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Origin: Taipei Destination: anywhere Duration of trip with dates: Early April Flexibility: This is the latest I can fly out, but an earlier fare would be fine. I'm not actually looking for a cheap airfare, but one that will let me cancel it cheaply. I'm flying to Taipei, but I'll need an onwards ticket so I can get visa-free entry. Because I'm going to work there I'll get residency, so I won't need the flight out, and I'd like to cancel it as cheaply as possible. I can't cancel with 24 hours because I'll be flying all that time, so is a cancellation fee of ~$30 the lowest I'm likely to get?
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Jan 2, 2015 13:40
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House Louse posted:Origin: Taipei I'm guessing that Taiwan isn't going to grant you residency when you've illegally entered the country on a tourist visa and started working, so you may want to rethink this grand plan. That said, refundable tickets exist, they're just very expensive. But if you've got a credit card that can handle a couple thousand dollars sitting on it, you can buy a fully refundable (Y fare) from TPE to somewhere else in Asia, HKG or NRT for example. But yeah, I wouldn't do what you're trying to do, or at least don't expect Taiwan to gloss over it.
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Jan 2, 2015 13:55
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Try Peach Air to Osaka.
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Jan 3, 2015 01:41
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Hokay, so I'm planning a quick visit home to the UK from some work in China, and sadly the only large chunk of time I can get off is near Chinese New Year, which I'm aware is a lovely time to travel. So... Can anyone help me find some cheapish tickets? Origin: Shanghai (PVG or SHA) Destination: Any UK airport, but London is preferred, and let's say London Heathrow (LHR) by default. Dates / Duration: Aiming for 14 days between 2015/02/08 - 2015/02/24. Willing to go up to 16 days duration or down to 12 for nice prices. Flexibility: Anything between the above dates is fine, anything outside them is not. Any airport nearish to Shanghai is fine. Any UK airport is fine. Direct flights would be nicer, but I can live with changes if it means cheaper tickets. Cattle class and sleeping on airport seats are no problem.
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Jan 3, 2015 10:17
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Alright, let's go through the checklist: Time to book: short (less than 45 days) Time of year: holiday (very popular) Window of travel: very specific Destination: specific, with expensive taxes (GB, UB) Yeah... I don't think you can expect much of a deal. That being said Aeroflot will get you there with a stop in SVO Feb 8-20 for 5000 Yuan. China Eastern will get you there direct Feb 8-20 for 6125 Yuan. Aeroflot will go as low as 4300 return for that flight at a different date, so apparently you're not getting a terrible deal sellouts fucked around with this message at 19:54 on Jan 3, 2015 |
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Jan 3, 2015 19:51
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Mackieman posted:I'm guessing that Taiwan isn't going to grant you residency when you've illegally entered the country on a tourist visa and started working, so you may want to rethink this grand plan. Sorry, just to make sure: I need a ticket with a booking code or class with letter Y, then? I'm not just looking at Economy/Business/whatever? This page: http://www.china-airlines.com/en/club/club_mi_3.htm (at the bottom) lists ticket classes and cabin classes, and it says Y class is economy. Is that right (for China Airlines at least, because that's not "very expensive")? Thanks also for your concern, but Taiwan is (I think) uniquely lax with immigration, it's fine. peanut posted:Try Peach Air to Osaka. They don't give you money, just points. Thanks anyway!
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Jan 3, 2015 23:55
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House Louse posted:Sorry, just to make sure: I need a ticket with a booking code or class with letter Y, then? I'm not just looking at Economy/Business/whatever? This page: http://www.china-airlines.com/en/club/club_mi_3.htm (at the bottom) lists ticket classes and cabin classes, and it says Y class is economy. Is that right (for China Airlines at least, because that's not "very expensive")? Y class is economy, but there are multiple fare buckets with inside of economy class. Y is generally the most expensive, most flexible, fully refundable fare in economy. On EVA it should be Y or B.
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Jan 4, 2015 00:16
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Mackieman posted:Y class is economy, but there are multiple fare buckets with inside of economy class. Y is generally the most expensive, most flexible, fully refundable fare in economy. On EVA it should be Y or B. I see, thanks.
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Jan 4, 2015 00:24
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pig slut lisa posted:
Turns out just monitoring flight prices daily worked out great for us. We booked roundtrip for $1,400 each directly through Cathay Pacific. Additionally, Cathay lets you stop over in Hong Kong for up to a week at no extra charge, so we are spending two nights in Hong Kong on the return leg. Unfortunately, we just received news that they've modified our outbound itinerary to something that's kind of inconvenient. Hoping someone in here has some advice on how to proceed. Originally we had booked the following: FRI May 22 CX805 [Depart ORD 01:15] [Arrive HKG 05:50 +10] SAT May 23 CX548 [Depart HKG 08:45] [Arrive HND 13:55] Flight CX805 is the new ORD->HKG service that Cathay introduced a few months ago. We liked it because it meant we could have a 3 hour layover in the Hong Kong airport and get into Tokyo in the middle of the day. But yesterday we received an email notifying us that we've been rebooked from CX805 onto CX807, which departs ORD THU May 21 at 15:30 and arrives HKG FRI May 22 at 20:20. So now instead of an easy few hour layover in the airport, we have a 12 hour layover that would suck to spend in the terminal (The HKG->HND has not been modified). I think maybe they've eliminated CX805; at the very least the CX805 we were booked on doesn't appear to exist anymore. Do you think I would have success contacting the airline directly and asking them to put us up in a hotel on Thursday night? What do I need to know in this situation?
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Jan 4, 2015 00:37
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about flying to Hong Kong and Tokyo
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pig slut lisa posted:Turns out just monitoring flight prices daily worked out great for us. We booked roundtrip for $1,400 each directly through Cathay Pacific. Additionally, Cathay lets you stop over in Hong Kong for up to a week at no extra charge, so we are spending two nights in Hong Kong on the return leg. Call them and ask, I'm a travel agent and if an Airline gave my client a change like that they would be getting either a Free of Charge change to a better timed flight or free accom.
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Jan 4, 2015 03:23
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On your dime if the airline won't accommodate? I'm not clear on the rebooking reason, did they cancel or change 805's schedule?
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Jan 4, 2015 07:48
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sellouts posted:On your dime if the airline won't accommodate? The airline will always accommodate due to a schedule change in my experience. Especially one on the level of Cathay Pacific.
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Jan 4, 2015 13:39
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Yeah, CX will rebook you. The flight they changed you to is based on their system's logic of putting you on the next flight that most closely resembles what you were originally on, sometimes with comedic results. As an example, in 2013 I was flying on UA doing HKG-SFO with an onward connection. We were delayed (shocker, I know) and my connection blew up. I got automatically rebooked 14 hours later because that was the first flight with confirmable F space. Once on the ground, I re-routed and got home only four hours later than planned. Do your research and see what else is available, not only on CX metal but on partner metal (like JAL) as well. With a schedule change that massive, they'll likely give you whatever you want as long as there are seats on the plane. You can also check NRT as I think CX considers NRT and HND co-terminals, but I'm not 100% sure on that. Beef Of Ages fucked around with this message at 15:25 on Jan 4, 2015 |
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Jan 4, 2015 15:18
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teacup posted:Call them and ask, I'm a travel agent and if an Airline gave my client a change like that they would be getting either a Free of Charge change to a better timed flight or free accom. teacup posted:The airline will always accommodate due to a schedule change in my experience. Especially one on the level of Cathay Pacific. That's good to hear! Sounds like it won't be an uphill battle at least. sellouts posted:I'm not clear on the rebooking reason, did they cancel or change 805's schedule? I think 805 is just canceled. Not sure if it's only this 805, or all the Friday 805s, or every 805, but at least the one I was on is not on the books anymore. Mackieman posted:Do your research and see what else is available, not only on CX metal but on partner metal (like JAL) as well. With a schedule change that massive, they'll likely give you whatever you want as long as there are seats on the plane. You can also check NRT as I think CX considers NRT and HND co-terminals, but I'm not 100% sure on that. Wow, I didn't even think about this! There's a JAL direct from Chicago to Narita on Friday that gets in only a couple hours after my original booking was scheduled to arrive. I think this will be my initial target, and if they can't put me on the JAL then I'll stick with what they've rebooked me on and get a hotel. The number they gave me is closed on Sundays but I'll call tomorrow and report in with my findings. Thanks everyone for your words of advice.
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Jan 5, 2015 00:42
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pig slut lisa posted:The number they gave me is closed on Sundays but I'll call tomorrow and report in with my findings. Thanks everyone for your words of advice. Well, that didn't go so well. The representative I spoke with wouldn't entertain the notion of booking on a partner airline. She also initially said they wouldn't book a Hong Kong hotel room, but then partially relented and said she would have to check with the home office in Hong Kong. What were the two things she was willing and able to do? 1) Rebook us on an AA flight from Chicago to Boston (still Thursday btw, so 8-10 hours before I originally booked and forcing me to miss another day of work), then fly to Hong Kong, then on my original connection to HND. I'm super uninterested in adding a third flight to the mix here and spending like 26 hours on airplanes instead of 22. 2) Cancel our booking and refund us in full. I'm not interested in this either, since we're flying into Tokyo but out of Osaka, and we're laying over in Hong Kong for a couple days on the return leg. I'm not done trying with them though. I figure I have plenty of time to make a polite pest of myself.
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Jan 6, 2015 08:23
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sellouts posted:Alright, let's go through the checklist: Yeah, I know - it took my workplace ages to give me hard dates, so I didn't think I *deserved* a cheap flight, I just thought I'd check to see if anyone knew of any available! But yes, I went with a just-under-5000Y option from Aeroflot. Contains more dozing-on-Russian-airport-seats than I'd like, but I've done far worse. And, my previous fully-flexible, long-time-booked PVG-LHR round-trip cost ~4600Y (admittedly on a nicer airline and a direct flight), so like you said, it's not ridiculous. Thanks for waving me in the direction of Aeroflot!
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Jan 6, 2015 18:46
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Edit: Nevermind.
DrBouvenstein fucked around with this message at 19:10 on Jan 6, 2015 |
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Jan 6, 2015 18:58
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pig slut lisa posted:Well, that didn't go so well. The representative I spoke with wouldn't entertain the notion of booking on a partner airline. She also initially said they wouldn't book a Hong Kong hotel room, but then partially relented and said she would have to check with the home office in Hong Kong. Got a call back from Cathay and they said they'd go ahead and book a room at the airport hotel if I wanted. I'll take it! Just waiting on them to send me a confirmation (I think the Vancouver-based person I've been speaking with needed to get my approval for the Hong Kong office to actually do the booking). Interestingly, they had the same representative call me back. I really appreciated that. Can't remember any other big company doing that before when I've had multiple phone calls about a particular issue.
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Jan 7, 2015 02:34
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Hey guys, I just started a fairly location independent job so I'd like to work while traveling around asia for a while. I've used Hipmunk before (on advice from this thread--thanks!) for booking round trip flights, but I'm wondering if anyone has any insight on what would be the best way to find the lowest priced one way flight to any major destination in asia within a fairly flexible time frame (late January/early February)? I've also noticed that tripadvisor seems to have lower round trip fares than Hipmunk at least for the places I've looked at tonight (Colombo and Manila), and I've always thought Hipmunk had the lowest fares, so I'm a little confused. I'm traveling from Toronto. Thanks for any help!
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Jan 7, 2015 05:40
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Origin: Toronto Destination: Bangkok Dates / Duration: Aiming for roughly 21 days between 2015/01/28 - 2015/02/18. Flexibility :Willing to alter the duration by a few days in favor of a good price for sure, no real preference as to which airline it is, and i don't mind long flights or stopovers. Cheapest i've been able to find is this, http://matrix.itasoftware.com/#view-details:research=YYZBKK-BKKYYZ;solution=08IdiLR03ZBRRawkcnmIhLA/b9JBVcBI2jGRhy5WZ4SGS3001, anyone able to point me in the direction of something cheaper?
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Jan 7, 2015 23:56
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Origin: Northeast Ohio (Cleveland/Akron). Willing to drive to Columbus or NY/PA/NJ for cheaper airfare. Would also accept a relatively inexpensive multi-day connection through SFO or LAX. Destination: Australia, a multi-day layover in New Zealand, Hawaii or Guam wouldn't be a bad thing. Dates/Duration: Anytime between July-October 2015. I know this is a broad window a long way's out, but I have the money right now and figured it wouldn't hurt to at least look. Flexibility: Around two weeks would be preferable, but we have plenty of wiggle room for lower fare. No more than three weeks including travel time. Price Range - Below $1200/ea would be great, but the lower the better. BeepBoopBatman fucked around with this message at 01:48 on Jan 8, 2015 |
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Jan 8, 2015 01:36
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BeepBoopBatman posted:Origin: Northeast Ohio (Cleveland/Akron). Willing to drive to Columbus or NY/PA/NJ for cheaper airfare. Would also accept a relatively inexpensive multi-day connection through SFO or LAX. If you'd do the east coast, would you also be willing to do Detroit, Chicago, and Toronto? Those are a couple hours closer to you and open your options up way better than Columbus does. e: also what about Washington DC
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Jan 8, 2015 03:40
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pig slut lisa posted:If you'd do the east coast, would you also be willing to do Detroit, Chicago, and Toronto? Those are a couple hours closer to you and open your options up way better than Columbus does. Yep, we'd be willing to consider any of those!
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Jan 8, 2015 03:54
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The Great Outdoors posted:Cheapest i've been able to find is this, http://matrix.itasoftware.com/#view-details:research=YYZBKK-BKKYYZ;solution=08IdiLR03ZBRRawkcnmIhLA/b9JBVcBI2jGRhy5WZ4SGS3001, anyone able to point me in the direction of something cheaper? This link is expired. BeepBoopBatman posted:Yep, we'd be willing to consider any of those! Do you have a free place to leave the car? Would you be needing a hotel after a halfway around the world flight before driving that far? The lure of a somewhat cheaper flight might be appealing but the reality of the cost of those savings, especially after traveling a day+ in a coach seat, might be more than you think. BeepBoopBatman posted:Dates/Duration: Anytime between July-October 2015. I know this is a broad window a long way's out, but I have the money right now and figured it wouldn't hurt to at least look. You're cool with going down there in the winter, yeah? Just want to make sure that especially NZ can be downright cold. You should also target which cities you want to go to. North Island/South island, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne? Lots of options. sellouts fucked around with this message at 04:27 on Jan 8, 2015 |
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Jan 8, 2015 04:18
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I just moved across the country yesterday so I'm still in flux. I'll try to get to these requests tomorrow.
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Jan 8, 2015 04:35
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Are dropping oil prices going to have any sort of impact on airfare, or is it is all going to go to the airlines' bottom line? I have to imagine that fuel makes up a large part of their opEx.
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Jan 8, 2015 04:51
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Mackieman posted:I just moved across the country yesterday so I'm still in flux. I'll try to get to these requests tomorrow. What was your flight itinerary and how much did you pay? 
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Jan 8, 2015 05:10
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sellouts posted:Do you have a free place to leave the car? Would you be needing a hotel after a halfway around the world flight before driving that far? The lure of a somewhat cheaper flight might be appealing but the reality of the cost of those savings, especially after traveling a day+ in a coach seat, might be more than you think.  quote:You're cool with going down there in the winter, yeah? Just want to make sure that especially NZ can be downright cold. You should also target which cities you want to go to. North Island/South island, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne? Lots of options. Definitely! I've been to Australia in the summer before and the heat was a bit much, so we're actually counting on the cooler side of things (and for the sake of providing some background - we just got back from a Christmas Norway/Iceland trip, and are battling negative temps here at home. The cold is no match for us.). As far as city specifics, the last time I flew into Brisbane and out of Sydney, and wouldn't mind doing something along those lines again. We're not too much interested in Western Australia, but anywhere northern or on the east coast would be excellent. And as far as New Zealand goes, we're not picky. Hope that helps! Let me know if I've left anything out. BeepBoopBatman fucked around with this message at 12:59 on Jan 8, 2015 |
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Jan 8, 2015 12:55
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spoof posted:Are dropping oil prices going to have any sort of impact on airfare, or is it is all going to go to the airlines' bottom line? I have to imagine that fuel makes up a large part of their opEx. As I understand it, most airlines more or less lock in oil prices for some time ahead via futures and other contracts so they have stability for forecasting. So no, not really, unless oil prices stay low for a while.
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Jan 8, 2015 17:44
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BeepBoopBatman posted:Hope that helps! Let me know if I've left anything out. Fiji airlines was doing a free stopover at the end of last year, but it was largely based out of LA and not sure if it's still going. You can get a stopover in Hawaii on the way to Australia via Hawaiian Airlines. For September (random dates) I had it around 1600. Non stop to HNL (HA50/51), non stop to BNE (HA443/444), stopping on the way there. I'd probably watch Hawaiian as they've got a direct flight from JFK to HNL and if those fares came down a little bit at any point (or maybe you mess with dates). It's still too early to book so look for deals but I can see the Hawaii stopover via HA being the most cost effective.
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Jan 8, 2015 19:31
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AreWeDrunkYet posted:As I understand it, most airlines more or less lock in oil prices for some time ahead via futures and other contracts so they have stability for forecasting. So no, not really, unless oil prices stay low for a while. But has never stopped them from raising fares due to short-term increases in fuel prices.
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Jan 9, 2015 01:21
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The Great Outdoors posted:Origin: Toronto Hipmunk is showing a bunch of stale results for $800, but the lowest bookable I see is around $1150 which is very much a going rate for a TPAC flight this close in. I'd book what makes sense for you now.
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Jan 10, 2015 20:36
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BeepBoopBatman posted:Origin: Northeast Ohio (Cleveland/Akron). Willing to drive to Columbus or NY/PA/NJ for cheaper airfare. Would also accept a relatively inexpensive multi-day connection through SFO or LAX. Unpossible at that price, save for a mistake fare of some kind. Australia and New Zealand don't have a lot of lift so the prices are higher, not to mention that it's a hell of a long way down there. $1550 or so is more apropos, and available during late July through mid August.
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Jan 10, 2015 20:43
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pig slut lisa posted:What was your flight itinerary and how much did you pay? We drove. 
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Jan 10, 2015 20:43
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AreWeDrunkYet posted:As I understand it, most airlines more or less lock in oil prices for some time ahead via futures and other contracts so they have stability for forecasting. So no, not really, unless oil prices stay low for a while. Hedging used to be more prevalent that it is today but largely went away with the financial recession in 2008. Now that prices are low again, I wouldn't be surprised to see airlines start socking away some hedges with their spare cash, especially Delta and Southwest.
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Jan 10, 2015 20:44
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So how terrible is Spirit? I'm thinking about a one-way (1 adult 1 child)from ORD to North California in July, and the direct choices are Virgin ($284 SFO) American ($263 SJC) and Spirit ($214 OAK.) I'm visiting family in the US so nothing can really be worse than a 13 hour transpacific flight with a 4 year old we'll take before that... or can it?
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Jan 12, 2015 05:19
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Mackieman posted:Hedging used to be more prevalent that it is today but largely went away with the financial recession in 2008. Now that prices are low again, I wouldn't be surprised to see airlines start socking away some hedges with their spare cash, especially Delta and Southwest. Err I think its the opposite, hedging became more prevalent after 2008, mainly because of the huge rise in oil price that came just before. Hedging with futures/swaps (most common) is also costless (well there are transaction costs, not huge though, but enough so that Parker at US said no to hedging because it just meant Wall St fees), so no cash is put down. You just lock in today's price regardless of whether prices go up or down. As for whether it will affect airfares, it should, if not yet then in the next few years. Airlines can lock in today's price if they want...
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Jan 12, 2015 06:33
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peanut posted:So how terrible is Spirit? I'm thinking about a one-way (1 adult 1 child)from ORD to North California in July, and the direct choices are Virgin ($284 SFO) American ($263 SJC) and Spirit ($214 OAK.) Yes it's bad. They charge for everything and I can't imagine with all of the baggage of traveling with a baby that it'll be that much cheaper than the other options. But maybe.
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Jan 12, 2015 09:49
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Thanks for the warning. I've forwarded suitcases through UPS before, but I will compare baggage policies.
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Jan 12, 2015 10:45
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peanut posted:So how terrible is Spirit? I'm thinking about a one-way (1 adult 1 child)from ORD to North California in July, and the direct choices are Virgin ($284 SFO) American ($263 SJC) and Spirit ($214 OAK.) I've taken Spirit before and it was fine. Personally I like how the seats don't recline. I am fairly tall but even seat dimensions like Spirit's don't bother me so long as I don't end up with the person in front of me in my lap. I also gambled with carrying a larger bag on than is technically allowed under their free bag policy. It's a travel backpack that's carryon sized. Fortunately I wasn't hassled about it on either flight and it fit under the seat in front of me anyway. Of course that's anecdotal and your mileage my vary. I think Spirit is a fine choice so long as you know what you're going to get out of them. I'm always baffled by people online who are like "Before I booked I knew the seats didn't recline and that they were going to try to sell me credit cards on the plane, but UGH I hated it and Spirit is the worst!" Why are these people complaining when they knew what was going to happen? 
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Jan 12, 2015 14:25
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