Despite flying four different airlines from four different domestic areas of four different airports this experience was surprisingly generic.

The main differences between the airlines seem to be that one will offer a blanket, whereas another will offer a pillow.  Shanghai Airlines (Shanghai to Huangshan) get slightly extra points for providing us with a drink when our flight was delayed, but apart from that I really couldn’t see much difference between them.

Likewise the airports blended into one - slightly different merchandise in each tourist shopping area.

Once again, I recommend booking via Ctrip - cheap flights, useful customer service and very reasonable refund terms on most flights.  Their website can be slightly confusing (we got confused over how to pick up our tickets, but they will hold them at the airport and send you an email confirmation just like most airlines now) but their customer service team is excellent.  It can also sometimes take a while to get the credit card payment through, but customer service will guide you through the process if you have any questions or problems.

Lastly, but very importantly, if you don’t want to arrive in Beijing in the early hours then make sure you book a flight earlier in the day!