lsi

Am taking the family from London to BKK in April and have seen some fairly stunning fares in economy on Shenzhen Airlines (as in up to 700-800 GBP cheaper for the four of us than the next best option on the dates we need...)

At that kind of discount we'd obviously be prepared to suffer certain relative hardships, but I would love to hear from anyone who has any thoughts on...

- What is their economy class like (I've found it weirdly difficult to find information on seat pitch, etc)?
- Is there a humane way to spend a 6-8 hour layover in SZX with two under 12s in tow?

Any insights would be hugely appreciated...

moondog

I've never flown ZH longhual, but it can't be that bad.

The main reason I'm replying is to opine on that 6-8 hour layover at SZX. While terminal is big and beautiful, I couldn't imagine spending 6 hours there on purpose. Just try to imagine an enormous shopping mall chalk full of stores selling things like wedding dresses and $10,000 handbags, yet with remarkably few places to eat. The good news is that there's now a Hyatt House and Hyatt Place really close to the terminal (i.e. just walk across the pickup/dropoff road); they look pretty spiffy from the outside. Unfortunately, if you don't have a PRC visa, there's some chance that you wouldn't be granted an entry permit, even with a hotel reservation. This is much less likely to be an issue if your layover is > ~8 hours and/or at night.

akl_cat

Granted that I have never flown ZH long-haul, I have flown ZH domestically many times and I think they are probably one of the best Chinese airlines out there. If you have flown with and can tolerate CA/MU/CZ you will be fine with ZH.

razorblade

I fly ZH very often and I agree that they are probably one of the better domestic Chinese carriers.

But, the LHR route is a new one so I guess it'll be a slight gamble. I do agree that the fares are really tempting.

lsi

This is good input, thanks. From the sounds of it spending the extra money for QR would be worth it...

razorblade

There's TWOV at SZX if that's your worry.

dvs7310

Is that fairly recent? SZX was one of the cities excluded from TWOV, though I never understood why.

moondog

TWOV doesn't always guarantee an entry permit, particularly on shorter layovers, and you wouldn't want to be stuck in that place for six hours if you had other options. Maybe Saudi Arabia TWOV is worse, I guess.

razorblade

Yes it's fairly recent. I've seen TWOV counters when entering SZX as well.

More info here: https://www.chinadiscovery.com/shenz...hour-twov.html

razorblade

That's true I guess. Im lucky enough that my passport grants me visa free to most countries.

I do agree that SZX international air side is a horrendous place to be stuck at for 6 hours.

moondog

The linked article pertains to the 144 hour TWOV; 24 hour TWOV has been in place at pretty much all PRC airports since the late 90s for all passports, though some airports, including SZX, have had unique restrictions at various times.

lsi

Thanks for the replies to this! Six hours airside in SZX would be cruel and unusual from the sounds of it, so I guess we'll look for alternate routes...