anacapamalibu

Better jump on a flight back to US pronto!

moondog

I'm actually not so put off by the high fares, but being able to come back here is a pretty important objective.

anacapamalibu

With all the years in China you should have a diplomatic passport. 100% stand up guy.
A true "China Old Hand". Look forward to meeting with you again in Shanghai..I love that city.

moondog

The only visa better than our 5-year RPs is PR, and this is quite difficult to snag (e.g. on the remote chance that you are invited to apply, you're looking at a 3-year process). Diplomatic passports don't afford the same rights. Basically, if you have an RP, you want to keep it.

Of course we will meet in SH during your next visit.

anacapamalibu

Appointed FSO China..
Look forward to returning to China .

kb1992

Rich guy, that's all I can say. If RT fares to China is less than $3000, I'll take it. But not $10,000.

My prediction for weekly flights

UA: SFO-PVG If CAAC allows 2, then add EWR-PVG.

DL: DTW-PVG If CAAC allows 2, then add SEA-PVG.

Both airlines will stop at NRT or ICN to change crew only to bypass China's 14-day quarantine requirement.

DOT has said that from now on, any charter request from China will likely be denied.

If UA/DL resume China flights, I think one-way fare will be around $2,000 and RT fare $3000.

travelinmanS

Why wouldn’t they just match the prices of the Chinese airlines since capacity will be cut anyhow. Currently it’s anywhere from five grand to 10k for a ticket in economy. I don’t imagine UA and DL will cut those prices just to be nice. For prices to come down there have to be more flight, not more airlines operating limited flights.

STS-134

Well if you double supply, prices will come down a bit. Question is how much.

MSPeconomist

Wow, this is making me wonder how many students from mainland China in the USA can't afford these flights. For some of them, it's already hard to get enough money from their families just for normal expenses (tuition, room and board, books, and one RT TPAC ticket at most once a year at the cheap prices we had in the recent past). There must be some new graduates with expiring student visas who cannot afford to fly home even if they can find a seat. When they arrive, they'd also be forced to pay for their quarantine now IIRC. What a mess, and of course the new students and those fortunate or unfortunate to have managed to go home to escape the virus or for summer vacation will be facing the same problem soon, although new students probably shouldn't buy plane tickets until they have their visas in hand.

I know of several students who were able to return to mainland China in late March and April, between the time classes went remote and the end of classes for the term.

UA_Flyer

Now I am having doubts DL/UA will start the one single weekly flight. We are only a few days before China cuts flights from 4 to 2, and no new announcements.
May be it is because all the flights have been sold out, and DL/UA wlll need move those passengers who purchased tickets for May departure onto their single weekly flights, so no need to market the single flights anymore.

I doubt the price will go down because the total number of flights won't change. It will still be 4, two from each country.
I actually project the price will keep going up because people are getting antsy to go home after being trapped in the US for so long and the capacity remains the same (less if DL/UA won't start their flights and Chinese airlines are down from 4 to 2 flights starting next week).

889

"What a mess, and of course the new students and those fortunate or unfortunate to have managed to go home to escape the virus or for summer vacation will be facing the same problem soon, although new students probably shouldn't buy plane tickets until they have their visas in hand."

Just to repeat in case any students in Mainland China are planning to return to America to continue their studies: if you've spent any of the past 14 days in Mainland China you cannot enter the U.S. unless you're a U.S. citizen, green-card holder or close relative of same (or diplomat or other very special case). That is, there's no exception for those holding student visas. To return to the U.S. you must first spend 14 days outside Mainland China, Schengen, the U.K. etc. Or wait until the U.S. changes the rules.

kb1992

I think DL/UA flights will run. It's hard fought right of flying to China. Will charge high fares, e.g. double or triple normal fare

My niece needs to go back to China (any day in August is fine). At this point, UA is selling daily EWR-PVG tickets.

I am wondering if I should book award tickets for an entire week. That's 7 tickets.

We don't know which day UA flight will operate. So at least she has a ticket.

Is this reasonable?

moondog

1. If they want to fly here, they can figure out a way to buy a ticket
2. Home based quarantine is now possible in most of China
3. In cases where it isn't, they're only looking at y300 per day to stay in a hotel, and they might be permitted to leave the hotel on day 2 or 3

travelinmanS

I’d say there is no way to know if UA will actually fly these flights at all. Used to be the safest way was to book a mainland carrier at an astronomical price on their once a week flights but now that may be up in the air as well. Does your niece have a Chinese/HK/TW passport? If not, August entry seems unlikely.

moondog

I'm thinking it would be reasonably safe for you to eliminate Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from your calculus. I prefer flights on these days due to low demand, but Fridays and Sundays are the most popular. I'm also guessing that UA, DL, MU, and CA will spread out their flights across the peak days in order to avoid stepping on each others' toes.