monicapileggi

Hi fellow fodorites,

I've been looking online at inter-China airline tickets for my October trip. I understand I should book right before the trip, as prices are lower. Does any one particular airline stand out as being better of the others as far as ontime schedules, comfort and service?

Thanks,

Monica

monicapileggi

PS: Is any online ticket service better/easier to use than the other? (ctrip, elong, etc).

Thanks,

Monica

guenovnd

You can use all of the above (ctrip, elong) even buying ticket at the airport while in China could be OK. I have done that on numerous occasions...and have usually found low cost tickets.
With regard to the airlines, you will find that most of them are similar - whether you are on Air China, Eastern, Southern, Hainan, Shenzhen....etc. airline the service is similar. What is different is the number of flights and cities they fly to. I have flown mostly with Air China simply due to the number of flights available.
You can check my blog at http://travel.chinafinds.com for info on my experiences...
Good luck

monicapileggi

guenovnd,

Thanks for your response. I won't buy tickets when I get to China, as I'd rather have them in hand before I go and not have to take any extra time to go and buy them.

I'll check your web site out.

Monica

SlinkyDog

For our trip to China last summer, we used WACTS (www.wacts.com) to book our tickets. We purchased these before we left on our trip.

I chose them because they had offices in both China and the U.S. (I think the U.S. 'office' is just a point of contact, and not a full-blown office). I liked that I could call someone in the U.S. if I had a problem with the tickets before I left, yet the tickets would be purchased in China through their China office. (When I arrived in Beijing and asked at our hotel for help in reconfirming the reservations, they said it wasn't a problem as long as the tickets were actually purchased in China.)

As far as airlines, we used Sichuan Airlines for our domestic flights. I chose them because they are a smaller regional airline, they fly newer Airbus jets, they seemed to have many flights per day between our destinations, they seemed to be less expensive than other airlines flying those same routes, and while there weren't too many reviews out there at the time, what was there was positive (compared with Air China, China Eastern, etc., where there seemed to be many horror stories mixed in with the other reviews). So I thought I would try it.

Our experience was first-rate with them. The planes were on time (with the exception of a small weather delay on one flight), the service was fine (flight attendants were professional, meals and drinks were served, cabin was very clean), and the seats were comfortable with standard leg room for the Airbus jets they used.

I should note that we did not check any luggage on any of our flights, so I don't have any experience with how they handle that. But on one of our flights, there were two different tour groups on board (one U.S. and the other Dutch), so tour operators also use them and must trust them with handling the luggage, etc.

I wouldn't hesitate to fly them again. (I would just hope that my experience with them was more the norm than not!)