ANY TA can get AC's fare out of USA! You have to remind them to check consolidator's fares and not published fares though.

Just bumping this forward. I have already selected seats 73AB for all our NW WBC segments, meaning we are within 90 days!

i can't believe i almost missed this thread. booked for feb 16-20.

Excellent ! We can finally get to meet and discuss CX caviar..

:) or the lack thereof

This is probably a good question for GK. I was contemplating flying into HKG pre-DO on an award ticket and returning home from PVG. What is the most inexpensive way to get from HKG to PVG? I really need to do more than just drink when I go to these DO's so I thought a stop in HKG would be a nice stopover.

in hk, take the boat/bus combo to shenzhen airport. a ticket from szx to pvg should run you around y700 (that's a 50% discount from full fare).

flying out of hkg is world's more convenient of course, but oneway fares are quite a bit more expensive.

How long would this take? Is it safe? convenient? clean? If am doing my exchange rate correctly this is less than $100. How do I get the 50% discount?

the trip to the airport takes around an hour, leaving from the kowloon ferry terminus. i have no real complaints about safety, cleanliness, et al, but the boat/bus is clearly no maglev. the flight is also fine. there are lots of 340s and 777s on the route, but there are also less comfortable small planes, so book wisely.

regarding discounted tickets, from what i can tell, pretty much any agent can issue discounts up to 20% (for szx-pvg, that knocks the fare down to around y1120), but deeper discounts need to be issued by agents or airline offices that are somehow tied to the originating city (shenzhen, in this case).

since going to a physical ta in shenzhen isn't really a viable option (well, not if you value your sanity, anyway), i suggest you call a few TAs in hk (maybe wingon travel) and see if they can help you.

you can use ctrip.com to check schedules and availability. in case you can't read chinese, i posted instructions on how to use the site earlier this year (do a search). one more thing; in china discounted seats usually get released as the flight date approaches; 2-3 days in advance is optimal.

If you book at a place like www.aerohkg.com you can get 2550 HKD (about $330 USD) RT fares to Shanghai. Not really worth it to do the Shenzen shuffle in many ways. Sample fares for Feb 5 departure

MU - China Eastern Y-RT 0D-90D H HKD 2,550 01NOV04 - 31MAR05
MU - China Eastern Y-RT 0D-12M E HKD 2,770 01NOV04 - 31MAR05
KA - Dragon Air Y-RT 0D-90D B HKD 3,000 01NOV04 - 31MAR05

date changes allowed, no minimum stay.

I have purchased tickets from aerohkg.com and picked them up myself on arrival downtown (not the most convenient place but not too bad either). They will also deliver to Hong Kong hotels. I am sure other agents could get the same prices. I tried but was not successful, even with my own asian travel agent in Canada, to get these low fares.

sorry been offline for a day or two...

ok - to get to Shanghai and you don't want to rough it (e.g. this is a holiday, and you've not been to china before..) then take the plane - direct - as that is fastest.

i know there are cheaper options.. but honestly, how much time do you want to waste behaving like a penny pinching back packer on this trip ??

sean and i are taking the last dragonair flight (KA 870) on the friday night, in discounted biz class, but you may find one of the chinese carriers is better aligned with your FF memberships..

another idea, if you have time, is to take KA from HK to Hangzhou (airport code is HAH). i hear that it is a very picturesque place, you can spend a night there and then take a car into shanghai itself.

You haven't been drinking with me in HK yet have you !?!

No, but it will be on my list when I do get to HK. Also Sean promised to take me to all the seedy places to shop for handbags at great prices. I am going to hold him to that! :D

i completely agree. i merely wanted to point out that the szx option exists and isn't that much of a hassel (especially if you have business in shenzhen)