Airfare - or should I say airscare??

[Pengyou]

Using Yahoo travel the cheapest I found from BJ to San Francisco was US $ 1,140 Do you know of any secrets to cheaper airfare? Any creative options?

[yonglin]

ehm.

In case you did not know, almost all of the world's airlines utilize very intricate systems of electronic pricing, which means that the dates of your trip and flexibility will make a big difference. Since we don't know the dates of your trip, it's quite difficult to make a judgement on whether that is a good price or not.

Nonetheless, a simple search on some Chinese websites suggests that a return trip Beijing-San Francisco is about RMB 6000-6500, i.e., slightly cheaper than what you quoted. But then again, this depends on your dates, obviously.

Remember the value of the USD is quite (uhm... ridiculously) low at the moment, which could be one reason why things seem expensive to you.

[Long Zhiren]

If you are in the United States, airfares (overseas international to Asia that is) are best purchased through live travel agencies that cater to ethnic Asian communities. The airfares available on the Internet are at least 15-20% higher. Yahoo!Travel is not a very good resource for that. Kayak.com gets much better. But the best are still found in the old fashioned means.

If you are already in Asia somewhere, I'm not sure what to do. Try Kayak.com Its search engine is much nicer than Yahoo's and generates a matrix for you to see what flexible dates can do for you.

If you get airfares (point to point within Asia), the story may be different, but not much. Although ctrip and elong get you good prices, they may be hard to actually purchase unless you are already in Asia. If you are still in the United States, the travel agencies can get these for you at those prices. I'm not sure if they are able to beat them though.

On a related note, how is everyone's experience with "free" award tickets through different programs? I just plunked down 60k United Airlines miles + $37 taxes + $15 phone reservation for an openjaw flight (SFO-TPE, PEK-SFO). I got the 60k United Airline miles by opening and closing some credit cards (no annual fee) a couple times; and opening a couple financial investment accounts. United/Star Alliance is unable to get me HRB-PEK (or HRB-ICN) free though. They can't seem to get me Air China codeshare flights at all. I was hoping to get HRB-SFO with a free stopover in PEK. HRB-PEK is no big deal because it's quite a cheap flight anyway. Asiana flights seem impossible to get through award ticketing. Thai Airways flights are much easier to get "free."

The $15 fee for phone reservation may not be avoidable for OpenJaw + Stopover itineraries. I suspect that it could however, perhaps if you first set up the reservation by phone with a live agent (it can be difficult because their English and/or sense of geography may be terrible). And then ticket it later using the phone-automated system.

American Airlines won't give you credit for Vietnam Airlines/Cathay Pacific trips, but Alaska Airlines will. American Airlines is nice for redemption for trips to Europe, but their service to Asia is extremely lacking.

[Jamoldo]

Pengyou, call CTRIP and Elong (both have English speakers) and make some enquiries. If you have an int'l student card or somesort, then also ask Student Universe. Another idea is to ask local Chinese travel agencies too. Be shameless and get some quotes..

[DrWatson]

I second what Long Zhiren said. Check with the travel agencies in East Asia. I will be flying from Tokyo to North America in a few weeks. When I tried to find the tickets myself for the trip to North America, I found tickets in the same price range, or even more expensive! When I inquired with a travel agency (HIS, which caters to Japanese travelers), they quoted a $800 round-trip ticket. However, with airport taxes, custom and immigration processing fees, and oil surcharges ( + $200 - yay for $90 per barrel fpr crude oil!!), the price you are quoting looks about right.

[shibole]

Try flychina.com. Both I and my brother have used them more than once. (I have no affiliation with them other than being a happy customer.)

[owshawng]

Try a local Chinese travel agency. Always saved at least 20% compared to airline online deals when I fly to Taiwan from the US, once over 60% during an August trip.

Try printing out quotes from a few different dates of travel and bring them with you when you go to a Chinese travel agency so you can compare them more easily and haggle a bit. Make sure you print them on the same day you visit because prices can move day to day.

[heifeng]

no, airfare just really sucks this year. My airfare wasn't that much better, although at least I'm going to the other side of the country, so I'm getting a few more miles for my money:mrgreen:

Just, bring back a bunch of 'folexes' and sell them on the street and reimburse yourself for the airfare during the holidays. I'm might be doing this in a certain downtown in a month from now....so look for me on a ddot/smart bus route near you! accepting pre-orders and lay-a-way plans