Does anyone know of an English speaking travel agent inside China who can help us with fights? We are trying to book flights to China from Japan, and several internal flights before we return to Japan and then back to the US. For some reason the flight from Japan to China is outrageously expensive on all of the on-line searches I've done. I'm hoping that a travel agent within China will be able to find cheaper flights--but if anyone has suggestions it that regard, I would also be appreciative.

We used Ctrip.com to book our internal flights online. It worked well. Please note that Shanghai has two different airports.

The above post is so distasteful, one wonders hopefully whether it is a non-American using a covering screen name to inflame passions. The best thing is to ignore it.

Please note that the post to which I was refering as the above post has been removed. I am not referencing the original post, but one posted and then deleted by the ever-attentive editors. By the way, the screen name used was something like USAUSAUSAUSAUSA.

Thanks Gpanda--and for clarifying your comment about the distasetful post. I missed it, and thought you were referring to me!?

The best policy within China to get real-world prices is to book when you are there. Few Chinese buy anything other than a few days in advance (or later), and real prices do not appear until around three weeks before an individual flight.

The majority of familiar on-line services are not even aware of most Chinese domestic flights, and their prices, far from being discounted, can be several multiples of what you need to pay. Chinese on-line agencies, such as Ctrip and eLong get nearer to real-world prices but there can be various problems with using them, including bait-and-switch, problems with using foreign credit cards (these come and go), and problems with refunds when cancelling a flight. Even these sites do not know in advance of everybody else what the real rate for a flight is going to be, although they may suggest on their sites they are offering it.

I conducted an experiment by comparing Expedia with local agents in Shanghai for a flight to Japan, and if I remember correctly without digging back through my notes, the Expedia price was fully five times what I had to pay simply by shopping in Shanghai a few days before I flew. You are, however, unlikely to be able to book a flight Japan-China-Japan from an agent in China, and for advice on booking cheaper tickets ex-Japan you should post under a different heading specifically to attract people who know Japan to answer that question.

You'd be best to book the domestic flights as you go, when you reach China (that's just how China works, and has to be dealt with just as much as any other aspect of the culture). Or if you simply cannot stomach that, then use one of the Chinese on-line agencies suggested (but note caveats), and pay more. But keep an eye on prices and try not to book more than about three weeks ahead at the outside to get a tickets only a little more expensive than you'll find locally. There isn't any need to book earlier with the sole exception of dates around Chinese New Year, and one or two days in early October.

Peter N-H

PNH's advice is exactly the advice we got from all sources. They told us not to book itra-China flights until we were there. With about two weeks to go, we chickened out and used Ctrip. We were willing to pay the extra cost to be certain of our flights.