Trip report: short visit to Beijing on 144-hour visa.

[Michael C]

For the first stop of our multi-city Asia trip in July-Aug, we
were flying LHR-PKX (Daxing, the spectacular even larger Beijing airport.
Tickets were Avios PE, which I thought represented decent value (and were
the only ones available to eastern Asia!). Seats chosen easily 7 days before (3 pax.).

To give a quick overview of the 144-hour visa on arrival: you have to fly out of
airport A (LHR) into city B (Beijing) and out of the same city to airport C (SIN).
You can’t return directly to A, and nor can you, say, arrive in Beijing and depart
from Shanghai.

On arriving at LHR, the assistant collected our passports and said “I’m sorry, you
don’t have a visa to travel to China”. Cue sideways glances from husband and child,
pretending not to notice the rivulet of sweat rolling down the side of my brow. I
explained the 144 hours: “Never heard of it. I’ll ask my supervisor”. Supervisor also
shakes head, so I was about to show him the Gov.UK website, but he put his hand in
my face and said “It doesn’t matter what your PHONE says, it’s what BA says”. Probably
right, but there are ways and ways. They decided to ring the LHR passport office: the phone
rang unanswered for 20 minutes, with us not moving out of line (nor being asked to move), and
check-in lady just staring around or checking the odd message on her phone. When they
did answer, the conversation lasted all of 20 seconds, until she said to us “Yeah, ok”, and
let us through. At least any future travellers reading this will know it does work in the end!

Flight was fine – arrives at 0900h which worked out far better for jetlag for my husband in particular
compared to, say, the SIN 1630h arrival.

Daxing is spectacular and otherworldly, not only in its design, but in its emptiness. Its vast capacity
was emphasised by the fact that we were the only only flight at the carousels.

I know the 144-hour visa isn’t new new, but on arrival, there was a special area for it and for
checking passports. Not only were we the only family there, but we were interviewed by 2 newspapers
and a camera team…As two dads, it was the first time in years that we didn’t bother correcting the
“You and your FRIEND” comments…! Everyone was very friendly and bordering on excited.
“What do you think of our wonderful new visa system?”
“We think it’s wonderful”.

Fixed-price cab took us on the (long) drive to (thanks once more, @JDB ) the Regent Beijing. It was
just superb. Gorgeous lobby with piano player, beautiful rooms and a fabulous lounge with really
tasty food and Perrier-Jouët for breakfast! One of the largest indoor hotel pools I’d ever seen (with excellent opening hours: 0600-2200h, although you needed a swimming cap) and all easily walkable to many places in the evening. Thoroughly recommended.

I’d tried to be a little prepared before going, and discovered that Forbidden City tickets are released online 7 days before the date at 2000h UK time. Sadly, the task proved to be taylorswiftesque: despite refreshing furiously at one second past, a message immediately said “All 40,000 sold for today”. Miraculously, the main tour agencies suddenly
advertised plenty of availability for the morning in question. To be fair, it did work out well in the end: we used Discover Beijing (via GetYourGuide) for a Tiananmen Square/F City 4-hour tour, and it was great. Very pleasant guide with an impressive level of English. We were taken on a slight detour to enter the Square itself (the main queue was easily over an hour long just for this part; we only queued 5 minutes: NB you need your passport for almost everything, including even entering the square).

We then used Wild Great Wall to visit Mutianyu, and again, an excellent agency: constant WhatsApp updates, we booked a driver + Wall tickets. Originally planning to leave at 0830h, they suggested 0700h and it was an excellent idea: as we were leaving our first stop, the masses were arriving.

The rest of our time was strolling, eating and looking for antique coins.

We left from the “old” Beijing airport (a very easy drive). However, I was slightly concerned to see that
my passport had been flagged when it was checked, and I was asked to “step this way”….It was time for the
exit interview with the How Wonderful Our New Wonderful Visa Is brigade. They did ask for any improvements, so
I suggested a little longer and, especially, open-jaw within China might help. And more publicising it with
departure airports…

The whole family loved the trip (it was the first time the others had been), and we’re looking forward to do
longer visits to China in the future.

[BlueLabel]

Thanks for posting this Michael. We’ll have 3 days in Beijing in April on the way to Japan, so appreciate all the info!

[strickers]

BA are really frustrating in this respect, it’s not like TWOV is a new thing! Sounds like a great trip so far?

[Michael C]

BlueLabel wrote:

Thanks for posting this Michael. We’ll have 3 days in Beijing in April on the way to Japan, so appreciate all the info!

It was fabulous all round – and Japan is high on our future list! Do ask
if I can help out with anything else.
I would say the area of Wangfujing would be great for any hotel due to walkability – the Regent was my b-day treat, but
the nearby Hilton looked good, too.

[Michael C]

strickers wrote:

TWOV

Well, quite: it was as if it had only been implemented the day before
or something!!

Hope knee is well, and can’t wait to hear about Hawaii – a July possibility for us!

[strickers]

Thanks Michael, it’s getting there slowly. I won’t be climbing any big hills or running but I can do most other things.

[TooPoorToBeHere]

Great report, thank you. Terrible check-in experience.

[TJones]

144 hour Transit Without Visa (TWOV) isn’t a visa (the clue is in the word “without”). It is definitely not a visa on arrival, which does exist and is something completely different. At check-in, it always helps to use the words “Transit without visa” when presenting your onward confirmed ticket from China, because these are the words that appear in Timatic. The agent needs to enter your third country as the “destination” and China as the “transit” to see the rules. If they enter China as the destination, they won’t see the TWOV rules.

[Michael C]

TJones wrote:

144 hour Transit Without Visa (TWOV) isn’t a visa (the clue is in the word “without”). It is definitely not a visa on arrival, which does exist and is something completely different. At check-in, it always helps to use the words “Transit without visa” when presenting your onward confirmed ticket from China, because these are the words that appear in Timatic. The agent needs to enter your third country as the “destination” and China as the “transit” to see the rules. If they enter China as the destination, they won’t see the TWOV rules.

Sorry, should have specified for others thinking of doing this that my B-C flight was not with the same airlines (LHR-PKX BA / PEK-SIN SQ). I fully appreciate what you’re saying, but not sure grumpy supervisor would have paid any attention to my SQ ticket!

[BlueLabel]

We’ve booked the Waldorf Astoria after reading Rob’s review of it from some time ago. I think it’s down the street from the Regent – good to know it’s a pleasant area for a wander.

How did you find the driving safety from the various taxis and tours you did I wonder?

[Michael C]

BlueLabel wrote:

We’ve booked the Waldorf Astoria after reading Rob’s review of it from some time ago. I think it’s down the street from the Regent – good to know it’s a pleasant area for a wander.

How did you find the driving safety from the various taxis and tours you did I wonder?

Zero problems with driving!
Also, as the last time I’d been was around 12 years ago, I found the air MUCH cleaner.

Walked past the Waldorf each evening and it did indeed look fabulous, too (as did the Peninsula).

[TJones]

A competent check-in agent should have asked to see your confirmed onward ticket. Separate tickets and different carriers are fine for TWOV. I’ve used the Chinese TWOV facility dozens of times but usually on KLM or Chinese carriers, who may have more immediate familiarity with the rules than BA.