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Buying airline tickets at the airport
Oct 31, 2007 19:45
  • GRIZ326
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I am wondering if I can buy airline tickets at the airport for a reasonable price?

For instance, I understand that booking a flight from Hong Kong to Nanning costs $200 USD if you book the flight online or in advance through a travel agent. However, I have been told that same airline ticket can be purchased for about $100 USD at the airport ticket counter.

Is this reliable information?

Would it apply to a flight from Guangzhou to Nanning?

Could the ticket be purchased on my arrival in Guangzhou?


Finally, what about ticket availability Sunday before Spring Festival and then in the middle of the Spring Festival?

Any insights will be useful. If I can save $100 USD per flight, I want to do that.

Oct 31, 2007 22:13
#1  
  • REDROSES
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I'm going Dec. from Beijing to Guangzhou and the airline gave me one price whereas a discounted website in Chinasave me about $40 (American) on that same airline and flight. And I did visit many websites. Travel agents have contracts with the airlines and can get it for you at a lesser price. That's just what I found.
Oct 31, 2007 23:01
#2  
  • FAERIEQUEENE
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As far as I can decipher, as the travel agencies are very transparent in hongkong…, the air tickets, in each class, got different fares based on different class “codes”, each of course has a set of conditions, and limited amount of seat availabilities. An economy class ticket might get more than 6 ‘codes’ and fares. These fares are sold at airline (at face value or promotional fares), travel agencies, online…, and usually the travel agencies have a wider range of class ‘codes’ and fares to offer.

what you heard about buying at the airport ticket counter might be a last minute promotion or release of empty seats. For Spring Festival you might not wish to risk being stuck at the airport but I don’t know how popular is Nanning a destination from HK, or is it always an empty plane..

For your price, it appears high for a one way HK-Nanning at USD200, as I am paying a round trip Chengdu for the coming December at a bit less than that price. The China domestic flights are cheaper from those originating from HK, so GZ or Shenzhen are cheaper options
Oct 31, 2007 23:28
#3  
  • APAULT
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If you look in this website on airlines you will see some discounts. Travel agents in hotels etc may charge very high prices unrelated to the fares they are charged by the airlines as they are not controlled. On the other hand I had a great bargain from an agent in a smaller city - with the help of a Chinese friend, but they could easily have charged more.

But I don't see how you will get any bargains around Spring Festival - you will be lucky to get a seat at all!
Nov 1, 2007 03:19
#4  
  • JABAROOTOO
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Hi Griz,
These is my suggestion from my personal experience.

Firstly, yes can get some good deals from the airport but you are also likely to get the same deals from an agent as well but.....

It really depends where and when you are flying to and from.

Have you checked the flights tab at the top of the page? There are four flights daily from Can to NNG ranging in price from US$112 to US$162 and they all still the cheap seats available. These are E-tickets. A good deal.

Last year I made a visa run to Hong Kong via Shenzhen. Not knowing how long I would need to spend in HK I did not buy my return ticket. I did my homework and knew that there was a cheap flight with China Air mid afternoon. Had I not known this I would have been sold a ticket on the next flight to CQ for almost twice the price of the other. I had the time to wait.

Another time I flew into Shanghai from Xiamen, planning to spend a bout five days. On arrival I went straight to the help desk to buy a ticket from Shanghai to Chongqing at a price I now know to be good value and it was delivered to my Shanghai address almost before I arrived there, at least before I had time to withdraw the cash to pay for it.

Most recently for my trip home last August I got a good deal on a return International Fare from Guangzhou. I just needed the domestic tickets which I researched using the ‘flight’ tab at the top of this page and then called my agent to buy them for me. I got them even cheaper than the advertised online price. What a bargain. But there was a catch. Both flights were eventually cancelled A week or so prior to each flight.

Outbound was not such an issue since I was spending the night in Guangzhou with a friend (she personally delivered my International ticket because it was not an E-ticket) On the return leg, I was aware that the flight had been cancelled prior to leaving home and had been told I could check at the airline counter on arrival and they would sort out another flight. My arrival was mid evening and there were no staff on hand to help out, so I spent another night in Guangzhou at the airlines expense. Luckily I had a day up my sleeve but I spent half of it travelling.

So short answer for you especially at the time of year you are arriving, is have your tickets in advance or risk missing out.

Jan 28, 2008 20:53
#5  
GUEST56135 hi
is there anyone who can help me?
i want to buy 20 air tickets from china to india{guangzhou(kanton) or hongkong to new delhi}
plz help me
how can i buy and how can i get discount and is there any free tickets on more than 15 tickets?
plz tell me in details.............
yahoo.com|manish_dosti
Jan 29, 2008 04:48
#6  
  • JABAROOTOO
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Power outages caused by heavy snow and icy conditions in other provinces have caused many trains to be cancelled or delayed from Guangzhou Railway station the biggest railhead in southern China.

Understandably this is putting a lot of extra pressure on Guangzhou itself. Traffic which is usually pretty heavy is even worse and the railway station should be avoided at all costs.

If you have no need to stop in Guangzhou then don't even consider transit here unless you are flying in and out on the same day during these next two weeks.

With extreme weather forecast to continue things may take some time to get back to normal.
Aug 14, 2009 10:18
#7  
GUESTSCHWEIZ... Hi there,

Ich werde in 2 Monaten nach Zürich in die Schweiz ziehen. Hat jemand eine Idee was ein qualitative hochwertige
Dating Portal in der Schweiz ist?

Wenn mir jemand aushelfen kann würde ich mich sehr freuen. Vielen Dank schan mal im Vorraus,

Gruss,
S.
May 18, 2011 10:17
#8  
GUESTDAWN Going to vegas in august wanted to know if I can perchase tickets at the airport months in advance
May 18, 2011 20:52
#9  
  • BL2022
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Quote:

Originally Posted by GUESTDAWN

Going to vegas in august wanted to know if I can perchase tickets at the airport months in advance


Of course, if there are tickets available at that time. In fact, you could buy it at the ticket offices or online too.
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