Parents' Trip to the USA - Insurance, Flight Tickets, and Immigration
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This blog post discusses the preparations and immigration experience for my parents and brother’s trip to the USA.
Travel Insurance
Airbnb Travel Insurance
In the previous post, Parents’ Trip to the USA: Housing Issues, I mentioned that I eventually purchased Airbnb’s travel insurance for $400. The primary reason was to cover any unexpected cancellations, ensuring a refund for the accommodation expenses. However, Airbnb’s insurance actually covers other aspects as well: travel cancellation delays, medical expenses, and delays or loss of luggage (as shown below). This insurance covers everyone staying in the Airbnb (I chose coverage for 5 people, including me and cuihao). Besides the Airbnb accommodation fees being refundable, what I valued most was the $50,000 medical insurance per person, covering expenses for hospital visits/ stays, medications prescribed by the doctor, tests, etc. One unreliable aspect was that I didn’t need to fill in any information about the insured, such as names, ages, IDs, etc., meaning I could essentially change the guest information on Airbnb and insure different people. Since there were no accidents in the end, I didn’t have to claim insurance, and I don’t know what Airbnb’s insurance claim experience is like.
I also looked into other travel insurance options, such as my former employer Allianz. By inputting the ages of three people, the travel dates, and the estimated expenses, it could tell you the premium, as shown in a screenshot below. You can see that the premium here is more expensive than Airbnb’s (a total of $808 for three people), but the coverage is more or less the same. Hence, I chose Airbnb’s insurance.
Domestic Overseas Travel Insurance
Later on, I realized I ignored an issue. Airbnb’s insurance only covered our stay in Airbnb, meaning there was no insurance coverage for my parents from their departure to their stay in Airbnb, no wonder the price was cheaper. Therefore, I reconsidered and bought an insurance plan covering the period from 12/20/2023 - 1/2/2024, choosing China Ping An’s Ping An Travel·Global Travel Insurance (Overseas) for 750 RMB for three people, just for peace of mind. In the end, one of my parents’ checked luggage was delayed for more than 24 hours, and we received a compensation of 1200 RMB, which made up for the expense. The claim experience was decent; I downloaded the app, submitted the claim information via mobile, and after several days without any progress, I contacted customer service through the app. The same day, someone emailed asking us to provide pictures of our boarding passes, and a few days later, we received the compensation money.
Credit Card Insurance
In the process of searching for travel insurance, I realized that many credit cards offer free travel insurance if you purchase flight tickets or pay for accommodation with the card. The insured must be the cardholder, their spouse, or direct relatives, etc. You can search which of your credit cards offers travel insurance and what it covers. For example, most include insurance for flight delays and cancellations, but might not cover medical expenses.
Fortunately, my parents and brother didn’t fall sick during their stay in the USA, so we didn’t need the medical coverage part of the travel insurance, and I am not sure how the claims process would be.
Flight Tickets
At the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020, I started to check the prices for flights between China and the USA, specifically from Shanghai to Los Angeles (PVG - LAX). Prices at that time were so cheap:
- In late 2019 (12/29/2019), I saw that the round-trip direct flight tickets from Shanghai to Los Angeles for the summer of 2020 (7/19/2020) on Delta cost only $491 per person.
- In early 2020 (1/9/2020), the price for the same flight during the summer vacation (7/19/2020) was $606 per person.
However, as the pandemic unfolded, flights between China and the USA drastically decreased, and direct flight tickets at one point soared to $5,000-$6,000 each. Due to the high prices and strict COVID-19 measures in China, I did not consider letting my parents come to the USA. It wasn’t until 2023, when flight prices began to gradually decrease, though still not as low as pre-pandemic prices. Since my parents got their US travel visas in March 2023, I bought their tickets in early June 2023 for their trip at the end of December, choosing Cathay Pacific economy class for a total of $2234.46 for three people. The flight would depart from Fuzhou Changle, with a layover in Hong Kong, to Los Angeles, lasting a total of 15 hours and 55 minutes. Although not a direct flight, the duration wasn’t too long. Considering my family is from Ningde, and it would take 5-6 hours by bullet train to Shanghai, possibly requiring us to go to Shanghai a day earlier and spend the night there. It seemed more convenient to take a bus from Ningde to Fuzhou Changle Airport, which only takes 2 hours. Thus, the entire journey from my house in Ningde to finally reaching my house in Irvine would take no more than 24 hours. Later, I realized we had purchased the tickets too early; waiting until November could have saved us about $100 per person.
I originally didn’t plan on buying return tickets in advance since I wasn’t sure if my parents and brother would adapt well to life in the USA and whether they’d want to stay for two months. Therefore, the return date was uncertain. However, considering it’s safer to have a return ticket when entering the USA, we ended up purchasing the return tickets for February 15, 2024, in early December. We chose Xiamen Airlines economy class, a direct flight from Los Angeles to Xiamen, lasting 15 hours and 15 minutes, for three people at a total of $2156.90. As expected, due to boredom in the USA, high accommodation expenses, and our busy work schedules, my parents decided to return home early instead of staying for the Chinese New Year. The Xiamen Airlines website experience was terrible, unable to change the flight ticket online. I had to call customer service to change the date, and the change fee for three tickets was $365.95 in total.
Pre-departure Preparations
Seeing my parents coming to the USA as extremely important (feeling a great deal of pressure and anxiety), we made thorough preparations, practically guiding my parents and brother hand by hand. During the one or two weeks before coming to the USA, we had almost daily video calls with my parents. The preparations included but were not limited to:
- As previously mentioned: booking accommodations, purchasing travel insurance, and buying round-trip flight tickets in advance
- EVUS system registration (very important)
- Updating the travel plan and invitation letter (previously for visa officers, now for immigration officers, with updates on flight information and travel dates)
- Teaching my parents how to connect to LAX airport WIFI (to contact us via WeChat after disembarking)
- Instructing my parents to download the airline’s app to check flight status
- Sending my parents videos to learn travel English, familiarize themselves with the immigration process, and understand how to fill out the customs declaration form
- Discussing with my parents what luggage to bring to the USA (clothes suitable for the weather here, enough medication for 2 months, documents)
- Advising my parents to set up international roaming on their mobile phones, get a credit card for overseas use, and exchange some $10, $20 bills (around $100-200)
- Sending my parents all the necessary documents for printing, including
- Round-trip flight itinerary
- Airbnb accommodation receipt
- Travel plan and invitation letter
- Visa system registration record
- Checking in for the flight 24 hours in advance
- Thorough cleaning and apartment organization
Entering the USA
Before my parents’ entry into the USA, I was very nervous, fearing any mishaps. First, their English was very limited, knowing only a few simple words. Additionally, even with a visa, being denied entry to the USA and being deported is still a possibility. Thus, I instructed my parents to message us before boarding the plane and contact us immediately after connecting to the airport WiFi upon landing. Their flight was scheduled to arrive at Los Angeles airport after 8 pm. We started driving from Irvine around 6 pm, encountered some traffic, and took about 2 hours to reach the airport. Upon arrival, cuihao stayed in the car circling the airport, and I went into the terminal building to wait in the designated international arrivals hall (as shown below).
I waited for less than 30 minutes before my parents and brother came out. We saw each other immediately, exchanged brief hugs and greetings, then left the airport building and contacted cuihao to pick us up. Driving back home from LAX was smooth, taking about 50 minutes.
I asked about my parents’ immigration experience on the way back. Their flight landed 50 minutes early, and they managed to connect to WiFi effortlessly to message us after disembarking. Then came the queue for customs, where surprisingly, they didn’t have to fill out the customs declaration form. The queue was long, taking about an hour, but an officer saw they were traveling with a child and led them through a fast-track line, significantly shortening their wait. The customs officer asked simple questions, and my parents showed the travel plan and invitation letter, even receiving compliments on how well-prepared our documents were. Overall, their entry was smooth, with my dad commenting on the officers’ friendliness and that not speaking English wasn’t a big issue.
Luggage Delay
On our way to the airport, Cathay Pacific called to inform us that my dad’s luggage didn’t make it onto the plane and was still in Fuzhou/Hong Kong. It wouldn’t arrive that night but should be in Los Angeles the next day, and they would deliver it to our house in Irvine. They confirmed my email and address, promising an email to follow. However, by the next afternoon without any email or contact from the courier for delivery, we started calling Cathay Pacific. My dad had packed his medication for hypertension and diabetes in the checked luggage, which he needed daily. Cathay Pacific kept saying they couldn’t track the luggage, directing us to contact the Los Angeles airport staff. They provided several phone numbers, all of which couldn’t be reached, making it impossible to contact the airport ground staff. By around 8 pm without receiving the luggage, cuihao drove to Los Angeles airport in the rain. Upon reaching, he quickly found my dad’s luggage at the Cathay Pacific counter, bringing it home within 10 minutes.
This experience reflected Cathay Pacific’s poor customer service. The attitude was bad over the phone, and the website was poorly designed, lacking update features found on sites like Delta, where you can track your luggage dynamically. In the end, after much time spent submitting claim information and emailing, Cathay Pacific compensated us $200. Lesson learned: never pack daily medications in checked luggage.
