mulderxcoltrane

Hi folks,

I've booked some open-jaw trips before to save money, but my list of desired stops next year are making my head spin.

So, I thought I could use the help of flying pros to figure out which legs would be best to book together and which would be best to book separately in order to get the best bang for my buck:

Leg 1: ORD to PEK
Leg 2: PEK to XIY
Leg 3: XIY to HKG
Leg 4: HKG to PVG
Leg 5: PVG to TYO (either HND or NRT)
Leg 6: TYO to ORD

Have at it!

Yoshi212

What have you been able to find? When you travel will have a big impact of the cost. Same for class of service.

You may wish to employ a professional for this one.

mulderxcoltrane

tangeng

I'd do Star Alliance for:
Leg 1: ORD to PEK
Leg 5: PVG to TYO (either HND or NRT)
Leg 6: TYO to ORD

Cathay for:
Leg 3: XIY to HKG
Leg 4: HKG to PVG

High speed rail for:
Leg 2: PEK to XIY

Would really recommend train between Beijing and Xian. Would really recommend against taking the airplane between those two cities.

mulderxcoltrane

Repooc17

With some minor exceptions, all train services in China are operated by the government; there are no different brands you can choose from. You can, however, choose the speed of trains. From Beijing to Xi'an, or vice versa, take the high speed rail option - you can be in one city or the other within a few hours.

mulderxcoltrane

Repooc17

I use ctrip.com for rail tickets - it's a Chinese travel services provider.

mulderxcoltrane

Repooc17

2nd class: 2-3 configuration
1st class: 2-2 configuration
business class: lie flat seats

tangeng

I see you got more help. ctrip is tops for travel in China.

A few things about flying in China.
Early flights get you on time pretty well. If you are leaving before 9AM, you have a good chance of arriving within 30 minutes of scheduled.
Later flights especially afternoon flights have one time rates of 40-50% with delays that can average 90 minutes. Air space or air traffic control is limited and the crowded air space build up progressively worse delays as the day goes on. But you still have to be there just in case you do take off as scheduled. This is a huge waste of time.
Flights booked 90 days ahead of time are full price fares. For economy seats, these are (B/Y) coded fares. The full price fares are set by government regulations. Expensive! If you insist on flying and budget conscious, look for deals closer in.
Flying domestically China feels like a series of one-way tickets. I haven't seen pricing benefit for multi-city or round trip.

For rail there is also overnight sleeper option to consider if that option fits your schedule/budget better. You can drop a night of hotels for a night aboard a train. These are T or Z class trains.

mulderxcoltrane

And I can book overnight trains on CTrip as well?

Repooc17

Yes.

The expectation needs to be managed on these overnight trains. Yes, you would be saving a night of accommodation, but you would also likely be sharing a room with strangers (unless you have enough travel companion(s) to book the entire room): hard sleepers (no doors) = six bunk beds per room; soft sleepers = four bunk beds per room; deluxe soft sleepers = two bunk beds per room + sitting area + sink/toilet in a separate compartment. There are also certain long distance trains where you have options to buy tickets for hard/soft seats in addition to beds.

On my last trip, my companion and I traveled one way on high speed rail, and one way on deluxe soft sleepers overnight train (we had our own room) - price was about the same; the experience, however, was far worse on the sleeper train.

My personal recommendation: skip the overnight trains if possible.

tangeng

Sorry for the slow responses. Rate limited on the posts.

I'll skip over the details of the train seats for now. There are many video reviews of the train and the seats. I'd suggest watching some of those if you are interested. The overnight trains are an experience, but running at 120 km/hr, they are far slower and situational. For some people, it fits the schedule.

I would suggest playing around with ctrip reservations. You should quickly find out how far in advance you can book these tickets and it's not that far in advance, ~60 days. In fact, the discount fares for flights probably go out much farther in advance.

moondog

For intra-China travel next June, you should start looking next April. Ctrip might be happy to take your money for train tickets sooner, but they won't actually buy tickets until tickets are offered for sale.