China Eastern Airlines to Australia
Skyscanner offers low fares on China Eastern Airlines to Australia from four travel companies, all at a similar price.
So who should you choose to book through? Who offers a reliable service?
We put them to the test.
A search for London to Sydney flights resulted in a cheap price offered with China South Eastern Airlines but the return journey requires a stopover in Shanghai.
Three companies offered fares of approximately £666 return:
Travelup, Omega Flightstore, 9Flights.co.uk and Travelpack
I called each company enquiring about the stopover, about the free hotel offered in Shanghai, and most importantly, would I need a visa as a transit passenger? I did not want to rely on a Google search for this information, because China visas can be very expensive, so I wanted to know before I chose to book. And I was reading conflicting information about visas, online.
Travelup phones appeared to be answered in India. The consultant seemed only capable of asking repeatedly what my departure date was. When he eventually addressed (or understood) my question, he couldn’t help and said I’d have to contact the Chinese embassy.
Omega Flightstore on their London Number, no reply, no queuing system, nothing!
Telephone: 020 7484 8909. The 0844 493 8888 did offer English or Chinese but nobody answered
Travelpack in Wembley 08444 930 461 understood the question but suggested that I phone China SouthEastern directly 020 7935 2676 where a very responsive consultant gave clear advice….
No China visa is required for a UK passport holder in transit and holding an onward international ticket, and a free hotel is provided. China Eastern suggested that we contact the online travel agent after making the booking as they need to obtain the stopover voucher from the airline.
Our advice: Travelpack is the best known to us, of the three quoted, so I would choose them in preference to the others.
But always use our recommended search engine for your initial comparison.
This entry was posted on Friday, July 13th, 2012 at 10:56 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
