Yeah it wasn't great. The positives are that it does have a shower and internet was fast. Also it does have that foam beer machine and free-pour liquor.

To keep the thread on topic though, if trip.com wanted to make its elite levels useful, then having a lounge at Haneda would be a good step. Also a lounge at SHA, TSA, and GMP. I mean, if it can really get access to the best lounges at SIN and HKG, then c'mon.

"Access free airport VIP lounge in over 700 airports worldwide when booking flights on Trip.com"

Thanks @moondog for starting this thread. Am arranging a month long trip for my widowed mother and saw the sense of getting her via-PEK and via-SHA flights through this booking portal.

Seems I can get to platinum ahead of her SHA transfer.

The part that makes me nervous is that MamaLapLap is way more of a Luddite than even I am. What are the limits of Beijing to an elderly foreigner with lifelong research-aversion? She’ll have an iPhone but the assumption is that it will stay dormant until someone else physically intervenes to reconfigure it. It’s 50/50 whether she’ll be able to get it to work with an airport WiFi, odds slightly better at a hotel. Have already warned her about China’s move to being a cashless society but I don’t think it’s quite sunk in that Visa & Mastercard are not included in this brave new world.

Hopefully, if they are still running next Apr, she’ll be able to join either of the two free later tours organised by trip.com from SHA (11 hour transfer with departure after 1am)

Not sure there's even a question in your post, but I'll answer anyways...

Before sending her on her merry way, someone could set her phone up already, ready to go BEFORE departure.
There's Sim Cards available that allow decent data speeds in China, and installing a good VPN in advance will ensure she isn't 100% reliant on WiFi.
Setting up WeChat and Alipay for her and showing her how it works, will ensure she can pay for pretty much anything in China without issues.

At least she will be on an organized tour -if I read the post correctly- and not just let loose to fend for herself completely.

Brave woman though.

She’s in Spain and I’m in the U.K. (we’ll be meeting in Japan).

I honestly have NO idea how one would acquire a suitable SIM card for China before arriving in China.

I also have no idea how to set up WeChat or Alipay, let alone become familiar with these systems, I thought neither of those even worked until you arrived in China.

I haven’t been in China since 2019 and have no idea how I’ll cope either. Last thing I want is a VPN subscription, and definitely not for a layover, so there’s no way my mother would ever agree to one.

The question really is, what are the limits to what one can do in Beijing with cash and a visa/mastercard or wise card? Is it even possible to get the Arex to Dongzhimen?

Edit to add:
Just checked to see if it was common to have problems unsubscribing from VPNs. Yes, it is
https://www.reddit.com/r/Express_VPN...t_express_vpn/

• China isn't fun with only Credit Cards and cash. A LOT has changed since 2019!
• Sim Cards can be bought outside China. Here's one (not an endorsement, just a sample):
  https://www.amazon.co.uk/China-15Days-5GB-High-Speed-unrestricted/dp/B0D9VFQCYT
  Amazon
• Plenty of VPNs that are good and work well in China: the one you posted a reddit link to is NOT good in China (anymore)
• You can setup WeChat and/or Alipay with an overseas Credit Card nowadays. If you need help, there's plenty on here that will be glad to.

As I said, she’s in Spain, I’m in the U.K., none of that is going to happen (my mother is someone who walked 500 miles on the Camino de Santiago last year and still can’t use Google maps).

Basically it’s weighing up “no fun” without a phone vs “absolutely no fun whatsoever and a guaranteed dollop of misery” in setting one up.

I’m guessing it must still be possible to get to Dongzhimen with the AREX using cash/overseas credit card.

Will post back in a few months with her report, it will undoubtably be interesting.

I thought you wrote you are both meeting up in Japan? You could have organized it for your mother, and given the phone to / or setup her phone in Japan for her.
Maybe I misunderstood, sorry.



If she's with a tour group, she'll undoubtedly get other kind souls to help her out.
Hard to say, but if the tour is long enough, she will likely end up being THAT group member that will end up relying on the goodheartedness of all others who DID bother to get setup before their trip to China.


AREX sounds so Korean.
If wanting to go from PEK to Dongzhimen she'd be using the Capital Airport Express (or ABC: 'Airport Beijing City') part of the Beijing Subway system.
The kiosks should accept credit cards and cash.
Please don't tell us she only has Discover or American Express. It will be MC or Visa only.



Was wondering why there was no question in your OP.
There seems to be a resistance to any suggestions - I now see where your mother gets it from!

Don't worry - cash is still king.
I am a veteran of over 100 trips to China over the years, and have never used anything but cash or credit cards,
and still do.

King?
Prince at most!

She lives in Spain, I live in England, we’ll be meeting in Osaka for a few days half way through her month long visit to Japan. I am carefully spoon feeding her what she’ll need to use in and get around Kansai and Eastern Shikoku, there’s not going to be much head space left to retain information about navigating modern China for a few hours, especially if it’s coming from someone (me) who is also clueless.

The trip.com SHA tour group discussed in this thread is the only kind she’d ever consider joining. It’s short, but mainly, it’s free. Hopefully she can join one of the two later tours on her return trip. She’d happily not eat or drink, or even go to the toilet, throughout a full day rather than put someone at an inconvenience, but if something is genuinely and freely offered there is no more enthusiastic receiver (or giver)

As there is no free equivalent to the SHA tours in PEK there is no possibility of her joining a tour there.

You are right. I spent August in Tokyo with my daughter and spent our layovers near ICN. I am easily confused; HEX, N’EX, AREX and now the ABC (whilst I’m buying passes for the ACTV and figuring out how Boston’s Blue Line works). I am dreadful with acronyms and have mussed up.
Thank you, that’s the route I had in mind, have used the trip.com portal to get her a room at the HIX (the IHG site demanded Alipay or WeChat for a reservation) I’m sending a local map image of Dongzhimen and where the HIX is by email to her neighbour to print out for her to take with her.
Phew! Glad that hasn’t changed.
No, just MC and/or Visa.

Yes there was: “What are the limits of Beijing to an elderly foreigner with lifelong research-aversion?” And I then explained that the research aversion meant that she wouldn’t have a connected smart phone.
No resistance, I just have a good understanding of the materials I’m working with.

This has actually made me feel a little less anxious, thank you!

"I honestly have NO idea how one would acquire a suitable SIM card for China before arriving in China." - Depending on her phone, consider getting an eSIM. This is what I now do when I travel. You order online and instal it ahead of time. It is activated once you enter the country.
This is a popular one: https://www.airalo.com/china-esim
You also have more traditional suppliers like Orange: https://travel.orange.com/en/buy-a-s...ers/china/esim
I think that strip also sells eSIMs.

In the UK, for traditional SIMs there's CMLink which is part of China Mobile. Although they have a UK focussed product and other products for various Asian markets they also offer a global service SIM, worth taking a look if it meets your needs.


​​​​​And some of our MVNOs (virtual mobile networks) in the UK offer bundles that include inclusive roaming in China or sensible cost bundles to enable it, like Lebara UK.

And as suggested, buying a SIM online that originates from an Asian market like Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong with the right bundles can provide cost effective roaming into China.

My first C-TRip complaint. Booked a GMP-SHA/PVG-CGK ticket with all flights on MU, and after
receiving my confirmations I realized I made a 1 digit typo in my passport number.
C-Trip says they are unable to correct, and that I should contact MU directly.
While I do not think it will be a problem when checking in, this is the first customer service " fail"
I have encountered with them.

Oof.
Personally I'd cancel and re-book. Not sure I really blame Ctrip here, once the ticket has been already issued.