111op

I usually stick to the Europe forum. But am curious to know if someone has some good suggestions for airfare for JFK to Taipei.

I'm also interested in going to HK (very quick stop to see a friend) and to Shanghai. Since there're no direct flights between Taipei and Shanghai, I'll have to fly to HK anyway.

According to travel agents in Chinatown in NYC, China Airlines flights are about $1700. My dates (leaving mid December) aren't really flexible.

I thought I'd check to see if someone has any ideas.

Thanks!

rhkkmk

christmas time flights are very expensive...

look at eva air from newark

rkkwan

Fares for that period are very dynamic. Some fares appear and then disappear from all search engines.

At this moment, there's a bookable fare 12/13 on AA/JAL for $1,175 on Orbitz. Via Tokyo.

You may find other dates, other fares. But you have to look, look look and then jump onto it once you find one.

JamesA

rkwan can guide you on this but if you want to do Taipei plus alos Hong Kong and Shanghai maybe best to look for something that can include all those, I don't know if Cathay does a tie-in pass at this time but that would give you all 3 places on the same airline, maybe a pass sort of ticket could work out cheaper than a Taipe ticket plus the add to to HK and back and also a HK to Shanghai

111op

Thanks.

Well, I sort of need to leave on Friday, Dec. 16. The travel agent said that there might be UA flights that leave earlier that are cheaper.

What I found, by contacting friends in Asia, is that Taipei-HK-Shanghai-Taipei is about 500+. HK-Shanghai-HK is usually at least 350 (unless I've the time to go through Shenzhen and it's supposedly cheaper that way).

On Eva + China Airlines, I've been quoted about 1400.

So it seems like it's best to buy the whole package at 1700+.

Cathay was not mentioned as an option to me.

But I thought that others may have ideas I should look into before I buy.

Thanks again!

rkkwan

Cathay is not provided to you as option because:

1) You have to get to Hong Kong first and back-track to Taipei.

2) It's always more expensive than NW/UA/CI.

Hong Kong - Shanghai is a prime business route (like the shuttles in NE). $350 is about right. Lots of business people travel from Taipei/Hong Kong to Shanghai year round.

If you can get all your flights for $1,700, it's a decent deal.

rkkwan

Mind you the WTO is having a major ministeral meeting in Hong Kong in mid-December, making flights/hotels even more tight this year than usual.

111op

Sounds good. I guess I'll try to book soon. I don't really look at flights to Asia (the last time I was there was four years ago), so I've no idea what's considered reasonable.

Thanks.