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.

 

Might be worth checking with Atlas. They go to BKK and it’s a much better experience going via ANC than a middle seat in the back.

 

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.

 

How do you get enough time off to do this?

Accounting for contingencies of course..

 

I feel like we'd all be using PBS right now if Drop Trip Sequence wasn't so powerful for getting time off..

 

There are many other positives, aside from DTS, for the pilot group to keep line bidding versus going to PBS. DTS is only one piece of the puzzle.

 

I travel to bkk relatively often and have some tips for you. Going thru tpe is a good option, Eva air down to bkk. Short flight and easy airport to connect thru.

If you go thru pvg or pek and don’t have a visa, simply buy a refundable ticket on another airline showing you leaving China that day or the next. Just buy it on a airline leaving from the same terminal as the you want to Nonrev from. Lookup transit without visa for more details. I think you can have up to 3 days with having to get a visa. Once you clear inbound immigration you can cxl the ticket and nonrev as you wish.

You might look as just buying a confirmed ticket from one of those cities to bkk, often pretty cheap.

Bkk has a metro to the airport now that is pretty convenient...takes the hassle of the traffic out the equation.

 

Atlas or UAL to HKG then commercial ticket on Thai or anyone else to BKK. Avoid DMK unless it's really worth it financially or based on location. Beijing is also an option, as is NRT but those are usually more money to transfer thru. Avoid Shanghai. Never tried Taipei, never needed to. HKG is BY FAR the most convenient, I've made 45 minute connections there before. Keep your uniform on until you have an onward boarding pass or they'll herd you like cattle to the wrong part of the airport, you may need to ask a favor of a security guard to let you into the transfer counters but if you have your uniform and ID this is not an issue.


You CAN non-rev to China on a passenger airline without a visa as long as you have a ticket out of China. You CANNOT non-rev to China as a non-rev on a cargo airline unless you have a Chinese CREW visa (transit or tourist visas will not be accepted). PEK has many transit counters you just need to know how to use them (as in sometimes you have to walk a big 180 around to the other side of the arrivals hall) and they're limited in their operating times. I've done this numerous times as I live in Pattaya.

 

I've always just D2 to Hong Kong and zed on Cathay to BKK, no issues there. Thai Lion Air in country with confirmed seats is about the same price as zed usually assuming you don't pack your entire closet.

 

Can I use zed for my registered companion as well?