KE and ICN are a far more pleasant experience overall. There's nothing nice about transiting Chinese airports if you're not saving a fair amount of money, let alone 2 in your case. Saving $400 on KE is a huge difference, even though you'll pay much more for a hotel either at ICN or nearby, your savings more than offsets that plus a lot left over... Even 4 star hotels in mainland China tend to be a test of patience, I've been through WUH once, but didn't stay so can't comment on what's nearby the airport.
>MP: KE's safety record has been fine in recent years. Last major accident was in 1997 involving a passenger plane, that's 16 years ago. Most of their problems were in the 80's and I think we can all agree, a lot has changed in the industry worldwide since then. MU and their M&A acquisition have had plenty of fatal accidents in their short history, then look at CAAC before MUs formation... I think you'll be hard pressed to criticize Korean carriers with Chinese carriers as your benchmark.