If you log into your Ctrip account it should give a status to your order. If it says ticketed then you're good to go.

I can't recall whether you were around here ~4 years ago, but I once misplaced some eticket receipts for some flights that I ended up not taking, and it took CZ 18 months to give me back my money (I haven't flown with them since).

However, my gut tells me that pieces of paper are no longer as important now that people have gotten used to electronic tickets.

Optimal solution: opt for airport pickup of the receipts (you don't have to actually pick them up). That way if you do need to make changes, ctrip itself will have those special pieces of paper so they can make changes on the back end, if need be.

The airline you are flying on can print the e-ticket receipts (the blueish colored with a red stamp), too. Just go to your airline and request them from the ticket sales desk. All you need is your name and flight details (or alternatively the e-ticket number, which is included in ctrip's emails). You do not need to locate the ctrip desk.

Again, back when I had my had my CZ refund experience, the blue piece of paper was really important if you wanted to refund.

You only need the e-ticket receipt for refunds if it were printed in the first place. Whether it has been printed is recorded in the airline reservation system. So if you picked the "express" option on ctrip.com and elected to not print a receipt, then you won't need it in case of cancellation.

If however you chose (or were forced) to print the receipt and end up losing (or not collecting) it, and still need to get a refund, then there is a procedure where you fill in a form to declare that the receipt has been lost and they'll then proceed with the refund.

The reason there is this complexity is due to the possibility of tax fraud where an e-ticket receipt is used for reimbursement and subsequently refunded by the airline.

While you may have to wait 18 months and jump through hoops, you should get your money back eventually even if you lose your printed receipt.

True

If I hadn't pressed them 1x/week after the 12 month mark (they were well aware of the situation before then), I doubt I would have ever received my money.

Caveats:

1) those tickets WERE NOT booked via ctrip
2) I'd like to think that a lot has changed during the course of the past 5 years
3) even then, CA was able to refund me relatively promptly

Bottom line:

-don't lose those "pieces of paper" if they happen to enter your hands

Ctrip
 

With my trip coming up to China, I have a lot Intra-china trips booked on Ctrip .About 5 one way tickets for me and another 5 for my traveling partner.Some tickets you must pick up at hotel in Dali some at different airports.
Question, is there any way to pick up the tickets at Shanghai airport where ctrip has a booth. It would save time.
Thanks

If you book your flights online, you should get them all e-ticketed. Save the hassle of having to pick them up in person.

Don't need to pick any of these up - Just go to the airport and show your passport....

I used Ctrip for the first time recently and had the same concern - but it all worked fine...just make sure to get their early enough to get a window/aisle seat

Yeah, unless you've got something weird in there requiring a paper ticket (unlikely), Ctrip normally e-tickets and sends you a confirming itinerary and ticket number by email. If you have paid with a credit card, you don't really need to do anything except show passport to be able to fly. The only thing one might need to pick up (for Chinese business tax purposes, if applicable) is the hard copy of the paper fapiao receipt with chop on it. Maybe that is what they are talking about, as most Chinese want that. It's also useful to have this receipt in case you need to make certain changes to the ticket that must be made directly with the airline, but it's not absolutely essential.

If you haven't paid but are paying with cash, then the Shanghai airport office should be able to deal with all tickets, as long as you have each ticket number. However, normally the time lag between booking and cash payment is very short (a day at most), or your booking gets cancelled. So I'm assuming cash payment is not the issue here.

Thanks all, yes most tickets just show up at airport . On the ticket flying from DLU to JHG, it said pick up tickets at a certain hotel in Dali. The option to pickup at the airport was" greyed" out. Can not be accessed. All the others you pick up at the airport. You have to find the hotel , it just takes time out of your visit.

Well there's the problem. The reason you don't have an option to pick up at Dali Airport is that except right around the 4 or so flights/day, nobody is likely to be at the airport. Few people fly in or out of Dali, most come/go by road or rail. And let me guess, you're flying some oddball carrier like Spring or Lucky, right? That may be a paper ticket. At any rate, Dali isn't that big a place, it shouldn't take more than 5 minutes out of your day to swing by and pick up. Probably the office is in one of the New Dali hotels.

I agree, just go to airport, show passport at airline gate. All good, did it many times.

Local pickup Mar-10-2011 @ 10:00 - 11:00 1F, Jin Ying Hotel, No 93 Wei Shan Road, Dali(08:00-21:30), Dali

That makes sense not too many people at the airport
Yes, it is Lucky Air- Great name for an airline company LOL

Ctrip & Amex business Plat.
 

I did see all the credit card comments on the other china thread, & thought this might be interesting.

The Amex Platinum card has NO foreign transaction fees, this started in April of this year as a new benefit. (the card is $350 a year, & its not the one from Delta.dumb ) There are also a few other new benefits for business abroad, such as a comp Global Entry fee, etc.

Anyway, Its nice to use with C-trip here is china for the in-country flights, as C-trip delivers the 'blue receipt' & you also have the Amex receipt.....

C-trip does add a 3% service fee on the Amex charge, which is then on both the Amex receipt and the 'blue receipt'.

China southern & Air China do not take foreign Amex cards in china.