Trying to book China internal flights for the month of October.Yes, it is 9 months away but I prefer to plan it now.When Ctrip advertises a 55% discount rate,how come it's always sold out? If it is, why are they posting it?

As far as I know, Ctrip doesn't book internal flights till 2-3 months before your flight dates. About the discount rate, it's just a teaser, don't ask don't tell. I think Elong is the same. I have also used [email protected] with good results.

Deep discount fares do exist. Just depends on dates and routes. I've seen 60%-off rate quite often.

But not 9 months away. You're looking way too early.

Give you an example. ctrip's search engine is down now, so I tried yoee.com another large online booking agent.

I tried 2/26 PEK-KMG (Kunming). Most flights can be booked at 50% off, and a few at 60% off, at 720RMB.

It's usually cheaper to buy domestic tickets from within China. I have not used Elong that much but Ctrip.com is a good company to book with. They have both an English website to purchase tickets and hotels online and a 24 hour call service. A lot of the foreigners use them because of their prices and service in English.