Questions on my Asia strategy (USA-SGN/REP-USA)
Apr 19, 2019, 6:21 am
#16
Join Date: May 2013
Location: AVL
Programs: DL 2MM, Plat; Marriott LT Titanium
Posts: 214
My follow-up questions:
1. Is it a "good" idea to split tickets like this? I've never done it (I know people do it all the time - I read the trip report section ;-) But it's a little scary to me) Outbound, we'd have to stay overnight in Seoul (DL arrives 16:30, Vietnam Air flights are at 10:15 or 17:55 - I think it's too tight to make that flight so staying overnight is best) On the return, we'd arrive at ICN from HAN at 5:55 and the DL flt is 10:35)
2. Would we be able to check bags through the entire trip or need to pick up and recheck in Seoul? Inbound, we're considering the transit hotel so as not to leave the airport - good idea or not and does it impact baggage?
You have a very good plan. Vietnam Airlines is a great airline—wonderful customer service, keep to schedule, and decent food. The Blossom lounges they use are not great but that
is minor. I recently did something similar where I flew them from Singapore to REP after flying DL to Singapore and then flew them back from Saigon to connect. You will not be able to check bags through to REP. However, if you are going to leave the airport in ICN anyway for the night, you can check them to ICN, pick them up and then recheck on VN the next morning. Going home, however, you would do carryon. As far as ICN, there is a lot of shopping available. I think, with your schedule, I would leave the airport for the night. You may want to take the later flight that day to have a little time to explore Seoul. Be prepared for it to be really hot in August in Cambodia.
Apr 19, 2019, 7:34 am
#18
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2009
Programs: Delta Gold, silver, what yr is it?
Posts: 2,415
You don't cite your U.S. origin. This makes a big difference. If you happen to be on the West Coast there are ready bargains. Rather than messing around with separate tickets, possibly needing to recheck bags, separate baggage allowance by cabin, multiple change fees, and IROPs difficulty, there are r/t REP business tickets for less than $3K from LAX (and less than CDN $3K from YVR), even restricting travel to just two segments each way. A China Eastern business ticket will score well in Delta MQM. Find dates with cheap r/t then check for your open jaw faring. Origin, month of departure (for advance purchase restrictions) and length of stay are all important.
We're not worried about the weather in Vietnam or Cambodia - we did a SIN-HKG cruise a couple years ago with 6 days in Singapore ahead of time - the first day in Singapore was, um, "warm", but we adapted pretty quickly. Lots of water, rest when we need to - it's all good! ;-)
Apr 19, 2019, 10:45 am
#19
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: HNL
Programs: DL PM/1MM, BW DE (lifetime), HH DE, Marriott PE (lifetime), National Emerald Executive
Posts: 7,204
If the price works for you, go with CI business class and skip ICN. Great airline, excellent in flight J product (esp. if you're on the A350), great connecting airport. Even better if you can work in a brief stopover in Taipei.
Apr 19, 2019, 10:49 am
#20
Join Date: Jun 2017
Programs: Delta
Posts: 2
We flew Premium Economy on China Airlines to Vietnam in December and had a great experience. We were able to get a great fare that was in PE on JFK-Taipei on then in business on the connecting flights to and from Vietnam. Don't know if they fly to REP but worth looking into. We also flew some internal flights on Vietnam Airlines and I was very impressed. We were in their premium economy on a SGN-HAN flight and I would 100% fly that product long haul in the future. My H is a Delta Platinum Medallion and I'm gold and with both airlines we had no problem getting our Sky Team elite status recognized and getting the accompanying benefits, or getting our MQM/MQDs credited.
One thing to note about Korean Air, and what kept us away from it -- you can't get advance seat assignments if you purchase the flights through Delta, even with medallion status. Seats are assigned at the airport and we didn't want to risk ending up in a middle for a 15 hour flight. They also don't have true premium economy, and I think not even extra leg room seats (though I understand their standard economy pitch is equal to comfort plus on Delta).
One thing to note about Korean Air, and what kept us away from it -- you can't get advance seat assignments if you purchase the flights through Delta, even with medallion status. Seats are assigned at the airport and we didn't want to risk ending up in a middle for a 15 hour flight. They also don't have true premium economy, and I think not even extra leg room seats (though I understand their standard economy pitch is equal to comfort plus on Delta).
Apr 19, 2019, 11:17 am
#21
Join Date: Apr 2019
Location: SLC
Programs: Delta Skymiles PM
Posts: 8
One thing to note about Korean Air, and what kept us away from it -- you can't get advance seat assignments if you purchase the flights through Delta, even with medallion status. Seats are assigned at the airport and we didn't want to risk ending up in a middle for a 15 hour flight. .
Apr 19, 2019, 11:40 am
#23
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
Programs: A3*Gold, SPG Plat, HyattDiamond, MarriottPP, LHW exAccess, ICI, Raffles Amb, NW PE MM, TWA Gold MM
Posts: 100,368
AFAIK you can put different classes of service together on DL tickets, including partners/codeshares, but you would generally need to call DL to do it. You'd essentially have broken fares as different classes normally can't be on the same fare component. However, the bigger issue is price. Only certain more expensive fares can be combined on the same PNR.
Apr 19, 2019, 12:00 pm
#24
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2009
Programs: Delta Gold, silver, what yr is it?
Posts: 2,415
I will look at PE on China Airlines and see what those trips are but not sure it would be my first preference if it's not a TON cheaper than the DL/VN combo would be.
And even though I'd be flying through ICN with the itinerary I've been looking at, no flights are on Korean Air....
MSPEconomist - might be worth it for me to call Delta and see how they'd price my broken itinerary. Worst they can do is tell me it can't be done or it will be too $$ for me ;-) Thanks.
Apr 19, 2019, 12:23 pm
#25
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: HNL
Programs: DL PM/1MM, BW DE (lifetime), HH DE, Marriott PE (lifetime), National Emerald Executive
Posts: 7,204
Sorry if I haven't been clear. I haven't found ANY business class tickets under $4000 (ex-USA) and that is more than I am willing to pay (last search, actually, nothing less than $4500 and that was only for certain city pairs so my total price would be higher depending on my open-jaw legs....Most itineraries in business are closer to $6500) So business class from the US isn't an option for this trip which is why I've been exploring other combos ;-)
I will look at PE on China Airlines and see what those trips are but not sure it would be my first preference if it's not a TON cheaper than the DL/VN combo would be.
And even though I'd be flying through ICN with the itinerary I've been looking at, no flights are on Korean Air....
MSPEconomist - might be worth it for me to call Delta and see how they'd price my broken itinerary. Worst they can do is tell me it can't be done or it will be too $$ for me ;-) Thanks.
I will look at PE on China Airlines and see what those trips are but not sure it would be my first preference if it's not a TON cheaper than the DL/VN combo would be.
And even though I'd be flying through ICN with the itinerary I've been looking at, no flights are on Korean Air....
MSPEconomist - might be worth it for me to call Delta and see how they'd price my broken itinerary. Worst they can do is tell me it can't be done or it will be too $$ for me ;-) Thanks.
Put in the date ranges, and try to see what you can get for various city pairs and date ranges on SkyTeam (Alliance SkyTeam in advanced rules). May take a few minutes of trial and error to get the advanced search parameters right, but it's a very powerful tool. You can often also find better fares than you can get from delta.com, and then go to bookwithmatrix.com and book it right on delta.com. Well worth the time to get familiar with it.
Here's a tip: at first uncheck "Only show flights and prices with available seats" - that will show you all the fares that exist between your city pairs on the airlines/alliance and service class in your search, regardless of availability. Then check the box and look for what you know are some of the better fares that are available, to see if you can get it on some combination of dates that work for you.
Also of course try searching from CI, KE and other airline US gateway cities. If you don't mix in domestic DL connecting flights, pricing may be better (or sometimes, worse). Worth to check both ways, as getting domestic US connecting flights separately to, say, CI out of JFK, if you can get J in CI out of JFK for, say, $1500 less, may be well worth it.
Apr 19, 2019, 1:21 pm
#26
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2009
Programs: Delta Gold, silver, what yr is it?
Posts: 2,415
Yes, I tried ITA at the beginning of my searches. But I didn't try unchecking "available seats" so I could go back and try again....And for most of my searches (after the original where I got the "baseline" price for my actual itinerary) I have been using main gateways for the US. But I didn't try Canada (Canada isn't usually that affordable or easy to get to from RDU so I might lose any gain from a cheap TPAC fare there....)
Apr 19, 2019, 6:23 pm
#27
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: ATL
Programs: Delta PlM, 1M
Posts: 6,363
One advantage of using MU (or the other mainland carriers, or VN) for flights to/in Asia. Fairly certain that the odds of a strike or near nill.
P.S. I find that wiping story disgusting.
Apr 20, 2019, 5:16 am
#28
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Any of the Following PDX SFO IAH YUL HPN CDG SYD WLG AKL
Programs: AA GLD 1MM, DL DM, UA 1K Marriott Platinum, Hilton Diamond, IHG Spire Ambassador , Hyatt Platinum
Posts: 464
What do you mean by "split ticket"? Are you talking about having a single reservation that has two or three different airlines, or are you talking about two or more separate reservations (US-ICN on DL, and then ICN-xxx,yyy-ICN on a separate reservation)?
If on a single reservation, both DL and VN are SkyTeam members and DL will check baggage through on other SkyTeam member airlines if in a single reservation. Details:
https://pro.delta.com/content/agency...e-policy-.html
If on a single reservation, both DL and VN are SkyTeam members and DL will check baggage through on other SkyTeam member airlines if in a single reservation. Details:
https://pro.delta.com/content/agency...e-policy-.html
Apr 20, 2019, 9:30 am
#29
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: NYC
Posts: 9,113
I would forget about Skyteam and look at tickets form other gateways. E.g. ATL, NYC, WAS, YUL, YYZ, LAX - as there are sometimes good sub-$3000 fare to Asia. E.g LAX on Sichuan to most of Asia ranges from $2100-2500. Intra Asia travel is often dirt cheap. Or LAX to PNH for $2500. I see LAX to HAN/PNH on KE for around $3300
