I read in the NY Times about the lack of flights from China. My question is, why can’t they take connecting flights? Is it because of language, limited time away from work, or just cultural laziness?
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/29/trav ... rists.html
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Re: Why do Mainland Chinese tourists only want direct flights?
You could easily ask the same about European tourists who want direct flights to PMI, AGP, IBZ instead of just connecting in MAD. Or even more strikingly look at the demand for direct flights to JTR, JMK, SMI, CFU, CHQ etc. which get connections to a hundred different cities in Europe every summer. Why don't the hoards connect in ATH or HER?
I think point-to-point flying is generally much more popular for tourists who want to maximize their holiday time, and especially for older people or less-frequent travellers who also want simplify the travel as much as possible.
I think point-to-point flying is generally much more popular for tourists who want to maximize their holiday time, and especially for older people or less-frequent travellers who also want simplify the travel as much as possible.
Re: Why do Mainland Chinese tourists only want direct flights?
I think most people want direct flgihts. I don't think that the Chineese are different from the rest in that regard.
Re: Why do Mainland Chinese tourists only want direct flights?
Language and the fact that a lot of Chinese travel in groups. I would imagine for a group leader trying to corral a group through a large transfer hub would be a headache worth avoiding.
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- GalaxyFlyer
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Re: Why do Mainland Chinese tourists only want direct flights?
Direct or Non-stop?
Re: Why do Mainland Chinese tourists only want direct flights?
I mean, CAAC and their insane slot process could just have a teeny weeny bit to do with that...
There's a difference when talking about the distance involved and the percentage of time penalty. The American tourists who make up, by far, the largest per-person spenders in Greece aren't exactly expecting non-stops to the islands.
Bud, you've been around long enough to know about that distinction in granularity. I appreciate it, but they mean non-stop when they say direct.
volatus24 wrote:You could easily ask the same about European tourists who want direct flights to PMI, AGP, IBZ instead of just connecting in MAD. Or even more strikingly look at the demand for direct flights to JTR, JMK, SMI, CFU, CHQ etc. which get connections to a hundred different cities in Europe every summer. Why don't the hoards connect in ATH or HER?
I think point-to-point flying is generally much more popular for tourists who want to maximize their holiday time, and especially for older people or less-frequent travellers who also want simplify the travel as much as possible.
There's a difference when talking about the distance involved and the percentage of time penalty. The American tourists who make up, by far, the largest per-person spenders in Greece aren't exactly expecting non-stops to the islands.
GalaxyFlyer wrote:Direct or Non-stop?
Bud, you've been around long enough to know about that distinction in granularity. I appreciate it, but they mean non-stop when they say direct.
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- Kent350787
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Re: Why do Mainland Chinese tourists only want direct flights?
N1120A wrote:I mean, CAAC and their insane slot process could just have a teeny weeny bit to do with that...
Exactly. Pre-Covid, the 15 Chinese airlines flying to SYD came from 9 or 10 different cities. That said, each of those cities does have a population larger than that of Sydney's almost 7 million....
Re: Why do Mainland Chinese tourists only want direct flights?
Kent350787 wrote:N1120A wrote:I mean, CAAC and their insane slot process could just have a teeny weeny bit to do with that...
Exactly. Pre-Covid, the 15 Chinese airlines flying to SYD came from 9 or 10 different cities. That said, each of those cities does have a population larger than that of Sydney's almost 7 million....
Also, remember that Australia is closer to China than the US is, meaning there is a higher regional flow and lower costs
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- hongkongflyer
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Re: Why do Mainland Chinese tourists only want direct flights?
Kent350787 wrote:N1120A wrote:I mean, CAAC and their insane slot process could just have a teeny weeny bit to do with that...
Exactly. Pre-Covid, the 15 Chinese airlines flying to SYD came from 9 or 10 different cities. That said, each of those cities does have a population larger than that of Sydney's almost 7 million....
Also many of them already need to connect within China in order to get on the international flight,
so that it become a double connection if the long haul sector is not a direct flight.
Re: Why do Mainland Chinese tourists only want direct flights?
Typical tourist aint typical seasoned traveller. Quite the opposite. If you don't travel much, and also don't know the language, it becomes way more stressful to transit. There is so many unknowns, do I need visa, do I need to recheck baggage, will I have enought time, will i find the gate, and so on.
Re: Why do Mainland Chinese tourists only want direct flights?
The Chinese international market still has a long way to go before a full return to pre-pandemic capacity.
Borders just opened this year, it takes time for global air travel to get back to 2019 levels. Additionally, when a large portion of nonstop international flights to and from a country are suspended, you will see a huge drop in passenger traffic overall. So it's not surprising why tourism from China is slow to resume, based on these reasons alone. Plus passport and visa delays aren't helping either as well.
A lot of stuff needs to be fixed/resolved in order for international air travel to get back to normal in China.
Borders just opened this year, it takes time for global air travel to get back to 2019 levels. Additionally, when a large portion of nonstop international flights to and from a country are suspended, you will see a huge drop in passenger traffic overall. So it's not surprising why tourism from China is slow to resume, based on these reasons alone. Plus passport and visa delays aren't helping either as well.
A lot of stuff needs to be fixed/resolved in order for international air travel to get back to normal in China.
Re: Why do Mainland Chinese tourists only want direct flights?
Didn't a Chinese airline start flying to KEF via HEL off something like that?
Re: Why do Mainland Chinese tourists only want direct flights?
TWA772LR wrote:Didn't a Chinese airline start flying to KEF via HEL off something like that?
Juneyao (HO) announced the route in Nov19 to start in Mar20.
I guess we all know what happened later.
Re: Why do Mainland Chinese tourists only want direct flights?
alex0easy wrote:TWA772LR wrote:Didn't a Chinese airline start flying to KEF via HEL off something like that?
Juneyao (HO) announced the route in Nov19 to start in Mar20.
I guess we all know what happened later.
Juneyao had some big plans for HEL prior to Covid. KEF via HEL was one of them. So looks like they are back o ntrack with it. I think they also had HEL-MAN in store at the time
Re: Why do Mainland Chinese tourists only want direct flights?
GalaxyFlyer wrote:Direct or Non-stop?
Non-stop, almost everyone cursed CZ on their CZ699 (Direct but with a stop in WUH) after CZ deliberately branded as a direct service.
Re: Why do Mainland Chinese tourists only want direct flights?
GalaxyFlyer wrote:Direct or Non-stop?
This. Thank you. There IS a difference although many youngins/yutes don't realize it. Probably some older folk like us don't realize it either but they are different. Guess it depends on your experience.
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