China Travel Forum

[Owen]

I am planning a 4 week trip to HK & China in May/June (2 weeks on an Intrepid tour originating in Kunming).
I was wondering how easy it is to arrange a one-way flight from HK to Kunming on short notice - should I book the flight once I arrive in HK thru a travel agent? (how many days in advance should I book, and how much will it cost roughly?) I would need to make sure that we arrive in HK early enough to arrange the flight to meet up with the Intrepid Tour we will be going on.
Or, should I book the HK-Kunming flight online from Canada??
Can the travel agents in HK book a flight originating from Shenzhen or Guangzhou to Kunming, seeing as how it might be cheaper? How much cheaper? It might be less hassle to fly directly from HK as our time in HK & China is limited...

Any links to flight information between HK & China or HK travel agents?

[Dale]

There's nothing special about those fares, and anything that CTS offers you can certainly beat for yourself by just turning up. This time last year the best price from CTS was HK$750. I bought a ticket at Shenzhen Airport itself for Y570, about 30% less, and nearly 10% less than the 'special', 'CTS-only' price quoted above for this year. And ten-to-one even these prices won't really be available: note the caveat 'Price above is for present reference only'.
If you must book through CTS (and heaven knows there are many other better choices to be found just by walking the streets), go in person and bargain hard. I managed to get a ticket to Shanghai for HK$1800 one-way down to HK$860 after bargaining hard in Chinese. At the airport the ticket was just slightly more expensive.

Note, too, that some CTS visa prices are double those of other agencies.