subject: How to Buy Cheap Tickets from the Chaina or China Airline [print this page] How to Buy Cheap Tickets from the Chaina or China Airline
Flight tickets are always the major cost during a trip, especially when you are planning an international travel. You need to think about buying cheap tickets in two steps: China Flights from your country and Flights within ChinaI assume that you are also interested in multiple cities, such as Tibet Tours. Below I will discuss some tips for getting cheap tickets for both kinds of flights.
The international flights to China. Generally there are two ways to book your flights: local travel agencies or online travel agencies. You may want to try online travel agencies at first, because it is often cheaper than the local agencies. The global websites for searching travel products are orbiz.com and expedia.com. You may also know about Kayaka.com and chinatraveldepot.com which is nation-running travel agency in China. Not only could you search for tickets prices from various airlines, but also you can compare the details of them. Therefore, it is more transparent for customers to choose cheap and suitable flights by themselves. If this method fails, then you can also try local travel agencies. These agencies usually buy a block of tickets together, so that they can get rather cheap prices from the airlines. But the period of rather cheap tickets is not flexible, so you would better confirm the date before you have made decisions.
The domestic flights within China. It is rare that you can get a cheap domestic ticket from travel agencies outside of China. Why? Because these information is forbidden by the Chinese government for national security. So the most convenient way to book this type of flights is through Chinese online travel agencies. The ctrip.com is well-known and used by local people in China, as it contains various information for a large number of China airlines. This website also includes sorts of tour packages, hotel information and other travel items, just like the expedia and orbiz. However, it is not the cheapest one. The cheapest one is qunar.com which becomes much more popular among Chinese youths. This website will provide the deals from the official website of the airlines, and the discounted price from other travel agencies. You can compare the rates and price to make your decision. But qunar.com is not available for international travelers who know few Chinese. There is no English version yet.
The third website which serves international travelers, like you, specifically is chinatraveldepot.com. This website is not just an online travel agency. It is a division of the national and international travel services provided by China CYTS co. Ltd. This company is one of the largest official travel service companies in China. It provides cheap tickets, customized tour packages, yangtz river cruise and car rental (with guide and driver) services. The discounted ticket can be as low as 50% off the original price. And it provides information from many low cost airlines, such as Spring Airlines, Chongqing Airlines, China Southern Airlines, etc.
If you do not want to buy your tickets online, then perhaps you would better go to a local travel agencies run by Chinese. Because they usually have connections with travel agencies in China, and they often get some "special" discount for air tickets. Besides the air tickets, you could also make the reservations for China Hotels through these online travel agencies. Or if you do not have time to plan the trip, you may just choose the tour packages provided by these travel agencies. They will arrange everything for you, including hotels, air tickets, guides, food and schedules. Usually you can visit multiple cities within a week.
