Flights to China in August

alyth

can anyone recommend an airline or on-line booking company for me to book flights with to go to China in August? I'm flying into Beijing on 22nd Aug and returning from Shanghai on 3rd September, from and to Edinburgh. Despite BA advertising their massive sale the price is still £775, KLM are slightly cheaper at £700, I've googled cheap flights and it comes up with numerous travel websites i've never heard of, Air France seems to be about £550 but I'd be interested in anyone's personal experience as it would be nice to have some comforts as I flew with KLM the last time and whilst they were good, it would be nice to have something like a TV screen each as it's such a long flight! Many thanks.

alison74

I flew to China with KLM last summer and it was ok, nothing great (also from Edinburgh). With a price difference like that, I would take the Air France ones right away.

I booked mine in March for going out June, coming back August at it was about £750 as I left it so late (and it was different leg coming back, Bangkok - Edi )

I was actually surprised how 'short' the flight from Ams to Beijing was - lthough advertised at 10 1/2, it was only just over 9ish (from memory)

Grab the Air France one whilst it's so cheap and you can get cheapish connecting ones from Edi.

Have fun, China is great

alyth

Hi Alison, thanks for your reply. I'll never find the website the Air France offer was on again! You're right about the flight as well, I slept most of the way through mine, coming back was a bit of a nightmare but as I'm going out to finally work with pandas at Wolong I was to try and get the cheapest flight possible so I can spend as much time there as I can!

Voyager2002

Air France to Beijing are actually very good indeed: good food and wine (even champagne); personal TV screen and choice of interesting films; helpful and polite cabin staff. The only problem is that you transfer through CDG, which has to be one of the least user-friendly airports ever.

Anyway, try searching their own website and the KLM website, and if that low fare is still available, that is where you will find it.

alyth

Something just flashed into my head, that was scary! I remember why I was slightly wary about Air France - I have to hang about CDG for about 8 hours before flying on to Beijing. It was really the personal TV screen I was more interested in that anything, as I remember on KLM it was miles away from my seat! I'll check Air France's website again though directly from CDG as I can always just a cheapie flight from Scotland to France - brilliant, thanks Voyager!

pompeii

Air France is as good as BA or any other major airline, but CDG airport is poor.

alyth

Unfortunately I really don't want to fly BA, I feel their reputation has been shot to threads and I wouldn't trust them. Another reason is that BA flights go into Heathrow then direct to China, but coming back it's back into Gatwick then up to Scotland, and it was just going to be so much hassle shleping across London. I'll check out Air France again later as I want to get the flights booked as soon as possible.

Sam_Bee

alyth wrote:

Unfortunately I really don't want to fly BA, I feel their reputation has been shot to threads and I wouldn't trust them. Another reason is that BA flights go into Heathrow then direct to China, but coming back it's back into Gatwick then up to Scotland, and it was just going to be so much hassle shleping across London. I'll check out Air France again later as I want to get the flights booked as soon as possible.

Eh? BA flies Shanghai - Heathrow, so if you think you're coming into Gatwick, somethings wrong.

alyth

Sam Bee, my fault, the return flight to Scotland is from Gatwick, land into Heathrow, apologies.

Christal_2

I noticed you said you are flying to BJ but come back from SH? It would be easier if you are flying to and back from same destination. I would recommend Virgin as their reputation is good, and fare wise if my memory is corret, last time I check return ticket from LHR to SH is about £420.

It is cheap to get a discount ticket from SH to BJ then back, return fare would work something around £100.

Voyager2002

alyth wrote:

Something just flashed into my head, that was scary! I remember why I was slightly wary about Air France - I have to hang about CDG for about 8 hours before flying on to Beijing. It was really the personal TV screen I was more interested in that anything, as I remember on KLM it was miles away from my seat! I'll check Air France's website again though directly from CDG as I can always just a cheapie flight from Scotland to France - brilliant, thanks Voyager!

Be very careful about flying with another airline between Scotland and Paris. If you buy a multi-sector ticket (eg EDI-CDG-PEK) but fail to check in for the first sector, the rest of your ticket is cancelled. So if you buy a ticket from EDI to Beijing and start your journey with another airline, you will get to Paris and have to buy a completely new ticket!

Coming back: there is nothing to stop you organising your own flight back from Paris and throwing away the last coupon of your Air France ticket. However, you need to make sure that your baggage is only checked as far as Paris, otherwise getting it back would be a nightmare.

Eight hours would be long enough to take the train into Paris, climb the Eiffel tower and have a good lunch. Perhaps that would be a better option?

Did you see this low fare on the Travelocity site?