AVOID PVG for Transit
 

I had the bright idea of trying the AA LAX-PVG service as an alternative to NRT for transit to SE Asia. Here was my experience:

I flew MIA-LAX-PVG (AA) with MU connection to BKK 11/6/13. My luggage was checked thru only to PVG. I had to fill out a form for immigration & clear in PVG. (I had no visa, but that was no problem). There was a "transit desk" but it isn't open. At immigration I asked an officer at the line entrance & was directed to a special booth (NO SIGNAGE). Then I had to collect luggage and make the 15-minute walk with my luggage from Terminal 1 -> 2. I missed my connecting flight, had to overnight in PVG (unanticipated).

Return 11/16/13 I flew REP-PVG-NRT (MU) with AA connection NRT-LAX-MIA. MU could NOT check my luggage thru either to NRT or LAX. I had to repeat the same process in PVG as my outbound: immigration form, clear PVG immigration & customs, upstairs to check-in counter to recheck my luggage for onward travel.

Narita so much more convenient. I won't do THAT again. I was shocked that MU couldn't treat me as transit pax in PVG. But then, perhaps China is like the USA with non-citizens...


http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/china...l#post21826636

AVOID PVG for Transit
 

I made that same mistake when I decided to transit at PVG on my way home. Even though my bags were checked all the way through to my destination, I found out when I got to the immigration desk that I was supposed to get my luggage and recheck it again- to make a long story short, I decided never to go through PVG again.

AVOID PVG for Transit
 

was this two separate tickets? how much time did you leave for the connection?

Its not only PVG - but PEK as well. Its all on one ticket - but you still must clear immigration / luggage and recheck in for connecting flight.

AVOID PVG for Transit
 

AA and MU are not same alliance. That's why AA could not check in MU flight, while MU could not check in AA flight.

If it's on two separate tickets, you bear far greater responsibility for having a too tight connection. Given the two airlines involved, I am wondering if perhaps the OPs arranging a short connection, not the airport, is to blame

Mine was in the same ticket, and same alliance, Cathay and AA. The tags on my luggage were checked all the way through to final destination. Overall, my impression is that PVG is not a transit friendly airport, IMHO

This sums it up very well.;):p Many non-US citizens/residents avoid transiting USA airports for this precise reason.

1) 2 separate tickets
2) 2-hrs. 10-mins connection

But still, on the one ticket, REP-PVG-NRT, all on MU, luggage couldn't be thru checked to NRT.

And there was a later flight on MU from PVG-BKK. However, when I arrived (an hour late) in PVG, i cleared customs & walked from T-2 -> T-1 because my luggage was tagged thru to BKK. I had no idea I had to collect luggage in customs -- which I found out upon arrival at MU desk! So, I traipsed back to T-2, got back into customs, collected luggage, walked back to T-1 and missed the last flight to BKK. This was after already about 20 hours of travel -- I was exhausted.

So, why bother with PVG? NRT transit so much simpler...

I think a lot of folks here would agree you'd be asking for trouble with a two hour connection on two separate tickets flying through NRT as well. My guess is the reason you didn't connect only through NRT was the same reason you bought two separate tickets: price

Correct
 

You're exactly right. And I've learned my lesson. I could have picked the later PVG-BKK flight at 22:20 to give me more of a cushion.

This is of future concern as I read that AA will switching capacity from Japan -> China in the future:

American Airlines, Delta and United are de-emphasising Japan in favour of other Asian countries

http://centreforaviation.com/analysi...untries-134208

Airside transit is only available between LH, LX, VS and NZ in PVG T2. Not 100% sure about T1. I think MU to MU should be okay in T1. You will definitely need to clear Customs between terminals.

It's a completely different story at PEK where at least with all flights between Star Alliance flights, bags will be transferred automatically.

I Couldn't Check Thru at PVG on 2 MU Connecting Flights
 

Nope! Not my experience. Return I flew REP-PVG-NRT (MU) with AA connection NRT-LAX-MIA. MU could NOT check my luggage thru either to NRT or LAX. I had to repeat the same process in PVG as my outbound: immigration form, clear PVG immigration & customs, upstairs to check-in counter to recheck my luggage for onward travel.
And my connection was thru T-1 on both MU flights.

I had been thinking about a transit in PVG, so thanks to the OP for the heads up. Unless it's the destination, sounds like NRT, HKG or SIN should be picked for hassle-minimising transits...

OP, thanks for sharing.
Your post alerted me to change my routing plan.

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.

Transit Desk Closed For Me (Original Poster)
 

Just to beat the dead horse:
When I arrived PVG around 20:30 on 11/7/13 the Transit Desk was CLOSED. There was no one at the desk - I heard voices & went to the offices off the hallway behind the desk and was directed to customs.
When I flew MU (China Eastern) 11/16/13 from REP-PVG-NRT, I was told that I could NOT check luggage thru to NRT and that I could NOT transit PVG. Again, just my experience in November.

I have to agree that you had an untrained check in agent in hkg. We checked in at the airport express terminal in November for a hkg pvg Ord flight. It was actually on two different tickets one award and one paid. After a little confusion... mostly on our part since we didn't think you could transfer without re checking in. and we didn't have a printout of the pvg to Ord the agent was able to tag our bags all the way to Ord. When we arrived in pvg the transfer signs were prominent, the transfer desk was manned and we did not see our bags until Ord. There was one little hiccup in pvg when we went to board. Even though we had boarding passes, we had to wait for Chinese immigration to clear us at the gate to board. I don't think all the kinks have been worked out, but these was much improved from before. We are doing this again in early February so I can report back then.

Same experience with waiting at the gate for a Chinese immigration officer. By chance, were you in F from PVG-ORD? :P

I guess it depends on what time you arrive into PVG as well.. All of my connections were between 2 and 4PM.

Unfortunately in C. Arrived in pvg around 3 and was at the gate the entire time and was first in line for boarding. Boarding stopped until the immigration officer appeared. Wasn't pretty. Glad it was China and not in the US.