Optimized flight to Jeju?
 

I have a business trip where I have an opportunity to spend the weekend in Korea before heading to China in April.

I'm looking to fly to Jeju for the weekend, flying on Thursday evening. Currently, the flights on my date is very cheap (~KRW 50,000) on both Jeju Air and Easy Jet. I'm not exactly sure what time I'll be done with work on that day. Is "standby" possible? I may potentially get there for a 4pm flight, or maybe 6pm or later. Should I wait? Or should I just order my ticket now? Any problem with foreign orders with foreign credit card on Jeju air and Easy Jet?

Another thing I'm worried about is how reliable are flights leaving direct from CJU to China. Specifically CJU - SHE (Sunday 1 flight only!) and CJU - XMN (Saturday, 1 flight only!).

These are Korean LCCs, so if you see a fare deal, they have it until it runs out.

Standby is not possible, BUT cancelling a ticket is VERY cheap. Like 10,000W on Jeju Air the day of your flight any time before departure. They also have flexible change policies depending on your fare type.

https://www.jejuair.net/jejuair/book...ntFareInfo.jsp

http://www.eastarjet.com/community/b...hod=fareGuide#

You mean for 4 or 6 PM flight, you'd already be in Seoul? Confusing re: one flight from China.

The one flight a day to/from China is fine. Chinese tourists are taking over Jeju, so it's not like there will be a shortage requiring a flight cancellation.

Thanks for your response Mike. I only started looking yesterday, so I will spend more time analyzing availability and price change... but from your message, it appears I should just go ahead and book the optimal flight now, and if my situation changes, I can change and lose Krw10,000.

For the China flight, I was referring to flights departing CJU going to China perated by Chinese airlines. I know China domestic flights have very bad rep for postponement and cancellations, and was wondering the same for these once-a-day flights from CJU to various second-tier cities in China (SHE and XMN).

Yes, but make sure you read the cancellation rules carefully. Also, if you book on, say, Korean Air or Asiana, they are much more flexible with their cancellations. Not so many different saver tickets.