How to Best Book Flights for a Multi-City Asian Trip?
 

My husband's son is being married in Kaohsiung, Taiwan next September, so we're starting to plan our trip around this event. Having never traveled in Asia before, we're definitely taking advantage and will want to visit at least Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo, allowing about three weeks in total. I started to research airfares and routing on Kayak.com and was immediately overwhelmed! I've always booked my own flights for trips and know to use online tools, but I've never dealt with such a complicated itinerary before. We can be flexible except for the wedding date. Our funds are not unlimited, so I would want to find as good a deal as possible. What is the best way to approach a trip like this? Thanks!

http://www.cathayusa.com/offers/AllAsiaPass/offer.asp

The "All Asia Pass" offered by Cathay Pacific could well fit your needs. This pass covers all the cities (and many more) in Asia that you mention. I have no personal experience with this pass. But if I were to cover the cities you mention, Cathay Pacific will be the first airline I check into. By the way, they use Hong Kong as a hub to fly to all the Asian cities that they cover. Their US getaway cities are JFK, SFO and LAX. They partner with American Airlines for add-on US cities.

Several airlines offer such passes. Often, these passes are seasonal, so check with the individual airlines. Malaysian Air also offers these from time to time. Even without a pass, do check the individual airline sites. I find sites like kayak do not offer better prices and the routings they suggest are often awful.