NB_Falcon

Hi,

On AC.com I am only able to find options to connect in HKG for flight to the Philippines, would anyone know if ICN is an option and if so how would I price via ICN.

Thanks
Adam

Adam Smith

Where are you trying to fly from and to? YYZ to MNL? YEG to CEB? etc? And what timing? Flight options are very limited in the short term given coronavirus, but if you're looking a few months out, there should be more flexibility.

NB_Falcon

Apologies, for flight over Christmas holidays. Ideally into Davao however can do Manilla or Cebu as an alternative. Would rather connect in ICN if its possible, departing from YYZ.

Adam Smith

If you're looking at going to DVO, that's definitely going to be an issue, since according to the Wikipedia page on DVO, the only carriers that fly there that AC has interline agreements with are KA (Cathay Dragon) and QR. And routing via DOH isn't valid per the YYZ-DVO fares that I looked at, so your only way to get to DVO is going to be via HKG at some point.

ICN is valid as a connection point on a YYZ-MNL fare though. The AC website doesn't want to pull it up, but you can potentially get it via Google Flights (here's YYZ-ICN-MNL bookable with Expedia for December 22, for example), Matrix (22/12 to 1/6 round trip YYZ-ICN-MNL), by phoning AC, or by using a TA.

Any particular reason to connect in ICN? Are you looking to add a stopover there? Going via ICN definitely adds several hundred dollars to the price vs HKG (assuming you're looking at cheapest Y).

ACYYZ/SD

Schedules are still in flux. There was previously a very good connection (and pricing) at Tokyo-Haneda with Philippine Airlines.

Adam Smith

Have there been many changes to the schedule out in December/January though?

If flying PR, why not take the direct YYZ-MNL rather than stop at HND?

Antonio8069

Or, better yet, EVA via TPE. IMO, a much better airline.

NB_Falcon

Will be flying AC, hoping to actually get to use a build up of e credits (currently AC SE), was hoping to to a brief stopover in ICN if possible.

OccasionallyFlying

You aren't able to book itineraries like these directly on the AC website. You will need to contact a travel agent or use an OTA to connect in ICN if you'd like to book with an AC direct flight in your itinerary. From ICN, you can take an overnight layover and connect with Asiana to Manila. There are no direct flights from Incheon to Davao.

NB_Falcon

Is it possible to use the ITA search engine to show "Flex Fares", hoping to use a build up of e-credits on YYZ-ICN.

OccasionallyFlying

If you're going to have a substantial layover in Incheon, why don't you just separately book the YYZ - ICN and the ICN-DVO/MNL/CEB legs? I think this is pretty low-risk considering that you're planning to have a layover in ICN. Plus, if you're not going to check a lot of bags, you can save a substantial amount of money by booking on a LCC such as Cebu Pacific, AirAsia, Hong Kong Airlines or Jin Air. Delta also has cheap fares from ICN to MNL if you'd like to experience a full-fare carrier and Asiana/Korean Air/PAL isn't awful either.

Adam Smith

canadiancow , you had posted over in the Matrix thread that you had added support for branded fares to PowerTools, which would seem to do the trick for the OP here, but I'm not seeing it... Care to share how to do it? Or does it only work for domestic/TB where all you have to do to get from Standard to Flex etc is change the last two letters of the fare basis? (I still don't see it even there, but at least I know I can copy the URL, change the fare basis, then use that revised URL, which obviously doesn't work here)

canadiancow

What I changed was instead of just passing the fare class, it would also pass the fare basis to AC. You still need to find exactly what you want to purchase. For North America, it's just "f ac..co" for Comfort fares. I'm not sure how it works on the international side.

NB_Falcon

Anyone know MPM for MNL-YYZ, looking at using AE for flight home and would like to stop and see pyramids (based on flights looks like roughly 20 hour connection is an option) MNL-BKK-CAI-YYZ

Adam Smith

OP, since I found this subject to be somewhat interesting, I spent some time researching it. I did eventually find a way to force it in to Flex on the AC website, via PowerTools, by specifying booking class H or higher. Looking up the detailed fare rules on EF, I couldn't find any indication as to what was Flex or Standard, so just started with M (highest class below Latitude) and started going down the classes. H books in to Flex, but going down to Q pushed it down to Standard. Specific fare bases weren't helpful.



It's not a very good result though, since it ends up costing just under $4,000!



You may get a better result by phoning AC or talking to a TA, or you may not. It may simply be that your goals of flying via ICN and using eUps aren't compatible without paying a silly price. You could buy a YYZ-ICN round trip in Flex for about $2600 and then buy ICN-MNL/CEB for $200-300 on another carrier.

See this post for how to calculate: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28509402-post231.html