United’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner (Photo: United Airlines)
**April 25 UPDATE! Wow! We’ve received nearly 300 entries for this contest and are reading through all of them now. We should have a winner chosen by the end of today. Thanks everyone! We are really enjoying reading through the entries and wish we had tickets for everyone! Choosing just one winner is going to be tough. Stay tuned…**
April 26: Winner chosen! See this.
How would you like to jump in a big lie-flat BusinessFirst seat on a United 787 on its inaugural flight to one of the most interesting cities in China?
We are super-excited to announce that TravelSkills and United have teamed up to offer round trip business class tickets to Xian, China to a very lucky and talented reader PLUS a companion!
Here’s how it works: Regular readers of the TravelSkills blog are familiar with our popular Trip Reports— where we chronicle inflight experiences on a wide variety of airlines. Due to a schedule conflict, Chris is unable make the inaugural SFO-Xian flight, so we asked United if a reader could take the trip instead. United said yes!
Xian is located in central China and home to the Terracotta Warriors (Map: US CIA)
To find the right reader for the trip, we’ve created a contest and will pick a winner for the two tickets.
Interested? Then fill out the entry form below by April 24 and tell us why YOU would be the best person for this mission. We’ll review all entries on April 25 and choose a winner based on several factors: Cleverness, eagerness, writing style, ability to take good photos with a phone or camera, and an explanation of what a trip like this would mean to you personally. (Keep your entries to less than 300 words, please.)
All we ask the winner to do is to take notes, plenty of photos and then write about your business class experience on United. (Submitting a report to us within two weeks of your return.) That’s it! Don’t worry if you’re not a professional writer– I’m happy to help the winner craft and edit his or her Trip Report.
Some important notes: We are only providing air transportation for this trip. The winner is responsible for all other costs related to this trip such as hotels, visas, transfers, food, etc. We are not responsible for additional costs due to irregular operations such as delays and cancellations. The winner is responsible for obtaining proper visas for travel to China. We’d prefer that the winner travel on the inaugural outbound flight from SFO (Sunday, May 8) to enjoy the airport and inflight festivities celebrating the service. But we realize that may not be possible– so the winner could take the trip any time before July 8. (Note: Be sure to read the full official contest rules at the bottom of the entry form!)
United is the only U.S. carrier to serve Xian. Its flights will depart San Francisco International Airport at 1:35 p.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays and arrive in Xi’an at 5:30 p.m. the following days. The return flights will depart Xi’an’s Xianyang International Airport at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and arrive at SFO at 6:35 a.m. the same days. Flight times will be approximately 12 hours, 55 minutes westbound and 12 hours, 5 minutes eastbound- plenty of time for the winner to take lots of notes and photos!
Bell tower in Xian (Photo: DanielinBlue Wikimedia Creative Commons)
Xian is a 3,000 year-old city in central China, with a population of around 8 million. It’s probably best known as the home of China’s famous Terracotta Warriors. Curious? Then take a look at what TripAdvisor says about what to do, where to stay and what to eat in Xian. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg went to Xian last year and posted this.
Ready to go? Then fill out the form embeddedbelow (or click here)… and hurry! The contest ends on Sunday, April 24. We’ll select the winner on Monday, April 25!
Increase your chances of winning by emailing this post to your potential trip companions- tell them to enter, too! 🙂
Questions? Ask Chris
Don’t see a form embedded below? Then click here.
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Chris McGinnis says
April 25, 2016 at 10:18 pmWe’ve chosen a winner and will announce it in the morning on Tuesday. Thanks!
Hajime Sano says
April 25, 2016 at 9:35 pmI would’ve loved to enter. But alas life got in the way the last few days. Good luck to all the entrants!
Linda Blum says
April 25, 2016 at 9:14 pmAnd the winner is?
cahdot says
April 23, 2016 at 7:20 pmi’ve not been there!!!!!
Don M says
April 23, 2016 at 6:29 pmI am probably in the vast minority of your readers who has actually been to Xian so I would hope the winner will not have been there. The warriors building is very impressive and when we were there a few of the farmers who found the warriors were there.
As I remember (it was about 4 years ago), the visa process did take a while and I don’t remember if there were expediting options. Also the visa fee was significant and it allows 1 year for visiting.
we visited on a group tour primarily of children (in my case, my wife) of Americans who flew in World War 2 against the Japanese in China. Most of the Chinese meals were had were bland even though we were in Sichuan which is known for its spicy food so obviously they were “Americanized” for our tastes.
Also be aware that little English is spoken there (although highway signs are in both Chinese and English). Servers will look like they understand what you are saying, but few do.
It will definitely be an experience so good luck to those entering the contest.
Chris McGinnis says
April 20, 2016 at 9:59 amYour assumptions are correct.
Langston says
April 20, 2016 at 9:55 amLong time lurker, first comment. Love your blog with your delightful trip reports! Really helps keep me up to date on all things flying-related.
If one were to win and actually go on this trip, I assume it is going to be non-rev/non
PQM/non-PQS?
jeff says
April 19, 2016 at 6:19 pmWhaaaaat!!??!!! You have to have a Twitter account! Come on Chris throw us a bone.
KatyMax says
April 19, 2016 at 6:02 pmI was so ready to enter, but I don’t have a Twitter account. Bummer. I WOULD have said:
Life is what you live while planning for the future; going to China would interrupt that cycle and provide a memory for posterity. My wife and I are your team.
huning says
April 19, 2016 at 12:40 pmnot for Canadians … 🙁 so sad!!