Confessions of a YYC Travel Junkie

[wegotBeers]

It has been a few years since I have been but some of the travel agents in China town use to, and probably still do, get unbelievable deals to HK.

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by wegotBeers

It has been a few years since I have been but some of the travel agents in China town use to, and probably still do, get unbelievable deals to HK.

But are the tickets real or knockoffs ?

I'd love to hear from anyone that has used any of these Chinese agents and what kind of prices they can get.

[jjbouma]

Originally Posted by cmyden

But are the tickets real or knockoffs ?

I'd love to hear from anyone that has used any of these Chinese agents and what kind of prices they can get.

I used Hi Ho travel in February. My flight went from Calgary to Beijing through Vancouver return and also included an inter-China flight from Beijing to Shantou return for $1400. All flights were on Air Canada/Air China.

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by jjbouma

I used Hi Ho travel in February. My flight went from Calgary to Beijing through Vancouver return and also included an inter-China flight from Beijing to Shantou return for $1400. All flights were on Air Canada/Air China.

Nice, thanks for the info. Not sure what the prices were last year, but a decent price to Beijing this February runs around $1100, and I see the flights from PEK to Shantou are about $565.

Of course it's hard to directly compare since that was last Feb. But $1400 sounds like a good price, would love to hear any more Chinese agent stories!

[jjbouma]

Originally Posted by cmyden

Nice, thanks for the info. Not sure what the prices were last year, but a decent price to Beijing this February runs around $1100, and I see the flights from PEK to Shantou are about $565.

Of course it's hard to directly compare since that was last Feb. But $1400 sounds like a good price, would love to hear any more Chinese agent stories!

I also had some friends fly from Calgary to Seoul to Cebu City, Philippines on Air Canada/Korean Air and then Hanoi to Seoul to Calgary for around $1500. This was through Nippon Travel. I flew through Air Miles so I didn't take this route. I also flew KUL - NRT and then KIX - KUL for about $700 through Nippon on Malaysian Airlines which was about $50 cheaper than the internet. If you are flying to Japan and/or looking for a Japan Rail Pass I recommend looking at Nippon Travel.

[dubc80]

Originally Posted by cmyden

I'd definitely love to hear from anyone that gets a better price from a specialty agent than they can from the Interweb.

You're right, Europe is expensive at the moment. But there are some cheap flights in January to London. ($526 USD after tax on Air Transat). $670 in February.

It'll probably take closer to spring before any deals pop up for April/May.

I was in Chinatown for lunch one day in about September of last year and on a whim, decided to stop in at that Pan-Asia(?) place in Dragon City Mall to enquire about some Cathay Pacific flights I was monitoring.

The quote they gave me for the four exact flights I wanted (Vancouver to Hong Kong, Hong Kong to Bangkok, Singapore to Hong Kong, Hong Kong to Vancouver) was hundreds of dollars less than booking directly off the website. I paid $1398, all in which is a good deal.

I was astonished to say the least and booked with them right away.

I would of thought booking directly off the website would always be cheapest but I guess not?

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by dubc80

I was in Chinatown for lunch one day in about September of last year and on a whim, decided to stop in at that Pan-Asia(?) place in Dragon City Mall to enquire about some Cathay Pacific flights I was monitoring.

The quote they gave me for the four exact flights I wanted (Vancouver to Hong Kong, Hong Kong to Bangkok, Singapore to Hong Kong, Hong Kong to Vancouver) was hundreds of dollars less than booking directly off the website. I paid $1398, all in which is a good deal.

I was astonished to say the least and booked with them right away.

I would of thought booking directly off the website would always be cheapest but I guess not?

It's hard to say without knowing exactly what the fares were like back in September, but I do know that sometimes people forget they can book a 'multi city' (or open jaw) itinerary that is often a lot less than booking multiple round trip flights.

And other times a round trip + one way is better.

Running the same flights that you just mentioned for example:

$905 USD on Delta (HKG round trip from YVR)
$174 USD on Royal Jordanian (HKG to BKK)
$152 USD on on Jetstar (SIN to HKG)

For a total of $1231 USD all in.

But, again, hard to compare Sep 2009 with Jan 2010.

[dubc80]

Yeah, in my particular example, I wasn't really that flexible on the flight times and dates and there were specific flights which I wanted (since my Calgary to/from Vancouver connectors were already booked). It just worked out for me I guess!

Thanks for the advice, great thread by the way!

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Maritime Q-Scout

Hey cmyden,

My mother is looking at YHZ-KUL. The dates we found the cheapest are Feb 23 - Mar 11 @ ~$1500.

Know of anywhere that might be cheaper? That was from cheapflights.com (or cheaptickets.com I forget now) and ITA Software was ~$300 more expensive.

Airline isn't as important as the flight. Cost is the #1 criteria, followed by shorter flights (15 hours in the air is something she'd like to avoid).

I know that's outside of your usual search zone, but thought I'd ask for the sake of asking to see if you can find something better than I could. You undoubtedly know more tricks of the trade than I do.

Hi Maritime,

I just wanted to let you know that there are flights from JFK to KUL on Saudi Airlines from Feb 23 to Mar 10 for $667 USD all in.

Reviews of Saudi Airlines:
http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/saudia.htm

Safety record:
http://www.planecrashinfo.com/rates.htm

So in theory, your mother could grab a $400 flight to JFK, for a total cost of $1064.

Whether or not she'd want to fly Saudi is another matter.

cM

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[Maritime Q-Scout]

Originally Posted by cmyden

Hi Maritime,

I just wanted to let you know that there are flights from JFK to KUL on Saudi Airlines from Feb 23 to Mar 10 for $667 USD all in.

Reviews of Saudi Airlines:
http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/saudia.htm

Safety record:
http://www.planecrashinfo.com/rates.htm

So in theory, your mother could grab a $400 flight to JFK, for a total cost of $1064.

Whether or not she'd want to fly Saudi is another matter.

cM

I passed this on after I got your PM. I know my mother and her sister that's here in New Brunswick were debating booking it. I'll find out later today if they booked it or not. Appreciate the heads up.

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Maritime Q-Scout

I passed this on after I got your PM. I know my mother and her sister that's here in New Brunswick were debating booking it. I'll find out later today if they booked it or not. Appreciate the heads up.

Just one thing to note, alcohol is not allowed on Saudi Airlines if that makes it a deal breaker!

[Maritime Q-Scout]

Originally Posted by cmyden

Just one thing to note, alcohol is not allowed on Saudi Airlines if that makes it a deal breaker!

I was thinking about that today. I doubt that'll be an issue for my mother and aunt.

Last time my Aunt went to Malaysia she got detained behind the iron curtain in Moscow for a number of days. I forget the circumstances that lead to that, but arriving safe and on time will make her happy regardless of a lack of alcohol. My mother doesn't usually drink so again not an issue.

Thanks for the heads up though.

[cmyden]

Calgary to Newark, NJ - $265 CDN

May 2 to 3,4,5,6 or 7.

Can see it at http://www.westjet.com

Round trip, including tax!

[Wookie]

Originally Posted by cmyden

All I can say is if there are going to be sales to Hawaii in April, you probably won't be seeing them until February/March.

Why do you say that?

I'm looking for Hawaii in March/April/May (preferred late April) and am wondering why you say until Feb/March?

Thanks

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Wookie

Why do you say that?

I'm looking for Hawaii in March/April/May (preferred late April) and am wondering why you say until Feb/March?

Thanks

Hi Wookie,

There's a reason I don't like to give predictions for airfare prices because the truth is, nobody knows. But it's something people ask constantly, so the only answer I can give is just based on broad general patterns that I've seen, which is that a fair percentage of them seem to occur about 1-2 months ahead.

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by fotze

That is cheap, maybe I can get the wife to go with the kids to see her folks, party time!!!

Oops never mind, that sale must be long gone, cheapest I see is $394 one way without tax.

Yeah the Newark deal sold out last night. A fair number of people got in on it, there were at least 12 that personally told me they booked it, and I imagine a few more did as well.

[Antithesis]

Man, that Newark deal was incredible. You're some kind of travel genius. I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing that we couldn't go at that time ... We <3 NY.

[Draug]

Originally Posted by Wookie

Why do you say that?

I'm looking for Hawaii in March/April/May (preferred late April) and am wondering why you say until Feb/March?

Thanks

Right now, Westjet is showing $765 All In to Maui for April 21-27 from Calgary. Last week, they were down around $600.

I know they can go lower than they are currently. Last week I booked for a ticket price of $230 (vs the current $329) for an all in price of just under $600 to Kauai. That was the cheapest WJ price I had seen since last spring for April.

I am guessing that the best seat sale to Hawaii could be as low as $500 all in, but who knows. The price last week was low enough that I no longer justified waiting.

US Airways also flys from Calgary to Hawaii (thanks to the poster who pointed out that to me). They were a little cheaper, like $30, but I went with Westjet due to familiarity.

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Draug

Right now, Westjet is showing $765 All In to Maui for April 21-27 from Calgary. Last week, they were down around $600.

I now they can go lower than they are currently. Last week I booked for a ticket price of $230 (vs the current $329) for an all in price of just under $600. That was the cheapest WJ price I had seen since last spring for April.

I am guessing that the best seat sale to Hawaii could be as low as $500 all in, but who knows. The price last week was low enough that I no longer justified waiting.

US Airways also flys from Calgary to Hawaii (thanks to the poster who pointed out that to me). They were a little cheaper, like $30, but I went with Westjet due to familiarity.

Based on the ones I saw in Dec/Jan, it can even go as low as below $400 all in for Honolulu/Maui, but that was the cheapest I'd ever seen them.

United has some flights for $600 USD to Maui in April at the moment, cheapest I can see.

There's some pretty good prices for package deals to Maui/Honolulu, in the $700s (per person) after taxes for Honolulu, and $840ish for Maui. That's for 2 people at a 3* hotel but the hotels seem pretty decent. They're in Feb/Mar though, April is still higher.