EVA Air
 

My husband, my son,and I will be going to Hanoi (December 30th) and working our way down the coast (Halong Bay, Hoi An, CanTho (to see my husband's brother),and ending up with the rest of his family in HCMC). Since this was not a round-trip, per se, I had to book (Evergreen Deluxe) two one-way flights: Newark to Hanoi and HCMC to Newark. We're going on 12/28 - arrive 12/30. However, for 3 weeks now I've tried to book the return flight with EVA but keep getting a message saying "Sorry, the fare you have chosen is temporary not available due to incorrect fare basis, please contact nearest EVA Air Reservation office." After several unsuccessful attempts to get an answer from their customer service reps. I finally spoke with a supervisor who was also baffled. She checked with the airlines in Vietnam and found that the 2006 fares would not be available until Oct. 26th (today). I tried to book/confirm again today (3x) and keep getting the same message!!! I'm getting a little panicky - has anyone had this experience with EVA Air? Is there any other way I should have handled this? I was told that I couldn't book a "multi-destination" to avoid two 2-way trips - I checked.

I have another question about accommodations. I've been using asiarooms.com (has anyone used them?)to get prices and they more than double when you factor in 3 guests - in any configuration (2 rooms/3 people, 1 room 2 people + 1 room w/1 person, or 1 room with 3 people! Is there any way around this? It's costing us $126/night (way over budget)in HCMC because of the extra room (and they don't even guarantee a double bed for my husband and myself). Is there any way around this??? We don't need to stay in a 5- star hotel but a 2 star isn't acceptable either. Any suggestions for Hoi An or CanTho that won't break the budget?

That is definitely just a weird computer glitch or something. I have called EVA more than once to get fare quotes for 2006 (flying into Hanoi,out off Bkk, which is not an option available via their website).
Your dates are high season: are you sure the flights just aren't sold out?

Thanks for your response, cruisinred. I'm worried now - if the flights are sold out, why wouldn't the supervisor just tell me that? She said she called Saigon and that's what they told her. I'm going to call her again tomorrow - good grief!What will we do if we can't get a flight home???

I just checked the eva website for roundtrip flights NY-Hanoi and NY-HCMC for the dates departing 12/28 and returning 1/18...this was available from and to both cities....so it is probably just a glitch with the computer doing an "openjaw"...into one city and out of another.

We are also working on booking flights on EVA Air. We have found that if one person is not able to find an answer, we can call back and the next person we get will be able to help us. It is a little frustrating but if you call enough times you are likely to finally get in touch with someone that speaks very good english and knows what is going on.

Good luck!

BillT gave me this recommendation when I was wrestling with Eva Air and I will pass on to you all--Call Bunnie Usman. She is a travel agent stateside who specialized in SEA.

[email protected]

She got us great rates on tickets from Austin to BKK in Eva Evergreen Service and arranged our Discovery Passes for all our internal flights.

She saved me money, got me miles on Eva through Continental and removed the stress from this part of the planning.

I should mention that I've had two changes in flight times since I booked the tickets and Bunnie has kept me abreast of them, sending new itineraries, etc. She's very thorough and good.

I too had experienced similar glitches with EVA air's online booking system. I tried searching for the same flights online a week later and it worked perfectly. The flights were not sold out it was just a website problem on their end I suspect.

The EVA web site is very erratic and not user-friendly -- we always book through a travel agent and get the same prices. Don't let the web site put you off -- EVA is great for trans-pacific travel. The seats are big enough for western travellers and for a very small premium you can get a larger seat in "evergreen deluxe" class.

Agree with Peter. A good travel agent (who has contacts with the consolidators) will get you the same or better. Eva deluxe economy is worth it. Good luck!