At least they're included in the Mainland-Macau travel bubble. I'm not a big fan of Macau, but I probably would pop down there if the privilege was extended to all foreigners.

You and me both man. Terrible they won’t open this up to us lao wai.

You should speak to a Chinese person who has tried to renew their passport in the past year.

Macau? There is nothing to do except going to casino and SPA......

As I intimated, Macau is not my favorite place, but I find it to be cleaner than most Chinese cities, there are interesting food options, and it is pretty good for hiking. Pre-Covid, getting to/from there was insanely convenient (with eChannel)...i.e. more convenient than SZX because the airport is manageable and well located. [MENTION=17434]YariGuy[/MENTION] told me that SHA-MFM flights don't exist at present (need to schlep to PVG), so that puts a chink in the armor of the convenience argument, but I'd be willing to endure if it became an option for me.

Well let me tell you as someone who's gone to Macau (from Shanghai) 3 times (with a 4th trip booked) in the last year:

The casinos suck (sticking to 500 and 1000 table minimums despite nobody gambling, with almost 100% baccarat and no poker/craps/blackjack), and the SPAs are gone.

What there IS though is good food, good shopping, and good hiking. And when I re-enter Shanghai I use my US passport and get a stamp which is nice. Getting a PCR test and going to Pudong is worth it to me.

Well said. Macau is more than just casinos and SPAs. I have been to Macau many times and hardly ever step into a casino and my trips were usually quite interesting and not boring at all.

I don't want to answer for hm, but I can safely say that US citizenship does not permit people to go to/from Macau without quarantine.

No, foreigners aren’t allowed to do this, even if they have a residence permit or PR on the mainland.

Chinese citizens, HK/Macau return permit holders and Taiwan return permit holders are allowed.

Foreign nationals aren't allowed to enter Macau without an exemption. If they can obtain an exemption however, they would be able to enter Macau from China without quarantine.
Exemptions are issued for reasons such as having a spouse who is resident in Macau.
For the purposes of entering Macau, holders of HK/Taiwan passports are considered to be Chinese nationals.

Looks like there's been a successful case of a HK transit from Indonesia despite the hard firewall in HKG:

病例3为印度尼西亚籍，在印度尼西亚生活，自印度尼西亚出发，经香港转机，于2022年1月28日抵达上海浦东国 际机场，入关后即被集中隔离观察，其间出现症状。综合流行病学史、临床症状、实验室检测和影像学检查结果等 ，诊断为确诊病例。

An Indonesian national who lives in Indonesia departed Indonesia, transited HK and arrived in PVG on 2022/01/28.

Invitations from casinos don't clear the bar for those of us who aren't whales.:D

Following is the text of an email I sent to my business partner, who has been on a buying spree for overpriced airplane tickets:Whenever I've advised you via WeChat to wait on buying any US-China or vv tickets, I've refrained from explaining the mechanics because it's a little complicated.

But, let me try:

1. Every airline with prior authority to fly US-China is permitted 4 slot pairs per week

2. UA uses all four of its slots for SFO-PVG, and MU uses all four of its slots for PVG-JFK

3. The other players split their slots between two routes and/or don't use all four

4. When any specific flight (e.g. UA 857 Thursday departure) brings in 5-10 Covid positives, it is hit with a 2-week suspension. If the number is 10 or more cases, it gets a 4-week suspension. They can negotiate the suspensions down by only flying at 40% capacity, and sometimes they take this deal

5. The penalty on Thursday 857 only applies to that specific flight (i.e. the other 3 days aren't affected)

6. Because Omicron is much more contagious than previous variants, AA, UA, and DL lost almost all of their flights between last week and late February

7. The Chinese airlines fared a little better with respect to the Chinese rules (which, honestly are equal), but the US DOT cried foul and handed out penalties to Chinese airlines on a one-for-one basis (their logic is pretty solid, as well)

8. The upshot of this is that there are VERY FEW flights in either direction until late February, so prices are at all-time highs, AND there is no guarantee whether your chosen flight will actually take place (e.g. if a Saturday 857 screws up and you are booked on the following Saturday, they will put you on Thursday 857 if they have seats; good luck if Thursday 857 is limited to 40%)

9. This stuff is really hard to manage from the airlines' POV. They are reluctant to sell tickets that they might not be able to honor

10. Those $5500 lowest fares are in place until September based on the status quo holding (i.e. basically 3-4 flights per month, per airline, and contracts that they are unable to fulfill)

11. I could be mistaken, but I think it's simply impossible for the situation to become any worse than it is now

12. You see, the Chinese airlines are owned by the government, and they are losing boatloads of money by relegating their big planes to PEK-SHA hops. Then, you have AA sitting on the sidelines for now; they will restart DFW-PVG in a New York minute if they can get some guarantees of operational security

13. So, we're looking at 3,000 seats per month now in each direction v 50,000 seats per month (also in each direction) after things are smoothed out

14. The current crisis is due to a combination of the Olympics and Omicron, more so the latter

15. I predict that the Chinese will adjust all policies in order to cope with Omicron

16. Assuming #15 pans out, airfares will drop a lot

Thanks moondog for that write-up. :tu:
An unanswered question has been:
What is the suspension for, exactly? The flight itself or 'just' the carrying of pax?
I.e.: for 'suspended' US carriers' flights, does the plane still fly with cargo but without pax USA-China, and is allowed to return China-USA with pax?