Culture Shock! China - A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette, 2nd Edition

182 CultureShock! China

seating. Discounted tickets cannot usually be changed, so be

careful purchasing them if you want any flexibility. Standard

tickets can be changed, both in advance and on the day

itself if you miss your flight. They are also refundable with

a small penalty fee.

Tickets are easily purchased through the hotel concierge

or a travel office that is usually housed in or near most major

hotels. There is an online service called Ctrip that allows you

to book flights online. China’s main airlines have also just

begun issuing e-tickets.

It is critical that you allow adequate time to check in at

the airport. Chinese airlines stop check-in service 30 minutes

before departure time for domestic flights and 45 minutes

before departure time at international airports. Be sure and

check with the reception desk at the hotel to confirm the

exact time that counters close at the airport in their city. In

some more remote parts of China, it may be 45 minutes

rather than 30 minutes as everything is done by hand. At

exactly the cut-off time designated, regardless of how long the

line was that you were waiting in, they will no longer issue

boarding passes. It isn’t the end of the world—if you have

a ticket that can be changed, you can usually have a ticket

issued on the next available flight, which if you are flying a

common domestic route, is within the next three hours. If

you don’t, you will have to purchase a new ticket.

If you have a seat preference, be sure to mention it

when you hand your ticket over to the agent. They will not

automatically ask your preference and have a tendency to

pack people into small sections of the plane. It is possible

to change seats when you are on the plane, but it requires

some finesse as you need to wait to move until the doors

are closed and many will have the same aim, which creates

a quick rush for the better available seats. They fill most

flights front to back, and so if

it looks as if the flight is not

full, you are fairly safe moving

to one of the seats in the very

back of the plane before the

doors are shut.

Some major airports like
Shanghai and Beijing now have
express check-in lines for people
travelling with only carry-on
luggage. The counters are well
marked and easily identifiable.