Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Getting there
Shanghai now has direct flights from many European capitals as well as from a
number of American and Australian cities. The cost of flights varies with the
season, with fares at their highest between Easter and October, around Christmas
and New Year, and just before the Chinese New Year (which falls between mid-
January and mid-February).
You can often cut costs by going through a
specialist flight agent - either a consoli-
dator, who buys up blocks of tickets from
the airlines and sells them at a discount, or a
discount agent, who may also offer special
student and youth fares plus travel insurance,
rail
passes, car rentals, tours and the like.
Prices quoted below assume midweek travel
- flying at weekends tends to be slightly
more expensive.
around thirteen hours flying time to reach
Shanghai from the west coast; add seven
hours or more to this if you start from the
east coast. In low season, expect to pay
around US$850/Can$1200 from the west
coast or US$1200/Can$1850 from the east,
less for an indirect flight. In high season if
you book your ticket early you probably
won't need to pay more than US$200/
Can$320 above these low-season fares.
Flights from Australia,
New Zealand and South
Africa
From Australia, there are direct flights to
Shanghai from Sydney and Melbourne (about
11hr) with China Eastern and Qantas, but
you can usually expect to pay over
Aus$1000. The cheapest flights are with
carriers such as Malaysia Airlines and Royal
Brunei, costing around Aus$750 in low
season, with a stopover in Hong Kong. Flying
from Perth to Shanghai can cost as little as
Aus$800 in high season.
There should soon be direct flights from
Auckland to Shanghai; until then, flying from
New Zealand will involve a stopover. Flights
cost around NZ$2000 in high season.
Flying from South Africa also requires a
change of planes. A flight from Johannes-
burg with a stopover in Hong Kong will cost
around ZAR10,000 in high season.
Flights from the UK and
Ireland
The only nonstop flights to Shanghai from the
UK are with Virgin, British Airways and China
K
Eastern, leaving from London Heathrow (11hr).
It's not a problem to fly from other UK airports
or from the Republic of Ireland, though you'll
either have to catch a connecting flight to
London or your airline's hub city.
Fares for direct flights from the UK start at
around £350 in low season, rising to around
£650 in high season. If you're flying from the
Republic of Ireland, reckon on
e
950 in low
season,
1400 at peak times. Indirect flights
can work out cheaper; Air China and
Lufthansa, both of which stop in Frankfurt, are
worth considering, as is Aeroflot, which stops
over in Moscow. Less fancied airlines such as
Qatar Airlines offer the most competitive fares,
though you may have a lengthy stopover.
e
Flights from the US and
Canada
There's no shortage of flights to Shanghai
from the US and Canada, with direct flights
from San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles,
New York, Vancouver, Detroit and Toronto,
operated by Northwest Airlines, United
Airlines, Air China and China Eastern. It takes
Airlines, agents and
operators
Online booking
Many airlines and discount travel websites
allow you to book your tickets online, cutting
out the costs of agents and middlemen.
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