Question

Asked by Alec from united kingdom | Jun. 04, 2018 13:41

About:72-Hour Visa-Free Transit

UK citizen - 72/144 hour transit Visa - Please help!

Hello!

Do I qualify for the 72 or 144-hour visa-free transit policy for Beijing? My companion and I are flying into Beijing Capital International Airport on 26/06/18 at 22:20 and our departure date for Korea is 29/06/18 at 19:10 from the same airport. The arrival flight is a connection from Dubai, is that a problem that we are not flying direct from the UK?

My second question is; are we allowed to leave Beijing to visit the Great Wall and possibly a few other tourist attractions? This site says you are not allowed to leave the administrative precincts of Beijing but I have not seen any other sites mention this.

Any help that can be provided will be much appreciated as this is stressing me the hell out. Thanks!

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Answers (12)

Answered by John Doe | Jun. 04, 2018 21:10

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DXB-PEK-Korea is fine for 144-hour free transit providing that you do not have any further stops within Mainland China. Yes, you are allowed to leave Beijing for the municipality of Tianjin and the province Hebei, but no further. That page's information traces back to when Beijing was still enforcing its 72-hour rule and was not updated.

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Answered by Alec | Jun. 05, 2018 07:02

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Thank you so much John! One more question if I may: My travel agent advised that we needed visas due to our flights not qualifying, I assume because of the connection through Dubai, which I told her seemed completely wrong. I have not read anything anywhere that states some flights will not qualify and that connection flights are not allowed - I assume my travel agent is wrong here? Thanks again for your response

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Answered by John Doe | Jun. 05, 2018 10:46

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There are no "non-qualifying flights" strictly speaking, as Chinese immigration does not impose such restrictions on a specific airline or a flight that departs from a certain country/region. There are, however, non-qualified routings which usually involve passengers having multiple stops within Mainland China (which limits the transit period to 24 hours) or not in transit at all (e.g., SYD-HKG-PEK-HKG-BKK which is obviously not transiting in Beijing), both of which scenarios that are not allowed for 144-hour transit.

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Answered by Alec | Jun. 05, 2018 12:57

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Thanks again John, I have no idea why my travel agent might think we don't qualify for this - as you have said DXB-PEK-KOR is a valid route and does not involve any other stops in Mainland China so we should be good to apply for 144hours on arrival.

Can you think of any other reason why we might not be allowed? I have checked and we definitely adhere to the parameters required.

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Answered by Alec | Jun. 05, 2018 15:54

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Hi CDKING - DBX-PEK is Emirates and PEK-KOR is China Airlines. Is this what you mean? Why would Emirates deny boarding?

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Answered by John Doe | Jun. 05, 2018 19:21

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I have no idea. It could be that your PEK-Korea flight has a hidden stop somewhere in Mainland China, or because the agent themselves are not familiar with the 144-hour rule which just came out last December (previously it was 72 hours).

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Answered by CDKING | Jun. 05, 2018 15:32

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Any chance DXB-PEK is Emirates and PEK-KOR is a separate ticket? I've heard of Emirates incorrectly denying boarding when separate tickets are involved.

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Answered by John Doe | Jun. 05, 2018 21:10

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The above reply is for your travel agent's concerns. As for Emirates, I have not heard of such things but it is probably because I do not fly with them at all. In North America, American Airlines is the worst offender in a way that many people have to arrive hours early to lecture inexperienced ground staff about Chinese visa policy. You should either put Beijing immigration on the phone or tell the staff to consult TIMATIC database which is used by the airlines. Also Beijing Capital Airport has a English page on 144-hour transit which could b easily googled that you can print out.

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Answered by Alec | Jun. 06, 2018 08:48

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Thanks John, I have printed pretty much every page that refers to either the 72 or 144 hour policy just in case I run into problems. To be honest I think some of the people at my travel agent are incompetent so I will recommend they get online and educate themselves haha - really appreciate all the help you have provided, I feel a lot happier everything will be okay. Cheers, Alec!

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Answered by Rob | Jun. 06, 2018 11:37

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The key thing when you check-in is to make sure the agent, if they check Timatic, puts Korea as the destination and China as a transit. If they put China as the destination then they will not see the 72/144 hours TWOV information.

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Answered by CDKING | Jun. 06, 2018 11:37

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Flawed reason EK was going by was

"Air travelers are not considered “transit passengers” if they are arriving and departing on different itineraries or on airlines without interline agreements"

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Answered by John Doe | Jun. 06, 2018 18:58

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I've wondered a bit on Flyertalk and did not find any issues linked to EK (by comparison, AA's similar thread has ballooned to 48 pages). As for the statement, that was something happened to a poor US citizen who encountered ridiculous ground agents while having no printouts from either the Chinese government or Timatic. In your case, I would suggest bringing a generated Timatic printout from an airline's portal (I usually use United's) in addition to government directions.

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