Asia Flight

Ok, my mind is spinning.

We are heading out to Hong Kong and retiring from Singapore next December and January.

Flights are now coming available and I am surprised at how high pricing is.

It seems the cheapest non stop to Hong Kong and One stop on the return from Singapore from JFK is just under 2000 dollars pp - this is the quickest (16 hours flight time)

I have looked at other options such as booking on Air France, Lufthansa and ANA all with long layovers (10-15 hours) in Paris, Munich and Tokyo which is fine with us, we can leave the airport and check out the city but the flight times are longer (19 hours in the air total plus ground time) but the flight are about 1500p

there are 5 of us so a 2500 dollar savings is substantial.

For all of you who have done this route what are your thoughts?

Am I missing something in pricing this out?

We did two trips to East Asia last year. The first involved flights on Air France and Delta (from JAX, FLA) to Singapore and returning from Dubai.

Because of the long flights, we booked a day and a half stop over in Paris, staying near CDG airport and taking the train to Versailles.

That trip cost $1740 pp and the stop over cost about $100 of that.

Our second trip to East Asia was from JAX to Tokyo (direct flight from Atlanta to Tokyo) After a cruise ending in Hong Kong we returned via KAL to the USA. Most of trip on Delta.

I used ff miles with cost us 80,000 miles each.

I love Asia, but these long flights are brutal.

I hope this helps.

In Singapore, I recommend the Royal Hotel on Scotts, great hotel for the rates.

I am not looking at that particular time frame but I did the same open jaw trip - JFK to HKG and SIN-JFK via Seoul on Asiana for about $1000 each this coming October. BTW if you do this you can plan a long stopover in Seoul and visit while you are there.

Are you looking at 2 one way tickets or a multi-city (aka open jaw - different arrival & departure destinations, booked as one ticket)

By looking at a consolidator website for dates around the cruise I happen to be taking in Nov/Dec (opposite direction - we embark in SIN and disembark HKG) I find flights JFK-HKG, SIN-JFK for as little as $881 on EVA, $950 Asiana per person (economy).....

I've been flying to China for business the past few years - long flights, but easy for me - on Delta, nonstop from Detroit to Shanghai or Beijing (and it's not bad for me to get to DTW). For our cruise, we used miles and bought business class seats. Outbound we fly XXX- JFK-NRT-SIN and on the return it's HKG-SEA-MSP-XXX

No, not quick flights.....

I am not shocked by these prices although they are on the high side. It is not surprising that the "best" flight would be cheaper than flights with multiple stops and longer layovers.

As you have lots of time to book this, wait for an airline seat sale. They happen regularly. However Any trip that straddles the Christmas holiday will cost more for sure. Actually in that time period next year you have both Christmas and Chinese new year, two busy travel periods when deals are rare.

We are looking to leave December 17 which is 5 days before the cruise and return January 7 which is 2 days after cruise so while this straddles Christmas I though it would be a bit early and late for holiday pricing

I have never used a consolidator for tickets what is an example of a consolidator to use?

We are looking at open jaw tickets

In am a bit afraid to wait for a sale as United just became available for the return flight and when I checked in the morning the flights were 1800 and by the afternoon the better seats were sold out and the flights were 2400

I would love to use miles but we do not have enough

I have never used a consolidator for tickets what is an example of a consolidator to use?

We cannot name names here on Cruise Critic. I just used a very common website that searches all airlines for their pricing - so, not actually a consolidator in that you still have to go to the airline website to buy your ticket. More a consolidated search engine....

With your dates, you should be able to skip the worst of holiday pricing (you're still a few weeks ahead of Chinese New Year Jan 28...) but there might be some additional things going on - sometimes cheaper fares have length of stay restrictions. Hard to tell.

Have you looked at the airline websites for those mentioned in this thread to see what their fares are?

We cannot name names here on Cruise Critic. I just used a very common website that searches all airlines for their pricing - so, not actually a consolidator in that you still have to go to the airline website to buy your ticket. More a consolidated search engine....

 

With your dates, you should be able to skip the worst of holiday pricing (you're still a few weeks ahead of Chinese New Year Jan 28...) but there might be some additional things going on - sometimes cheaper fares have length of stay restrictions. Hard to tell.

 

Have you looked at the airline websites for those mentioned in this thread to see what their fares are?

You mean something like ITA software or sky scanner? I was under the impression we could recommend as long as it was asked for just can't be unsolicited.

Yes I used one of those and found Air France and Lufthansa with long layovers in either Paris or Munich for the lower price of 1450 and ANA for a bit more with a layover in Tokyo.

I would prefer to to Cathay non stop but not at 2000 times 4 of us.

Not sure how long to wait to see if prices go down.

This week all airlines will have pricing and I can make a more informed decision

Anything that's viewed as a "travel agent" cannot be named, regardless of whether or not someone asks for the information - it needs to be provided offline.

If you're in the US, WHY are you trying to get to Asia through Europe? That is certainly not the quick way to do it.....The Asian airlines that have been mentioned (EVA, Asiana) have stops in Asia from the US and don't seem to be quite as expensive as what you're finding on the European airlines....

Anything that's viewed as a "travel agent" cannot be named, regardless of whether or not someone asks for the information - it needs to be provided offline.

 

If you're in the US, WHY are you trying to get to Asia through Europe? That is certainly not the quick way to do it.....The Asian airlines that have been mentioned (EVA, Asiana) have stops in Asia from the US and don't seem to be quite as expensive as what you're finding on the European airlines....

Because the total travel time (including both flights and layover) are within an hour of each other and the Asia stop is as of now 200 dollars times 4 more. Six of one half dozen of another.

We would really like to do a stop for two days in Dubai as we have friends there we met on our last cruise and they have invited us to stay with them but I am waiting on pricing when Emerites releases their schedule this or next week

OK. I had looked into flying Air France at one time (so I could fly premium economy) and it would have taken me 3 times as long as a 2 leg journey from the US. Guess it really does depend on the specifics of the itinerary and the connections available. Good luck!

OK. I had looked into flying Air France at one time (so I could fly premium economy) and it would have taken me 3 times as long as a 2 leg journey from the US. Guess it really does depend on the specifics of the itinerary and the connections available. Good luck!

If we were to do air France we would do a flight that drives at 8am and leaves at 11pm, this way we can leave the airport stretch our legs and see a bit of Paris before heading onto the next leg.

If you're in the US, WHY are you trying to get to Asia through Europe? That is certainly not the quick way to do it.....The Asian airlines that have been mentioned (EVA, Asiana) have stops in Asia from the US and don't seem to be quite as expensive as what you're finding on the European airlines....

So far the European airlines are cheaper by 200 dollars plus pp

So far the European airlines are cheaper by 200 dollars plus pp

I just ran a quick search and Korean Airlines is right around $1300 for a faster flight than anything I saw going through Europe.

Every year I need to buy tickets to China around this date for my wife's nephew who studies in Canada. I have yet to see a good deal. A ton of Chinese students are returning home around those dates and they return to school when you return. This explains the high price.

Anything after December 14th will cost you more as this is when the peak season pricing kicks in. We have already booked our flights for exactly the same time you are considering. I was looking at a sale price and decided I was happy with the amount, so booked. We have 7 in our party, a few more than you're looking for, and I thought the chances of me obtaining another good price for all of us was probably low - hence me biting the bullet. The particular route we're taking has already doubled in price since we booked :eek:.

Obviously, this may change later in the year, but I personally didn't want to take that risk because of our large group size. It's peak travel time and the flights will be full (this is from previous experience travelling in this area over the Christmas period ;)). Do consider various routes and timeframes, it can vary the price greatly :).

OP, Toms River is close enough to NYC's Chinatown with quite a # of established brick-n-mortar travel agencies, some of them been in business continuously under same ownership for 35+ years - and they work with/are part of the consolidators specializing in discount fares to/from Asia, OW, RT, RTW - in coach & in J/F class, etc.

Check with your neighbors, friends, colleagues & even local dining establishment for recommendations on who they use or recommend - back in the days of OAG and EasySabre, these TA earned their business from us as even DIY booking fares weren't simple - they deal with all the insider's info, routing & promo's, etc.

We skipped cruising last fall & booked 6 RT coach fares with 2 stops to Asia for just under $1,000 p/p flying Korean Air on the A388's - 34" pitch with 18" wide and 10" IFE personal screen, and excellent services made the 13 hours nonstop out of JFK a pretty reasonable trade-off, as that was almost Y+ on US legacy carriers charging more than twice our fares. CX is normally our TPAC carriers on their 77x's but on our outbound, we had no complaints with the middle seat vacant in all 3 rows with plenty of elbow rooms.

Let the TA pro's do the hard work for their modest commissions.

If you cannot find a good open jaw why not try a simple return ticket with a one way back to your point of origin. You can get back to Hong Kong from Singapore on several low cost Asia airlines like Scoot, Jetstar, AirAsia. This might be more economical.

We are going to Thailand next week. Tried for an open jaw to fly home from Vietnam. In the end our best option was a return ticket to Bangkok and a $60 flight from Hanoi back to Bangkok to catch our flight home.

There are lots of good airlines in Asia. We saved quite a bit of money last April when we returned home from Australia. We did a code share Jetstar/Qantas to Honolulu and then an inexpensive flight home. Worked out cheaper even with the one night/two day stay in Honolulu and it was a great way to break up the flight.

If you cannot find a good open jaw why not try a simple return ticket with a one way back to your point of origin. You can get back to Hong Kong from Singapore on several low cost Asia airlines like Scoot, Jetstar, AirAsia. This might be more economical.

 

We are going to Thailand next week. Tried for an open jaw to fly home from Vietnam. In the end our best option was a return ticket to Bangkok and a $60 flight from Hanoi back to Bangkok to catch our flight home.

 

There are lots of good airlines in Asia. We saved quite a bit of money last April when we returned home from Australia. We did a code share Jetstar/Qantas to Honolulu and then an inexpensive flight home. Worked out cheaper even with the one night/two day stay in Honolulu and it was a great way to break up the flight.

My only issue with this would be having to claim our bags, go through customs and immigration and then check in again for the next flight, especially if there is a delay on the initial flight

I will look into it though, thanks so much

What we saved by doing two cheaper flights home from Australia more than paid for our two days in Hawaii. Plus we got to break up the long flight home to Canada.

What we are saving by going back to Bangkok will pay for our 2 extra nights in that city.

We did something similar last Oct. coming home from Crete. Saved enough by cherry picking a flight to Paris and then a direct flight home three days later to pay for our weekend in Paris.

If we have to spend the money we would rather get something out of it instead of giving it all to an airline!

If you cannot find a good open jaw why not try a simple return ticket with a one way back to your point of origin. You can get back to Hong Kong from Singapore on several low cost Asia airlines like Scoot, Jetstar, AirAsia. This might be more economical.

 

We are going to Thailand next week. Tried for an open jaw to fly home from Vietnam. In the end our best option was a return ticket to Bangkok and a $60 flight from Hanoi back to Bangkok to catch our flight home.

 

There are lots of good airlines in Asia. We saved quite a bit of money last April when we returned home from Australia. We did a code share Jetstar/Qantas to Honolulu and then an inexpensive flight home. Worked out cheaper even with the one night/two day stay in Honolulu and it was a great way to break up the flight.

This was an interesting experience. The round trip Hong Kong flights were more expensive then the open jaw with one extra flight by about 20 percent.

I priced flights in multiple ways for our Nov/Dec 2016 trip as well, and the RT Singapore was a few hundred cheaper than RT HKG. We ended up using ff miles and getting award tickets on the open jaw, but it really shows that you need to test out LOTS of different options.

Now that you know what the options are, you can make an informed decision about which flights to book, or you can gamble the fares will go down at some point and wait to book....

It can be a very interesting/revealing exercise.

We are off of Asia for two months next week. We wanted to go in to Bangkok and out of another city-HCMC, perhaps Hong Kong. Open jaw was about $350 more expensive than Bangkok return and a one way from Hanoi to Bangkok.

You just never know. Last Feb we went from Kuala Lumpur to Australia, a nine hour flight, for $250AUD, about $200 USD on Air Asia. Could have done it even cheaper on Scoot, a Singapore Airlines sub, but the flight had a stop in Singapore vs. direct. Hotels are another consideration. Hotels in Hong Kong and Singapore tend to me much more expensive, double plus, than hotels in Bangkok and KL.

Over the past three years we have seen some huge variations in fares between Delta and United-often with hundreds of dollars difference for the same flight, same seats, same day etc. The least expensive flight was purchased in early January, ten days away from our departure date. It was a last minute decision to go and the prices were right!

Good luck.

Might want to consider adding the App "Hopper" to your repertoire (if you haven't already) of tools to combat the war on fares and itineraries. Just enter a destination into the app and it searches the internet for the best deals revealing a sensible snapshot of fares, ideal travel dates and the likelihood as to when prices might rise and fall. It's been consistently high rated as one of the best air travel apps, we are all looking for the best prices and options in our travel - whatever tools we can use to "beat the system" the better off our trips will be. Can't hurt to try ;) (it's free!)

Host Bonjour

Colleen

HostBonjour@CruiseCritic.com

Thanks! Downloaded it today. We travel with ipads.

Leaving this week for a few months in SE Asia and we will need to buy one or two flights. We often buy one ways, open jaws, and do the rest on the fly so we try the app on our next buy.