January 2003
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In this issue:

- Shanghai Pudong Airport to Have High-Speed Train Link
- New Non-stop and direct flights to China
- When Is the Best Time to Catch the Lowest Airfares?
- Special Promotional Airfares
- Direct Flight or Non-Stop Flight?
- E-ticket or Paper Ticket?
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WHAT'S NEW?

  Shanghai Pudong Airport to Have High-Speed Train Link

  The maglev train will link the state of the art airport
  to the city's subway system. With a top speed of 430km/h,
  the 30km journey takes only 8 minutes, traffic jam free!
  The same journey takes at least 45 minutes for a bus or a
  taxi. The service will be launched in September 2003. More
  at http://www.visionengineer.com/tech/shanghai_maglev.shtml

  New Non-Stop and Direct Flights to China

  We've compiled summer flight schedules and put it at 
  http://www.flychina.com/flights.htm     Northwest Airlines
  will have daily flights Minneapolis-Beijing via Tokyo. Its
  Detroit-Tokyo-Shanghai flights will also be operated daily.
  Northwest no longer operates non-stop flights to Beijing
  and Shanghai. Air China started non-stop service between
  New York and Beijing in September 2002.  United Airlines
  operates daily Chicago-Beijing and San Francisco-Shanghai
  non-stop services in addition to another daily direct San
  Francisco-Tokyo-Beijing flight.
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TRAVEL MARKET TRENDS

  When Is the Best Time to Catch the Lowest Airfares?

  U.S. airlines industry is still undergoing cost-cutting,
  one of the measures is cutting down flight schedules such
  as non-stop services. In summer peak travel season, the
  airline seats become hard-to-find items, especially the
  low-fare ones. The fare gap between peak season (June,
  July, August and December) and non-peak season gets bigger.
  So if you can avoid travel in peak season, it can save you
  lots of money. If you do need to travel in peak season,
  start to plan your trip early. It used to be considered
  early to buy summer trip tickets in March. but this is
  changing. Last summer's low-fare seats were virtually sold
  out by April. So February is no longer too early. To
  help out our customers in such a challenging situation,
  FlyChina combines agents' specialty with technology power
  to find the lowest possible fares with available seats.
  Our agents had made lots of extra efforts last year to
  accomplish this goal and we have been making constant
  improvements to exceed that level this year.
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SPECIAL AIRFARES

  Current promotional fares for travel before March 31 is to
  expire on next Monday, January 20. These tickets to
  Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taipei cost about $600 to
  $700. To check it out, use our Low Fare Wizard at
  http://www.flychina.com/desk.htm    Please do not reply
  this email for travel requests, because the newsletter
  editor cannot process your travel requests.
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TRAVEL TIPS

  Direct Flight or Non-Stop Flight?

  A direct flight has the same flight number between the
  point of departure and destination, but it may have
  intermediate stops.  Domestic direct flights usually do
  not need to change plane and gate at the stops, however,
  international direct flights may need to change plane and
  gate at the intermediate stops.
  
  E-ticket or Paper Ticket?

  Electronic tickets have been widely used now by U.S.
  airlines. E-ticket saves airlines lots of paper processing
  cost, and it also helps passengers to avoid the hassle of
  ticket being lost, misplaced or forgotten. If you buy for
  people departing in China, you also eliminate the cost and
  time delay from express delivery. Lately airlines started
  to charge paper ticket fee about $25 if E-ticket is
  available. Currently, E-tickets are not available yet for
  Chinese and other Asian airlines.