Airline suggestion- Shenzhen to Beijing?

[chevalier]

Hi

Will need to fly one way from Shenzhen to Beijing next week? Any suggestions on best airline to fly as I've never flown in mainland China? From Beijing, I'll be flying to Hong Kong on Cathay, connecting through to Perth.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

[Evan]

I am not sure of who may fly the route but if KA (Dragon Air) does then they would be my number 1 pick.
Failing that i think all the rest of the Chinese airlines are....... (no comment).

If you lucky enough to have multi entry visa do what i would do.... back via Hong Kong !

Not much help really is it... but i just checked,... i can only see 3 choices on the SZX-PEK route and they are...

Air China (CA) - B777's and A330's
China Southern (CZ) - A320's and A330's
Hainan (HU) - B737's

So take your pick ! All the same price roughly ... and a well back to the above... (no comment)

E

 

[Evan]

I should point out my expereince with Chinese airlines is limited... after the couple of flights i have had already i swore i would never do it again ! so hence my sample size is small. Maybe they are really not that bad. But I will only now fly direct on SQ from SIN or CX/KA via HKG.

(Note my comments refer to domestic Chinese airlines... if your flying on long haul routes then the expereince seems somewhat different although by no means brilliant)

E

 

[Jobu]

I agree with Dragonair - pick them if they fly the route.

Cheers,

J

 

[dot]

I've not don't that route before, but colleagues who live in Shenzhen and US colleagues who have flown the route swear by Shenzhen Airlines (ZH). Unfortunately, their site doesnt appear to have an English version, so I hope your Simplified Chinese is up to the job.:shock:

If you prefer not to go with a Chinese domestic airline, (and you have a multi-entry visa or a APEC BT Card), catch the ferry back to HKG and then take CX or KA to PEK.

 

[garyjohn951]

I've not don't that route before, but colleagues who live in Shenzhen and US colleagues who have flown the route swear by Shenzhen Airlines (ZH). Unfortunately, their site doesnt appear to have an English version, so I hope your Simplified Chinese is up to the job.:shock:

If you prefer not to go with a Chinese domestic airline, (and you have a multi-entry visa or a APEC BT Card), catch the ferry back to HKG and then take CX or KA to PEK.

Fuyong Ferry Terminal is only 40 mins travel to HK airport

 

[serfty]

... Shenzhen Airlines (ZH). Unfortunately, their site doesnt appear to have an English version, so I hope your Simplified Chinese is up to the job.:shock: ...

Babelfish may help:

• BabelFish Translation: www.shenzhenair.com.cn

 

[dajop]

I've flown three domestic flights, Air China (Xian-Beijing, Beijing-Shanghai) and Shanghai Airlines (Shanghai - Xian) all in Y. Admittedly a small sample size. but I found both perfectly acceptable - on time, reasonable food/bev service - really no different to domestic travel anywhere I've travelled in the world (except perhaps the US ... but saying that they were better than US dom travel is no great accolade). In fact on the PEK-PVG Air China flight I travelled on an intl config A330 with inseat screens - more than happy that.

 

[dot]

Fuyong Ferry Terminal is only 40 mins travel to HK airport

Depending on where you are in Shenzhen, the Shekou ferry terminal may be a better option (note that there are more Shekou-HKIA ferries than Fuyong-HKIA each day - see here) - similar travel time to HKIA though...

 

[dot]

I've not don't that route before, but colleagues who live in Shenzhen and US colleagues who have flown the route swear by Shenzhen Airlines (ZH). Unfortunately, their site doesnt appear to have an English version, so I hope your Simplified Chinese is up to the job.:shock:

If you prefer not to go with a Chinese domestic airline, (and you have a multi-entry visa or a APEC BT Card), catch the ferry back to HKG and then take CX or KA to PEK.

Update - Shenzhen Airlines does have an English site - available at http://www.shenzhenair.com/index.jsp?lan=en

For a more general Chinese domestic airlines site - try this one:
In Chinese - http://www.tehang.com/acc/tehang/acc/index.shtml
Machine translation (1) - Translation result for http://www.tehang.com/acc/tehang/acc/index.shtml
Machine translation (2) - http://192.195.29.104/demand?mtlang...tehang.com%2Facc%2Ftehang%2Facc%2Findex.shtml
Machine translation (3) - Translated version of http://www.tehang.com/acc/tehang/acc/index.shtml

 

[oz_mark]

Babelfish may help:

• BabelFish Translation: www.shenzhenair.com.cn

If you trust automated translation:

Chinese restaurant called TRANSLATE SERVER ERROR - Boing Boing

 

[dajop]

Oh and for booking the flights I mentioned in post above, we used a chinese online agent, Ctrip. No problems at all, and very reasonable fares.

 

[chevalier]

Thanks for all the handy replies. Would have preferred going back to HK and fly from there to Beijing and back but unfortunately was only granted a single entry visa. Will try the mentioned airlines.

Cheers

 

[spiff]

i flew china southern, they're ok.

a tip though.. the costs of business class on the domestic flights isn't that much more if i remember correctly. it's more like a premium economy deal, but you get a little more room at the front of the plane and don't have to squeeze into the back especially during boarding and disembarking. if the costs are reasonable, definitely go with that.

 

[jasonja3]

i flew china southern, they're ok.

Ditto

I have flown CZ many times, they are fine. As mentioned, you can get very cheap J and F seats, if you can call them that...