Kunming to Mandalay
So, I'm one of many FTers who are going to be heading to Myanmar - I am looking into the possibility of flying into Yunnan (either into KMG, but ideally Jinghong and then traveling up to Kunming, depending on award seat availability) and catching the MU KMG-Mandalay flight. China Eastern is the only airline on the route, and the dates I am looking at in mid-Dec are around $500 ow which is more than I'm willing to spend - however from mid-June until the end of Oct., it looks like it's about $150 one way which is much more reasonable.
Obviously noone can predict what direction fares will go, but I'm wondering if someone with more experience flying Chinese airlines might have more insight into the odds the fare will stay that high? I'll probably be booking my award flight pretty soon and this will probably determine whether I fly into China or not. I've gone to many places in Yunnan, but never to Xishuangbanna so I'd love to be able to work this into my trip to the general area.