Cheapest Way to get from PVG to HAN
 

Can anyone recommend an airline that has a reasonable fare from PVG - HAN? All the search engines I use have fares > $600USD for one way. Maybe a local carrier? I'm looking to go May timeframe. Thanks.

I suggest you try to acquire 20k NW miles (and book an award ticket on CZ). Feel free to PM if you're strapped for ideas on how to accomplish this.

take Air India from PVG to BKK and AirAsia BKK-HAN. Should come in around 300 USD.

Actualy PVG-MNL-HAN with Cebu Pacific is even cheaper, around 160 USD, but with 16-hour layover.

These fares sound a little low to me. Back when I lived in SH (admittedly 2 years ago), I used to go Thailand fairly often and the cheapest I ever paid was y1800 ($250) all in. TMK, BKK-HAN costs at least $125, so that's $375, best case scenario.

As far as 5J is concerned, I know that PEK-MNL comes in at around $200 so I wouldn't be surprised they could get you to HAN for an extra $50 or so, but aside from the long layovers, 5J's schedule to PVG is kind of painful.

No the fares are as I told you, OW on 7th or 8th May. check from expedia/airasia.com/cebupacific.com if you dont believe me:p

Per your suggestion, I just checked 5J's website. I was unable to find any through fares from SH to HAN, but pricing out the 2 segments separately was pretty cheap: $88 + $67 = $155. However, assuming the OP also wants to return to SH, I think 20k NW miles are a better bet (than spending $310 for the privilege of taking a flight that gets into MNL at 4a!).

Thanks for the suggestions. Looks like picking up the segments PVG-BKK and then BKK-HAN end up costing $316USD. The only problem is the 6.5 hour layover in BKK.

I do need to go back to BKK after HAN so maybe the 20k NW option could work. Is it possible to use the award ticket to go from PVG-HAN and then HAN-BKK?

Yes, and if you really hate CZ, another option is to use 30k DL miles to fly KE via ICN in business class (Y costs 25k miles; I'm only mentioning this in parenthases because you'd be crazy not to go for J).

Of course, backtracking to SEL is kind of insane unless you want to stop there for some reason.

OW and *A, better connections/airlines or not, are not good options because they both charge twice as many miles between China and points south of HK.

Just wanted to let everyone know what I ended up doing. I actually planned on purchasing the 2 legs (PVG-BKK and BKK-HAN), but when I was about to book a few weeks ago, I noticed the price jumped to about $400 AI.

Anyways, after checking the Cathay Website directly, I noticed that the fare was only 2495 RMB. What's strange is that the search engine websites still show the ~$700USD price. Not sure why this is, but I ended up purchasing directly off Cathay's website. Now I leave a bit later and get in a few hours earlier AND I can use the lounge (Oneworld Sapphire).

Just a headsup for anyone looking for airfare within Asia. Always check the Cathay website directly!

hmm...I'm not seeing anything even close to that from the Cathay website... Could you give some sample dates to try, where the fares are still being offered?

My current flight no longer has any restricted economy class tickets. Check June 9th for a restricted economy ticket priced at 2502RMB.

Thanks.

Great fare! I was surprised to see 1) that it allows a stopover in HK for an additional 300RMB, and 2) that it is fully refundable except for RMB500.

Enjoy the lounge!