Experience with Intra-Asia Airfares
Sep 12th, 2004, 08:26 PM
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Experience with Intra-Asia Airfares
I recently spent a lot of time trying to get some intra-Asia flights booked. I found some interesting things about booking flights and airfares that I hadn't experienced previously, and thought others could benefit from my experience.
I checked out major US airline booking sites like expedia and travelocity and got price quotes of about US$1600 for the flights I wanted. I then called Singapore Airlines and was quoted US $1355 each. I also emailed a Singapore travel agent (misa travel) and got price quotes for the same flights of SIN$1553 each (US$914), but they would charge another 2% for using a credit card to purchase the tickets. I finally chose to buy my tickets from the Singapore AIrlines website for SIN$1373 each (US$808). All of the fares quoted were regular full-cost fares for first class (SIN-KUL and return on Singapore air) and business class tickets (SIN-Lombok and return on Silk Air).
On the Misa travel website there were special fares between Singapore and Lombok that my travel dates qualified for, but they said they were unable to give me any special fare.
I had originally planned to fly from Singapore to Jogjakarta, then on to Lombok. It turned out to be impossible to book all of those legs by any of the means listed above. The most problematic leg was from Jogjakarta to Lombok. All of the various people I spoke with or emaled said they were simply unable to book that leg. It was unclear to me why, but I wonder if Indonesia has made it harder to book outside the country since they have implemented the new visa requirements. After months of frustration, I ended up changing my itinerary. I thought seriously about just going and "winging it" but since my time in SE Asia is limited, I finally decided to book a trip I could pre-arrange. Had my time been more flexible, I would have tried it. The flight I wanted from Jogja to Lombok was just after Ramadan ended and it may be that those flights are booked full.
I checked out major US airline booking sites like expedia and travelocity and got price quotes of about US$1600 for the flights I wanted. I then called Singapore Airlines and was quoted US $1355 each. I also emailed a Singapore travel agent (misa travel) and got price quotes for the same flights of SIN$1553 each (US$914), but they would charge another 2% for using a credit card to purchase the tickets. I finally chose to buy my tickets from the Singapore AIrlines website for SIN$1373 each (US$808). All of the fares quoted were regular full-cost fares for first class (SIN-KUL and return on Singapore air) and business class tickets (SIN-Lombok and return on Silk Air).
On the Misa travel website there were special fares between Singapore and Lombok that my travel dates qualified for, but they said they were unable to give me any special fare.
I had originally planned to fly from Singapore to Jogjakarta, then on to Lombok. It turned out to be impossible to book all of those legs by any of the means listed above. The most problematic leg was from Jogjakarta to Lombok. All of the various people I spoke with or emaled said they were simply unable to book that leg. It was unclear to me why, but I wonder if Indonesia has made it harder to book outside the country since they have implemented the new visa requirements. After months of frustration, I ended up changing my itinerary. I thought seriously about just going and "winging it" but since my time in SE Asia is limited, I finally decided to book a trip I could pre-arrange. Had my time been more flexible, I would have tried it. The flight I wanted from Jogja to Lombok was just after Ramadan ended and it may be that those flights are booked full.
Aug 2nd, 2005, 06:44 PM
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kathie...did you give eddie a chance to bid?? [email protected] had done very well with intra asia flights for a number of us....
bob
bob
Aug 3rd, 2005, 09:13 AM
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Kathie I think your the one that realy hates Garuda and probably would not use any of the many discount airlines that fly in indonesa lion air, citilink etc. so I'm not surprised your options are almost nill. yep I don't think super eddie cna handle this one.
Aug 3rd, 2005, 02:04 PM
#6
I'm not sure I understand the part about the SIN-YOG-AMI (Lombok). Did you require that you fly on Singapore Airines? I doubt very much that they fly YOG-AMI. Garuda does. What dates did you want to travel? Does the trip absolutely have to be in business class or first class?
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