helpful to US citizens and families.

According to moondog, who is currently in Shanghai, the situation there is getting worse and worse.

Here are some of his comments delivered to our group chat:

"We are not happy and we are losing patience. My needs are pretty simple compared to others, but they are pushing the limits. I don't regard myself as a squeaky wheel in the slightest."

I suggested to him that he buy a ticket PVG-SFO and get out of China. Fares are pretty cheap.

How likely are Beijing/Shenzhen to get locked down?

I doubt they are choosing to. Rather, it's a "choice" by inaction--Beijing is decreeing more than can actually be accomplished. There will come a point where China can't handle the logistics of lockdown and I think we're seeing it happen.

I was talking to one of my Chinese friends, who actually lives in Shanghai, about this. She agreed that they can send help into Shanghai from other areas (and probably for the first 2-3 cities that get hit really hard) but Omicron is so contagious, there's going to be a time when they cannot do this anymore because of simultaneous surges in many cities. At that point, it's game over. She says they're just stubbornly sticking to their old action plan until it basically falls apart.

In the meantime a lot of people I know are starting to have problems with food shortages. Both expats and locals. I am a prepper so I spent the week before the lockdown buying up cans of soup and pasta but many didn’t do the same, including Moondog, or thought it would only be 4 days.

The situation is going to rapidly deteriorate over the next week as far as food security as the government continues to try and kill all the sparrows in the trees.

Absolutely amazing that they have chosen to ruin a global city’s reputation for this zero Covid goal against omicron. I’m still astounded by it but I’ve quickly come to realize the harsh reality of living in China, despite 15 relatively pleasant years here. No wonder why so many want to immigrate to the west!

Another issue they are going to have is all these doctors, soldiers and nurses brought in from outside to “fight the virus war” are going to return to where they came from and spread omicron there. It really seems like the Chairman believes he can control nature by the force of his will…..

Well, I am [hopefully] catching a plane PKX-CAN and CAN-AKL tomorrow.
This is more-or-less in line with my original plans when I got here in November 2021....maybe a few weeks later (because of too much work).

I'd not want to stay here much longer though, right now.

To understand this, you simply need to use different verbiage: you need to use the words SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19, NOT Omicron. From speaking with people here in Beijing, the difference of the variants has just not sunk in... AT ALL!
"Well, this worked before, so it has to work this time too. Why wouldn't it???"

[QUOTE=travelinmanS;34137530]
The situation is going to rapidly deteriorate over the next week as far as food security as the government continues to try and kill all the sparrows in the trees/QUOTE]

Nice Great Leap Forward reference.

I got out with my son but my wife remains behind, due to work. According to her obviously things aren't optimal but she's doing pretty well. But that may be due to the fact that I'm not there to annoy her. If I hadn't gotten out, I'd be going crazy by now. We had 6 days of lockdown before, and we could go downstairs and use the gym and tennis court, etc. and STILL I was going crazy (called the neighborhood committee party secretary and cussed her out).

Anyhow, your lockdown experience may differ, but I would say that should this go on any longer the angry, disobedient type is going to be becoming more and more prevalent.

So Moondog, it's really a tough call. I can see this lasting another week, but probably not much longer. So if you decide to leave now, be prepared to wait months to get back in (as I'm doing, quite voluntarily).

The emperor wants to show that his power and will can defeat the virus.

Wish you the best tomorrow on PKX-CAN-AKL. Do you have enough time for layover at CAN?

Only need 48 hour PCR test?

This is incredible.

You summarized the situation pretty well, very much to the point.

Unfortunately, the Kingdom is dragging itself deeper and deeper into trouble. I see no easy way out.

Probably Shanghai already has half million infections. They can build few 10,000 beds camps, but that's not enough.


You made the smart decision to leave Shanghai before this mess.