Flights to China, booked properly
International tickets from Heathrow, Manchester and Dublin — including the open-jaw routes comparison sites handle badly. As part of a trip, or on their own.
The short answer
We book return and open-jaw flights between the UK and China, either as part of a full itinerary or as a standalone ticket. Direct services run from Heathrow to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, roughly 10 to 12 hours; Manchester flies direct to Beijing and Shanghai on some days. We also ticket through Doha, Istanbul, Dubai and Helsinki when the fare is better, and we can hold seats for groups. Every ticket is quoted for your exact dates.
- Standalone flight bookings welcome — you do not need to buy a trip
- Open-jaw tickets (into Beijing, home from Shanghai) usually cost no more than a return
- Group seat holds and child or infant fares handled by the same desk
- We quote the fare and our booking fee together, so there is one number not two
Booking flights on your behalf: 代订机票
代订机票 — booking a flight for someone else — is exactly what this service is. You give us the route, the dates and the passenger details; we find the fares, hold the seats, take the booking and send you the ticket. You never have to open a booking site.
It is worth using when the routing is not straightforward. A trip that starts in Beijing and ends in Shanghai should not be sold as a return to Beijing with a wasted leg back. A family of five travelling in school holidays needs the seats held while the dates are agreed, not bought one at a time and hoped for.
Routes from the UK, and how long they take
Timings below are scheduled block times and vary a little by season and airline. All are non-stop unless marked.
- Heathrow → Beijing (PEK/PKX): about 10 hours. The most frequent direct route.
- Heathrow → Shanghai (PVG): about 11 hours 30 minutes.
- Heathrow → Guangzhou (CAN): about 12 hours, useful for the south and for Hong Kong connections.
- Manchester → Beijing / Shanghai: direct on selected days; otherwise one stop.
- Dublin → Beijing: direct, and often the cheapest departure point from these islands.
- One-stop options via Doha, Istanbul, Dubai or Helsinki: typically 14 to 17 hours door to door, and often cheaper outside school holidays.
What to send us
The more of this arrives in the first message, the faster we can come back with a firm fare rather than an estimate.
- Full names exactly as printed in the passport, and dates of birth for every passenger
- Passport number, expiry date and nationality
- Outbound and return dates, and how much give there is in them
- Departure airport, and whether you can use more than one
- Checked baggage needs, seat preferences, frequent flyer numbers
- For children: ages at the date of travel, and whether an infant needs a bassinet
Things that catch people out
Airline fares are not the same as the total. On many carriers a checked bag is extra, seat selection is extra, and a date change costs the fare difference plus a fee. We tell you the all-in figure rather than the headline price, because the headline is where the surprises live.
The other trap is the return date. A ticket with a three-month maximum stay is cheaper than an open one, and if your plans shift you will pay a difference. Say if your return is not fixed and we will build that in from the start.