At least 18,000 miles on the table…
Tis’ the season when frequent flyers fly off to to China, have some noodles and fly back again – just to re earn airline elite status for the occasional upgrade. But why bother? Why not instead start the year off on the right foot, earning a whopping 18,000 miles and spend the holidays where you belong? Air China is offering an amazing business class deal to China, and no, you don’t even need to be a crazy points obsessed travelers to take advantage.
Shenzen is one of the best kept non secrets at the moment. The Chinese city is less than two hours away from Hong Kong, which makes it a perfect destination to experience all that’s on offer in both mainland China and Hong Kong. Air China has launched a direct flight from Los Angeles to Shenzen which is going for just $1460 round trip. These flights earn a minimum of 18,000 miles via most Star Alliance frequent flyer programs, which is a great way to get the year started. One trip gets you almost half way to Star Alliance Gold and short turn arounds allow you to potentially visit using a 72 hour visa, if you’re also visiting a third country.
It’s incredible to see a business class fare to Asia under $2000, let alone $1500. These fares won’t last long and are bookable in January and February of 2019, for Thursday departures. On a 14h 50m flight, you’ll be very thankful for a bed in the sky.
How To Book
Booking is easy. You can book directly with Air China via Google Flights, using this example link. Simply change dates to suit your needs, looking for prices in “green” to signify the lowest fares. Availability is even lower than it was last night, which means these deals are unlikely to stick around for more than 24 more hours. If you want to kick off your status earning year in style, this is the way to go. Or if you just really want to visit China and don’t want to sit in the back, even better.
Note: You cannot use the Chinese transit visa-on-arrival process if you are returning to the same country you came from, since this is not a “transit”.
So taking the nonstop flight from LAX and then returning back to LAX (or anywhere else in the US) nonstop requires you to get a proper visa.
Very Good deal if you are going anyway but Airoli is correct, a full blown Visa is required. Transit Visa works only if there is a 3rd country involved. Also keep in mind if you are crediting to United, Air China grants 0 Premiere Qualifying Dollars unless booked directly through UA. You may be almost halfway to elite, but without the spend support, you will be 0% to elite. Premiere Qualifying Miles on Air China are usually 100% max. That would get your around 15,000 PQM round trip. Not sure about other programs. You would earn 18000 redeemable miles.