The gift that China’s President Xi Jinping‘s seems to bring with him on every state visit lately is improved visitor visa regulations for both People’s Republic of China passport holders to that country, and sometimes for visitors from that nation to China.

The United Kingdom (UK) is no exception, and a new visa policy between the two countries was announced October 21. "From January, new visitor visas for tourists from the People’s Republic of China will be valid in the UK for two years – four times the usual six-month limit for a standard visitor visa – bringing significant benefits to the UK economy, Prime Minister David Cameron announced today. He also announced his intention to go further with plans for a new 10-year, multi-entry visa for Chinese tourists at no extra cost," the UK government announced via its website. For people affected by this change, read the entire announcement here, there is a lot of information about new visa application centers and more.

Air China has used this week to announce  or remind the public about a whole bunch of new direct routes. There’s Beijing-Islamabad-Karachi in Pakistan, beginning October 26, three times per week; there’s Beijing-Newark service, which was previously announced, also starting October 26, four times per week, and in direct competition with fellow Star Alliance member United Airlines‘ flights between the two cities, although United flies daily; Beijing-Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, four times per week; and Beijing-Colombo, Sri Lanka, commencing October 27, three times per week. Must be a cool time to be a member of Air China’s international flight crews.

Finally, Indonesia is implementing strict new visitor visa rules beginning January 1, to crack down on people misusing those visas in order to gain employment. Specifically, "according to new rules, foreigners’ visas will be rejected in case if during the past 12 months the visitor has had two visas on arrival (paid or free) or a social/tourist visa B211." First-time travelers need not worry, but if you just bought a timeshare in Bali, or plan to spend every holiday there, you may need to look into a different kind of tourist or retirement visa.

Quite a bit for this week. ‘Til Tuesday, one road flat safe.

This post first appeared on thebeijinger.com on October 23, 2015

Sadly for those of us that live here, airlines would rather fly people to Beijing than fly us out of here. Fly from Chicago to Beijing on Delta Airlines for USD 714, from September 1 through December 9, or December 25 through January 14, 2015. The deal requires only three days’ advanced purchase. Learn more here.

United Airlines will fly you from Seattle to Beijing roundtrip for USD 772, from September 1 to December 10, all taxes included. Three days’ advance purchase is necessary.

All Nippon Airways will fly New York-based passengers (or anyone willing to fly through New York) to Beijing for USD 830, valid October 26 to December 11, 2014, and January 1 to March 31, 2015, including taxes and fees. The fare must be purchased three days in advance.

TUI is offering free travel to Hangzhou for four days and three nights to an expatriate family that applies and is selected. It includes train travel, accommodation, meals, and entrance to major sites. Of course, the family will be used in a promotional campaign for the city, which advertises on international television networks including CNN. If that sounds like fun, there are more details here.

Air China is now offering "Sky Chef" service on flights between Beijing, Shanghai, and Paris. Anything better than the usual three types of bread that seem to make up a Chinese inflight meal would be an improvement. Get some menu ideas here.

That’s all for now. Until Saturday, one road flat safe. If you don’t understand that phrase, learn some Chinese.

This post first appeared on thebeijinger.com on August 19, 2014.

Photo: thebeijinger.com

In writing the June cover story, three of the four fathers I interviewed said that they liked raising children in China because it’s more family-friendly than many other countries. What they specifically mean – and in some cases specifically say – is that people in China are more tolerant of children’s behavior/misbehavior. I considered this during a recent return flight from San Francisco as the child behind me kicked the seat and poked at his video screen.

Children are travelers with special needs, but only parents with children under three receive any kind of special treatment in terms of boarding, space, or seat selection. It’s time for this to change. The solution isn’t banning children from sections of the aircraft. It’s creating family-friendly sections of the plane.

Travelers without children similarly want different services when flying. For many reasons, they may not wish to be seated near children. Therefore, the solution is both obvious and simple: family-friendly cabins, both in business and economy class. And if Chinese airlines want to distinguish themselves and make them more appealing to non-Chinese travelers, they should pioneer this concept.

As much as possible, family and non-family travelers would be grouped together. This could be accomplished and enhanced with proper seating configurations. How about some seat belt options for non-adults? How about some seats that aren’t only for adults, perhaps with padded armrests for safety and easier sleeping? Those would be good starting points.

For items like video screens, many small children have to look up at his or her monitor, and probably can’t reach it – that all needs to be made friendlier, and of course loaded with enough entertainment and games for a 13-hour flight. My recent flight on Air China demonstrated that their in-flight entertainment selections offered only one episode of each show featured, making it quite a crap shoot as to whether that will be engaging or not.

Most airlines offer kids’ meals, but this needs to be enhanced in frequency and quality. Is there be a way for clever airline seat designers to create seating where family members could be oriented more towards each other, rather than only sitting in a line facing forward? Many business class seats are already backward-facing, is there a way to do this in an economy cabin without reducing seating capacity?

For the booking of seats, any arrangement that separates a family of any size is lose-lose. Minors’ seat assignments should be tied to the adults’ booking, period. I once sat next to a 10-year-old whose parents were 20 rows back, on a 12-hour flight. Nice kid, but I learned a lot more about Formula One than I cared to know, and the moment he ordered – and the flight attendant served him – coffee, I knew I wasn’t going to sleep for one second. Family-friendly cabins coupled with appropriate seat booking constraints would ensure that a five-year-old (or 10-year-old) isn’t stranded away from the one or two people on the plane with whom he or she actually wants to sit. Airlines should actively assist in keeping families together as much as possible through negotiation and a bit of prodding – and it wouldn’t kill them to toss a single traveler an upgrade now and then if that’s what it takes.

China’s various airlines are not known for their service, but they could be, and families would embrace airlines that embrace them. Look at Annie’s, the Italian restaurant chain in Beijing. Annie’s has three great advantages: they were an early entrant into the local pizza and Italian food market; their delivery is shockingly fast, and they have consistently won over parents and families for having high chairs, crayons, and staff who make a fuss over kids.

Has it paid off for them? At the Beijinger 2014 Reader Restaurant Awards, Annie’s won six awards, including Outstanding Restaurant of the Year (Non-Chinese, Casual Dining). To win an award like that, with every other non-Chinese, casual dining restaurant competing, means customer loyalty. Winning over families builds that loyalty.

While it seems that airlines flying out of Beijing have problems with the fast delivery part of the business, they can still reach out to families. If China really is a family-friendlier place, then this is a big opportunity not only to secure China’s massive travel market on more than just price and anti-competitive activity, but on serving a crucial, and loyal, market segment.

Until Tuesday, wishing travelers of all ages one road flat safe.

This post appeared in thebeijinger.com on June 12, 2014.

Photo courtesy of ABCnews via theebeijinger.com