Circle Asia & South West Pacific

[Gold60]

Hi Guys,

i have had a look on the boards here and the web before asking my question.

Am i right in saying that if i want to price the above fare/trip i would need to trial it in a search engine somewhere to look at flight availablily on the right airlines, then approach a TA or airline in the best/most suitable alliance to get a price ?

i am looking, POSSIBLY at BNE - SIN - BKK - HKG - ICN - MNL- BNE - or something close to this.

Any ideas please ??

 

[Isochronous]

Don't think you can price online. Have to ask a TA. Ex Australia is pretty expensive though

 

[RooFlyer]

I'd just go to a good Travel Agent (not a FC type) and ask them to price several options. Give them clear guidelines though: "cheapest" or "best connections" or "Airlines X, Y and Z only if possible" or get them to price all three scenarios.

 

[Cynicor]

Can book through Qantas over the phone too.

 

[Gold60]

I am wondering if a Circle fare is still worth doing in Y? Or do people tend to use a hub and spoke method to see numerous places in a localised areas? For example fly to say SIN and then do an Asian tour from there?

 

[Himeno]

I am wondering if a Circle fare is still worth doing in Y? Or do people tend to use a hub and spoke method to see numerous places in a localised areas? For example fly to say SIN and then do an Asian tour from there?

It depends on what works for your travel plans and budget.

 

[RooFlyer]

For me, it just depends.

I did a Circle Europe last year, on Star Alliance, where there is good, dense coverage of large and small cities and routes (you couldn't do it on oneWorld). But for Asia, there was no way I could get a single fare to go round some of the smaller ports (Pakse, Siem Reap, Luang Prabang) we wanted in Laos, Cambodia etc, so we just went point to point on mixed airlines (so a 'Circle' route, but not a circle fare on one alliance). I was originally against going on what I called 'the dodgy airlines' - such as Lao Air - but the alternative (hub and spoke) was much costlier both in terms of $ and time, so I swallowed my apprehension and off we went.

If you just want major capitals, you could probably get away with a Circle fare, maybe with a few add ons.

It should be worth it in Y - but you need to price both. One World offer a South American air pass; I got my TA to price the Pass fare and also booking individual sectors in Y - individual sectors was cheaper; not by a lot, but worth doing it that way.