Cheap flights coming? - China’s back

[Eastwick20]

Pre covid, while the Chinese carriers were not ideally the first choice for pax to Europe/USA etc what their capacity dumping and lower price point did was to keep the other carriers somewhat honest and on the competitive ball.

Within the travel industry the China carriers have started getting out there aggressively promoting that "they are back "

QR has been blocked but it will only be a good thing that the
Chinese carriers are returning in force to put the pressure on Qantas and friends price gouging strategy....... hopefully!

 

[Forg]

I also think you severely overestimate the decision making of the broader market with your second paragraph. Whilst political points may influence your decision making, I would suggest the broader market could not care less about where an airline is domiciled. Instead, it’s simply the price point. If Xiamen Air is cheaper to get to a destination, lots of people will use it and the majority probably have no idea where Xiamen is. Or care.

IMHO most people that have a problem with CCP airlines is due to a fear of plummeting out of the sky in the middle of a fireball, rightly or wrongly.

 

[Lynda2475]

IMHO most people that have a problem with CCP airlines is due to a fear of plummeting out of the sky in the middle of a fireball, rightly or wrongly.

More likely do not want to transit mainland China, given visa requirements if travel is interrupted.

 

[Forg]

More likely do not want to transit mainland China, given visa requirements if travel is interrupted.

I don't think the vast majority are frequent flyers are they?
I didn't know that 'til just now ... how many of The Great Unwashed would know it? When you're someone like me who doesn't fly that often & you buy a ticket to XYZ via Airline Q and there's a connection in some airport somewhere, you normally only worry about visa/customs sort of stuff if it's a long connection & you might want to kill time by leaving the airport.

 

[jase05]

IMHO most people that have a problem with CCP airlines is due to a fear of plummeting out of the sky in the middle of a fireball, rightly or wrongly.

I honestly don’t know anyone who has an issue with safety on Chinese Airlines.
The usual thing I hear is that people have reservations about the quality of service onboard especially those who travel in J.
I will admit I’ve had a couple of flights where the service has been poor and food, beverages etc has been ordinary but that’s also happened to me on most airlines

 

[Forg]

I'd propose most ticket purchasers have VERY limited experience business class, if any; and that J or F service doesn't matter to them. PE might if CCP airline PE product becomes available which competes with top-tier airline discounted economy pricing.

Chinese airlines have a natural association in the market with CCP Incorporated, who builds the cheapest light-bulbs that also blow out the soonest & builds the cheapest spanners which round-off your nuts. CCP airline fleet maintenance quality is naturally associated with the level of expertise & competence that allows very virulent viruses (VVV's?) to escape from research labs.
As I said, rightly or wrongly ...

... and nobody wants their nuts rounded off.

 

[JohnK]

I also think you severely overestimate the decision making of the broader market with your second paragraph. Whilst political points may influence your decision making, I would suggest the broader market could not care less about where an airline is domiciled. Instead, it’s simply the price point.

I think you'll find many do care where an airline is domiciled as that will more than likely be the transit point and the type of passengers they carry.

I would fly Emirates to Europe but will more than likely avoid Gulf Air.

I would fly Cathay/Singapore/Thai to Europe but will more than likely avoid the Chinese carriers.

Note though I am extremely grateful for the increased competition as that does drive down airfares which can only be a good thing although looking at airfares to Thailand in June 2024 you'd think we were still in middle of pandemic.

 

[drcam]

I'm in China right now. There are probably 20 times fewer non-Chinese people than pre-pandemic. You can only buy tickets at the electronic vending machines if you have Chinese ID. You can only enter museums if you have prebooked with Chinese ID. Otherwise you wait in the manual queue for what seems like forever. Visas are harder to procure with more hassle. China is not encouraging foreign tourism and seems happy to self-isolate in their own world. On the other hand it does seem cleaner and more hygienic than five years ago.

 

[elanshin]

I'm in China right now. There are probably 20 times fewer non-Chinese people than pre-pandemic. You can only buy tickets at the electronic vending machines if you have Chinese ID. You can only enter museums if you have prebooked with Chinese ID. Otherwise you wait in the manual queue for what seems like forever. Visas are harder to procure with more hassle. China is not encouraging foreign tourism and seems happy to self-isolate in their own world. On the other hand it does seem cleaner and more hygienic than five years ago.

It's this silly situation where they "want more tourists" but have also made it significantly harder for tourists to do things. It's also not helped by the fact they were closed for the last 3 years during which they had even more digital transformations and many new systems were built while not thinking about how non-chinese tourists interact with the systems.

Over time I expect many of these things to be ironed out, but in the meantime it's going to be a bit painful travelling to China. I'm actively looking at ways to load wechat pay or alipay as I need to go visit Shanghai sometime later this year (or early next year).

 

[drcam]

It's easy enough to pay with cash although few people do it.
I don't think that things will get ironed out in the foreseeable future. It seems that they are intentionally making it difficult for the foreign devils, and even naturalised ethnic-Chinese Westerners (faux foreign devils).

 

[drcam]

Another thing that has changed is that air conditioning is no longer set at goosebump levels; instead they are set at the maximum tolerable temperature (high 20s) in order to save power. Depending on your own personal view this can be good or bad.

 

[AIRwin]

Another new route:

China’s Sichuan Airlines Schedules New Australia Connection | Aviation Week Network

The new service will become Sichuan Airlines’ first route to Sydney since before the pandemic.

aviationweek.com

 

[droomdrrom]

I do not know if there's a connection, but looking at airfares to Europe for mid 2024, it seems they are starting to reduce across a range of carriers. I have only looked at a few examples, and would like to have a bigger sample size.

 

[SYD]

I do not know if there's a connection, but looking at airfares to Europe for mid 2024, it seems they are starting to reduce across a range of carriers. I have only looked at a few examples, and would like to have a bigger sample size.

Welcome to AFF.

Curious what fare classes are you looking at?

It just booked SYD to Europe (July/Sep 2024) in J using QF points to CGK and QR revenue onwards to Europe and back. All up a bit over $5k plus points but the usuals we’re quoting anything from $7k to closer to $10k ex SYD on one booking….

This year, I did similar for $4k J return…

 

[papeto]

Sydney to Rome - return for $923!!! That is really cheap - even by before COVID standards. It be interesting to see if it gets the middle east three and SIA to lower prices too.
Link to the special Flights to Italy and Turkey from $861 Return

 

[SYD]

Sydney to Rome - return for $923!!! That is really cheap - even by before COVID standards. It be interesting to see if it gets the middle east three and SIA to lower prices too.
Link to the special Flights to Italy and Turkey from $861 Return

Are their J fares down proportionally also? I didn’t leap out at me on the link.

 

[mrsterryn]

We have recently discovered that husband can travel via one pnr Sydney to Billund via a few carriers. Business class for sept this year
BA about 10,000 , Cathay was about 8000
Qantas 17,000
Notwithstanding Qantas the prices are decent

 

[jase05]

We have recently discovered that husband can travel via one pnr Sydney to Billund via a few carriers. Business class for sept this year
BA about 10,000 , Cathay was about 8000
Qantas 17,000
Notwithstanding Qantas the prices are decent

I’ll be in Billund at the end of March for day. Been a while since I’ve been there so looking forward to it.

 

[mrsterryn]

I’ll be in Billund at the end of March for day. Been a while since I’ve been there so looking forward to it.

My husband loves his trips to Billund he usually goes for the weekend in sept .

 

[JohnK]

Sydney to Rome - return for $923!!! That is really cheap - even by before COVID standards. It be interesting to see if it gets the middle east three and SIA to lower prices too.
Link to the special Flights to Italy and Turkey from $861 Return

And yet return flights to Bangkok are still well over $1000.