Changes To Philippine Airlines Details In Beijing

[not so old china hand]

I'm flying to Cebu with PAL in a couple of weeks. I went to pay for my ticket which was on book and hold. I discovered that the info on their website is somewhat out of date (as at 3rd June 2014).

 

1) Their Beijing city ticket office in Jianguomen has closed. (I knew this because a friend had tried to pay for a book and hold ticket there some time ago).

 

2) PAL now check-in at Terminal 3 (no longer terminal 2).

 

3) Their ticket counter is now at Hilton Beijing Capital Airport Terminal 3.

 

4) Their phone number in Beijing is now (+86 01) 6450 4840/41/42

 

When I finally tracked them down I found the station manager and her staff both friendly and efficient.

 

BTW With reference to an earlier topic concerning onward tickets. The person at the counter in front of me had just dicovered that he could not check in without an onward ticket. The counter staff were helping him find the cheapest option but from what I overheard that would be about USD125 for a non-transferable non-refundable ticket.

 

They printed out an intinerary and receipt for my e-ticket but I was told (twice) that the only document I needed to produce at check-in time was my  passport.

 

Also, on another topic, taxi scammers are alive and well in Beijing.

 

I took the shuttle-bus from Terminal 2 to Terminal 3 twice yesterday (it's a long story). The bus goes every 10 minutes and the journey time is about 10 to 15 minutes depending on traffic.

 

Anyway the second time I took the bus back to Terminal 3 it was very crowded and there was an official-looking guy in a blue suit by the bus door.

 

Blue Suit: "Do you have an urgent flight to catch at T3?"

NSOCH (thinking the guy was a dispatcher and was about to say wait for the next bus.) "No but I need to get there quickly to pick up a ticket."

BS: "The bus is very slow, over an hour, better take taxi."

NSOCH "Really? I prefer the bus, it's free."

BS "I can see you know Beijing well - the taxi will use the meter. Better take taxi if you are in a hurry. The bus takes over an hour to T3"

NSOCH "Thanks but when I took this bus earlier today it only took 12 minutes."

BS tries to think of an answer as NSOCH sqeezes onto the bus.

 

Cheers Terry

Edited June 4, 2014 by not so old china hand