airline suggestions....

carang said:
my mum share's the same concern.... that's only one of the reasons that i am hesitant...
Click to expand...

I didn't want to sound like a freak in my previous post, so i did not say that I have an extreme fear of flying, have taking a few courses and done the research on safety, etc.....which was my main reason for saying GO WITH CATHAY...or Korean 2nd choice. :)
 
believe me.... cathay business would be my first choice ;)

sadly, that is completely out of the question... cathay economy is my second choice... but again, i need to figure out if it is worth the extra $10k...

korean, i have flown many times over the years and have never had a problem with them....
 
Carang, have you considered Air Canada? Sometimes they offer specials and direct flights to Canada can sometimes only cost around $5000+ for economy round trip. Two years ago, they did a great deal for $3000-something to Vancouver at Christmas! It was offered to Canadian Chamber mbrs and Consulate staff but extended to family and friends (so basically anyone apprised of the deal).

Anyway it's still early days if your trip isn't until Xmas so if you want to wait a bit, there might be something offered over summer. Also I can check with AC for you, if you like.
 
Thx. at the moment it is sctually cheaper to fly hk- van-seattle....go figure....

Will keep checking ib with them though. thx!
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update:
after extensive research... i think i tried every hk based online agency and a few proper agencies and all of the individual airlines themselves this is what i found/decided.....

priceline.com.hk had the best deal for us.

i was able to book return to vancouver on air canada for $23000 (for all 3 of us). we decided that a little bit of convenience was worth the extra money (didnt think i'd be able to convince hubby of it!), but it was really his decision. i was worried he'd be upset if i didn't choose the cheapest, but he wanted me to fly direct.

the cheapest was still china eastern, but it had a 3.5 hr stopover going (not too bad) and a 5.5 hour stopover coming back(terrible after a 12 hour flight!).

we are all very excited and counting down the days! we just need to hope that daddy will be able to join us for the first 10 days or so....
 
Congrats, that's a great price!! (given how much ticket prices have gone up.) I agree with your husband, it's definitely worth to spend a bit more for direct.

Just remember that AC now only allows one check-in bag per person for economy. (Last time we had to pay for an extra bag bc we miscalculated and bought too much stuff to bring back to HK.)

We're looking into going home (Vancouver) for Christmas as well. An going to check out the price.com site later.
 
the other places i checked out had prices ranging from $26000-29000 for the same routing/dates etc.
so, i am extremely happy with it. our tickets are bought and paid for and now, i just have to start saving spending $.

i know about their baggage allowance, but even at $70CAD per bag extra, it would still be worth it for me to bring stuff back... although, i've heard great things about "wilcan" a logistics company, and i might get a carton to ship home with them.
 
Just went on Priceline.com and noticed that AC and CX have similar fares (actually CX has lower taxes and surcharges so it comes out cheaper).

Cara, were the prices on the two airlines very different when you booked??
 
did you use priceline.com.hk?

no, they weren't similar at the time. i was looking for dec 1-jan 3... so perhaps with the dates i wanted, cx was too much.

for my dates, the two that were the most reasonable were AC and eva air.
 
the current prices on priceline.com.hk:
AC $29 010
CX $28 733
EVA not available

WOW! i am SOOOO glad that i booked and paid when i did!!! $6000 difference!
 
even their "cheapest" option, china airlines out of taiwan is more expensive: $24 140 than what i paid!!!!

yee haw! you have just made me a very happy lady! thanks for letting me know! i am so glad i bought and paid for the tickets about 2-3 weeks ago!
 
Darn, now I am really tempted to book - but husband is out of town on a business trip and I haven't confirmed dates with him yet!!

Now from what you say, if i wait till he comes back (10 days), we may not get that price anymore. But if i book without checking dates with him, it may backfire if we end up having to pay penalty!!
 
you can't contact him?

what dates are you looking at?

i am really astonished at the difference in prices! the priceline price is now the same as what AC was charging directly when i first started the thread ($29 000)... now i wonder what AC's website would charge now...
 
I checked AC prices on their website, it's $29000 plus for 2 adults, 1 child. If I modify my fly dates to leave mid-Dec, Priceline offers it for just under $25K.

I'm calling him at his hotel tonight and hope to lock it in before prices go up.

(The only thing is, sometimes AC does offers in Sep where round trip YVR tix are sold for around $6K.)
 
my tickets are: 1 adult, 2 kids... so that will be part of the price difference.

even at $6k (which is about the price i paid), once you add in the taxes/surcharges etc, it comes out to about $8-8.5k per adult...

this is what i paid (straight from the receipt):

ir Tickets

Price per adult HK$5860.00
Price per child HK$4390.00
Subtotal HK$14640.00
Taxes and surcharges HK$8340.00
Processing fee HK$0.00

Total Charges HK$22980.00
 
Yes, i booked it!! Spoke with hubbie and he was able to confirm our fly dates. We're paying $24.5K for 2 adults, 1 child on roundtrip to Vancouver for AC.

Still more than what we paid last year but I have a sneaking suspicion that this year's Xmas fares are going to be as bad (read, high) as the current summer ones. I have friends paying $10-12K for one roundtrip ticket to YVR on AC for this summer!
 
Our fares are more but interestingly, our taxes/surcharges are less.

Adult ticket: $6230 per person
Child: $4670
Taxes and surcharges in total are: $7740 ($2620 per adult, $2500 child)

Anyway, total comes to $24,870.

As you say, I'm just relieved to have locked down our Xmas hols. Now I'll have to work on finding a decent service apartment for the two weeks we're there.

Thanks so much for sharing Cara, this is really great!!
 
so, did you book with priceline?

and how did the taxes etc stack up? similar to mine?

those dang taxes are a killer! i really hate when they show prices without the taxes and surcharges. i think that they should only be allowed to show all inc prices... that way you can compare properly.
 
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