International Flights from Chengdu Reviews

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  • #11146
    Avatar photoAndy
    Participant

    Thought I would make a small post about the different international flights from Chengdu and how they are, if people have been to other places do please let me know how is was.

    Chengdu – Tokyo Narita

    This was a major pain in the arse flight, I booked it thinking it was direct but actually it first flew to Beijing, where we had to clear immigration there, having to get off the plane, walk to immigration, then walk back to get on the same plane but with a whole bunch of different people sat on it.

    Didnt enjoy this flight but Tokyo is always great once there.

    Chengdu – Siem Reap (Cambodia)Direct

    Flight was nice, quite quick, landed at a small airport and clearing immigration there is very quick, it is easy for chinese to get visa as it can be applied for online before the flight. The tour guides had told the Chinese tourists to slip 10-20rmb into the passport which most did. When my Chinese wife went through customs they asked for money and she just said ask my husband, when he realised I wasnt a Chinese tourist he just smiled and off we went. The airport is a 10-15 minute ride into town. Just loved Siem Reap, people were great, food was delicious and Angkor Wat is out of this world and a must go to place.

    Chengdu – Phuket Direct

    Flight left at 2am which is a major pain, managed to be upgraded to first class though and managed to sleep the whole flight which is nearly 4 hours and the hotel was one hour from the airport. So checked into the hotel early morning, got a few hours sleep then hit the pool around lunch. Great beaches, great nightlife. Phuket was great fun. Flight back was at 4am so again a major pain. Booked airport pickup and return with C-Trip so they had a good driver take us to our hotel and return us to the airport at the end. Landed back in Chengdu around 9am.

    Definitely would return regardless of the poor flight times.

    Chengdu – Amsterdam (Direct)

    My usual way home with a connection to London. KLM have been doing this flight for a few years now, super easy, easy transfers in Amsterdam to European destinations.

    Not going to mention Hong Kong, barely counts.

    What other places people flown to from Chengdu?

    #31156
    Avatar photoRick in China
    Participant

    Andy, RE: Tokyo flight – I’ve flown to/from Tokyo direct with immigration done here in Chengdu. Did the flight advertise direct when you booked it? No stops listed? It might be (most?) important to list the airlines as well, not just the route.. experiences with different airlines makes or breaks the flight 😀 For example Thai airways is wonderful, especially in comparison to Air China flights on the same route….

    Recent int’l flights not mentioned above – flew Chengdu>Kuala Lumpur>Langkawi via AirAsia which ended up being really cheap – like 3200 RMB/pp return even tho booked it last minute. It was pretty standard, no hassles. Keep in mind on AirAsia budget flights though they are strict on carry on size/weight since anything over == money for them, so pay attention to their rules and restrictions and make sure you are under their limits or get dinged a few times on your trip.

    #31157
    Avatar photoAndy
    Participant

    For the life of me I cant remember much about the Tokyo trip was last year and my assistant booked it. Think it was Air China, led to believe it was direct at the time. Anyway will always double check in the future.

    I want to do the Kuala Lumpur trip with Air Asia again. Did KL and Langkawai in 2008 from Hangzhou. Thought Malaysia was great, awesome food and cheap prices. Will go back again.

    Air Asia always have some good deals on, worth being on their mailing list to get the latest deals.

    #31158
    Avatar photoRick in China
    Participant

    Yep – great deals if you book in advance, still cheap even last minute. Their “well-in-advance” deals are often insane.. just need to be sure you’re booking a trip you’ll make. I’m also on their mailing list 😀 The carry on weight thing can be a headache though if you end up buying stuff to bring back, seems they’re strict on that one.. I had to wear winter gear/jacket since we went in Feb/Mar of this year, on the way back, heavy leather jacket/jeans/belt/etc was all a few lbs, pushed me over, so when they asked me to check the bag I was like, wtf – and started ripping shit out of my bag to wear 😀 33 degrees packing on clothes so I could make carry-on weight.

    #31175
    Avatar photoIan
    Participant

    Chengud-Phuket direct? which airline? I did it via Bangkok last year the only problem is the transfer between flights is only one hour…

    Chengdu – Bali. Change at KL AIR ASIA

    The luggae limit can be a pain in the arse.

    Air steward informed me that the flight from Chengdu to KL is the flight everybody hates working on. If you have flown this flight you will understand why.

    If we fly internally we always go via Chongqing. Sometimes it’s half the price last year we went to Sanya for 1000RMB direct from Chongqing from Chengdu it was 1900rmb

    #31176
    Avatar photoAndy
    Participant

    Chengdu – Phuket was with China Eastern, direct flight. 10 minutes before the flight Sichuan airlines also had a direct flight to Phuket too.

    Nice tip about going via Chongqing, will consider this in future.

    Chengdu to Frankfurt has/is starting soon and well as British Airways direct to London which will be great for me.

    #31177
    Avatar photoBertalan Farkas
    Participant

    Flew to NYC via Tokyo in January and the leg from Chengdu to Tokyo was direct with ANA. No worries.

    I took the Air China flight to Tokyo via Beijing a few years ago and indeed was a hassle. My advise is to go for the ANA flight. Would be even nicer if it went to Haneda!

    #31198
    Avatar photoBrian
    Participant

    And, ANA gives you Haagen Dazs for desert

    #31224
    Avatar photoTotoro
    Participant

    Would be great to hear any suggestions for flight towards Istanbul – Dubai direction. I did not come up to any budget offers with my searches.. experiences will be highly appreciated 😉

    #31337
    Avatar photoMelina
    Participant

    he carry on weight thing can be a headache though if you end up buying stuff to bring back, seems they’re strict on that one..

    If you end up buying stuff while you’re away, you can change your luggage limit on the Air Asia website anytime (I think its something like up to 4 hours before the flight, but you can check). Pre-book a bigger allowance before you get to the airport to avoid paying even more once you are there and have no choice (other than to wear stuff or put it in carryon).

    I flew Chengdu to Okayama (Japan) last year with a stopover in Shanghai. China Airlines or Air China, I think. Because of late takeoff in Chengdu, we ended up missing our connecting flight and had to spend a night in a dodgy hotel in the middle of nowhere, Shanghai. Got to see a bit of the city though, which was nice, but since we only had a few days in Japan it cut our holiday time by about 20%.

    Have also flown Chengdu-Melbourne via KL on Air Asia without any hassles, but in a couple of weeks will be trying the new Sichuan Airlines Chengdu-to-Melbourne direct. Will try and remember to report back, especially if anything amazing/terrible happens. Can say now that the price was good, though. Actually a bit cheaper than my last trip to Melbourne with Air Asia.

    #31343
    Avatar photoJulian09
    Participant

    We just flew from Chengdu to Chiang Mai, Thailand, on Thai Air. Had to connect in Bangkok, but it was an easy trip. First flight 2 1/2 hrs, second flight 55min with an hour transfer time in Bangkok. We’ve always had good experiences with Thai Air.

    #31344
    Avatar photoJulian09
    Participant

    Should have added that immigration procedures were well-organized and went quickly in Bangkok. One small inconvenience was that when we checked in at Chengdu Airport, the ticket agent didn’t give us boarding passes for both flights, so we had to get them for the Chiang Mai leg in Bangkok. On the way back, the agent gave us the ones for both flights. He said in the future, be sure to ask for that when you check in at Chengdu. We only had carry-on, although we were prepared to purchase one of those zipper bags and tape it shut for the classy version of checked luggage.

    #32206
    Avatar photoJoerg
    Participant

    Not sure if this belongs in here since it states FROM Chengdu, but I arrived last weekend from San Francisco using Asiana Air. The layover was in Seoul and then direct to Chengdu and customs here. The service was excellent (so far I had only better experience with Singapore Airlines). I booked a regular ticket but got an exit row free when I arrived at the airport and just asked since I am 6’2″. But even the distance of the regular seats was bigger than what I have seen in US airlines like Delta or United.

    #41821
    Avatar photoAndy
    Participant

    Last month took the United Airlines new route from Chengdu to San Francisco, plane is brand new, a Boeing Dreamliner so plenty of space for hand luggage and leg room and good on board entertainment. Its a long flight at around 13 hours. The service isnt as good as KLM, there isn’t as much food and their was a long break between the meals. On KLM there is a small tuck shop in the galley which is great to nibble on but nothing like this on United. They came round with some snacks but not as good and limited.
    Overall super handy that there is this new route and I’m sure it will be busy, just eat well before you get on the plane.
    Enjoy Cali.

    #41830
    Avatar photoCharlie
    Keymaster

    Last month took the United Airlines new route from Chengdu to San Francisco, plane is brand new, a Boeing Dreamliner so plenty of space for hand luggage and leg room and good on board entertainment. Its a long flight at around 13 hours. The service isnt as good as KLM, there isn’t as much food and their was a long break between the meals. On KLM there is a small tuck shop in the galley which is great to nibble on but nothing like this on United. They came round with some snacks but not as good and limited. Overall super handy that there is this new route and I’m sure it will be busy, just eat well before you get on the plane. Enjoy Cali.

    Thanks for the review. This is the go-to flight to take to the states from Chengdu now for sure. About how much was the ticket – was it it cheaper or more expensive than flying to the states through Beijing or Shanghai?

    #41834
    Avatar photoWoodWERD
    Participant

    I can second that the CTU > SFO flight was pretty nice. I didn’t feel as cramped (I’m 6’3″) and the entertainment kept me distracted the whole way as I couldn’t sleep. Seat backs are fitted with a USB port and headphone jack and there were lots of new movies, shows and even a few audio books. I paid just over $2k US from Chengdu to Texas and back but I booked a couple weeks before my flight. My flight last fall was only ~1500 stopping in Seoul and Beijing.

    #41846
    Avatar photoAndy
    Participant

    Paid 8100 RMB for my return flight to San Fran

    #42012
    Avatar photojaphyrider
    Participant

    I flew Return Chengdu to London direct on British Airways. Was great. It’s a new route for BA so the plane was empty. Everyone on board had an entire row to themselves 😀 Flight departure/arrival times are really convenient too. 5-6k return. Better paying the extra thousand to fly direct imo. Flight time is about 10 hours. Highly recommended.

    #42013
    Avatar photoAM
    Participant

    I flew Return Chengdu to London direct on British Airways. Was great. It’s a new route for BA so the plane was empty. Everyone on board had an entire row to themselves :D Flight departure/arrival times are really convenient too. 5-6k return. Better paying the extra thousand to fly direct imo. Flight time is about 10 hours. Highly recommended.

     

    5-6k return, really? I went to the UK in July and they were quoting 9k. I ended up flying with Etihad. Chengdu – Abu Dhabi – Manchester for about 6800.

    The Chengdu – Abu Dhabi flight was great. Would definitely recommend it.

    #42019
    Avatar photojaphyrider
    Participant

    I flew Return Chengdu to London direct on British Airways. Was great. It’s a new route for BA so the plane was empty. Everyone on board had an entire row to themselves :D Flight departure/arrival times are really convenient too. 5-6k return. Better paying the extra thousand to fly direct imo. Flight time is about 10 hours. Highly recommended.

    5-6k return, really? I went to the UK in July and they were quoting 9k. I ended up flying with Etihad. Chengdu – Abu Dhabi – Manchester for about 6800.

    The Chengdu – Abu Dhabi flight was great. Would definitely recommend it.

    Pretty sure it was around that price. Although my memory is little hazy, could have been closer to 7. But it was definitely nowhere near 8. I did book it a couple of months in advance though, maybe that helped with the lower price.

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