Scams at the airport

Arrival

1. Take your taxi at the airport taxi station only but not the touts or desks at the arrival hall. All legal taxis in Beijing might be varied in colors as for taxis from different companies, but, no matter what color it is, there must be yellow stripes across the middle of the vehicle with an indicator lamp stating “Taxi” on the top as well as with a license plate starting with “京B” on the front and back of the vehicle.
2. If you are traveling in a group of three or more and perhaps with a lot of luggage, there might be people approaching you and claim that you might not eligible to take Beijing taxi but to go for mini bus. Later, you will be led to a people carrier in the car park which actually neither a valid airport limousine nor legal taxi but a shabby taxi parked behind. Moreover, no taxi meter is installed within the vehicle and you need to pay the transportation amount voice out randomly by the people carrier. In this case, you are most probably to be charged far more than the regulated fare.
3. On top of that, foreign visitors are advised to be aware of another scam where people with official-looking who pretend to be the staff of taxi company approaches you to offer a rides to the city. This scam normally happens especially in the non-regular hours where there are not many people around. In this case, you will be led to a “Taxi” with fake taxi meter that runs very quickly. Sometimes, it might cause you more than 200 RMB from Beijing Capital International Airport to Beijing downtown and even up to 400 RMB to the Beijing National Stadium (Bird’s Nest). Please read the section on taxis for details on how to distinguish between fake and legitimate taxis in Beijing.

Departure

1. Ignore any people approaches you and offering you an exit fee ticket/receipt claiming to be an airport construction fee at 90 RMB. This fee has been included in the rate of your air ticket. Therefore, it is unnecessary for you to pay the fee separately when you depart of Beijing Capital International Airport.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Security Travel Tips
• Transit Information
• Arrival Information
• Departure Information