Which airline to choose within China?
 

My family of 4 is traveling within China in April 2014. Which airline have you had the best luck within China? Many of the online sites are not very user friendly - especially when trying to book a mutli-city trip. We are going from Shanghai to Xian to Beijing and return Shanghai. Also, we will have to fly back into PVG but is there any advantage of flying out of the other airport in Shanghai when flying to Xian?

The airlines within CHina are pretty much same-same in my experience. You might trip booking on ctrip rather than the airline sites. Also, I believe the the pricing is point to point, so booking a multi-city trip makes no difference in price.

The airlines in China are all the same except for Spring Air, the budget airline, which has it's hub in Shanghai. Spring is actually quite cheap compared to the other airlines http://www.china-sss.com/en and easy to reserve online, but it is totally a no frills budget airline. Your carry ons need to be very small, the seats are tight and don't recline.

I think the only time I've booked direct with a Chinese airline through their website is with Spring. I agree the other's sites aren't user friendly so I always book the tickets through Orbitz, Kayak, or Vayama.

If you are staying in Puxi when you go to Shanghai it is closer and more convenient to fly out of Hongqiao, the smaller airport. If you are staying in Pudong, then flying out of PVG is ok.

Don't bother to book direct. Everybody uses agents. The largest online travel agent in China is ctrip.com. However while I shop on ctrip I usually buy on travelzen.com because they do not have a surcharge for foreign credit cards. Otherwise, prices are the same everywhere.

Oh good info JPDeM! Thanks...

There are 2 international airports in shanghai.
Hongqiao International Airport and Pudong International Airport.

Don't forget that you don't HAVE to fly everywhere when in China. Indeed, that would be a shame.

All these trips can be done by rail, which then becomes PART of your holiday rather than (as with a flight) a temporary interruption to it.

Indeed, at 4 hours 48 minutes, the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed train service is in reality just as quick and significantly more reliable than a flight.

You can check train times at www.cnvol.com - or see www.seat61.com/China.htm

Yes we considered the train. However, we will have 1 large bag plus 1 carry on each. We were told that there wasn't alot of space on the trains for bags. We would only be able to go to Shanghai- Beijing one way. Coming back to Shanghai it isn't convenient to take the train and then transfer to the airport since I was told the train does not go back into the international airport.

I used Spring Airlines 3 months ago. Used my USA credit card, no problem. BUT, immediately after the air tickets, somehow someone obtained my credit card info and charged me a goodly sum for a totally bogus item. So i would never go Spring again. Did Spring sell my info, don't know but they did not protect it. All other Chinese airlines very OK.

In practice, there is no limit in terms of luggage on trains. On planes you are limited to one piece of 20kg. There is plenty of space on trains for luggage.
I don't know what you mean by international airport, there is no such thing. There are two airports and both are international.

My ground operator said PVG was international. Maybe what she meant is that the majority of the US flights go out of this airport??? We would like to take the train but if we will have 4 bags plus carry on's will that be tedious? Are the trains in China like many of the European one's? You only get so many minutes to get all the bags on? We have a special needs daughter that isn't self sufficient in having that many bags by herself.

I used china eastern from HK-Xian to shanghai and finally to Bangkok.. very good service and reasonable

Special needs people, like in wheelchairs, have very low status in China and certainly no special accommodations. That has been my observation.

She is not in a wheelchair. She is just very little for her age and isn't always able to carry her own load. Good to know about China Eastern.

To date I have used Air China and Sichuan Airlines. Both were great. I even asked for a veggie one on AC. I recommend the first more because it is part of star alliance and therefore the standard is one. Also you can check in in advance and in all airports they have quick machines too. I have done 6 flights so far.

For more china stories: http://chinainmyhands2013.blogspot.com/

What, exactly, is this "one standard" that Star Alliance provides? Are you saying that all Star Alliance carriers provide the same level of service? Would, say, Air China provide the same level of service as Singapore Airlines?

Most importantly, please tell us more of these quick machines that Air China is busting boundaries with. What do they do? Spit cash out? Solve world peace?

Sorry, but Air China is one of the most atrocious airlines I've ever had the displeasure of flying (somewhat akin to an airborne backed-up toilet bowl.) If they qualify as "great," I seriously think you need to fly some more (and I say that with the utmost amount of respect.) I've never read anything anywhere ever qualifying that airline as anything less than a major disappointment,

"..I've never read anything anywhere ever qualifying that airline as anything less than a major disappointment,..." - do more research then.
Actually, reading forums on the internet one will find very negative comments including "never fly them" about avery single airline in the world.
Back to the OP's question, when you get on the train at the originating station, you have a lot of time to board the train. When it is an intermediate station then you sometimes have only about 3 minutes. Search the web for some photos. Between some cities that have fast trains it can be about the same time as flying but you have more leg room, can walk around, etc.... So it is more relaxing.

"Actually, reading forums on the internet one will find very negative comments including "never fly them" about avery single airline in the world."

Actually, flying Air China is all the research I need. Thanks.

Within China, we have flown on both China Southern and China Eastern several times and both had new aircraft and were fine getting us from place to place.

Our route is into and out of Shanghai from the US. We have to get from Shanghai to Xian to Beijing and back to Shanghai to fly out internationally in the same day. I thought only high speed trains were Beijing to Shanghai/return? If not true going one way by train might be option and flying the other segments. Which route would we enjoy the most? It seems logical then hassle with additional transfers that we fly out of Beijing back to Shanghai.