China without a visa

[revatron]

Hello,

Does anyone know if a return ticket within 72 hours would count for visa free entry to China, specifically Shanghai? The info I’m reading on various Chinese visa websies makes mention of “interline onward travel” or variations of such. Does a return ticket (or a standalone one-way PVG-XXX ticket) count?

[The real Swiss Tony]

As I understand, it has to be to a third country. So LON-PVG-LON doesn’t qualify. LON-PVG-TYO does.

And past experience for me has been that a LON-PVG then a stand alone PVG-HKG ticket was fine as well.

[revatron]

Thanks for your input. If I go it would be FRA-PVG one way, then PVG-UK or somewhere else (DXB to UK) or such like. Separate tickets. I wouldn’t be returning to Germany.

[The real Swiss Tony]

That should be fine. The issue I had on both occasions was the check in desk agents in the UK (once BA, once ANA) not understanding the arrangement. There was an issue with TIMATIC where I think you had to query it as a stopover not a transit (or the other way around) to get the correct result. Took us an hour to resolve with ANA at LHR…

Also it looks like Shanghai is now 144 hours stopover for what it’s worth.

[strickers]

There’s a lot more detail on FT:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/china/2147840-china-24-72-144-hour-transit-without-visa-twov-2024-onwards.html

But having done TWOV in Shanghai what you are proposing is acceptable I think.

[TJones]

I’ve flown MAN-AMS-SHA-CDG-MAN under the transit without visa (TWOV) scheme. It’s seen as Netherlands to France with a transit in China. Separate tickets are fine. For Timatic, it’s vital that China is entered as the transit point and not the destination. So in my example, France is the destination and China the transit. You can try this on the Emirates website, for example. You get a lot of verbiage as the output, including details of every valid airport, sea port, train station and highway. You could print it out and highlight the part relevant to your itinerary if you’re worried about incompetent check-in agents.

[The real Swiss Tony]

TJones wrote:

You could print it out and highlight the part relevant to your itinerary if you’re worried about incompetent check-in agents.

The problem with this is the (incompetent) check in agents – in my experience – will only ever use TIMATIC as their source of truth. So knowing how to drive that to get the right outcome is what they need.

Note the EK site is a very sanitised version of TIMATIC. You probably want to use https://www.iatatravelcentre.com/passport-visa-health-travel-document-requirements.htm which is linked from this page on the BA site https://www.britishairways.com/content/information/passports-visas-and-api to get a better feel of how it works.

[revatron]

Thanks to both, I had a browse of the FT thread before posting but thought I’d ask here too.
Shanghai may not happen but I’m trying to have a flight on the LH Retro 747 and Shanghai is one of the 747-8 routes. I’ll be flying non-rev so can basically go wherever that particular frame is going and just book on once I find out, probably the day before. Nearly all the 747-8 routes are visa free or eVisa/ESTA etc but Shanghai and Bengaluru are the potential hiccups for visa requirements. BLR for sure is probably out as India e-visa site says need to apply 4 days in advance.

[TJones]

Just to be sure, a confirmed onward ticket is required for China TWOV. Standby isn’t allowed.

[TJones]

The real Swiss Tony wrote:

TJones wrote:

You could print it out and highlight the part relevant to your itinerary if you’re worried about incompetent check-in agents.

The problem with this is the (incompetent) check in agents – in my experience – will only ever use TIMATIC as their source of truth. So knowing how to drive that to get the right outcome is what they need.

American Airlines website also has a link. Agreed, the Emirates version is simplified and requires fewer inputs, but the output seems to be identical at least for China.

[revatron]

TJones wrote:

Just to be sure, a confirmed onward ticket is required for China TWOV. Standby isn’t allowed.

Ahh ok, this could be a roadblock for sure. I think LH tickets confirm at -24hrs for non-rev but can’t quite remember. In any case that’s not going to be long enough.
I didn’t see anything about standby tickets on the China visa page but probably missed it.

[TJones]

revatron wrote:

TJones wrote:

Just to be sure, a confirmed onward ticket is required for China TWOV. Standby isn’t allowed.

Ahh ok, this could be a roadblock for sure. I think LH tickets confirm at -24hrs for non-rev but can’t quite remember. In any case that’s not going to be long enough.
I didn’t see anything about standby tickets on the China visa page but probably missed it.

It doesn’t mention “standby” in Timatic but the wording is “confirmed onward ticket” and this definitely rules out standby. You need to show this confirmed ticket when you check in for your flight to China.

We should also have asked which passport you have. More than 20 EU countries (including Ireland) can now visit China without a visa.

[revatron]

Thanks all, I guess this rules out Shanghai.

[LD27]

TJones wrote:

revatron wrote:

TJones wrote:

Just to be sure, a confirmed onward ticket is required for China TWOV. Standby isn’t allowed.

Ahh ok, this could be a roadblock for sure. I think LH tickets confirm at -24hrs for non-rev but can’t quite remember. In any case that’s not going to be long enough.
I didn’t see anything about standby tickets on the China visa page but probably missed it.

It doesn’t mention “standby” in Timatic but the wording is “confirmed onward ticket” and this definitely rules out standby. You need to show this confirmed ticket when you check in for your flight to China.

We should also have asked which passport you have. More than 20 EU countries (including Ireland) can now visit China without a visa.

Could you not just buy the cheapest ticket out of China to somewhere LH flies from back to Europe? You would then get one way on the 747 you wish to travel on.

[TGLoyalty]

TJones wrote:

revatron wrote:

TJones wrote:

Just to be sure, a confirmed onward ticket is required for China TWOV. Standby isn’t allowed.

Ahh ok, this could be a roadblock for sure. I think LH tickets confirm at -24hrs for non-rev but can’t quite remember. In any case that’s not going to be long enough.
I didn’t see anything about standby tickets on the China visa page but probably missed it.

It doesn’t mention “standby” in Timatic but the wording is “confirmed onward ticket” and this definitely rules out standby. You need to show this confirmed ticket when you check in for your flight to China.

We should also have asked which passport you have. More than 20 EU countries (including Ireland) can now visit China without a visa.

Thank god for Brexit.

What about flying to a 3rd visa free country and then return from there to U.K.?

[JDB]

@TGLoyalty – it has nothing to do with Brexit. Not all EU countries are visa exempted. These visa exemptions are also only for 15 days, quite a short time to spend in a country larger than Europe. The UK doesn’t currently have an exemption for somewhat evident reasons. Even prior to the exemption for certain countries, there were remarkably few British visitors vs those from other European countries which was another consideration.