Budget Travel - Cheap Trip to China

I'm going to China in August 06. Can anyone steer me toward a reliable seller of discounted airline tickets? I'd like to price both economy and business class. Thanks!

Go to your local chinatown travel agent. You should get some of the lowest prices there. I'd also check the airline's website directly.

Go to your local chinatown travel agent. You should get some of the lowest prices there. I'd also check the airline's website directly.
What he said. Well perhaps except the check airline's website ;) You can find some bargains there, but it takes a lot of work :(

And unless you find a pricing mistake, it's BIG BUCKS to fly int'l in Biz :eek:

Oh, and welcome to FlyerTalk perry_in_raleigh

EmailKid

I'm going to China in August 06. Can anyone steer me toward a reliable seller of discounted airline tickets? I'd like to price both economy and business class. Thanks!

what part(s) of china are you planning to visit?

I found flychina.com occasionally had better fares than the regular airline sites when I lived in China in 2002. Not sure how they're doing these days.

Expect a coach ticket to run $600-1500, depending on exactly where and when you want to go. Expect a business class ticket to cost at least 5x the price of the cheapest coach fare.

August is high season so it may be difficult to find a sale fare. I would expect to pay around $1000 (depending on where you leave from East coast or west coast, and where you fly into.)

I have used flychina.com in the past and they seem to get decent fares. The chinatown suggestion is a good one, if you are able to get to one. I would check and compare prices into Beijing, HK, and Shanghai, depending on where you are wanting to go.

Welcome to FlyerTalk!!

what part(s) of china are you planning to visit?

Guilin China

What he said. Well perhaps except the check airline's website ;) You can find some bargains there, but it takes a lot of work :(

And unless you find a pricing mistake, it's BIG BUCKS to fly int'l in Biz :eek:

Oh, and welcome to FlyerTalk perry_in_raleigh

EmailKid
Thanks, you confirmed what I suspected regarding biz class.

I found flychina.com occasionally had better fares than the regular airline sites when I lived in China in 2002. Not sure how they're doing these days.

Expect a coach ticket to run $600-1500, depending on exactly where and when you want to go. Expect a business class ticket to cost at least 5x the price of the cheapest coach fare.

Thanks for the info.

August is high season so it may be difficult to find a sale fare. I would expect to pay around $1000 (depending on where you leave from East coast or west coast, and where you fly into.)

I have used flychina.com in the past and they seem to get decent fares. The chinatown suggestion is a good one, if you are able to get to one. I would check and compare prices into Beijing, HK, and Shanghai, depending on where you are wanting to go.

Welcome to FlyerTalk!!

Thanks for the info.

Is there any flexibilty in travel dates?
a) August is a great month for sales, but most sales are for 8/12 or 8/17 or later.
b) Buy a $100-off NW coupon on eBay for $10-15.

I did two trips SFO-PVG (Shanghai, stopping in Guilin) recently.

Oct 8-19, 2005 (Purchased 8/3/05) : After watching prices for 3 months, I nabbed a sale on NW, which cost $628 + tax = $692. Used a $100-off PD coupon (Buy them for $10-15 on eBay). Outside of the sale SFO-PVG was floating around $900-1,200 for coach.

As soon as we got back NW had a better sale, so I called my sister & brother and asked "Do you want to go again?"
Feb 27 - Mar 7, 2006 (Purchased 10/28/05) $329 + tax = $392. Used a $100-off NW coupon.

Is there any flexibilty in travel dates?
a) August is a great month for sales, but most sales are for 8/12 or 8/17 or later.
b) Buy a $100-off NW coupon on eBay for $10-15.

I did two trips SFO-PVG (Shanghai, stopping in Guilin) recently.

Oct 8-19, 2005 (Purchased 8/3/05) : After watching prices for 3 months, I nabbed a sale on NW, which cost $628 + tax = $692. Used a $100-off PD coupon (Buy them for $10-15 on eBay). Outside of the sale SFO-PVG was floating around $900-1,200 for coach.

As soon as we got back NW had a better sale, so I called my sister & brother and asked "Do you want to go again?"
Feb 27 - Mar 7, 2006 (Purchased 10/28/05) $329 + tax = $392. Used a $100-off NW coupon.


USA-China costs 700 USD? How is this possible?

I am trying to fly from Japan (e.g. ex Tokyo, Nagoya or Osaka) to Shanghai or Hong Kong. The cheapest fare that I could find is around 550 USD!!! :confused: What am I doing wrong?

PS: The travel agents all the times advertise flihgts in the local newspapers here in Japan but once you call there the prices sky-rock :eek: :eek: :eek:

PS: The travel agents all the times advertise flihgts in the local newspapers here in Japan but once you call there the prices sky-rock :eek: :eek: :eek:

Not necessarily true!

If you've been looking for flights for July/August then yes, prices are stratospheric.
But I've booked return flights from NRT to LAS and NRT to JFK for approximately $450 all in (NRT to UK is usually a bit more, around $550-$600 - considerably cheaper than fares to NRT from London). These have been in Feb, June & November.

I usually use IACE (have used HIStravel too) - they add another 20-30,000yen to the published fare for taxes, but that's to be expected.

Thanks for the info.

please remember that there is a huge difference in business class depending on the airlines.

UA may give you a comfy deep recline but Air China is more like a bigger US economy seat- not at all luxurious

i strongly suggest you check seatguru.com before springing for a "bargain" business class- especially on an unfamiliar airline

given that, Angel Travel sometimes has real deals on NW "Z" - if you consider $2700 and a 50-day AP a bargain - but beware of anything that sounds too good to be true

there is an agency offering cheap deals on business on MH- but you fly EWR/Stockholm/KUL and then connect to China- so you are traveling in crappy old business seats for 36 hours- no bargain

do the research!