Flights to China

MichaelAwkward

MichaelAwkward

MichaelAwkward

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Hey,

Was wondering if anyone has ever flown with Swiss/Austrian/Lufthansa to Beijing via Vienna/Zurich/Frankfurt/Munich (or indeed anywhere long haul)? They seem to be the cheapest for the dates we're looking at travelling there (August... short notice I know but the partners boss takes an age to agree to anything). I think for one of the legs it's a codeshare flight with Air China.

How is the flight? Service? Meals? Any problems with baggage?

Planning to spend a few days in Beijing, travel by bullet train to Pingyao, stay there for a few days, and again travel by bullet train to Xi'an for the rest of the trip (climb Mount Hua, visit the Terracotta Warriors, etc), then either fly back or get the train direct to Beijing for the flight back to London.

Cheers :D
 
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Not sure about flights as I went KLM via Amsterdam to Shanghai.

The trains are good but cost the same if not more than fights £70-80 & take longer, but interesting experience.
 
Did see the Aeroflot flights, but they weren't much cheaper than those with Lufthansa Group (who I believed would be a better service overall).

Trains will be sorted when we're there. My partner is Chinese and has travelled on them regularly. Should work out about £80 total for both us from Beijing to Xi'an in total, 8 hours.
 
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I've done a fare few flights to munich and frankfurt with lufthansa but nothing further - the planes have always been relatively modern and very well furnished (?) seats are generally much better than BA for example.

The only real downside has been the inflight snacks, you get some really weird stuff - especially for breakfast.
 
I went Xi'an to to Beijing was 822.50 yuan First class as second was sold out,
Seats are bit wider not much else. Should be ok if you get them booked couple of days in advance, I had to book via interpretive mime on the day :P
 
Swiss and Scandinavian Airlines (or something like that) for myself, Swiss one way then the other back.

Meals where normal stuff, tbh my Virgin meals I had weren't amazing recently so they're no worse than that, you may however get more localised food for Swiss etc depending where you stop. Baggage was fine, our main bags just transferred to the new flights no issues.

We did Bullet train, we also did an overnight train which was a different experience :D And I'm VERY jealous you're getting to see the Warriors (I did see them, i just loved it!) I'd also recommend the wall obviously if you get a chance, I know it is only 'just a wall' but it's just ridiculous, I went there after having some food poisoning of some sort on the internal flights from Shanghai to Beijing (again Shanghai is pretty awesome) which made the flight something to remember...
 
Weird stuff on the plane isn't a problem, I plan on trying as many weird local delicacies (although it won't be that weird in the north I'm assured) as I can when we're there. :p

We plan on visiting the wall whilst we're staying in Beijing, or along the way. My partners uncle (his whole family actually) has plenty of connections, so we've got some individual guided tours lined up for the various touristy things. :D

Cheers guys, shall get the flights booked tonight when I'm home.
 
That's so awesome, we went through Intrepid in the end, thankfully we ended up with an awesome quirky tour guide and a really nice group of people :)
 
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:D
 
Cryfreeman said:
Air China was a horrible flight for me to Beijing, food rubbish and no free (alcoholic) drinks???!!!
The airport also sucks for transfers :p
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I did an internal from Shanghai to Beijing with no issues using them. They are a cheap airline though.
 
I flew Transaero from Beijing to London, via Moscow. The China - Moscow leg was hilarious. Chinese people have no idea how to behave on flights. There were at least 2 people walking around whilst we were taking off. They squat on the toilet, resulting in it being very messy, they move all over the place and bring heaps of food on with them.
Add in the Russian stewardesses who clearly hated them, and would just shout at them in Russian whenever they misbehaved and it was quite a fun flight.

The plane itself is just an average longhaul flight, it was OK and cheap.
 
Hah, some mainland Chinese travellers are pretty funny when travelling, less so if you're sat next to them mind. I did the HK -> Shanghai sleeper train in cattle class....
 
Ahleckz said:
Chinese people have no idea how to behave on flights.
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Ever been to Magaluf?

Sounds like your flight was a dream compared to my trip with the half dozen 'lads on tour' groups accompanying me. Get enough people in one place and you will always have a few idiots doing their thing.
 
I lived in China for four years.....being on a cheap flight full of mainland Chinese people is quite an experience. I say their behaviour is gross but only because it is in comparison to our Western standards....after a while you just go along with it.

Took me a while to get out of the habit of loud vocal belching when I left :E
 
Vocal belching, spitting, Hocking into plant pots, I'm sure there is more :p

The constant bumping in to people as they have their heads in their phone all the time :D
 
Cryfreeman said:
Air China was a horrible flight for me to Beijing, food rubbish and no free (alcoholic) drinks???!!!
The airport also sucks for transfers :p
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Where did you fly from? The domestic Air China flights don't have alcohol, but I've never been on an international one that didn't have alcohol (done Beijing-London, Beijing-Singapore, Beijing-KL, Beijing-Seoul).

The Lufthansa flight is an A380, but I find the seats too cramped.

I love the trains (especially the G trains which are capable of speeds over 300KMH). If you feel like splashing out, try the Business class - extremely comfortable!

 
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