Buying domestic air tickets in Beijing

I'm trying to plan a trip KUL-Lijiang-Chengdu-Beijing-KUL, and every travel
agent I've been to here in KL has all but refused to sell me the internal
China flights. They all say that it is much cheaper to buy them in China as
soon as I arrive, and I would be a fool to buy them now.

That's fine with me, and I've certainly found it to be true in some other
places, but just to help with my planning, about how much cheaper? For
tickets booked from here, I got a quote of about US$250 per leg for Lijiang
- Chengdu and Chengdu - Beijing, which does indeed seem very high since the
round trip between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing is only US$400.

And is there anything else I should know before resigning to doing it this
way? If I need specific dates for the internal flights, is it worth arriving
in Beijing a couple days early?

miguel
--
Hit The Road! Photos and tales from around the world: http://travel.u.nu

I'm trying to plan a trip KUL-Lijiang-Chengdu-Beijing-KUL, and every travel
agent I've been to here in KL has all but refused to sell me the internal
China flights. They all say that it is much cheaper to buy them in China as
soon as I arrive, and I would be a fool to buy them now.

In China you may have great discounts (even up to 50%-70%). It depends on
the day, destination etc. Each time you ask for a ticket in the travel office,
they will give you a different discount for the different flights. You
must visit several offices in China to choose the best price, you may also
ask in your hotel - maybe some bigger discount for theirs guests.
It is not possible to give you the final prices now.

Hadzio

I'm trying to plan a trip KUL-Lijiang-Chengdu-Beijing-KUL, and every travel
agent I've been to here in KL has all but refused to sell me the internal
China flights. They all say that it is much cheaper to buy them in China as
soon as I arrive, and I would be a fool to buy them now.

In China you may have great discounts (even up to 50%-70%). It depends on
the day, destination etc. Each time you ask for a ticket in the travel office,
they will give you a different discount for the different flights. You
must visit several offices in China to choose the best price, you may also
ask in your hotel - maybe some bigger discount for theirs guests.
It is not possible to give you the final prices now.

Hadzio

I'm trying to plan a trip KUL-Lijiang-Chengdu-Beijing-KUL, and every travel
agent I've been to here in KL has all but refused to sell me the internal
China flights. They all say that it is much cheaper to buy them in China as
soon as I arrive, and I would be a fool to buy them now.

In China you may have great discounts (even up to 50%-70%). It depends on
the day, destination etc. Each time you ask for a ticket in the travel office,
they will give you a different discount for the different flights. You
must visit several offices in China to choose the best price, you may also
ask in your hotel - maybe some bigger discount for theirs guests.
It is not possible to give you the final prices now.

Hadzio

Miguel Cruz wrote in message ...
I'm trying to plan a trip KUL-Lijiang-Chengdu-Beijing-KUL, and every travel
agent I've been to here in KL has all but refused to sell me the internal
China flights. They all say that it is much cheaper to buy them in China as
soon as I arrive, and I would be a fool to buy them now.

That's fine with me, and I've certainly found it to be true in some other
places, but just to help with my planning, about how much cheaper? For
tickets booked from here, I got a quote of about US$250 per leg for Lijiang
- Chengdu and Chengdu - Beijing, which does indeed seem very high since the
round trip between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing is only US$400.

And is there anything else I should know before resigning to doing it this
way? If I need specific dates for the internal flights, is it worth arriving
in Beijing a couple days early?

miguel

Just got back from China and I can confirm what the previous poster
said. You are better off doing it when you are in China. Big
discount is available from travl agents, hotels and even pamphlets
handed out by peddlers on the street.

or you may want to try

http://www.elong.com/?rid=elong.com

if you read Chinese.