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Q: Foreigners NOT ALLOWED to buy train tickets online. Did you know this?
This is just a fair warning to all of you that bought your tickets online or had an agency do it for you. When you get to the ticket counter they may refuse to give you the tickets under the new law that "FOREIGNERS CAN'T GET TICKETS ONLINE?"
"Why?"
"No why."
You have to get them at the counter yourself and pay for them in cash. Probably due to Spring Festival and tightening up security and you know how those pesky foreigners are always causing trouble in the heavenly kingdom!
You hear about this?
9 years 10 weeks ago in Transport & Travel - China
I just bought a round trip like 2 weeks ago and just got the ticket for the first part today.
Are you sure it's not just some lazy employee? Cause it sounds like so.
Robk:
That's what I am kind of checking into... was yours for a plane ticket or train?
My foreign buddies told me this... they reserved it online but when they got to the counter, they had to repurchase it and were told this excuse.
Anyway, it may be location specific or it may be some retard employee but I think due to Spring Festival, it is quite possibly true.
RiriRiri:
High speed train. I booked and paid myself with my own credit card and no problem so far.
coineineagh:
Probably this. Lazy or plain racist. I had the same issue with bank staff telling me MeiYou when I knew full well that I could get internet banking as foreigner. Problem is, if you try to correct their mistake, staff will fall in line (Chinese vs. Foreigner), and suddenly the manager at HQ is saying the same. Better to let it slide before they memorize your face. Retreat, and see if you can return during a different staff rotation, and hopefully speak to someone who does their job. Not sure if that helps for train tickets, though...
I used to be able to buy tickets at the machines outside the station. They have gotten rid of all english options in the machines, as i found out last night. This place is getting worse and worse.
yongge:
Why don't you use the Chinese options then? I found plane tickets to be much cheaper when you use the Chinese website, instead of the English website of the same airline.
fada:
My chinese is not so good. with regards to buying tickets on english v chinese sites, i have never encountered a price difference. Wishfull thinking on your part i would assume.
yongge:
Nope. The case I mentioned was on an Air China flight. Same flight, same day, but different rates on the English and Chinese websites.
fada:
Did you go to the english site first or the chinese site? The more clicks a flight gets, the higher its price goes
Whaaat? When did this happen?
Thanks for letting us know
I just bought a round trip like 2 weeks ago and just got the ticket for the first part today.
Are you sure it's not just some lazy employee? Cause it sounds like so.
Robk:
That's what I am kind of checking into... was yours for a plane ticket or train?
My foreign buddies told me this... they reserved it online but when they got to the counter, they had to repurchase it and were told this excuse.
Anyway, it may be location specific or it may be some retard employee but I think due to Spring Festival, it is quite possibly true.
RiriRiri:
High speed train. I booked and paid myself with my own credit card and no problem so far.
coineineagh:
Probably this. Lazy or plain racist. I had the same issue with bank staff telling me MeiYou when I knew full well that I could get internet banking as foreigner. Problem is, if you try to correct their mistake, staff will fall in line (Chinese vs. Foreigner), and suddenly the manager at HQ is saying the same. Better to let it slide before they memorize your face. Retreat, and see if you can return during a different staff rotation, and hopefully speak to someone who does their job. Not sure if that helps for train tickets, though...
Yup! A few month ago a few of us took the train up to Changsha to visit a friend and get drunk in a new city. On the way back we tried to book online but aparently foreigners couldnt. It sucked. Wr wanted to sit together of course so we had to drive around looking for one of those damn ticket agents. Bullshit.
I thought it was just more crappy service for foreigners, didnt know it wad a rule.
I tried to book a ticket with a tour group to Australia and New Zealand last year and wasn't allowed. Well, my wife tried to, not me, as I don't speak Chinese.
The price was so ridiculously low that we figured we'd stay with the tour to Melbourne, Rotorua (NZ) and Brisbane before leaving them to do our own thing and make our way back to China under our own steam
We were happy to pay the full price of the tour as this would still have been much much cheaper than just going to Aust ourselves.
But I wasn't allowed. We complained and were referred to the company's head office in Beijing who confirmed that foreigners were not allowed to join a Chinese tour group.
Any ideas as to the why of it?
laowaigentleman:
I once planned to join a tour group. The manager told me at the last minute that foreigners can't join Chinese tour groups due to issues with their insurers.
royceH:
And, as per usual with all matters 'Chinese', that doesn't make sense. Wouldn't insurance be insurance?
Gotta be another reason.
ScotsAlan:
I went to Malaysia on a Chinese tour a few years back. I was with an Irish mate, and as soon as we arrived at the meeting point for the tour the agent wanted to take our passports from us. We said no, but the Chinese had their passports taken. They only got them to go through immigration. It turns out that the agent gets a heavy fine if they dont bring everyone back to China. Losing tourists is not an option. The tour guides are efectively "minders". The Chinese tourists were even discouraged from leaving the hotels at night. The tour guides had no chance at keeping me and my mate couped up tho :-)
royceH:
Yeah, that's bloody right! Goodonyers! Out drinking, I suppose....
And so because of your disobedience NO FOREIGNERS ARE ALLOWED TO GO EVER AGAIN!
wagon:
I tried the same thing with my wife. I believe it was to Aus, as well. It was so cheap I had to give it a try, and like you, I told my wife we'd ditch those fools once we landed. But we got stung by the "no foreigner" policy, too.
Didn't know that, I travel between GZ south and Shenzhen north regularly, but my company books the CHR tickets for me and they are Chinese. Also I never had any problem getting tickets at the station.
Thanks for the info, it doesn't even surprise me though.
My gf buys my tickets online, using her Chinese credit card via taobao.....don't ask me how all that works....I just hand her some cash. Never had a problem redeeming my confirmation number for a physical ticket at the train station. This is at Ningbo and Shanghai Hongqiao train stations. Haven't taken the train since early January. Next trip is in a few days....we'll see what happens.
My wife just set it up so she could buy my tickets online. We haven’t tried it yet, but the process was a real pain in the ass and took no less than 3 trips across town and a phone call to set it up. I won’t head back for about 45 days and post spring festival. I hope it all goes well.
I've never had any issue before. You probably just got unlucky with some stupid person at the counter.
My school reserved G train ticket Beijing- Zhengzhou (online I think) on Jan. 18th, and I got it at the Beijing West Railway Station counter with my passport.
It might be Festival thingy, however it sounds ridiculous. I saw info on CC teli few days ago, that you can get tickets earlier than usual 10-12 days before the trip. I think it was something around '3 weeks earlier'.
icnif77:
7pm G-train makes only 5 stops, and it's never overcrowded. No screaming either, some phone talks, so Ipod is still necessity for the price of some 600 Rmb. You can look for more Chinese train info on 'CNVOL'.
I bought train tickets for my two ex on line with their passport number.
Try another time, perhaps the employee got snubbed early morning. Just yesterday the bank staff told me that lowai can't use online banking and taobao doesn't allow passport number for creating an account. Next branch I visited activated online banking for me though no solution for creating taobao account...
in december they announced the ability to buy tickets 60 days in advance would be implemented gradually over the next year, so i guess they are trying to spread out the buying for spring festival over a longer period. the question is can they make it work.
Yesterday I booked ticket for my bro, there was no problem.... when u book the ticket though 12306.cn will send u code to ur phone， take ur passport and show that code to counter lady, she will give u ticket.
I coudnt buy it ether the first time. But they sead theth once you buy it in the stacion and you are registreted in the sistem, you can buy it online too.
According to China Daily it's easy for foreigners to book train tickets online as long as you go to the train station once & register your name & passport (see last paragraph):
http://m.chinadaily.com.cn/en/2015-02/11/content_19552401.htm
My girlfriend booked mine online and we went and retrieved them without any problems.
