ecofreak

this second SFOPVG flight was launched in Oct 2016 (or is it Sep?)

GoSh4rks

It's not recent, I flew it two Decembers ago.

WineCountryUA

OK, I was remembering Fall 2017 -- lost track of years.

dvs7310

My experience in PVG is that they won't even let you check in more than 3 hours before flight time. I've tried (unsuccessfully) twice. Really sucks when you have a long connection from another airline since PVG T2 doesn't have transfer facilities.

fumje

PEK: two hours to get through immigration & security, two hours to find a seat in the lounge, and then twenty minutes to get to the gate.

(Just kidding, it takes only ten minutes to get to the gate. )

1kBill

My experience also. The agent reported that they might load my luggage on the wrong flight.

drewguy

Yeah, 2 hours is the bare minimum and it would probably mean going directly to the gate. I've always aimed for three hours, which usually means 20-30 minutes of wandering around the lounge wincing at the mediocre offerings. In fact, I think check in desk closes at about 5pm for the 6:30 PEK-IAD flight, the last UA departure of the day.

Anyway, as for the PVG flight the website it definitely incorrect - they will remain open to allow checkin. Had this discussion last year in the consolidated connections in PVG thread:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...l#post28842019

zartemis

We also just experienced this two weeks ago on the 12:30am flight out of PVG to SFO. Also, the premier entrance and the economy entrance to check in were at opposite ends of the long counter and queuing area (which was closed off). Before they opened up for check-in, a very long line formed near the premier entrance to the queuing area (I'm surprised the airport tolerates that since it spills way out of the United counter area). We joined the line and when they finally opened, they directed all the non-premier down to the other end and the line all but disappeared with just a few premier folks in the line. We only recently got status (last December) so didn't know what to expect. No need to stand in that huge pre-opening line after all if you do have some status. And if non-status economy, might as well beat the migration and go queue at the other end.

This is the first time we've taken the midnight flight and we found the jetlag adjustment much easier to handle than earlier flights. Also kinda neat arriving the day before you leave.

uanj

Plus the recently dropped PVG-GUM left around midnight as well.

ReinaDeLaSelva

!Hola! Recently I flew a UA ticket 016-issued with HO as first sector. At PVG I need to recover my bag and pass migracion then check in separately for the UA sectors. It is not possible to do this unless you have China visa or your country is accepted for TWOV purpose. I use TWOV but this could be a problem for some. I believed that airside transit is possible at PVG under certain conditions but not this one.

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

You are correct, there are just a few airlines that participate in direct airside transfer in PVG T2 and most of the time the transfer desk is closed.

However, 24-hour TWOV is available for almost all nationalities and this would allow transfers of this nature.

The longer 144-hour TWOV is only available to 53 nationalities.

FlyingHighlander

PVG - International to International connection

Not sure if there's a better thread to ask this. I'm looking to understand if there's any issues with my plan to connect Intl-Intl at PVG with 2h 40m connection on separate tickets. I believe both carriers operate from PVG T2.

Both flights business class.

• Flying EWR-PVG on UA86, arriving Fri 10/4 1:40pm

I need to connect to (on a separate ticket). I will have checked bags (I assume I'll need to collect and recheck).

• PVG-ICN on Asiana OZ366 departs 4:20pm

Is this a reasonably safe plan? I'm not familiar at all with PVG.

EmailKid

You want to head over to China forum - lots of horror stories about how long it takes and having to go through Immigration.

It was a few years back, but I had to ENTER China and then LEAVE China in order to connect from TG to UA

I thought I was safe with an almost FOUR hour connection, but I almost missed my flight.

It may be different (again, look for PVG connections in China forum), and there are some partner airlines that allow connections without going landside, but UA was not one of them. Maybe they are now, but .......

FlyingHighlander

Thanks, I'll check out other forums/threads. I'm thinking its probably safer to just take a PVG-ICN flight the next morning. That would give me 17+ hrs to connect, which I think allows me to enter china and stay at a hotel without a visa?

mahasamatman

Yes, that's well within the TWOV limit.