WasKnown

Hey so, my father has successfully entered Shanghai flying MU from JFK. I think technically you can’t choose your quarantine hotel but he was able to finesse something to get a decent spot. Happy to answer any Qs about that process.

In terms of return flights, he currently has a 25K USD MU return flight (PVG -> JFK) booked for December. I think that’s a ridiculous price to pay for business class but he really does not want to hop around planes for transfers. Would all Shanghai flights be innately more expensive? Thoughts on Beijing? Just to confirm, HK is not an option for US citizens right? I’m speculating that return flights are pricing so high rn due to the influx of Chinese students coming to the US. Would that be impacting the pricing of December flights now?

He has an obscene amount of United PlusPoints and miles to redeem so open to any good redemption opportunities too.

Sorry for all the Qs

gudugan

United PVG-EWR UA87 in business one way is pricing at a bit less than $10K USD every day in December. Economy at $1700 every day
The flight out doesn't matter you can take whatever. Just need a covid test 3 days before entering the US

travelinmanS

It’s quicker and faster results to use ctrip or check each of the airlines websites than to come here and ask us each and every time for an alternative to the MU flight. Literally every flight leaving China is cheaper than that one.

Your dad can fly from HK if he’s willing to take the ferry from Shekou direct to HKIA or he can connect from the mainland through HK using Cathay and get to JFK that way.

tauphi

This is called surveillance testing, if you never test locals, you won't detect cryptic Covid-19 transmission clusters until it becomes much larger. In any case, this was only needed at the time because Shanghai had multiple Covid incursions. As of today Shanghai is again designated as low-risk so those tests should be no longer necessary (at least until the next incursion).

tauphi

Transit through HK from China to the US is allowed, as long as you don't enter HK. US citizens can enter HK from China, however, under present policy they would have to quarantine for 14 or 7 days depending on vaccination status. There are rumours that this will relax soon so quarantine-free entry into HK may be possible by December for those arriving from China.

kb1992

It is very easy to get upgraded on UA 858 PVG-SFO. Y fares are between $2000-$5000. I paid $3500 and got upgraded easily.

There is no need to pay anything over $5000 especially if your dad has UA Plus Points.

I would avoid HK. It's definitely more expensive.

Thank you.

Actually I am aware of everything you said, having just left China few days ago on UA 858.

I had been in China for 13 months during this trip, and toured 23 provinces, 70 cities and over 100 tourist sites ranked 5A. Stayed at Marriott hotels for 400 nights which helped me to reach life time Platinum status. Of course, I am about to make Marriott Ambassador.

After I completed 14 days government forced quarantine, I was set free to stay at Shanghai and nearby cities in hotels since I don't have a place to live in China.

Amazingly, I have avoided PCR tests for the whole year. Two during the quarantine, one before boarding the plane back to USA.

I have been to all places where there were COVID outbreaks, but always managed to leave before the outbreaks. I was very lucky.

The trick to bring TWO cell phones and always shut down one works well for me. After arriving at a new safe city with green health codes, turn on the offline phone. It erased all past 14-day history when you traveled to low risk area but in a city where there is a moderate risk district.

People in China are paranoid about COVID. Officials and citizens are afraid to die. They shot down a city when where is one case. Officials are trying to control this at ALL costs, or they will be persecuted for not doing enough. I had been to numerous site seeing places where only handful tourists were visiting, while in a normal day you can see 50,000 people. People are super scared of COVID.

WasKnown

How far out did you get upgraded? I don’t want him to fly economy for a flight this long but don’t want to pay $25K for a J flight if I don’t have to. Thnx.

kb1992

UA has this nasty practice of clearing 858 upgrades at the gate. You can observe every flight to take a look. Basically most flights ALL people on upgrade list would eventually be cleared.

See this for Sept. 5 PVG-SFO.



J class is 27/60 booked, and 14 people on waitlist.

Again, all will be cleared except that they probably will not get lounge access because the BP will be reissued at the gate.

UA.com is using weird term, First Class and Biz Class to refer to actual Polaris class and Premium Y class.

I called UA to push my upgrade through 3 days before the flight so can select my desired seat.

WasKnown

Thanks man. I will book my dad a United economy ticket first and see how things go. Is PVG to SFO the only United option into the states? Also, do you think it’s worth applying Global Service PlusPoints here over 1K PlusPoints?

kb1992

GS points will 100% get him upgraded. 1K points should work in 95% cases.

If there is a domestic connecting flight such as SFO-EWR/IAD/BOS, then 1K points may not clear him. GS points are preferred.

For UA, the only flight from China is PVG-SFO.

gudugan

United has the following loaded into the website:
UA 87 PVG-EWR starting 31 Oct
UA 836 PVG-ORD starting 31 Oct
UA 199 PVG-LAX starting 31 Oct

Since the flight is in December maybe check back next month?

kb1992

My crystal ball says only 858 will survive this year and perhaps until spring 2022.

Next summer? Who knows.

It largely depends on how China views US as a threat regarding COVID.

I am not optimistic since 1/3 of the US population are too stubborn to believe in science and get vaccinated.

It would possibly be another 3 years for China to open the door for Americans. Or longer.

travelinmanS

These flights ain’t operating. If he wants to fly UA he needs to take Pvg-sfo.

gudugan

It doesn’t have much to do with the country itself.

The first necessary step is recognizing that a vaccine (or recovery from the illness) confers some proportion of immunity. Not necessarily total but much better than nothing. The next step is treating those individuals differently and giving them preferential access.

Neither of these are true at the moment. Arguably getting a vaccine makes it more annoying to get in because you have to make sure the antibody and N protein tests are agreeable. It also doesn’t change the quarantine period. In addition, my understanding is that once within China, vaccination gives you no additional privileges (e.g. skipping PCR tests). Getting a Chinese vaccine makes it slightly easier for a visa application but no easier for the testing and quarantine process.

Sure you could argue that there is some politics involved with the US. UAE has 88% of the population with at least one vaccine and Portugal has 86%. Even if these were 100% the door would not instantly be flung open.

However, I do agree with your conclusion that it may take years.

lsquare

Just want to make sure I'm on the same page as you but are you saying that currently for 858s, if status is high enough, buying economy (K-fare?) is practically guaranteed to be upgraded to Polaris for free?