Tbk2000

I have lived in China for more than 10 years, I am 1K with United, and they always get this wrong. I have Chinese employment residency, so I typically booked flights from China to the USA. Typically United gets very nervous when I return to China because they can't understand how I can go to China without an onward bound ticket. The visa issue is equally complicated for them, but in fact they are totally wrong about you requiring a visa for transit in any Chinese airport. A transit visa is not required and an entry visa is not required for any transit passenger. In fact, in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and several other Chinese cities, USA citizens are entitled to a 72 hour transit visa on arrival. Not only can you transit the airport, but you can actually enter into China, for 72 hours, and you only need to apply and pay a visa application fee on arrival at the airport. All United needs to do is look this up on the Internet, it's published by China national tourism, Shanghai tourism, Beijing tourism, etc. United gets it so wrong that once they refused to issue me a boarding pass because I didn't have a ticket out of the country. I was originating my flight in Orlando; they said I had to buy a ticket back to the USA before they would allow me to go to China. So I purchased a 100% refundable ticket in Orlando. Got on the flight to Chicago. In Chicago I process my refund for the ticket purchase two hours before. The ticket agent in Chicago smiled and asked me why I was refunding a ticket I had purchased just a couple of hours ago in Orlando? I explained the situation and he was actually very apologetic, said that it was absolutely unnecessary and he would make a reference about the agent who had actually sold me the ticket Orlando. The problem is, United always thinks they are hundred percent right, the customer is always 100% wrong, and the only recourse that I know to avoid this is fly other carriers. I am living in Shanghai, although I am a 1K United member, 2,000,000 miles, I regularly fly ANA to the USA Gateway and then take United only on the domestic portion. Disappointing but the reality in flying the friendly skies.

kettle1

TRAINING!

"The friendly skies (UA) airline" needs training - period.

In the OP's case, UA was not 100% wrong - the rude agent was 1000% wrong.

I asked an agent at DL and he said that a screen will pop up if a Visa is needed when the passenger checks in. Perhaps UA's system is different?

They both use TIMATIC . Perhaps UA needs a new operating system.

This is the thread that can not die, until the OP returns to PHX and lets everyone know what happened - if he ever does. I hope UA did right for the OP.

This event would not have happen to me, but I fly a few miles a year, lots... and a an untrained agent in PHX needs retraining - or hit that 120 degree sidewalk in PHX, hitting the unemployment line. UA is 1000% at fault on this.

For the 13th time - It is called TIMATIC!

MSPeconomist

WRONG. It's not a transit visa on arrival. You don't apply for anything or pay any fee at the airport. It's 72 hour TWOV which means TRANSIT WITHOUT VISA. Talking about transit visas just confuses the issue. To repeat, NO TRANSIT VISA IS NEEDED (or probably even possible in most cases) to transit China for up to 72 hours at one of the allowed cities/airports if your passport is on the permitted list of countries.

moondog

Why on earth would you possibly put up with this? China doesn't require onward tickets for valid visa holders.

MSPeconomist

Maybe it was the fastest or only way to get onto the flight. There's really no cost of doing this for most people.

moondog

I have entered China 40 times in the past 6 months, and the onward ticket issue hasn't come up a even once (because it's not an issue).

Bravada04

x2 Absolutely, positively UA's fault - You don't need a visa to transit through PEK. It IS the responsibility of that agent and UA to reimburse this customer. I would be absolutely livid if this took place - god bless the OP as she dealt with it much calmer that I would have.

Stuff like this continues to blow my mind both throughout the US & CAN where there seems to be no government oversight of this industry! There should be huge accountability for something like this.

GBman

Let's be clear. This is about UA training and attitude. Three years ago I was in exactly the same situation at *IAD* flying to *LHR*. I was flying on a U.S. passport and the check-in agent, claiming she was getting this from TIMATIC didn't want to let me board on a return ticket to London (of a LHR-IAD roundtrip) because I had no further ticket out of the UK (where I live). She insisted that U.S. passport passengers could not travel to the UK without an onward ticket out of the country, that they would be denied entry by the UK Border staff, and that UA would be fined for sending me to Britain.

I nearly had to buy a refundable ticket back to get on the plane too. Only after 30 minutes of arguing and the technical closing of the flight did I finally find a supervisor who would let me having a boarding pass.

If this can happen at IAD to an experienced passenger flying to London, it can happen to anyone anytime ... as long as UA cannot understand transit/visa/immigration rules and TIMATIC, and as long as the 'we know' attitude persists.

It remains telling that Rory McIlroy's golfclubs get more courtesy from UA Insider on this board than this passenger's plight.

weero

Same here .... but I would feel out of place showing an immigration officer the rules they have been trained on.

Sure in other places, I did indeed experience friction with officers who did not understand what my travel intentions were. Never in China but LAX was an airport where the authorities had greatest difficulties understanding that I was just "flying through". YVR was another one when I connected to a non-US destination.

SkiAdcock

This.

bocastephen

The golfclub fiasco was a public relations black eye - you need to be a celebrity with an Twitter account to get a public response for pretty much any company these days...although UA's condescending reply to Bette Midler's snack problem seems to indicate that everyone is treated as an "over-entitled whiner" when a product defect is pointed out publicly.

Loren Pechtel

I've never doubted that what he was doing is legal by Chinese rules--I fly to China enough that I don't need to look it up. I'm just favoring a more proactive approach of being prepared to document anything out of the ordinary in case you run into idiots like the one the OP encountered.

I just wanted the TIMATIC link for looking up requirements for a relative we are planning to do some travel with next year.

Loren Pechtel

Yup: We've entered in excess of 20 times over the last 15 years--and have never once been asked for evidence of an onward ticket.

It's possible our track record has something to do with this, though--in the early days the rules were much looser and by now we have a long track record of not overstaying and not getting in trouble.

bocastephen

I would ask that a moderator edit or delete this incendiary comment as the other posts about this topic were already deleted.

bocastephen

This isn't the only thread in the UA forum where a customer was forced to buy their own work-around ticket to either bypass or correct a UA issue. I don't see UA resolving this problem without their hand being forced.