CX flies three times a day from/to PVG, so there are loads of flight capacity to HKG.

Yes. HK is cheap in both directions most days, but people on twov can only use it in one direction. This isn't such a big deal though because there are many reasonably priced options on the way out.

Flying from east coast and on UA, TPE is cheaper than ICN and has a better connection. But SFO-ICN is easier to get upgrade to business (in fact, I got business outbound and premium economy inbound cleared) than SFO-TPE. I managed to have 143 h at HGH, by flying ICN-HKG (attached to IAD-ICN RT) and HGH-ICN (mileage ticket, 9.9K) on Asiana and HKG-HGH on CX. I will have overnights at both HK and Seoul. I will have to drive to IAD to catch 6 am IAD-SFO flight. It is no small effort to make the TWOV work and not pay a ton of money to UA and OALs.

BOS/IAD/JFK - ICN are all cheaper if you add another city (like HKG or TPE). I don't know of any good ways to upgrade other than using KE miles, but buying biz isn't too bad.

ETA: I just noticed your "on UA" qualifier. If you remove that filter, there are many better options.

EVENTUALLY not shortly.

MFM/PVG/HKG is a valid TWOV itinerary and MFM/PVG also has multiple flights a day and the price is only half as much as HKG flights. Travel between MFM and HKG is now super easy with ferries operating again as well as the bridge.

I’m just wondering what timeline you guys are thinking of for resuming TWOV travel

Right now, giving the amount of paracetamol they’re taking off us (for want of better data), they are currently having a surge even if they do not care to admit it.

Is going to a country which is currently having a Covid surge such a great idea?

I would give it til Spring - as per the original plan - before going. Or even thinking again about going.

I'd have no problems going back to Beijing right now. The worst (of this first wave) is over, and I was there at the outbreak and through the worst of it, and never caught it.

Interesting observation from the Air Canada subforum:

I wish the Chinese would offer some clarity and direction soon.

When were you planning to travel, and was the person at the consulate aware of that timeline? In other words, if they knew you wanted to get a visa for travel in February, then we can kind of guess they expect the visas to be unsuspended very shortly.

Confirming this similar change happened to the Visa requirements on Expert Flyer as well. And this change happened over night on 10JAN23.

On 09JAN, the listing shows that only visa issued after a date in March 2020 is valid.
Today, that section is completely gone.

I arbitrarily said July-September but I wouldn't put too much stock in a random consulate employee's opinion on timeline. Probably most interesting to me was that I specifically asked if I should be applying for Q2 and a couple questions about what I need to prepare for it and they just straight up said no just wait for the L to come back.

I just checked United’s TIMAC. There is a lot of info on TWOV for different regions of China.

Warning:

Visas issued on or before 28 March 2020 are no longer valid.

I would not put too much into UA's info, as they even got that date in March 2020 wrong.

Chinese Consulate in San Francisco in its latest statement says:
the link is here
Notice on Adjustment of Chinese Visa Application Instructions?2023-01-08?

There have been some hints what the Chinese government wants to do. Quietly, issuing new 10-year visa while cancelling the existing ones. They collect a lot of more information in the new visa applications, including your supervisor's name and phone number if you are employed. Also, what you do for living and education experience, etc. The new application is about 10 pages long, while the previous application was only two pages long.

See the reply above. We do not know whether or not the suspension will be lifted. We will get an answer in a month or two. .