More mainland shenanigans.

Here's a one-way (nonstop) from BKK to PVG for this Wednesday, 22 May:


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...4e61f3fb19.jpg
Now, the flight to Wenzhou (WNZ) for the same day, with the MU (China Eastern) flight:

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...5d67a1c634.jpg
Here are the "cheapest" flights to Wenzhou, availint of trip.com's free MU ticket through PVG:

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...ab8353510a.jpg


Just like when you see good reviews on amazon, or alibaba, don't be a sap, folks.

To be fair the options that include the "free flight" are different flights than the ones you show on top. These flights (MU542 and MU8644) are better in my opinion (arrive in Shanghai at a reasonable hour). For apples-to-apples, you need to price out MU542 and MU8644 separately.

Figured someone would (suggest that). [mod edit per rule 12.1]

Anyway ...

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...6e7845d0f8.jpg

Yes, I agree the China Eastern offer on Trip.com sucks, however on the same note the Air China offer with the international return flight and two intra chinese flights for free rocks.

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No kidding ... I should look into that. Is it through any CA hub, or just PEK?

ETA: from trip.com:The "Buy One Get Two Free Tickets " offer is available for a limited time and applies to select flights operated by Air China. The offer is valid for economy class tickets, and passengers can get two free domestic flights (tax included) when you book a round-trip flight to China. Why wait, book flights to China on trip.com and choose the 'Multi-city' to customize your preferred itinerary.

The promotion period: By 30th, April, 2024

Travel period: By 30th, June, 2024

Departure cities: London, Frankfurt, Munich, Milan, Rome, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, and Geneva
--- wouldn't want to fly long-haul.on a mainland carrier anyway.

You might be able to find a current Air China promo on trip.com by simply switching countries in your account settings.

They used to have BUD-CKG in the list of flights to chose from as well.

When it comes to flying Air China Long-Haul with ratted/worn out Triple Seven, A330, B747 I am with you, but the A350 and the Dreamliner are fantastic.

Btw. somehow Trip.com manages to offer really steep discounts for international flights starting in the semi-official 17. federal state of Germany, also known as Palma de Mallorca.

How they manage to achieve that in the background is beyond me, because one does not have to return to PMI, but can finish the trip in Germany, Austria etc. and the first leg is with Ryanair, Air Europa or Eurowings to either Germany, UK or Mainland Spain.

Interestingly, I was able to reserve an intercontinental flight on CZ on their official website and pay with my foreign bank card (Mastercard) without problems, a first. Last year, it errored out on the payment page and I ended up forced to use a third-party to reserve the flight.

I looked up the same flight on trip.com, and it was 25 EUR more expensive.

For sure, your results may vary with other carriers, and perhaps domestic flights are a different story. But maybe still worth a glance to see if direct résa is more efficient and cheaper than through trip.com

Cool!
But have to ask: how is it more efficient than booking on trip.com?

Which sounds like the average OTA fee. When it comes to booking a flight with trip.com, it really matters which language/country you chose. A price difference between the different countries/languages of 25-30 EUR is not that uncommon. As with all the other OTA, it depends where the marketing budget of that day/week/month is currently allocated to.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...637fb84064.png
Same flight, same Browser session, only a few seconds apart.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...758d30ca37.png
For comparison

The same reason I book direct with any other air carrier : I don't want a third party managing my résa unless necessary.

I do all my travel bookings direct whenever possible- flights, hôtels, hire cars. Only if there is a substantial price savings or other technical issue do I revert to an OTA.

Even when the carrier's own staff is hopelessly incompetent and/or impossible to reach?

Luckily, I haven't had to deal with that. My only interaction last year was when I called them to assign my Flying Blue number to the résa, and that was painless. Just called their mainland China office and since I am of Chinese origin, language is not an issue.

I wasn't referring to language, but competence in the general sense. I should also add that switching between airlines or cancelling when things go wrong is far easier when you don't have to interact with an individual carrier.
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AIRLINES:
I like moondog's answer here. I also MUCH prefer direct flight bookings when it comes to airlines for ANYTHING other than China, as I found trip.com far easier to deal with than the [Chinese] airline directly.
It's almost like the good old days where you went through a travel agent (late 80's early 90's for me); the real good ones took all the headaches away from you and provided a great service. Trip.com is like that to me nowadays, and I'll gladly pay a few dollars more for that convenience. As soon as they drop in the service they currently provide, I'll move away from them and likely also book directly with the airlines.

HOTELS:
Hotel booking I almost always found better to be booked through a third party like trip.com or booking.com.
With the exception of the chains I am a fairly high ranking member, such as Marriott, I only very rarely book directly with the hotel.
I remember a motel in New Zealand telling me to "book with us directly next time"; yeah: because you don't have to pay all the fees, but the actual cost-per-night was more than what I paid for: No.Thank.You.

CAR HIRE:
Always book direct - again because of high membership tiers. President's Club & Circle.

I don't need ctrip/trip.com for hotel stays in China because I always book them direct to take advantage of statuses and ease of cancellations. But for intra-China flights and particularly high-speed rail, trip.com seems to be a good platform. What does ctrip provide that trip.com doesn't? In terms of prices, payment conveniences, etc.?