Ctrip airline ticket prices
 

Hi fellow fodorites,

I emailed Ctrip to get prices (and because I was planning to use 2 credit cards to buy them) and received this reply:

"...we are sorry to tell you that we can not offer the promotion price to you now. you may check the flight details in mid of Sep."

Their web site does show discounted tickets. For example, Beijing to Shanghai shows their full fare of 1130RMB and the discount at 790RBM or a 30% discount.

So, I don't understand why they can't offer me the discount via email. Should I just go ahead and purchase via their web site?

I know many people have said it's best to wait till 'last minute' or even after I get to China, but I don't want to wait that long. For my trip from Chengdu to Guilin, there's only 1 flight that meets my needs. What if it sells out in the next 2 weeks? Should I buy that ticket now and wait to buy the others in 2 weeks since there are more flight choices for those flights?

Thanks in advance for your comments.

Monica ((F))

I know it really isn't very helpful to say so, but much of this has been dealt with in response to your earlier queries.

Really (as said before) it's best not to make such a detailed itinerary (such as that leaving you with only one choice of flight). China just doesn't work like that. It was also mentioned that there can be problems of one sort or another with Ctrip, and that prices will usually be cheaper in-country, as you acknowledge. If you decide you have to book everything firmly well in advance and move to a rigid itinerary then you just have to pay the price for doing so.

But bear in mind you are about to cross a seasonal boundary (schedules change after the October holiday), and you may be too far in advance for discounts to have been identified (although if that's true Ctrip shouldn't be tempting you in by publishing prices it cannot offer, of course--but its problems have already been discussed).

Peter N-H

Just supplementary to that, if you are travelling in October (which isn't clear) are you sure you've been looking at the right timetable? Details are often not released until the very last minute before twice-yearly seasonal changes. This, too, may be holding Ctrip up.

It is also worth noting that after the second week of October there is almost no leisure travel demand within China, so if you are travelling then (and if the flight still goes, as schedules are reduced in this period) seat access is still less of a problem on most routes. If you are travelling earlier in October, however, demand is very high on certain clusters of days, and there will anyway be no discounts available on those days.

Ctrip seems to be suggesting that it will be able to offer you some discounted price in a few weeks. Whether you are willing to rely on that will rather depend on your own assessment of your flexibility, and how much trouble you'll be in if the tickets are not available at all. I'd say that would be very unlikely on a route like that in mid-October, but definitely a problem on certain days before that.

Peter N-H

My one main concern Peter is the flight that seems to have only 9 seats left.

Yes, I am traveling in October and yes, I have been adding the correct dates in the systems when I check prices.

I find it confusing to see the discounts showing on Ctrips web site and then getting an email from them saying they can't help with discount tickets right now. If so, why have the discounts on the web site? Does that mean if I select a discount ticket and book it, it reverts to a higher price?

I will wait until mid Sept and hope that the one flight I want will still be available. All others have many flights per day to my destinations.

Monica ((F))

Not all flights are discounted. Like that CTU-KWL one. I would buy that one now on their website, and wait for the others.

Monica,
Am also checking flights and prices for October. This is what Ctrip posts on top of the schedule and prices.I was looking today for a flight 10/24 Taiyuan to Shanghai.

The following information is for reference only. Actual time and pricing has yet to be determined by the airlines. Please check again closer to the departure date.

Thank you Peter for clarifying availability of flights later in October, I guess I'll try not to be my normal control freak and wait until I get to Beijing.

Where would one go to book tickets?

> Yes, I am traveling in October and yes, I have been adding the correct dates in the systems when I check prices.

I don't think you're quite getting the point. Ctrip itself may not know the correct schedule yet. You may think this mad, but in China information just doesn't come out in the way you'd think reasonable or efficient. Even the dates of public holidays may be announced only a few weeks in advance.

The meaning of Ctrip's message appears to be that it wants, and expects to be able, to offer you a discount of some sort in mid-September. Otherwise it would have been saying 'give us the money now or you won't be able to fly', which would obviously suit it best. Clearly it considers Chengdu to Guilin at discountable route (like any other). Of course, and as you've been told, it may be unreliable on this as on other occasions.

> I find it confusing to see the discounts showing on Ctrips web site and then getting an email from them saying they can't help with discount tickets right now.

But it has been pointed out already that this method of booking is inconsistent and unreliable, and now you simply see for yourself that this advice was correct: the advertise discounts they cannot (currently) give.

All flights have discounted seats unless they happen to sell a large part of their capacity before discounting begins. This mainly happens on certain routes during key public holidays and otherwise hardly ever: plane ticket buying is a last-minute and even walk-up thing. So, as already pointed out, that you are travelling in October isn't an issue. The issue is *which* dates in October, as general demand is dramatically different on a few days that month from the rest of the year. If the flight to a resort destination is filling up already (highly unusual this far in advance in China) it's likely that you are travelling during the national holiday, and all flights will be trickier at that time, depending on the direction of travel and which end of the holiday period you're travelling (the middle is usually not a problem).

And don't forget you can always look at options via another city rather than direct flights. For instance there are plenty of flights daily from Chengdu to Guangzhou and Guangzhou to Guilin, as well as more direct routes changing at Guiyang and other cities. Taking indirect routes into account you'll probably find half-a-dozen options and you can pick one on the fly when there.

I may have been lucky, and of course I'm aware of the ebb and flow of demand, but the last time I was unable to get where I wanted to go in China on the day I wanted to go, was in 1997 and that was because the airport was closed due to flooding. I don't remember the last time I paid full price for a ticket.

Peter N-H

Thanks everyone for your comments.

I understand. Ctrip (and I suppose the other ticket sites) will show a “discount” price on their web site but won’t actually sell at that price until they know a few weeks before with the correct flight schedules and what discount they’ll actually use. I am getting more comfortable with everyone’s knowledge about how it is to travel in China, which is quite different from other countries.

I don’t believe I’ll be flyiing on any holidays. My flights will be:

Oct 15: Beijing to Shanghai
Oct 21: Hangzhou to Xian
Oct 23: Xian to Chengdu
Oct 26: Chengdu to Guilin
Oct 30: Guilin to Hong Kong

Thanks rrkwan, I'll check Elong tonight to see how many seats they have left. I remember the other day it showed only 9.

Monica ((F))

I'm thinking of buying tickets on ctrip and skimmed these replies.

Peter: "It was also mentioned that there can be problems of one sort or another with Ctrip"

What kinds of problems?

I only need to book one domestic flight, probably Beijing to Hangzhou or Beijing to Shanghai. Ctrip is pricing this at around $100 whereas it's more like $175 on Expedia.

Since Ctrip is much cheaper, I think I'll go with it. Is there anything I should be concerned about? Departure in about 10 days or so, but I'm planning to leave the US in a few days (actually still haven't booked the international flights yet -- talk about last minute!).

Thanks!

I used travelzen.com and found their on line booking process more simple (no faxing of copy of credit card, authorization card and no surcharge for using an international credit card).

However, ctrip sometimes has lower fares that are not shown on other sites.

> What kinds of problems?

Difficulties using foreign credit cards. Attempts to revise a previously agreed price. Problems with refunds.

Ignore Expedia for China domestic travel, though; it doesn't have a clue about even the existence of most domestic flights and its prices are ridiculous.

You'd still be best to book the tickets with an agent over the counter on arrival in Beijing, unless you're travelling at the beginning or end of this year's more-than-a-week-long October holiday.

Peter N-H

How about I just book on Air China's website (for example) then? Is this possible or is there some other wrinkle I should be aware of?

What kinds of prices would you expect for Beijing-Shanghai/Hangzhou? Thanks.

I guess the wrinkle is that Air China's website can't take overseas ccs?

I called China Eastern (rather than Air China, but I'd imagine it's all the same) in China, and there's actually no way to book the tickets from overseas. They won't take a card that's issued overseas.

But I can use my card when there. However she tells me that prices also fluctuate according to availability. But, Peter, you seem pretty confident that I can buy this there?

According to this site, this year's long holiday is Oct. 1-8:

http://shanghaiist.com/2008/12/12/ch...y_schedule.php

I'm planning to fly Beijing-Hangzhou before this, but I'll only have about 4-5 days before I'm due to fly once I get to Beijing.

Needless to say, I prefer to get the tickets settled before I go there.

Thanks!

Ok, it's my personal experience, but I just booked using Travelzen.

I booked China Eastern and the flight is 520 CNY + 50 CNY in taxes. The China Eastern website offers a 30 CNY discount, but since I can't use it I didn't bother.

As mentioned, Travelzen accepted my foreign cc. However I didn't get a confirmation right away, so I called them. On their webpage I found I could Skype them directly, and I did. The customer service is supposed to be 24 hours.

They said the booking has gone through and they will email me the details. Actually it turns out the receipt did come in while I was on the phone with them, but I need a second email with the itinerary and details.

For a foreign issued cc, Travelzen requires a payment in foreign currency, which is USD, HKD or TWD. I think the exchange rate charged seems fair as 520 CNY converts to 76 USD (at around 1 USD = 6.84 CNY).

Another caveat: They require a Chinese or Taiwanese mobile. I have a workaround for this, but I suppose it's probably possible to give them a fake, unreachable mobile.

I'm cautiously optimistic about Travelzen. I didn't want to run the risk of a long confirmation with ctrip because I don't have the time for it.

Thanks again!

By the way, they asked how I heard of them. I mentioned a travel website, didn't say Fodor's. :) But I said that someone had suggested they were easier to use than ctrip.

P.S. Itinerary came in about 12 minutes later with E-ticket numbers. I suppose if I'm truly obsessive I could call China Eastern to make sure that they can see my reservations.

I think calling this "instant confirmation" is probably a little bit of a misnomer. But if I recall, Expedia takes a short while to generate an E-ticket too (but maybe not as long as 12 minutes?). I can't remember.

Ok, just to be safe, I called China Eastern in the US and they are able to retrieve the reservations via the E-ticket numbers given by travelzen.

So count me as a satisfied customer. Thanks again for recommending the website.

Thanks for posting this! Glad it worked out.

Hi folks,

I’ll wade in here with some clarification, but before I do, I’d better disclose. I currently work for Travelzen, and have in the past written for Fodors (Mostly restos and hotels in China), so I may be tainted with bias from both sides…. But please bear with me, I do understand the difference between the two sites, and what is meant by ‘instant confirmation’.

The big difference between Ctrip and Travelzen is that Ctrip uses manual booking- you book online, but the actual purchase of the ticket is handled by a Customer Service Rep. Travelzen is fully web enabled- directly interfaced with the international and domestic ticketing engines, which is why your purchase is ‘instant’. The processing is locked and underway once you hit the purchase button, with prices guaranteed. The actual mechanics of generating your itinerary, confirmation number etc. can take a few minutes depending on the airline.

This is why Ctrip doesn’t process orders after 10pm (they are processed the next day) and why they disclaim the possibility for price changes when you buy. This is also why very often the prices they list are not available when you book, because the listing is not updated real time.

That is the fundamental difference between the two engines. There are other differences, of course- Ctrip has packages available and you can pay in cash being two big ones- but technologically that’s it.

Word of warning about using a false phone number. Travelzen does call back to confirm that the order is real- if you don’t have a contact number, make a note to that effect in the remarks section of the purchase page. Customer service will work around it for you.

Speaking as a travel writer and long term resident of China, my best advice is to do your research, read the FAQs and T&Cs, then choose what suits you. It’s an amazing country, explore it however you can.

Happy traveling,

Dave