i understand alliance membership may dictate the choice of transfer hubs in China (and in the past I had some exchange with people obstinately convinced that connecting there is cheaper and viable enough compared to the established choices suggested above), but experience has taught me to avoid any type of connection through Chinese airports, the service level and the capacity to handle various issues related to connections is still not there and will stay like that for many more years.

Wanted to try flying long-haul J on a Chinese carrier last year. MU SIN-PVG-JFK one-way on a single ticket.

One hassle factor early in the morning was that the airside lane for flight connections opened at 6am (or something along those lines). Unless one was interested in going via landside, it was a bit of a wait.

Furthermore, they wanted you to go via transfer desk to get your BP stamped before letting you proceed to flight connections. That was another mess.

Not the end of the world - and most probably more convenient than going via the US - but not my favourite experience.

Add one more to the cacophony: I learned the hard way connecting KA-AA International-to-International in PVG is like connecting in a third-world country like the U.S.A.

However there was the added benefit that Cx/KA wouldn't even tag the bag trough or issue connecting boarding passes so you have one more line (check-in). Unneeded stress as we almost lost our connecting flight due to the bureaucracy,

:td:

Hopefully China is not like Washington and they'll fix the situation. Washington is busy to ensure that passengers that board at AUH don't get to preclear US customs and immigration there (so that they can avoid the mess that getting into the US is). :td:

Having had international transits in PVG (and PEK) - in my experience they are better than international transits in USA.

I'm not sure the arrangements are due to government rules. Air NZ has special transit arrangements when connecting at PVG to/from LH/LX/VS (and maybe other airlines I'm forgetting). And international transit at CAN is a breeze, just a boarding pass and passport check (not full immigration) and through to departures level - no extra security check or long queues.

I've transited both PVG and PEK a few times and haven't had much problem. Without checked bags at PVG it has never been more than 60 minutes from door open to sitting in the lounge waiting for the connecting flight.

Interesting to hear about all these issues in PVG and PEK...I've done a few CAN intl-intl connections this year on China Southern, which were all fairly easy. No need to go though security, no baggage reclaim, no customs, just a quasi-immigration/ticket check. Easy, and can be done in minutes if there's no queue.

You probably had an untrained check-in agent at HKG (?) I flew HKG-PVG-ORD-SEA and was able to check my bags all the way to ORD. She also gave me my BPs to ORD as well. I will mention that it took her sometime to check me in on the system, so maybe some CSRs aren't familiar with these types of tickets.

You should've also been able to transit at PVG w/o clearing immigration/security or picking up your bags. There's a transit desk after you get out of the plane and walk towards the Immigration/Customs line. It was open and manned both times I flew through PVG.

Another important consideration is the frequent delays at major Chinese airports like PEK, PVG, CAN. Beijing has had the worst on time performance globally ... frequent air traffic controls/restrictions, severe weather conditions (& pollution) ... all adding up to your higher chances of missing connection. So I would avoid it as well if you have alternatives. Coming from the US, NRT/HND, ICN, HKG all have much smoother connection options, I think.

Forgot to mention that PEK/PVG/CAN have
- low standard lounges
- slow Internet connection (with FB/Twitter/Youtube etc blocked access)
- poor choice of restaurants
- limited shopping opportunities

Your last point is actually the BIGGEST PLUS for PVG. I personally dislike all the over grown duty free shops in the terminal. They are becoming an eye-sour for someone travel frequently. In PVG the feeling of space is great and you can actually have an open space to sit in the terminal. I found it very relaxing.

The lounges in PVG/PEK are actually very good. I would say above average. There are many places have worse lounges (Warsaw, Bucharest, Kiev, Rome, Milan, CDG, Dusseldorf, Berlin, Frankfurt, all American lounges to name a few).

After visiting the CX lounge at PVG, I much prefer the Admirals Clubs in the States. Sure the CX lounge has hot noodles and stuff but the fact that they don't have a shower or fast internet is a big negative.

Comparing PEK/PVG/SHA lounges with most of those other places isn't especially relevant to this thread because they aren't typical transit points between the US/Europe and Asia. NRT/HND, ICN, and HKG --on the other hand-- are, all of which have much nicer lounges than you'll find in China. Although I have no major beefs against PEK or PVG, I wouldn't dream of using them for connecting purposes without a true stopover.

I put up some (nice) resistance, then finally asked for the supervisor, and she came over and confirmed that they "were only allowed to check me [and bags] to PVG" and no further. This was in January, and it was at the First class check-in at HKG. Thankfully, unlike the U.S., China has a transit without visa (TWOV) provision, otherwise we would have been SOL.With the bags short checked by KA to PVG that was not an option.

According to the AA thread on PVG transits, this started around October/November.

It's been in place sporadically for several years, and is still hit or miss.