OT Airline Reservations

[Guest blsqueaky]

While sitting here bored, I thought that I would mess around with some of the ticket sites, and checked with FlyChina, and punched in some dates for travel back to GZ in June, and just get an idea what the wifes ticket one way will be, and my flight, lowest price with NW was just about $700, r/t, and my wifes was about $900. My price is just about 1/2 of what I just paid. Now her flight was not NW, but Asiana, and a real crappy one, connect in SF, then stops in LA, WA, then OH.

 

I am just about tempted to buy my ticket today just to hold them to that price, but with my luck, her interview would be may or july. Now may, that would not be a real problem since she would have 90 days to use her visa.

 

I think that later this week, I will just have to check with fly china again and see if that price still holds true.

[frank1538]

You know, I just can't figure out the airline prices. I thought that I would make round trip reservations for me (ATL-HKG-ATL) and round trip reservations for Jingwen and the kids (HKG-ATL-HKG), with her Hong Kong to Atlanta leg coinciding with my return. My price (on United) was $652, plus taxes, but her price was $2,048. This really baffled me, but apparently, even in the US, flights between two cities will differ depending on your origin city - even if flying on the same dates.

 

I ended up buying one way tickets for her and the kids at a much lower price, still lower than what she would have paid had she bought the tickets in China. Go figure.

[MoonCarolCafe]

Long story short: The airlines spend lots of time and effort trying to figure out how to get the maximum return on a product with a limited shelf life.

 

They have a limited number of seats to sell, they have historical trends to base thier supply/demand/profit calculations on... and some airlines are better than others at doing this.

[Guest blsqueaky]

Frank, I know. Just a few days ago, I was looking just to something to do, and on my same date, the NW flight was $1200 for me, and connecting in Shanghai, and today the NW flight was connecting in Beiijing and almost half the price. Just a little while ago I thought that I would check on her flight in case of interview in April or May, same price as June. I know that I can not figure it out.

[Cat&Rat]

Hey squeaky,

checkrd with cat about GZ airport. She said that they have been moving to new airport since nov. and expect to go full time at new airport outside city sometime in may.

rat

[Guest blsqueaky]

Rat, thanks for the info.

 

Well everyone, I will never figure out the pricing on tickets. Today I was checking again on fly china, and the same flight that they where quoting yesterday, doubled in price again, but her one way price stayed the same. I am just wondering if yesterday their puter had a brain fart. I knew that I sould have bought it then, and then just paid a penalty for date change.

 

Go figure

[dvs7310]

Frrom what I have seen, Asianas fares tend to hold pretty steady all year long. They are the same price now as they were last August when I went over.

[natrigon]

The airlines play the "scam the customer game" as much as they can.

 

Still for me Cathay Pacific is the best by far. Non-stop for about $625 (but to HK, not sure about other destinations) then a 45 minute train ride in to ShenZhen for a few bucks. Great seats, and Asian flight attendants that don't mind actually working for their paycheck, even with a smile. The minute I get back to the USA what a difference in the attitudes (for the worse).

[bobmal99]

Everyone has their opinion of which is the best airlines to fly on to China.

I have flown to China several times over the last few years, mostly on UA and on NW a couple of times. NW used to arrive around 11 pm or midnight but I believe recently they have changed most of their flights to arrive around 7 - 8 pm which I think is a big difference.

 

However, even with the discontinuing of many services UA still has the best prices overall, if you are somewhat flexible with your travel dates.

 

For all my accumulated miles I just was able to send my lovely wife home from Boston, MA to Shanghai, for several weeks for $22.95, and only 60,000 miles which was a piece of cake.

 

She could not believe we got a ticket for less then $23 dollars, which was for the tax. So after we booked her ticket, she went out and got a UA Mileage Credit Card.

 

So for the first time in one year we will once again be seperated. However, this time I know exactly when she will be coming back.

 

Of course I miss her terribly, but it will be good that she will be able to spend this holiday with her family in Shanghai.

[skibum]

Prices to China are usually higher around the New Years. Supply and demand.