Transfer at PVG
 

I will have a five hour lay over at PVG when arriving from CPH (with SK)before I continue to BKK with TG. Does Star Alliance have a transfer centre at this ariport where I can get the boarding pass for the leg from PVG to BKK? Is it possible to get a guided tour or something without a visa for China?

I am travelling with my family, but I guess they will not let all of us into anyu lounge (I am EBG).

BTW does anyone have any experience with op-up or upsells with TG on this route? It is sold out in Y.

Cheers

I think you will need to clear immigration and collect your bags and check in again. I have heard at one stage PVG has the ability to through check baggages but in reality I doubt that will happen until T2 opens next year especially when you tranfer to a different airline. China will issue I think a 48 or 72 hour visa on arrival since you will have to clear immigration anyway. 5 hours are a bit tight to go with a tour guide. Pudong Airport is located pretty remote but you will have time to board a Maglev train and tranfer to Metro line 2 and get off at Lujiazui Station which only takes about 45 mintues tops each way. You will see the very best of Shanghai there.

But of course TG check in counter only opens 3 hours before departure. You will have to leave your baggage at the airport and travel nearly 100km in 3 hours. I wonder with your family traveling together if you would want to go through all the trouble.

well, about 65-70km out of those 100 takes 15 minutes altogether on maglev, so not that much to stress about. ;)
If the kids are not too small, they gonna love maglev I think. ^

Well I am one of the kids, and I am 28;) .

Thanks for the input.

While I disagree with your glowing praises of LJZ, I will concede that your plan makes sense. He could also add in a ride through the bund tourist tunnel and a stroll in the Jade market/gardens and maybe lunch at the famous xiaolongbao place.

Alternatively, People's Square and Shimen #1 Rd. stations are only 5-7 minutes past LJZ so there are other options.

Two words of warning on the subway: 1) I have been pickpocket 3 times in my life, and 3 times on SH subways; and 2) transfering at People's Square is unpleasent.

Must collect baggage when transfering at PVG
 

I am in the midst of SIN-PVG-SFO-IAD, and was surprised to find that one must collect baggage at PVG in this itinerary.

When I checked in at SIN (in the SQ first-class lounge, no less), the agents tagged my bag to SFO and told me that it would be checked all the way through to there. Luckily, I have a China visa, and luckily, I had a six-hour layover so I had decided to leave the airport and zoom into town. But imagine my surprise when I showed up at the UA ticket counter a few hours later to be told that I needed my suitcase.

I was skeptical that the course of action that the agent told me I had to undertake would actually work, but it did. There is a "staff entrance" downstairs, in which they let me in behind customs and, sure enough, my suitcase was sitting there at the (one common) baggage service office.

The agent also told me that, in the event that I didn't have a China visa, immigration on the way out would issue some sort of transit stamp that would allow me to leave the sterile area. I am glad that I didn't have to experiment with this. Even luckier that I didn't just stay in the airport for my layover, oblivious that my suitcase was not traveling with me, although they weren't able to issue my PVG-SFO boarding pass in SIN (maybe this is related), so I would have had to go to a transfer counter anyway where I imagine I would have gotten the same information.

I am very surprised that Star Alliance carriers can't check bags all the way through; I guess the new PVG terminal coming on-line didn't help things. I am also surprised that the agents in SIN didn't know this. I guess it's the same in the U.S. if one is connecting, e.g., FRA-IAD-GIG, although I thought that the U.S. would be the only country silly enough to require such steps. (I think that in the U.S., one needs an entry visa even if one is only transiting?)

By the way, the UA check-in counter for the 12:25 flight PVG-SFO (flight 858) only opens around 9:30, so had one in my situation retrieved one's luggage at 6:30, one would be stuck with it until then, although there is a left-luggage service right outside customs. (Of course one would have to pay in RNB, which one might not have if one were planning to only transit PVG.) Also, they don't take laptops.

How could you adjust from flying SQ F from Sin-Pvg then have to put up
with UA the rest of the way? :)


Actually, the system works very well, and is quite easy. You just get a
special entry stamp in your passport, as long as you can show your
outbound ticket.

Painfully. I was grateful to at least get SQ for a third of the trip!

Good to know. Is this special entry stamp good for a couple of days also? It seems like there has been a lot of confusion on these boards about China visa requirements lately. . . It seems like, at best, the requirements change periodically, so I would be hesistant to take a chance attempting to go through without a visa.

Do you know whether this requirement to clear baggage at PVG is a China government requirement or just a process issue among *A carriers? I assume that it's the same at PEK?

You can do the transit without visa at both PEK and PVG, the rules permit 48 hours
stop-over.

I don't know whose rule it is, but when we flew ORD-(UA)- PEK-(TG)-BKK, we also
had to re-claim and re-check the bags even though they were tagged all the way
to BKK. We had Chinese visas ( although my wife and son had only single entry)
since we were coming back to China to stay for a while after BKK, but they were
not used while doing the transit.

see the following link for official confirmation: http://losangeles.china-consulate.or...isa/t27600.htm

We are flying 29 Nov 08 AKL/PVG on NZ C class connecting to LX F class to LHR via ZRH. Ticketed on BD award last month when the transit in PVG was 2:30 but an LX schedule change means we now only have 1:45. Surely with T2 open now *A should be able to thru check baggage??? I'm kinda worried about a dash thru the terminal on this trip :(

I am still curious whether this is a government rule to clear customs or just a failure of the baggage handling process at these airports?