Only students are allowed to board the AA flight via DFW and this has been the case since the start of 2021.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...-refund-2.html
https://www.reddit.com/r/Chinavisa/c...n_code_issues/

I just booked a “flexible fare” AA from DFW to PVG. I hate the lack of layman transparency but it seems like this ticket can be cancelled and refunded to my original payment at any time.

$2865 for back of the bus economy is not bad for today’s clown world.

Two years ago I was booking round trip business class to Asia for not much more.

Well I guess I should cancel that flight.

I think moondog is flying PVG-USA, not the other way around. In that case he'll be fine.

Technically anyone can board the DFW-PVG flight provided they get the special QR code from the Chinese embassy but in practice it seems it's almost impossible to get unless you're a Chinese student. The QR code is basically used to filter out anyone they don't want traveling to China no matter visa status or citizenship. Extremely harsh and unfair for many, but they couldn't care less.

Yes of course. Going from PVG to DFW is not an issue. But I thought moondog is buying a return ticket, perhaps I'm misreading him.

I had trouble with getting green code from SFO but not out of LAX. The problem is the flight from LAX is about $8k for China southern to CAN and $3200 for Xiamen. I have never been to Xiamen but I guess I’ll be giving it a whirl in September.

I bought a oneway ticket because I don't have a fixed return date, and I'm hoping there will be more options when I decide to come back. For those put off by high prices, UA 857/858 has great award availability most days, but my gut tells me that prices will drop after the entry rules relax a little bit; it's surely costly for airlines to sell tickets on flights that they might not operate and/or to customers who might not be permitted to travel. Replacing the travel health code system with a simple PCR test doesn't seem to be too much to ask for.

I have a United award economy ticket for the SFO-PVG and it’s 225k. Most of the economy inventory is 250k.

Before covid you could buy a Polaris ticket for about 120k.

Getting out of China is simple but getting into China is expensive and physically/mentally painful.

Because getting out of China is so easy, I assumed the eastbound flights would be more fully booked. So, while I only searched PVG-SFO, I figured the reverse direction would be a cakewalk. Lots of people simply don't want to come here because of the quarantine and other hassles, but many of us do want to spend our summer in other countries.

Yeah the airfare rates suggest major operational costs or major demand to get into China, versus the highly restricted supply. LAX-CAN doesn’t have a single economy class seat available until October.

United economy is $6k+ one way.

Isn't CAN-LAX their flagship route? If it's sold out through October, perhaps they should consider running it more than 2 days per week.

That would require the Chinese government allowing it. Again we are talking about getting into China, which is LAX-CAN

On certain days, the United economy cabins are not even available or in the price range of close to $10K in economy. This is the SFO-PVG one-way fare, but the reverse seems a lot more reasonable.

You are vastly overestimating the number of people who want to leave China and vastly underestimating the number who want to enter China. Flights from China are empty, flights to China are 100% booked thanks to the government policy limiting flights. The situation will stay the same until the government policy changes.

I also think you are taking quite a risk by leaving and planning to come back in based on what I know about your current situation. It’s not as easy as you think it’s gonna be to get the QR code approved. I’d definitely try and apply for pre approval before you leave China.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-t...ar-11624361777

According to WSJ, there'll be no reopening until at least late 2022

China wants the 2022 Winter Olympics (February) and the 20th CCP Congress (October, where Xi is expected to seek a 3rd term as general secretary, the most of any leader since Mao) to conclude before risking further opening.

Also, this:

Given the mutual animosity between China and the West right now, I don't think there'll be much political appetite to risk Chinese deaths so Westerners can get in and out more easily.