Creative ways to depart BNE after 1900 hrs 14/12/12 without the price hike?

[Rebecca Young]

Hello - apologies for making my first post a request for assistance but I am tearing my hair out. I am trying to get our family of 4 to VYR ex BNE after 1900 hrs 14/12/2012 at a reasonable price (yes I'm aware that I am probably living in fantasy land). The problem is both myself and hubby are school teachers so we have NO flexibility with the departure date and time. When we promised the 2 kids a trip to VYR to see their friends I knew there would be a price hike but not to the magnitude I am seeing.

I was hoping someone might be able to suggest some creative ways of getting around the school holidays "surcharge". I am open to any crazy routings/detours/ method of carriage etc - happy for the kids to experience the joys of budget travel via obscure locations. We need to be in YVR by 20/12/12 and return date is flexible in early January.

TIA.

 

[777]

I'd recommend you try Matrix - ITA Software and play with the variable options. The cheapest i can find there is $2030 pp on China Southern via Canton on the 18th - that's not too bad for that time of year but the connection is long and China is complex to transit through.

 

[Rebecca Young]

Thank you - I will have a look at that search engine - haven't seen tried it out yet.

 

[777]

Good luck. Let us know how you get on.

 

[docjames]

Also consider looking at spearate bookings eg. BNE-LAX and LAX-YVR (or similar). But be sure to allow connection time / have a day in LA on the way....

 

[docjames]

Korean Air $2215ea via ICN dep Dec 17 ret jan 9 (arr jan 11)

Air NZ $2383 dep Dec 15


Are the best two options I can see currently.


@ $2000 I'd avoid China Airlines for the hassle of transit, long connection with two kids.

I'd choose Korean. ICN is possibly the world's best airport and easy to transit and the flights have a very short connection (~ 1hr) in both directions. KE is a good airline.

NZ have a long connection on the way home and are around the same price. THe outbound isnt too bad.

 

[docjames]

Westjet do HNL-YVR @ US$484 return

Jetstar $1770 BNE-HNL for your dates. You'd then have to add baggage sopresumably will end up more.

Adds up to more but break the journey +/- have a few days in Hawaii on way.

 

[Rebecca Young]

Westjet do HNL-YVR @ US$484 return

Jetstar $1770 BNE-HNL for your dates. You'd then have to add baggage sopresumably will end up more.

Adds up to more but break the journey +/- have a few days in Hawaii on way.

Thank you for this suggestion - possibly looking the best along with the Korean option given the transit times. I was very close to booking a BNE-YVR type of connection with Air Australia when they were offering the children fly for free deal a few months ago. Obviously I made the right decision to hold off. I will report back once I have settled on something.

 

[Mattg]

Hi Rebecca,

The cheapest I can find is China Eastern, who have AUD$1955 each for adults and $1466 for children under 12. The routing would be:
BNE-SYD-PVG on 16/12, arriving PVG at 19:20 (You would need to overnight in Shanghai unfortunately)
PVG-YVR on 17/12, departing PVG at 13:30
YVR-PVG-MEL-BNE departing YVR 12:20 on 10/01/13, arriving/departing PVG 11/1 and arriving in BNE (via MEL) on 12/1.

I couldn't get the whole booking in one go, had to search separately for BNE-PVG and PVG-YVR. Cost of BNE-PVG leg (return) was/is $1309 for adults and $981 for children (based on AUD conversion rate at the time). PVG-YVR was a bit cheaper at $646 and $485 return.

I hope I haven't missed anything (like taxes etc.). Considering the price, this may be a good option. Good luck, hope that helps!

 

[Rebecca Young]

Hi Rebecca,

The cheapest I can find is China Eastern, who have AUD$1955 each for adults and $1466 for children under 12. The routing would be:
BNE-SYD-PVG on 16/12, arriving PVG at 19:20 (You would need to overnight in Shanghai unfortunately)
PVG-YVR on 17/12, departing PVG at 13:30
YVR-PVG-MEL-BNE departing YVR 12:20 on 10/01/13, arriving/departing PVG 11/1 and arriving in BNE (via MEL) on 12/1.

I couldn't get the whole booking in one go, had to search separately for BNE-PVG and PVG-YVR. Cost of BNE-PVG leg (return) was/is $1309 for adults and $981 for children (based on AUD conversion rate at the time). PVG-YVR was a bit cheaper at $646 and $485 return.

I hope I haven't missed anything (like taxes etc.). Considering the price, this may be a good option. Good luck, hope that helps!

Thanks for this - can I ask which site/OTA you used to get these prices/flights? These do look to be good prices.

 

[jgm]

There are some better deals if you are prepared to be a bit creative. eg.
Gold Coast return to Singapore with Scoot - currently $489 for adults & $442 for children (you may find cheaper a bit later on), then China Eastern via Shanghai to Vancouver - $1067 adults & $875 children. The downsides are the layovers - 6:45 in SIN & 8:30 in PVG.

 

[Mattg]

Thanks for this - can I ask which site/OTA you used to get these prices/flights? These do look to be good prices.

I used the China Eastern Website. The prices were in Hong Kong dollars so I used a currency converter to get the price in AUD. As I said though, you'll probably need to search BNE-PVG and PVG-YVR separately, it wouldn't let me do BNE-YVR for some reason.