Wild Bill

Well the HKG domicile is almost upon us and FedEx still can't figure out how to do ground transportation between Hong Kong and Guangzhou. There is no system set up to do customs between these two locations. Just look how FedEx is moving crews from Hong Kong to Guangzhou in Feburary. An example would be ANC MD-11 trip 77, which instead of using ground transportation, dead heads the crew to Bangkok for a layover, and then dead heads them to Guangzhou. I've talked to multiple limo drivers in China and there isn't a system in place to facilitate ground transportation between HKG and CAN.

What a mess.

hyperone

Just did it a while back. It's a 2-1/2 (at 140 klicks/hour in the middle of the night when we did it) to 3 1/2 to 4 hour evolution during the day (according to the driver). We were picked up at the hotel. You never have to leave the van when going through immigration at the border - the driver took care of all of the paperwork/interaction with the immigration folks. At least that process was very easy. Even stopped just over the border for a head call.
However, while the Holiday Inn in Guangzhou is nice enough, it is in a lousy part of town. Not a restaurant within a mile of the hotel that I felt comfortable with eating at. Especially after seeing the live chickens, ducks, snakes, turtles, and penned up dogs at the market nearby. The free executive lounge at the hotel and Micky D's (which I hate!) down the walking mall were the food choices. There's got to be a better hotel location than this in a city the size of Guangzhou. And yes, a pilot ops report is on the way about the hotel.
How the company is going to deal with the HKG-based guys is anyone's guess. How long ago did they open the domicile? But, if they're not picking you up at your door in HKG and driving you to crew rest in CAN, then it's a screw job - it's a long, tiring ride. Good luck.

Underdog

If you're going to the hotel in Guangzhou, you can take the train(non-stop). It takes 1:50 to get there and costs $30 for first class ticket. The station in Hong Kong is a few streets from the Sheraton. The train is clean, and the assigned seats are comparable to business class seats on the airlines, albeit a bit narrower and they don't recline aft all that far. The ride was smooth, quiet, air-conditioned, and comfortable. The attendant provided free refreshments. Once in Guangzhou, passing through customs and immigration was a breeze(10 min), however you need a chop letter. Inside the train terminal you can find a desk for almost all the major hotels in the city. The person I encountered spoke English well. He led us to the hotel bus and we were on our way, free of charge. The ride took 15-20 minutes to arrive at our hotel. The bus itself was clean and fairly new.

I have stayed at the same hotel you did, as well as another one(1/2 mile down same road). Granted the Holiday Inn was not the best, but the other hotel(across from the McD's you mentioned) was nice. You missed some decent Indian food across from the mall as well as a Brazilian BBQ restaurant 100 yards from McD's.

Having said that, overall the layover is lacking, especially as compared to most int'l layovers. Apparently, the company still isn't sure how they're going to logistically deal with all the transportation issues...so what's new? Again, it would have been nice, if some of these issues would have been researched prior to the recommendation of the FDA LOA by our astute NC. At least we have a new NC now, sort of.

say that again

People forget it's still not a free country. It's still "Red China".

skypine27

When I did the MX layover in CAN (either Feb or Mar of '08), we stayed at the Asia International Hotel:

Guangzhou hotels : Asia International Hotel Guangzhou, Guangzhou, China. Hotel description, reviews, deals from asiahotels.com

There were plenty of bars and restaurants nearby. Nothing especially great, but still was not a terrible place to spend 100 hours or so.

Why did we pull out of that hotel??

Wild Bill

I just wonder if the optimizer built the dead heads from Hong Kong to Guangzhou via Bangkok, or if a person did. (See Trip 77 MD11 ANC Feb.) If a person built it (or looked at it) then some questions should arise about the future of transportation between the two. Hey maybe the Vice President, Labor Relations Law and the ALPA FedEx MEC Chairman will agree all transportation between Hong Kong and Guangzhou will be via Bangkok.

frozenboxhauler

Soy Cowboy here we come!
fbh

JuanMD

Ups pilot stuck in CAN until the 17th. Is there anyway to check what FEDEX is running out of here prior to the 17? Have not jumped on you before.

hyperone

No can do international. Fedex only allows on-line jumpseating outside the U.S. Sorry.

FliFast

There are no flights on the 16th as you mentioned. If you're at our crew hotel, when you first walk in the vestibule, the desk with all the World Clocks above has folks there that can give you info on taking the train to HKG. 190 Zing Dingers and leaves about every 90, minutes.

I'm pretty sure Northwest and United fly there also.

Now, what I want to know is what is meant by 140 klicks. Us, token civilians pilot don't know what a klick is ?

LOL,

FF