Originally Posted by
ParkingatMIA
I’m thinking of non-reving to Shanghai and taking Shanghai air to Bangkok. Was wondering if any of you had made the flight over or had recommendations on getting there.
It's usually easy to get premium seats to PVG or PEK, but make sure you have a Chinese visa in place before you go. Transit without visa does not apply to non-rev travel. You'll have to clear Chinese passport control and check in at the usual check-in desks because transit counters aren't really a thing there. If you do go this route, we have access to ZED on Thai, among others.
The less painful route would be to use NRT/ICN/HKG as gateways to ZED to BKK. NRT and ICN both handle ZED check-in at their transit counters. CX at HKG will want you to use their staff travel counter, so build in time to clear HK immigration.