![](\"http:\/\/www.chinahospitalitynews.com\/images\/danny-headshot1.gif\")
Becoming a member of different frequent flyer programs has made my life easier. With all the Chinese domestic air miles I annually log, my accumulated miles have given me nice perks and upgrades.<\/p>\nBecoming a member of different frequent flyer programs has made my life easier. With all the Chinese domestic air miles I annually log, my accumulated miles have given me nice perks and upgrades.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
For domestic airlines, I am a member with Air China, China Eastern, Shanghai Airlines, and Hainan Airlines. For international, I use the frequent flyer programs from United and Northwest Airlines.<\/p>\n
I have been pleased with the Chinese airlines' programs. Each month I receive a monthly statement and my initial cards arrived quickly in the mail. Northwest Airlines also provides decent service and keeps me updated on my status, but United Airlines has never even sent me a membership card–I still use my temporary number after requesting a card multiple times over the last six years.<\/p>\n
But two of the best memberships I own are not affiliated directly with any airline. They are the China Mobile VIP Club and the Priority Pass card.<\/p>\n
The China Mobile VIP Club started a few years ago, and since I have paid monthly fees on the same phone number in China for over eight years, my accumulated points immediately provided me with a Gold Level card. The highest level in China Mobile's Club is the Platinum Level, but I would need to spend about RMB800 more than my normal RMB1500\/month to qualify. Still, the Gold Level has its privileges.<\/p>\n
For example, at all the Chinese airports I have ever departed from, there is some sort of China Mobile lounge available. In the lounges I can find free food and drink, plus some have free WLAN Internet access.<\/p>\n
When I first earned my China Mobile VIP card a few years ago, few people in China had one, so the lounges were often empty. However now it seems that everyone has a membership card, so sometimes there is not enough room. In the last 3 months, I have departed from Beijing's Capital Airport at least two times a month. Each time, the China Mobile VIP Lounge is full and there is no extra space. The floor space in the domestic departure lounge is also quite small and able to hold about 20 people.<\/p>\n
In Shanghai's Hongqiao Airport, there is a small lounge outside the security metal detectors, but a larger one able to hold about 30 people is inside in the old terminal area. Both have no Internet access, no clocks on the wall (important as you wait for your departure), and no windows. Though the Beijing lounge is smaller, its services are much better.<\/p>\n
In both Shanghai's Pudong Airport and in the Shenzhen Airport, the China Mobile lounges are better, but again they lack good Internet connectivity. Staff are all well-trained and can easily switch between Mandarin and English, but the award for best all-around service still goes to Beijing's China Mobile lounge.<\/p>\n
The China Mobile VIP card is also great for renting cars in China, and each VIP member is assigned a special consultant with whom I can speak on the phone to assist me to rent cars anywhere on the mainland. Note that if you a foreigner, like me, you need to have a Chinese driver's license to rent vehicles. I am so happy I took the driving test in Beijing a few years ago before bureaucracy made it more difficult for a foreigner to gain a license.<\/p>\n
Since the China Mobile lounges are often full, I rely instead on the Priority Pass card to get me access to airport VIP lounges. I started using Priority Pass about 14 months ago and it has saved me lots of uncomfortable waits, especially when flights are delayed.<\/p>\n
Priority Pass provides airport VIP lounge access irrespective of with whom you are flying, in what class you are traveling, or whether you belong to an airline lounge program. This means that I can fly from Shanghai Hongqiao Airport on Hainan Airlines to Dalian in economy class, but when I arrive at Hongqiao, I can wait in the first class lounge, eat the first class lounge food, sip first class lounge wine, and use the first class lounge Internet.<\/p>\n
I earned my first Priority pass membership through a special promotion on my American Express card, but if you want to buy the service, it only costs a few hundred US dollars for unlimited access to lounges around the world for a year.<\/p>\n
One sore point for Priority Pass is that I have had a couple of problems with communicating with the customer service. They have service agents in Hong Kong, Britain, and the United States, and service requests often take much longer than they should–up to eight days sometimes! This should not be happening with a service-oriented business.<\/p>\n
What about the Air China, China Eastern, Shanghai Airlines, and Hainan Airlines frequent flyer programs? Because of my Priority Pass and China Mobile VIP card, I treat those domestic frequent flyer programs only as ways to accumulate points for upgrades on future flights. I do not usually take advantage of visits to each airlines' respective lounges, and in fact with the Priority Pass card I rarely even pay attention to which airline's lounge I am sitting in–the Priority Pass allows access to many of these different airlines' lounges.<\/p>\n
For China-based frequent travelers, getting a China Mobile VIP card or enrolling in the different domestic airline programs is a must. They will save you time, help set your mind at ease, and give you access to snacks before you eat the in-flight airline fare.<\/p>\n
By Danny Levinson Becoming a member of different frequent flyer programs has made my life easier. With all the Chinese domestic air miles I annually log, my accumulated miles have given me nice perks and upgrades.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12723],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinahospitalitynews.com\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinahospitalitynews.com\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinahospitalitynews.com\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinahospitalitynews.com\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinahospitalitynews.com\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinahospitalitynews.com\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34723\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinahospitalitynews.com\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinahospitalitynews.com\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinahospitalitynews.com\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Publisher, ChinaHospitalityNews.com<\/strong>
<\/font>Danny has worked in China for over 8 years and travels frequently, mostly to Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai. His views are his own and do not represent those of this publication, its investors, owners, or other staff. To comment on this article please email Danny at chinahospitalitynews@gmail.com<\/a>–though he can't always promise a response, he will read all messages.<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"