450 Chinese Yuan Renminbi = $54.43395 USD

www.oanda.com

Those S fares would appear to be gone (for now)... All I can find without the min. stay required for a V fare is an M fare.

Yes I should like to meet the lot of you. I have never been to any FT do and I think this is the right opportunity...

Just so you know, SH winters are cold and rainy...mostly rainy...

Also, CNY is Feb 9th in 2005 I think...it's a little quiet except for the constant firework projectiles that blow up 20 meters from your 30th floor flat's windows...for 10 days or something...fun! Oh the point is, its basically a 3 week holiday...

Oh, in addition, 6 month multiple-entry Chinese visas 9the ones that let you stay the whole 6 months on the ground) are available (next day pick up) for HKD 400 at Japan Travel Bureau in TST East in HKG. The shorter duration visas are cheaper but I don't know the prices.

Is this still available for US citizens? I had heard that we couldn't use the HKG visa services for some reason.

...I am about to make a visa run next week...hope it still is ok.

Be sure to go to JTB...they are really great.

Thanks for the info, please let me know if they can issue it. If so, I'll definitely be there 9/2.

i've heard the japan place is helping americans once again. there was a 6-8 week window where us-china consular relations were pretty nasty, but that fog seems to have lifted. i got my most recent visa in los angeles. although i paid $150 for it and had to wait in two long lines, it's the slickest non-z visa i've ever procured (and i didn't even have any special hook-ups).

Yes I will post the results here with more info on the address and tel number...I remember how to get there but have no info to share now.

NW has finally issued our upgraded WBC seats JFK-NRT-PVG and return so Sondra and I will there. Still hoping to book a room at a reasonable price at the Westin.

Star ratings in China are lower than the ones in the USA IMHO. I have not personally been to those properties, but I'd just pay the cash and save my points for elsewhere.

HOLY Smoke...Sweet Willie is going to have the real "xiao lom bao" <shanghai dumplings>

Definitely in and booked
 

Just took AAdvantage of the low fares to KIX on AA and AA codeshares. OAK-DFW-NRT/HND-KIX/ITM-NRT-DFW-OAK for $500.20 all incl. Also, reserved an award on ANA from KIX-PVG-KIX for 20,000 US Air miles plus $31 in taxes. (The fares from OSA/NRT-PVG were more than the fare I paid to get to Japan.) So, arriving PVG 2/18 at 11:30am return 2/21 at 12:35pm. I have 2 nites in Osaka at the beginning and 1 at the end (flight from PVG gets into KIX at 3:30pm, so not too much time as my return leaves ITM at 8:40am on 2/22 to NRT, connect to AA176 to DFW.) Good AA mileage to start off the year, 16,220 EQM's plus 500 for LH M&M for the HND-KIX ANA flight. aa.com teased me with a RTW itn (using search by schedule,) SFO-DFW-FRA-KIX/ITM-NRT-DFW-SFO, but it wouldn't price it. Too bad, I could use the LH miles and could UPG with my LH eVouchers. Definitely the downwind path. Probably would have been more than $500.

And now to reserve the hotels.

nice itin, even by ft standards.

I heard that they can also issue a 1-year visa, but it costs quite a bit. I'll have to dig out the source when I get home tonight. The caveat was that you probably need to have had a least once in the past a multiple entry L visa.

Still kicking self for missing the deal Sweet Willie found...even if it wasn't an upgradeable fare! Planning on using one or two of my spg free nights on this trip, I suspect (St Regis is Cat 3 & Westin is Cat 4)

1-year F/L visas cost $150 in the US and considerably less in other consulates. as for eligibility requirements, there's often a substantial gap between theory and practice. ime, getting along well with the person on the other side of the counter can be pretty useful.