Trying to get soldier home for R&R from Korea
Mar 10, 2011, 9:28 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Washington DC area
Posts: 3
Trying to get soldier home for R&R from Korea
Hello all I am new to this site! I am an Army Mom who is trying to find the best flight price to get my son home for R&R from South Korea to Washington DC area? Can you guide me ..... I have no idea what I am doing?? My soldier and I would greatly appreciate your help.
Mar 10, 2011, 10:36 am
#2
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: East Coast USA/Asia
Programs: AA Plat /KE mc/OZ Diamond /Marriott gold/ SPG gold
Posts: 221
God bless you and your son!
if you are looking for the "best price", asking it in Korean Air forum might be the wrong way to go. While Korean air does offer a wonderful service from ICN (korea) to IAD (washington DC) NONSTOP, but they tend to be more expensive than one of American Major Airliners.
You should consider looking into Delta, or simply one of the website that gives you multi-quotes (expedia or yadiyada).. even if they aren't NONSTOP, you will find them much MUCH MUCH cheaper.
if you are looking for the "best price", asking it in Korean Air forum might be the wrong way to go. While Korean air does offer a wonderful service from ICN (korea) to IAD (washington DC) NONSTOP, but they tend to be more expensive than one of American Major Airliners.
You should consider looking into Delta, or simply one of the website that gives you multi-quotes (expedia or yadiyada).. even if they aren't NONSTOP, you will find them much MUCH MUCH cheaper.
Mar 10, 2011, 8:57 pm
#3
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: IND
Posts: 2,005
If your son is departing from Korea, it's a better idea to contact a travel agency in Korea. Many airlines release cheap prices only on local agencies. toptravel.co.kr is one of the biggest agencies in Korea. Well, you cannot use foreign (non-Korean) credit card unless they physically swipe your card, so it's very hard to buy online or on the phone, though.
Mar 11, 2011, 1:12 am
#4
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Southeast USA
Programs: various
Posts: 6,710
It also makes a difference as to his travel time frame. Summer is going to be generally higher, also booking on really short notice--unless there are some last-minute specials lucked into. Based on what everybody is seeing for TransPacs to/from anywhere right now, I'd say $1200 would be a decent fare find. It seems that the days of regularly being able to pick up a round-trip flight from north Asia to the Eastern USA for $800-900 are but a memory. 
One thing your son might look into is checking with local Korean agents there for travel to someplace with a huge Korean population--like LAX (Los Angeles Intl). If he can find a great priced ICN (Seoul Incheon)-LAX round-trip, then find another good domestic LAX-IAD (or Reagan or BWI), then that could work. You can also try this with New York JFK. Try United, US Airways, American, and Continental websites directly, and also try the multiairline sites kayak, expedia, orbitz. You may have to play around with the sites a bit.
I agree that the Korean forum doesn't seem to be the most visible place for this request. But I don't have any better ideas right now.
One thing your son might look into is checking with local Korean agents there for travel to someplace with a huge Korean population--like LAX (Los Angeles Intl). If he can find a great priced ICN (Seoul Incheon)-LAX round-trip, then find another good domestic LAX-IAD (or Reagan or BWI), then that could work. You can also try this with New York JFK. Try United, US Airways, American, and Continental websites directly, and also try the multiairline sites kayak, expedia, orbitz. You may have to play around with the sites a bit.
I agree that the Korean forum doesn't seem to be the most visible place for this request. But I don't have any better ideas right now.
Last edited by jiejie; Mar 11, 2011 at 1:26 am
Mar 12, 2011, 2:22 pm
#5
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: ORD
Programs: AS MVPG, Hyatt Diamond, HH Gold
Posts: 88
As others suggested, you could ask Korean travel agencies in Northern VA, Fairfax or nearby (consolidators). They usually have blocks of seats with KE/OZ and definitely beat any price available online/offline. Many times I find their prices are not expensive than DL or UA flights. You will have no problem with your credit card authorization though price is little higher than agencies in Seoul.
Mar 16, 2011, 10:40 pm
#6
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: LGA/JFK
Programs: DL PM, UA Premier, AA Gold, Hertz PC, National Exec Elite, Sixt Plat
Posts: 500
Also, look at flights going through SFO. I live in the DC area and travel to Korea two to three times a year. If you avoid the May-August months, you can probably get a flight on United for about $1000-1300.
The other way around that is to book his flights separately; if you do that, you can usually get a ICN-SFO r/t flight on Singapore for $800-1000. Then get him a r/t from SFO to IAD nonstop.
I'll always ride an Asian airline over a US-based airline because the seats, inflight entertainment, and food are almost always better...
The other way around that is to book his flights separately; if you do that, you can usually get a ICN-SFO r/t flight on Singapore for $800-1000. Then get him a r/t from SFO to IAD nonstop.
I'll always ride an Asian airline over a US-based airline because the seats, inflight entertainment, and food are almost always better...