finny52

I'm trying to get to Saipan (SPN) in July and there are not a ton of options. One that I have found involves the following:

DTW - PEK on DL 189 arrives into PEK at 15:15
PEK - SPN on MU 763 at 16:30

Questions:

1) Has anybody done an MU international connection in PEK T2 before? T2 is much smaller than MU's operation in PVG so it should be do-able...
2) This flight is NOT on a daily frequency, only T, Th, Sa. Would that give you pause?
3) The DL agent had to route this through the manual issue desk and they could only put it into Y, which priced the ticket at $4k. Alternatively, I could buy a DL ticket to PEK ($725) and a separate MU ticket onward to SPN ($325). What do you think?

Is this a really bad idea? Any other routing ideas? It would be much easier flying into GUM by connecting with KE, but I much prefer to fly directly into SPN.

Thanks!

jrkmsp

I've done the I-D transfer at PEK, DL --> MU. That was long, frustrating but ultimately not terrible. My understanding is, in the intervening few years it has gotten slightly better.

This is an I-I transfer, so I'd think it would be easier. You won't have to wander through the airport to get to the domestic area, so it might make the connection quite simple. It looks to me like if you did the connection this week, you'd be going from gate 8 to gate 2. That said, the MCT for an I-I connection in T2 is 1h40, so this looks to be under MCT and I'm surprised Delta would book it for you. I'm also interested in the idea of flying a domestic route with a stopover in a foreign country. I'm sure it's fine because it's being sold by a domestic carrier and half the routing is on a US carrier, but it does bear some limited resemblance to cabotage.

I might suggest bringing this question to the FT China forum. It's fairly active and I found it extremely helpful when I was dealing with my own T2 connection some years ago.

carybrevard

cabotage

I had to look that one up and I'm still not certain I fully understand it - but it does roll very nicely off the tongue.

nw6338

Any chance you can overnight in PEK by going a day earlier and take the flight to Saipan the next day? there are only a few flights per week from PEK-SPN and this allows very little room for error.. PEK security can be nightmarish in my experiences too (never had huge hang ups at immigration). I certainly wouldn't risk it.

Do you have a Chinese visa? Were you planning on using transit visa?

finny52

@jrkmsp I didn't know about the 100 minute MCT at PEK T2 for I-I which gives me additional pause (i'm not sure why)...

Practically speaking, I think this suggestion may be the way to go. I have business partners in Beijing and can find an excuse to overnight. I have a 10-year multi-entry visa so there's no issues whatsoever. The other option would be to route DTW-ICN-GUM [overnight] then fly UA from GUM-SPN, but that too involves an overnight as I would incur in PEK without the extra benefits.

I guess there's no ideal solution here. Thanks group!

Billy Mumphrey

Why not just fly DTW-ICN and then book a cheap ICN-SPN on one of the low-cost carriers like Jeju or Asiana? Seems like that would be a lot easier.

flyerCO

I would never count on the schedule for flights into/out of China. There's always delays even on good days. Arrive day before.

samwise6222

Second this. ICN - SPN direct costs like $100 and it's much more reliable than transferring in PEK.

runningformqm

does this even count towards a visa free transit? i thought the rules were that u have to go to a third country.

im guessing its not cabotage since dl is flying the first leg and mu is only providing service between a foreign country and the us

BenA

xShadowBurst

I suggest you set up a layover in Beijing for two or three days before you hop on the flight to Saipan. Long-haul flights usually arrive early if the departure is not delayed. 1.5 hrs layover should be fine but there is nothing wrong to take the chance visiting Beijing.

ATOBTTR

Well I certainly wouldn't recommend the separate tickets option with a 1:15 "connection" in PEK. That's less time than I would feel comfortable doing for a "connection" between two tickets domestically in the US. A lot of potential issues here. For one, you're already arriving pretty much at the check-in cutoff for MU. As this is international, I'm going to guess the check-in cutoff is at least 60 minutes, if not more. Doubt you'll be able to get off the inbound flight on DL and to a ticket counter in 15 minutes and to check-in and complete any required documents checks.
Other issues:
- Potential Cabotage issue, as already mentioned above though this may still be alright..
- Do you have a Chinese Visa? Not sure this would qualify for TWOV given that you're going from the US to China back to the US
- If you misconnect on separate tickets, MU can tell you to go pound sand and doesn't have to assist you in rebooking. They are SkyTeam and a close DL partner so that may give you some leeway but you never know.
- If/when you do misconnect, you're waiting several days to get out if this flight is only a few times a week, unless you find an alternate routing.

ATOBTTR

https://thepointsguy.com/news/illega...mistake-story/
Have to be careful with this due to cabotage law/rules/policies, as this Points Guy article outlines with exactly the case of going to Saipan and trying to fly to ICN then trying to take an LCC to Saipan.

samwise6222

I was assuming OP would fly DL since DL is the only one that runs DTW-ICN route. Cabotage rules still apply for PEK as well.

finny52

Fair enough. Case settled. I will route through ICN on a combined ticket. Thank you everyone