airline suggestions....

I can totally see why you'd go for the cheapest (though less convenient and comfortable) flight option - but I honestly think you'd be better off skipping the airport hotel. At the most that might save you one hour in the morning. Is one hour's sleep really worth HK$1000-2000? Plus, as someone else mentioned, often you don't sleep well in a strange bed either.

If your flight is 7.30, you need to be at the airport at 6am latest (ok, I know it's meant to be 5.30am - but 6 still works.) From Sai Kung, how long does it take in a taxi to the airport? 40 minutes? I'd aim to leave the house at 5am (and would get up at 4.30 and get the kids up at 4.50am). The tiredness will hit later when you're on the plane, but anything that helps you sleep for a few hours is a good thing in my opinion. You've got plenty of time to nap on board!!

Happy travels!
 
lol! i'm going in circles again!... ack! just when i think i've made a decision, i change my mind!
 
Carang, have you looked at/considered any of the flights ex-Shenzhen or ex-Guangzhou?
Last time I looked (2 years back) it didnt look like it would be worth it but as you are on a budget it would be something to look at in case they offer some better schedules&prices.

Guangzhou is quite inconvenient but SZ is quite easy these days with very frequent buses from multiple locations.
 
40 minutes / 1 hr 15 minutes... still not worth paying for a hotel room just to get (you hope) an extra hour's sleep, in my opinion. But whatever works for you, of course. Or could you stay with a friend who lives closer to the airport the night before?

BTW, where did you get all the different prices and permutations for the flights and routing? Did you try Flight Centre? They are very good - I know lots of other people recommend them too.
 
i've tried:
flight centre
zuji
lastminute.com.hk
cheap tickets.com.hk

and a myriad more....
i, too, have had great experiences with flight centre
 
Expedia.com worth trying too, normally cheaper than Zuji for the routes I fly. Always check on the airline websites too.
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I've only done this twice now, and have a 9 month old.....but a direct flight has been worth the extra cost for me....especially if I had to travel alone. You could think of it as a gift to yourself, ha ha. And you are going to visit family right? So you won't need $$ for hotels and such? Cathay direct is what I would do. Even if the seats are not as comfy, just knowing you don't have to get off, worry about luggage making a connection or you physically making the connection....it just seems worth it. OH...also, a trick I have learned with Cathay. Sometimes it is a codeshare flight with American.......and if you book it on American (and are lucky enough to catch them on a promotional day) the same exact Cathay flight can be as much as 1/2 the price.
 
will check out the cx/american code share.

just found that cx to vancouver is about $25k... not bad, but still $10k more than china eastern.

i'm really starting to think i'm going to have to suck it up and fly china eastern...
 
I flew China Eastern once. We got stuck in Beijing Airport (snowed in) - it was complete chaos. There were people surrounding every desk, no queues, shouting, shoving and zero information disseminated to stranded passengers. China Eastern had no clue what was going on - no idea about flights, changing tickets, luggage or any accommodation options.

The actual flights were pretty bad too.

I'll give it another decade to see if they improve, but won't be flying them for at least that long. Thank God this was before children, that is the only blessing I can think of.
 
we didn't have such problems last time with them. it was just a really sucky flight. NOTHING for kids... NOTHING.... not even a kids' meal! they had the very 1980s style entertainment... the tiny tv that comes down from the ceiling... NOTHING for kids... even if they had something on it for the kids, they little ones would not have been able to see it! seats are tiny, food is worse than normal horrible airplane food.... BUT on the other hand, it's only 20 hours (each way) out of my life for a savings of $1200 USD/$10k HKD...
 
20 hours if you are lucky! We were stuck in the airport with no communication and no assistance for 20 hours so our 13 hour trip lasted over 33 hours. The management/infrastructure side of the business clearly wasn't up to scratch so if something unexpected happens it is (was) chaos.
 
i've got a worse trip than that! i did it 5 weeks after delivering my #2 by c-section. up until delivery i was in a wheelchair for 4 months....so, a 2 year old (just turned 2), a new born and invalid mother...

hk-tokyo-portland-vancouver-calgary-regina.....BUT, a blizzard blew in as we were leaving calgary and what was supposed to have been a 1 hour flight was still up in the sky at 1.5 hours. then the captain came on the speaker announcing that regina had a blizzard and they couldn't find the runway to clear it of the 6" of snow that had fallen in the previous 1 hour... so we would divert to saskatoon for refuelling and then be on our way.... well, we were stranded on the tarmac in saskatoon for 4.5 hours. they couldn't let us off of the plane as we weren't scheduled to land there and there weren't any security, so if we got off, we couldn't get back on. finally, they told us we were diverting to winnipeg (not enough hotel rooms in s'toon)... then 5 minutes after that, they announced there was a let up in the storm and we would go to regina afterall. meanwhile, they told all the people waiting at the airport in regina that the flight was cancelled and sent everyone home. luckily, i was able to borrow a mobile phone from the passenger next to me and i could call my mum to tell her to go back to the airport to pick us up.

all told, including stop-overs, we were over 40 hours travelling... if i can make it through that... i think i can handle china eastern once more....
 
believe me, i'm not determined to use them. it's just that money IS an issue.... and all i was wondering was if people thought it worth an extra $10k to take a fancier airline?

ps> i'm still going around in circles, trying to justify spending so much on airfare.... as i said, that would be my spending money....
 
Cara, for me the choice is also about safety record of the airline. From what I understand Korean air, Cathay have great records, the others I'm not sure about but they may do too. Just another thing to think about.

The reason why I add this in is because, in my younger, crazier days I chose once to fly Garuda so I could save more on the flight and have more spending money. Knowing what I know now about Garuda's safety record and how they incentivise their staff to save fuel I would never fly with them again.
 
mummymoo said:
Cara, for me the choice is also about safety record of the airline. From what I understand Korean air, Cathay have great records, the others I'm not sure about but they may do too. Just another thing to think about.

The reason why I add this in is because, in my younger, crazier days I chose once to fly Garuda so I could save more on the flight and have more spending money. Knowing what I know now about Garuda's safety record and how they incentivise their staff to save fuel I would never fly with them again.
Click to expand...


my mum share's the same concern.... that's only one of the reasons that i am hesitant...
 
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