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UA, USA to China OJ from $303 ai

Old Jul 5, 2017, 8:33 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: wolfpacktrojan
Transportation options from HGH to Hangzhou city center or PVG. Please add your name and your itinerary if you are interested in meeting other fellow FTers.
1) Taxi to Hangzhou city center, about 100 RMB ($15) for the entire party, not per person, walking from international terminal to domestic terminal (i.e., right turn after you get outside of the international terminal building), you will see taxi queue.
2) Shuttle bus, 20 RMB ($3), to Wulinmen CAAC Ticket Office or East Railway Station Line (two most popular options). The waiting hall for the shuttle bus is at Gate 10 (you can purchase ticket at Gate 14, too) Arrival Hall, on the first floor of the terminal building. Further details, see https://www.travelchinaguide.com/cit...ation.htm#hang
3) Shuttle from Hangzhou city center to PVG, 110 RMB, 3.5 hours: a) Wulinmen Ticket Office Central Hangzhou to PVG: (5:30, 6:10, 7:00, 8:00, 9:00, 10:00, 11:00, 12:00, 13:00, 14:00, 15:00, 16:00, 17:00)
b) Hangzhou Dragon Sports Center to PVG, 110 RMB, (7:00, 8:30, 10:30, 12:30, 14:30, 16:00
). Further details, see https://traveladept.com/bus-pudong-hangzhou/
4) Train from Hangzhou East station to Shanghai Hongqiao; less than 100 RMB (~1 hr); then you can take Subway Line #2 to PVG, ~10 RMB and 2 hrs; or shuttle bus (Airport Line #1), about 1 hr, 30 RMB ($4.5), every 15 - 25 minutes. The Hangzhou East ticketing windows are located on 1st Floor, EAST Area of the station. Please allow 20-30 minutes for walking to 2nd floor departure, and security check. The frequency of Hangzhou-Hongqiao trains is as good as that of subways in many US cities.
5) Getting cash at HGH The international terminal at HGH (where you arrive) only has an exchange vendor with hefty fees that is open limited hours. However, the adjacent domestic terminal has a bank ATM. To get to the entrance of the domestic terminal, exit the international terminal and keep walking right, past the taxi stand. Then enter and take the escalator to the second floor. The bank ATM will be on your left, next to the escalator.
6 Getting TWOV without issues The advice is to print out your itinerary, hotel reservation, etc., to speed up the procedure at the entry point in China. At SFO, the check-in agents were clueless, so be prepared to get there very early and fight for your boarding passes. Please read the last few pages on this thread for first-hand experiences. Good luck. There is a thread on FT for further details. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/china...hread-231.html

ATM To get to the entrance of the domestic terminal, exit the international terminal and keep walking right, past the taxi stand. Then enter and take the escalator to the second floor. The bank ATM will be on your left, next to the escalator.

Travel information for Beijing and airport:
Beijing will have 2 hubs starting Sept 30,2019. PEK (Beijing Capital International Airport) is original main hub and will continue for Star Alliance flights and Cathay Pacific (including subsidiary Cathay Dragon Air). PKX (Beijing Daxing International Airport, will debut Sept 30, 2019)
planned for airlines of the SkyTeam alliance and One World Alliance (AA, BA, etc. except Cathay Pacific) will be relocated to the new airport. Most flyers taking advantage of this China OJ deal will continue fly through PEK. Some people who use positioning flights through Beijing using non-Star Alliance airlines need to make sure you are flying into PEK, or else need 2hr ground transportation from PKX to PEK.
PEK allows TWOV within 24hr to stay inside security zone airside. This is more convenient for immediate turn than Shanghai-PVG, which force all passengers to exit immigration and customs, then re-check in from land side, even if you have immediate turn within 24hr.

Who are going? When for outbound and inbound? Routing from major hubs:
July 2017

August 2017
Quinlanty: Aug 3, ORD-HKG-HGH; Aug 7, PVG-LAX-SFO-IAH-ORD-YYZ (see post #284 for a brief report on TWOV procedure at HGH).

September 2017
Kmxu: 1 Sept, IAD-HNL-GUM-, 3 Sept, GUM-PVG; 4 Sept, PVG-SFO-ORD
Quinlanty; Sep 1, IAD-HNL-GUM; Sept 3, GUM-PVG, Sep 4, PVG-SFO-ORD-YYZ
pushmyredbutton: Sept 1; SFO-HNL-GUM-HKG Sept 3rd: HKG-HGH, Sept 4th: PVG-SFO
X31: 8 Sept BTV-EWR-SFO-HKG-HGH; 11 Sept PVG-NRT; 12 Sept HND-SFO-IAH-EWR; 13 Sept EWR-YUL
Kmxu + 3: 9 Sept, IAD-SFO-HKG-HGH; 12 Sept, PVG-SFO-IAD
techdarko: 12 Sept, SFO-HKG; 14 Sept, HKG-HGH; 16 Sept, PVG-SFO
Quinlanty: Sep 14; SFO-HKG-HGH; Sep 18, PVG-SFO-YVR
bencanfly: Sep 14, SFO-HKG-HGH; Sep 18, PVG-SFO-IAD
tde211: Sept 17, SFO-HKG-HGH; Oct 18 - PVG-SFO-YVR
Fishleafer: Sep 20, SFO-HKG-HGH; Sep 26, PVG-SFO-YVR
X31: 21 Sept BTV-EWR-HNL-GUM-HKG; 23 Sept HKG-HGH; 25 Sept PVG-SFO-IAH-EWR; 26 Sept EWR-YUL
985X: Sept 22, LAX-SFO-HKG; Sept 23, HKG-HGH; Sept 25, PVG-LAX; Sept 26, LAX-YVR
flyingstudent: Sept 23: SFO-HGH
netoreisinger: 30 Sept, BOS-EWR-HKG-HGH; 4 Oct, PVG-SFO-ORD-YUL

October 2017
gba: Oct 22, SFO-HKG-HGH; Oct 29: PVG-NRT-SEA-YVR
beyounged: Oct 24, SAN-SFO-HKG, Oct 26, HKG-HGH, Nov 8, PVG-HND-YVR
as219: Oct 26, LGA-ORD-HKG (+1); Oct 30: HKG-SFO-EWR-YUL (+1)
X31: 26 Oct BTV-ORD-HKG; 28 Oct HKG-HGH; 30 Oct PVG-SFO; 31 Oct SFO-ORD-YUL
riphamilton +1: Oct 27, BOS-EWR-HNL-GUM-HKG (+1); Oct 30: HKG-GUM-NRT; Oct 31: NRT-ORD-YUL

November 2017
Quinlanty: Nov 3, BOS-EWR-HKG-HGH; Nov 6, HGH-SFO-IAH-ORD-YYZ
pushmyredbutton: Nov 19: BDL-ORD-HKG-HGH, Nov 27 HGH HKG-SFO-(YVR)
Davistev: Nov26, LAX-NRT-PVG

December 2017
Kmxu: Dec 1, IAH-HNL-GUM-HKG; Dec 3, HKG-HGH, Dec 4, PVG-SFO-IAD
X31: Dec 1, YUL-IAD-IAH; Dec 2, IAH-LAX-PVG; Dec 4, HGH-HKG-GUM-HNL; Dec 4, HNL-EWR-BTV.

January 2018
Kewldude21: Jan 14 IAH-EWR-HKG Jan 16 HKG-HGH Jan 22 PVG-SFO-IAH
mpiotrow: Jan 21, ORD-SFO-KIX; Jan 23, KIX-HGH; Jan 24, HGH-HKG-GUM-HNL-DEN-YYZ

February 2018

March 2018
Davistev: Mar03, PVG-SFO-YVR
flyer777lr: Mar 20, DEN-HNL-GUM; Mar 23, GUM-KIX (NH)-HGH; Mar 26, HGH-HKG-GUM-HNL; Mar 27, HNL-EWR-YYZ
Kewldude21: Mar 22 IAH-EWR-HKG Mar 24 HKG-HGH Mar 28 HGH-PEK-SFO-IAH
flyme2: Mar 28, BTV-ORD-HKG; Mar 29: HKG-HGH; Apr 17: HKG-EWR-YUL
JetSetDave: Mar 29, EUG-SFO-HKG-HGH; April 3, PVG-SFO-EUG
Coeur 05: March 31, bos-sfo-hkg-pvg; April 5, PVG-lax-ord-yow

April 2018
ttyl: Apr 01 BTV-IAD-EWR-HKG; Apr 02 HKG-HGH; Apr 04 PVG-SFO-IAD-LGA-YUL
Toronto1970: April 6, EWR-ORD-HKG-HGH; April 13, CTU-SFO-EWR-YYZ
Exiled in Express: April 18, ORD-HKG-HGH; April 30, WUH-NRT-SEA-YVR
X31: Apr. 28 : BTV-EWR-HKG-HGH; May 1st : PVG-KIX; May 15th : ITM-HND-YVR-YYJ

May 2018
Kewldude21: May 3 IAH-SFO-HKG May 13 PEK-SFO-IAH

October 2018
KMXU, Oct. 18, IAD-SFO-HKG-HGH, Oct. 25, PVG-SFO-IAD

November 2018
KMXU, Nov. 14, ORD-HKG-XIY, Nov. 19, PEK-ORD

September 2019
xinliz Sept 4 SFO-NRT-PVG Sept 25 PEK-EWR-YOW
Flying Machine Sept 9 LAX-SFO-HKG Sept 10 HKG-HGH Sept 16 PVG-SFO-IAD

October 2019
kmxu: Oct 26, IAH-HNL-GUM-HKG, Oct. 27, HKG-XIY, Oct 30, CTU-SFO-IAH
wolfpacktrojan: Oct. 26, EWR-SFO-PVG, Oct. 28, PVG-NRT-SFO-YVR

November 2019
kmxuand his colleague: Nov 9, IAD-PEK, Nov 12, PEK-NRT-HNL-SFO-YYZ
kmxu's colleague: Nov 13, YYZ-IAD-NRT-PEK, Nov. 16, PEK-ORD
kmxu: Nov. 20, IAD-NRT-PEK, Nov. 22, PEK-EWR-YYZ
kmxu: Nov. 23, YYZ-IAD-NRT-PEK, Nov. 26, PEK-ORD
aquanine Nov 28: LAX-SFO-KIX, Nov 30: KIX-PEK, Dec 2: PEK-SFO-YVR

December 2019
kmxu: Nov. 30, IAD-NRT-PEK, Dec. 2, PEK-ORD-YYZ
kmxu: Dec. 3, YYZ-IAD-NRT-PEK, Dec. 6, PEK-ORD
jskang Dec 5, EWR-PVG, Dec 8, PEK-NRT-IAD-YOW

January 2020


February 2020


March 2020

April 2020
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UA, USA to China OJ from $303 ai

Old Jan 7, 2019, 8:49 pm
  #1036  
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 188
Sorry guys...I was just randomly playing with the cities/date and didn't build one that minimize the incidental cost such as hotel/train ticket. Should have done a better job on it considering I was sharing it. Understood that it would have been better to build an itinerary that would circle back to city you originate and just drop that last flight. When I do mileage run, sometimes I do it as part of a "vacation" to do some sight seeing.
qplazm1982 is offline  
Old Jan 7, 2019, 9:46 pm
  #1037  
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: ORF, RIC
Programs: UA LT 1K, 3 MM; Marriott Titanium; IHG Platinum
Posts: 6,834
How about this?

except for overnight at HKG (nice bench chair below United Club), this itinerary minimizes a lot of cost and maximum the PQM, for $281.
https://www.google.com/flights#flt=E...83*2.USD.28083
Kmxu is offline  
Old Jan 8, 2019, 12:27 am
  #1038  
 
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Boston, MA
Programs: UA 1K 3MM Lifetime, AA PlatPro,Marriott Titanium Elite Lifetime, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 741
Originally Posted by Kmxu
except for overnight at HKG (nice bench chair below United Club),
Check also the thread in the Hong Kong destination forum discussing strategies of staying up all night in the city when your layover isn't long enough to warrant a hotel room. Figure a 12 hour layover gets cut to 8 when factoring immigration / emigration and transit to/from the airport.
edsh is offline  
Old Jan 8, 2019, 5:53 am
  #1039  
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 188
For those who hold Ellie status with frequent flyer program and aren't aware of this, you can enroll for echannel service to reduce wait time for immigration on future trips assuming if you are going to exit the airport. You're qualified for the enrollment based on criteria#3. This way you can use those autogates to get into hkg with shorter wait time in the future since the enrollment office is after the immigration counter. The process is fairly fast and took only 5-10 minutes.

https://www.immd.gov.hk/eng/services/echannel_visitors.html#fv
nyckid and X31 like this.
qplazm1982 is offline  
Old Jan 8, 2019, 7:57 am
  #1040  
 
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: YUL
Programs: UA 1K, Hilton Honors Diamond
Posts: 77
Hi again,

Is anyone familiar with the inner-China (XIY, or HGH, or NKG) to PEK route? Did anyone try this? I was hoping I can try the route quoted below as it includes the island hopper, and provides decent pqm even though there is Cathay leg.

Originally Posted by ttyl
Hi all. Happy 2019! Good to see that this thread is active again.

Thanks for the replies. I honestly never looked at the "reversed" routes (USA-PVG, HGH-HKG, HKG-Canada), instead of USA-HKG, HKG-HGH, PVG-Canada. I will be searching later on, and hopefully can find some good combinations from either ex-BTV or ORD.

However, I have found some decent MR for around ~380USD through PEK. There are a couple of options but essentially look like this.
  1. ORD- HKG Feb28
  2. HKG - XIY, or HGH, or NKG, or NONE Mar 2
  3. PEK - GUM Mar 3
  4. GUM - HNL - Mar 4
  5. HNL - YUL - Mar 4
My last year's MR going through HGH & PVG was relatively inexpensive as train ride was about 15 USD First Class. However train rides from those inland Chinese cities to PEK are about ~115 USD first class. Alternatively, there is airfare too, though not familiar. I did find an odd airfare from HKG-PVG, overnight in Shanghai, SHA-PEK for about ~120 USD.
Would anyone have some suggestions if I use the PEK route based on itinerary above?

Thank you
ttyl is offline  
Old Jan 8, 2019, 1:12 pm
  #1041  
 
Join Date: Jan 2019
Programs: UA 1K AA exp
Posts: 6
Originally Posted by ttyl
Hi again,

Is anyone familiar with the inner-China (XIY, or HGH, or NKG) to PEK route? Did anyone try this? I was hoping I can try the route quoted below as it includes the island hopper, and provides decent pqm even though there is Cathay leg.
inner-China flight tickets are cheaper within 2-3weeks of departure. On Jan 10th both XIY-PEK and HGH-PEK cost around 60USD, you can use a Chinese website "Ctrip" to find these tickets, just don't purchase tickets 3 month advanced. Also, ticket price will be higher during lunar new year travel period (01/21-03/01), hope this will help.
flockavelliFT likes this.
flyer 2019 is offline  
Old Jan 9, 2019, 12:39 am
  #1042  
 
Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Hong Kong, Jakarta
Posts: 219
Originally Posted by ttyl
Hi again,

Is anyone familiar with the inner-China (XIY, or HGH, or NKG) to PEK route? Did anyone try this? I was hoping I can try the route quoted below as it includes the island hopper, and provides decent pqm even though there is Cathay leg.
you may also try to use TAO instead of XIY/HGH/NKG. this is connected to Beijing with the high speed train but only cost around USD50.
shek3112 is offline  
Old Jan 9, 2019, 5:09 am
  #1043  
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 57
Originally Posted by flyer 2019
inner-China flight tickets are cheaper within 2-3weeks of departure. On Jan 10th both XIY-PEK and HGH-PEK cost around 60USD, you can use a Chinese website "Ctrip" to find these tickets, just don't purchase tickets 3 month advanced. Also, ticket price will be higher during lunar new year travel period (01/21-03/01), hope this will help.
Also try taking the overnight train between XIY and PEK. Pretty fun
nyckid is offline  
Old Jan 10, 2019, 8:45 am
  #1044  
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: SJC / DPS
Programs: AS G75K, UA Silver
Posts: 1,750
This fare is so weird...I still can't get my head around it after a few runs and over a year later. Can't seem to find a rhyme or reason for what dates actually work to trigger to 'lowest' prices. The prices also seem to fluctuate more day-to-day than they used to.

I can't seem to get a condensed run in from SFO anymore. The current arrival into HKG necessitates an overnight for all the KA flights the next day. When the UA flights are retimed in March to arrive earlier to make the KA connections, that's when Premium Plus is on sale, so no more free access to those seats

Have anyone been successful finding a true 1 night MR from the west coast lately? This is the best I could do: https://flights.app.goo.gl/UxEi

Priced at $301 yesterday; I'm sure it'll go back down in a few days.
pushmyredbutton is offline  
Old Jan 10, 2019, 9:00 pm
  #1045  
 
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: IAD | YTZ
Programs: UA *G
Posts: 81
Anyone manage to find anything from IAD with a longer stay in HGH or PVG? I see KMXU posted an itinerary for October but I couldn't replicate the fare. Thanks!
leontief is offline  
Old Jan 12, 2019, 2:07 pm
  #1046  
 
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: YUL
Programs: UA 1K, Hilton Honors Diamond
Posts: 77
Unfortunately was late on selecting flights. Having a bit of harder time finding good MR ex-ORD or BTV or YUL to China and back to YUL end of February or early March.

Need a bit of help please:
  1. Booking website?
    • Would like to try the Island Hopper. However, through Google Flights, not able to get a United Airlines link.
    • Tried through priceline, orbitz, flightnetwork, smartfares, ... but can't get similar itineraries or prices
    • Previously (less complex routing) I was able to do book via itamatrix and then using bookwithmatrix.com, took the priceline link and was able to book ticket.
  2. Any good dates you know off?
Thanks
ttyl is offline  
Old Jan 13, 2019, 8:54 pm
  #1047  
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: YEG
Programs: UA 1K, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 755
Will be in PEK on one of these fares next week, any suggestions for a good dinner downtown near t. square (I have just the one night there) THANKS
whitethunder is offline  
Old Jan 21, 2019, 10:11 am
  #1048  
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: ORF, RIC
Programs: UA LT 1K, 3 MM; Marriott Titanium; IHG Platinum
Posts: 6,834
Spend more than a week on planes for about $600😬

Just for some very crazy souls, you can do back-to-back OJ runs (EWR-HGH/PVG-YYZ and then YYZ-HGH/PVG-EWR). Anyway, the OJ deals are still alive and have wide availability via both USA-HNL/GUM/HKG or direct USA-HKG.
For $282, https://www.google.com/flights#flt=E...03*2.USD.28103

For $324, https://www.google.com/flights#flt=Y...89*2.USD.32345
Kmxu is offline  
Old Jan 21, 2019, 7:01 pm
  #1049  
 
Join Date: May 2008
Programs: Marriott Titanium, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Globalist, AA Plat, UA Silver, Delta Silver
Posts: 453
Originally Posted by Kmxu
Just for some very crazy souls, you can do back-to-back OJ runs (EWR-HGH/PVG-YYZ and then YYZ-HGH/PVG-EWR). Anyway, the OJ deals are still alive and have wide availability via both USA-HNL/GUM/HKG or direct USA-HKG.
Funny, I was just explaining to my wife how I want to do multiple runs with her and she then asked if we would get flagged for going back and forth so many times. I told her to just tell them the truth if we do and were flying partly just for the miles/elite status.
BudgetJetsetter is offline  
Old Jan 22, 2019, 9:03 am
  #1050  
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Join Date: Mar 2016
Posts: 412
Wow! Thank you guys for this! Me and P2 are flying to Asia for $285 per person!
What an incredible deal! We'll be touring Asia for the full month and see family.
Cherry blossoms in Japan is also on the top of our list.

https://www.google.com/flights#flt=E...;sd:1;t:f;tt:m
exploreaswego is offline  

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