We need more flights.

Fares are insane on UA 857/858 etc.

Yeah, I am good only through May. No idea what I'll do after that....

I think China isn’t as attractive a destination as it was pre 2020 for either tourism or business.

I don’t expect this change to lead to a rush of people visiting either. Flight costs are a function of airlines gouging. I’ve taken UA, JL, CA, MU, NH MH and CX from/to China recently and all except for the CX flight to HKG had significant empty seats.

I feel like the luckiest guy in the world right now. I have an appointment in the visa application center in Hong kong this afternoon and just saw the news. Guess I'll be saving my 1100 HKD and going to the mainland tomorrow. Will post an update of my experience afterwards.

We are flying into China early in the morning on the 15th, originally for transit, will now switch to using my old visa.

Oh that's good news. Perhaps a summer vacation there is in the cards.

It all depends on the price!

MF (Xiamen) seems to have reasonable prices from AMS and regular schedules even from current times, but MU not quite there yet. For sure, Europe - Asia schedule recovery has been slower than North America - Asia.

How much of that is due to not being able to overfly Russia?

I know that is what is holding back Air Canada from reinstating a lot of their routes.

Chinese airlines continue to utilise normal routing over Russia (except CX and Taiwan-based airlines) so travel times aren't significantly affected. Actually that's a major draw for me, not spending an extra 2-3h on a plane.

I think also business travel has been slow to resume to Asia, so the normally-strong premium demand just isn't back yet.

Cathay is still doing polar routes over Russia but yeah otherwise it seems like us east coasters will have to wait for the Chinese airlines to ramp up if we want direct flights.

I see China Eastern has started from Toronto-Shanghai direct, but the fares are mind boggling right now. Lots of demand.

If you are a non-Chinese citizen going through Taipei seems like an economical route for the time being since really only foreigners can roundtrip through it (citizens can one way to China, but its a hassle going back).

Can report we used our old Q2 visa and entered PVG this morning rather smoothly.

I actually like flying MU. If the price is right, Y or J, I'm going to PVG!

Only if it's in J!

I would agree, but the MU schedules to western Europe (AMS, FRA, CDG) are still at really low frequencies, literally once a week to those big hubs.

Also the timetable for MF is preferable for me, i prefer an evening ex-EU departure versus the midday departures.

Haven't visited the mainland in 15 years......hoping to get there this year.

I prefer flying the Chinese airlines including CX to Asia because they have red eyes. I prefer those flights to save time especially if I'm connecting. I really don't like midday departures, but sometimes I don't have a choice.

I think that's also the problem in the current situation- CX, CI, BR and MU all have midday departures ex-EU. And then the return from China departs sometimes well after midnight, yuck. Only MF has that evening départ from AMS and a morning return from XMN.

I don't get the feeling that the big 3 chinese carriers will ramp up operations much this summer, a little pessimistic on that.

My old M visa on my old passport worked going through west kowloon to enter China. Though arrival card appears to have gotten somewhat more detailed. They also asked for my invitation letter at the immigration counter which fortunately I had one as I was going to apply for a new visa. She didn't even look at it beyond the fact I had it but I have never been asked for it before. Not sure if this is standard practice now or if they will do this at the airport but keep it handy if you are entering on an M visa. They didn't ask for the covid test, just had to scan the health declaration.

If you are able to get Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, roundtrips into mainland are attractive points wise from North America plus you can over-fly Russia.

Booked economy for 82k Asia Miles from Toronto to Beijing.

Cash for the same flights was like $4.5k CAD ....

Both Canada and the US are attempting to nix Russia overflight on those routes. But, even if that comes to fruition, I doubt CX or MU would stop flying them.

Maybe they'll have to fly the long way?

Agreed. Roundtrip for SFO <-> HKG are $2k USD in Y and $5k USD for W. I couldn't find any availability for flying SFO -> HKG until mid-May, but good availability in May/June HKG -> SFO in Y and W.

If by "long way", you mean eastbound, I highly doubt it.

Did you check BR and/or CI? Their prices are quite a bit lower than your numbers.

Poor way of me just trying to say that they'll just fly outside of Russian air space en route to China? Is that possible? Might add a few hours to the trip?

Many flight plans from the east coast to China don't touch Russian airspace.

I don't pay close attention. What about the west coast?

West coast flights are all fine.

East coast flights will still go, but it will be up there for the longest commercial flights possible (17+ hours). Cathay was doing it out of Toronto/NYC/etc before Nov 2022, depending on winds they either go over Europe zig zagging to avoid Russia and Ukraine airspace or they will go over the pacific and zig zag over Japan to avoid Russia.

I've already told some of you about my harrowing visit to the CVS in Allston, MA (closest location to me that was doing PCR tests...not so common any more) on Tuesday during a nor'easter (e.g. wasted half a day, wasn't allowed to enter the store, mean people). This morning was the cherry on top. The link they sent me with my results doesn't work outside of the US (bear in mind that it is a "test for TRAVEL"). Of course, that wasn't a major hurdle (my devices can reside in a wide array of countries), but when I finally was able to open the link, I learned that it had expired (fewer than 10 hours after they sent it).

Cutting to the chase, when all of this was going down, I could already tell that nobody at EVA Air gives a rat's behind about those tests, and I already knew that Shanghai border control doesn't, so I simply got on the plane and flew here without incident.

One of the videos they made us watch on the plane was interesting though; I learned that there is a law on the books (maybe new?) that makes it a crime to transmit a communicable disease. Similarly, lying on the health declaration is also a crime (duh!).

PVG was painfully slow today, but not because there were a lot of people (in fact, the crowd was rather small) or because people were people getting grilled by officials. The snag that befuddled many was the fingerprint/handprint recorders at the booths. I guess some folks don't have prints that are sufficiently defined for machines' liking (mine were up to snuff fyi). Nobody in my line got through until they eventually succeeded. The officials were quite patient, and maybe even helpful, though.

Those machines have always been a pain in the ... since they were introduced.

Interesting to hear you basically were never checked for the PCR. I can't imagine the requirements stays around much longer if that is the case.

This has been the case for several months now. It's a charade.

What about Beijing?

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No more requirement to take a PCR test when flying back from China into Canada: Government of Canada will remove COVID-19 testing requirement for air travellers arriving from the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong or Macao - Canada.ca

Now, if only the opposite was true as well...

Tryiong to figure out the 48hour PCR test window for travelling to China now. All I can see is that it states 48 hours before departure.
I have a reservation YYZ-YVR-HKG-PVG (connection of 3 hrs in YVR and 1.5 hr in HKG.
Im interpreting it as the PCR test taken has to be a max 48 hr. prior to YYZ departure as opposed to HKG departure. Correct?.
Thoughts would be appreciated.

Difficulty to get a Chinese L VISA
 

I have a leisure trip to China coming up later this year, is it easier to apply for one of the shorter visas (3 or 6 month) and the 10 year requires more paperwork? I thought since it is the same price, why not go for the 10 year visa? I could end up going back, and why go through the hassle and expense again if I don't need to.

PCR test needs to be within 48 hrs of HKG departure to PVG.

Go for 10!