China Travel Forum

[kroy]

our family is going to be in Beijing and Shanghai for 2 weeks over Christmas and New Years, this Dec and Jan. We've been reading our LP China to get situated, but there are two things specifically that I'm curious about...
1) Air China. I'm no stranger to air travel, but this will be my first encounter with a massive state-run airline. I’m wondering if there’s anything unusual I might anticipate, such as any possible bureaucratic/customer service type issues, or just any general quality/reliability issues. Anyone out there have any interesting anecdotes about Air China service?
2) The weather. Of course I know it’ll be very very cold. I grew up in Wisconsin so I like to pretend I can handle the cold and snow… but as far as China goes, are we talking about typical midwestern/prairie states cold, or are we talking about Siberian cold? Any chances the inclement weather would affect our ability to get around and see the sights? I’d hate to be stuck indoors for 2 weeks under a snowdrift or something. Has anyone out there in TT land experienced a Beijing or Shanghai winter? What can we expect?
Thanks all for reading; and thanks for any advice!

[kamal]

what u are asking is not so serious tour problem let me answer one by one:
1) Domestic in China, Air China is OK. International I haven't flown them since they were CAAC. From a safety standpoint, I wouldn't have any qualms about flying them, but don't expect service or food to be great. On the other hand, having flown in economy class on Untied and Northworst China-USA, I can't say they could get much worse than that, either!
2) I used to live in Green Bay, Wisconsin and now live in Beijing. I don't think Beijing is as cold as Green Bay...more like Chicago-style cold, but it is MUCH drier (think desert) and windier. If you can handle the northern tier of US states in winter, you can handle Beijing. Except Beijing doesn't get much snow, just sporadic and rarely more than a couple of inches at a time. Usually the days are reasonably clear to intensely blue skies, the windier the bluer. Shanghai is not as cold but is greyer and damper (not snow though). A lot of people feel colder indoors in Shanghai since many of the public buildings there do not have winter heating, whereas the problem is Beijing is too much indoor heat so you have to strip down to shorts and T-shirt! Good things to bring are long underwear, wool socks, and good gloves, which can be more of a pain to shop for here in China. Bring/wear one winter coat, you can get good ones inexpensively in China if you need/want to stock up. And bring industrial-strength hair conditioner and moisturizer!

[brand]

I flew Air China internationally (Beijing-LAX; NYC-Beijing) and they were okay - nothing outstanding, nothing really bad. The food wasn't so great, and the only alcohol they serve on board is beer and wine (and its Chinese red wine - not fantastic). Check in early so that you can get an exit row seat and have more leg room.
The only "quirk" that I've noticed with domestic flights in China is that you can't take alcohol in your carry-on bags - it must go in your checked luggage. And if you have a bottle of water in your carry-on bags, then when you go through security, its usually examined (the Security guys pour a small amount into a cup and sniff it to make sure it is just water).

[klara]

No issues with Air China tour. Some issues with travellers, some of who may be flying for the first time, or have not flown much. On a Kunming-Hangzhou flight that was delayed for about 30 mintues, people were getting off the plane to go smoke on the tarmac-- that doesn't happen in the USA for a good reason.
Cold- Beijing is cold, Shanghai is not that cold. The problem is the heat (as in the thermostat kind). Beijing is mostly heated, but Shanghai and areas south have a lot of poorly insulated, poorly heated restaurants and other such places that make for an uncomfortable meal.

[sofy]

Air China--I don't think they'll let you select seats in advance. It has a little bit of a low budget feel, and service isn't great, but I feel that it is safe. I've had a few flights where the counter people wouldn't issue a bording pass because the flight was overbooked or whatever, but in the end, there were always seats. Checking in early seems to be key.
As others have said, Beijing won't be as cold as Wisconsin--and it will be probably be sunny and dry. If you need serious cold, head for Harbin.

[sash]

Beijing in winter is cold, but nothing worse that typical US except for the wind. The first time I went to the great wall tour,the wind was whipping in off the Gobi and I will admit that is the coldest I have ever been in my entire life. Beijing is also not very snowy by my experience. They get snow, since I've seen unmelted piles of it, but I've never experience snow in Beijing in three winter visits.
The pollution on the other hand will take some getting used to. You'll see trucks delivering little cakes of pulverized coal during your visit. That coal is used for heating and cooking. All the open air food stands us it, too. Add that to the dust being blown in from the Gobi and it can get very brown in the winter. Usually I'd start to get a sore throat after a couple of days until my throat got used to all the sulfur in the air.
WRT to flying, you shouldn't have too much problem flying between Beijing and Shanghai. Those are two large airports used to dealing with foreigners. At smaller airports they don't even make announcements in English, and they don't have electronic signs (or if they do, often they're not updated). A person simply goes to a door and makes an announcement in mandarin and the mad rush begins. Don't be afraid to ask where the line is going to. Or often the boarding passes are color coded - watch for the same color as yours. Your biggest problem will be if something goes wrong (delays, cancellations, etc.) because for the most part, counter staff don't speak english. In that case, try to latch onto another passenger who speaks mandarin and english. At worst, they'll simply explain what's happening. At best, they'll help you through the problems.

[Run]

I flew China Eastern Airlines from Shanghai to Guangzhou in January 2004. They were ok, & better than I expected. The only oddity, was that all spirits & alchohol, is classed by the Chinese as "wine", & not allowed as carry on luggage. You will need to check them thru as cargo, as #2 has pointed out. Apparently, a few years back, some nutter took some highly inflammable liquid in a bottle on board, & threatened to ignite it. It's a wonder that alchohol is not banned as take on luggage, in Western countries, too, particularly with terrorism rife.
It can still be cold in Shanghai in January, & even snows there once in a while. (eg late December, 2001). In 2002, it was 0c -9c, & Jan 2004, -2c to 5c. Not exactly sunbaking weather. Ask for reverse cycle airconditioning in rural areas. eg in Emei, the hotel manager asked if I wanted air conditioning. I wrongly assumed he meant cooling, & declined the offer, as it was midwinter. It was 3c-8c, & no warmer inside the room, than out in the street. The next night, I enquired again about heating, & he explained that the air conditioning unit is warm air (reverse cycle), & cost an extra 10 yuan on top of the room price. I slept a lot better the 2nd night!

[Drik]

I just used Air China to Beijing from NYC and it was fine. A little less customer service feeling and the food was just so so. However, I have also used United and didn't think it was much better, just a little better on the food. In the past I used Japanese and Korean companies and they were great.
One good thing was the NYC flight took off 45 minutes late and arrived 15 minutes early, only about 12 and a half hours in the air rather than the 13 and a half designated. Movies were all good and the flight was quiet.
We arrived in Beijing and hadn't looked carefully enough at our tickets for the next leg. The travel agency told us it would be the next day so we stayed overnight with a friend in Beijing. The next night we went to the airport to go to Fu Zhou and found we were suppose to have flown out the night before. They were very polite and quickly booked us for the flight and didn't charge us anything for the problem. We even got on the flight carrying two bottles of alcohol. They first stopped us at the check in area, but then took us to another counter where they just told us to put the bottles inside our carryon luggage and board the plane.
It too was a good flight and arrived a few minutes early.
Two years ago I arrived in Beijing while it was snowing. No problems and the next morning most everything was running as normal. The others have correctly told you about the weather in both places. You probably won't have any travel problems. Interesting to see how they clear the streets and walk ways with hundreds of people and brooms.

[thron]

Flew with Air China from Xi'an to HK. The security guys at Xi'an x-rayed our hand luggage. I'd forgotten to put my penknife in the hold... That wasn't a problem.... They did however point to my hairbrush on the x-ray. I had to take it out for them to inspect! My boyfriend was carrying a small torch in his bag. They really couldn't get their heads around what it was. They wouldn't let him turn it on cos they thought it was some kind of weapon, and they asked him if he was in the police!!!!! So it was all very entertaining... very hard for us to keep straight faces. So be prepared!!!
Had to change at Chongqing - they don't transfer your bags so it was a mad rush for us to collect our bags, check in again and get on the plane (which left 5 mins early) in under an hour! Apart from that and the boring food everything was fine!