As a serial travel deal lurker and after reviewing the Urumqi post earlier, I thought i'd have a look at other destinations with Hainan.
I haven't had a desire to go to China and Urumqi looked fantastic but a little remote… So after a bit of digging, at $387pp return for two cities (Beijing and Xian) on a full service airline, I couldn't resist.
To get these prices Booking dates are:
Mel - PEK 4 Sep
PEK -XIAN 9 Sep
XIAN - MEL -11 Sep
I also checked some dates in October and they were similarly priced (maybe $50 more).
It's the same price to fly Mel-PEK return so essentially this is a free flight to XIAN
The price to fly open jaw from Mel - Pek and Xian - Mel is $460!
You could catch the Bullet train from Beijing to Xian but its about $100 extra and 5 hours so we decided on this (free) flight instead. It seems check in for the bullet train also takes time so there is no real time benefit compared to flying.
I chose to fly back from Xian as there are direct flights to Melbourne on Monday and Thursdays. Direct outgoing flights from Mel to Xian are on Sat and Tuesday but prices are the same to fly on to PEK so I decided to fly on to Beijing on the outgoing leg.
I think there are also direct flights to/from Syd but i'm not sure from which airport and which days.
Not sure when this deal finishes or if this is standard pricing? I couldn't find any reference on their website.
Hope this helps someone and maybe ill see you on the Great Wall or Huashan!
Edit: Visa fee is $110 for single entry in person. $130 if sent via post. Standard service is 4 days in person. 10 if by post. There is a expedited service but it costs more (obviously) might want to keep this in mind when booking.
Just a note for those who are interested.
Some international planes do not have a plane monitor.