Internal Flights around China

Old Mar 8th, 2005, 12:56 PM
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Diane_Solomon
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Internal Flights around China

Hello !
I am excited for an upcoming trip to China - over two week in mid April with my husband. I am doing this trip on my own - no group tour. I have booked hotels and I have a pretty aggressive itinerary. I decided to wait until arriving in Hong Kong to book flights to Beijing, then Xian, then Dunhuang, then Shanghai, and finally Guilin. What is best way to book these - all at once from airport in Hong Kong? Or do I go to a travel agent in city? I have heard stories (from guide books and sites) of shady pricing (different for natives versus tourists) and the like. Any advise would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
 
Old Mar 8th, 2005, 01:25 PM
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Between Beijing, Shanghai, Guilin and Xi'an, the cheapest way to book is to wait until you're in China. Competition is pretty fierce with lots of flights, and there are lots of good deals from agents inside China.

But as you said, you have a tight schedule, so probably better to spend a little more and book them in Hong Kong. Yes, you need to go into the city and get a travel agent.

There aren't too many flights to/from Dunhuang, so make sure you have them booked ASAP.

There are lots of travel agents in Hong Kong that can book those flights for you, so there are good competition. The prices are competitive, but one agent may charge you a few US$ more than another. If you want the absolute cheapest fare, then you'll need to shop around.

Actually, you can even have a large Hong Kong-based online agent book them before you get to Hong Kong. Never use them, but I've done a lot of fare research on www.tiglion.com. Go look and you can get some ideas on prices. Or I can check some Chinese sites for you later today for your itinerary.
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Old Mar 8th, 2005, 07:59 PM
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Looking at the schedules, there are only one daily flight between Xi'an and Dunhuang (DNH), and about 10 weekly flights from Lanzhou. [One other daily flight to Urumqi, but that doesn't help you.] Fares are also pretty high. About US$100 one-way from Xi'an.

No direct flights to/from Shanghai.

So, again, make sure you arrange for that leg first. The alternative is the train, which takes 21 hours from Xi'an to Dunhuang, or about 14 hours from Lanzhou. There's a direct train between Shanghai and Dunhuang - takes about 37 hours.
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Old Mar 9th, 2005, 09:23 AM
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Diane_Solomon
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Thanks so much - what schedule are you looking at, please? Is this the Chinese sites? I would love to play around - do you have an english site?
Do you know the time of the Xian to Dunhuang flight? We could simply fly return back to Xian and then fly to Shanghai. I appreciate the info on the trains, but I took them in Thailand, and don't want to experience that again. I appreciate your help!
 
Old Mar 9th, 2005, 09:43 AM
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Diane - The English site I use for train and flight info is www.travelchinaguide.com Their information is generally up-to-date, but their airline prices are only full-fare. Train prices are fine. The search features are somewhat limited.

For more detailed info, I use this site www.oklx.com in Chinese. [Supposedly, they have a English page, but I usually see gibberish and I don't know if the info there is up-to-date or not.]

XIY-DNH is 15:50-19:30 HU7531
DNH-XIV is 11:10-14:50 HU7532

HU is Hainan Airlines. The plane they use is a Dornier 328 regional jet, unless I'm mistaken.

Travelchinaguide shows US$203 one-way, which is about twice the lowest published fare I saw on www.oklx.com.
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Old Mar 9th, 2005, 11:30 AM
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Diane_Solomon
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Yikes, I did not realize Dunhuang was so tough to get to - do you have any opinions of this area? It sounds very cool to me - the dunes, the desert, etc, but I am now wondering whether it is worth this struggle. Thanks!
 
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