Korean Job Discussion Forums

[TASscot]

[ttompatz]

In a word, US carriers SUCK.

Pick an Asian airline.

Quality is better.
Food is better.
Terms are better.
Prices are often better.
Flight attendants are better (not the "self entitled" hags you get on most N.A. based carriers).
Aircraft are often newer.

.

[Modernist]

For God's sake, take Asiana. They were amazing. Great food, great toiletries, nicest humanly possible flight attendants, full-capacity electronic entertainment-thing, comfy seats, etc etc etc.

I mean, over the span of a 14-hour flight, they must have brought drinks and snacks around like every 20 minutes. The service was astonishing and I don't think it could have been better. I couldn't believe it. AND I got my 2 fully packed checked bags included in my fare. I would NEVER EVER fly an American full-line carrier [excluding the entirely capable discounters like JetBlue and Virgin America] again, and ESPECIALLY not on an international flight.

[Chokse]

Kind of depends on where you are going in the US and Canada. Not everyone lives in LA or New York.

When I fly home, taking an American carrier instead of a Korean one saves me about $500 on the ticket price and cuts one layover from the flight. So, I save at least $500 and 3 or 4 hours of time.

I agree that the Asian (and European) carriers are much better, but I'm not going to pay $500 more and spend 3-4 hours longer on the trip just to have slightly better tasting "substandard food", a slightly bigger seat, and better looking stewardesses. Not worth that kind of cash, at least not to me. That savings pays for 2 weeks of a rental car while I am back home.

I guess to some destinations, there might not be a huge price difference between the two, but to other destinations, the difference can be large (even if you subtract another $70 for an extra bag).

[akcrono]

[ttompatz]

[akcrono]

[Chokse]

I use Top Travel (Online Korean site generally viewed as having the best prices in Korea), and not a non-Korean agency.

Yet, every time I book a flight back home (once a year), American, United, and Delta all offer far cheaper prices for my ticket than ANY OTHER airline.

I'm not just saying this. The US carriers charge me hundreds of dollars less than what any other carrier does, and in most cases I have only 1 or 2 layovers with the US carriers as opposed to a minimum of 3 (usually 4) layovers with the non-US carriers.

Don't get me wrong. I've flown Singapore Air, Thai Air, KAL, etc. when I've traveled in Asia, and they're great. I like them a lot and I'd prefer to fly them when I go to the US.

But, I'm not going to spend hundreds of dollars more to fly with them, and I'm certainly not going to add extra layovers to my flight.

I'll go back to what I said before. Not everyone lives in a city that has a major international airport. If you do live in a city like this, you can probably get pretty good deals on the non-US airlines. But, if you don't live in one of these cities, you will pay a whole lot more for the privilege of flying on one of these airlines.

No thanks. I don't like to waste money.

Ttompatz. I think you are oversimplifying the whole price issue, because the carriers you mentioned are most certainly not the cheapest flight to many destinations in North America, and are often more expensive (There are more small and medium sized cities than there are large "hub" cities). I know you said "OFTEN", but for me, at least, it is "NEVER". (though I wish this were different).

[DaHu]

This thread is just a thinly disguised commercial, and thank you for not noticing his link.

I paid $200 in luggage fees for Continental/United in June, so only to pay $70 would have been a great savings to me.

[jvalmer]

I've yet to go over 1.6 million for a round trip from Calgary via Vancouver, Korean travel agents are the way to go (ask your CT if you need help). Cheapest I've ever got was 1.2 million. And one time I pocketed a difference in receipt price and actual price paid (doesn't matter now since I get the flat amount now).

However, Asian destinations out of Seoul, I feel, are over priced.

[Milwaukiedave]

I believe if you bought your ticket before July 15th the new rules do not apply

http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6867,52482,00.html

Thankfully we bought ours in April.

[PatrickGHBusan]

Asian airlines do not typically offer cheaper prices for the Canada - Korea route.

US airlines are usually well below their prices.

The only exception I have seen was JAL a few times.

This is for people flying out of Toronto or Montreal. From Vancouver, the prices may be cheaper.



Now Tom, just a question, if you are booking tickets from North Am (Canada) to Korea on an asian airline, where do you shop if not from North Am travel agencies (online or other)?

By the way we (family) or I (for work) flew to Korea 6 times in the past 3 years. As a family we fly to Busan and we typically paid around 1100 CAD for an adult ticket with a US airline. Air Canada prices were usually 200-250$ more per ticket. Asian airlines (except JAL) were either not close in price (ex: KAL was usually 300CAD more) or offered routes and flying times that were ridiculous with a family traveling with 2 kids!

We checked out Cathay and they had us going: Toronto - Van - HK (8 hour wait) -Incheon - Busan.

Singapore offered a similiarly circituous route!

For comparison's sake, I compared transit times (total trip time : flight and airport waiting):

Toronto to Busan (to Seoul shaves 2 hours off the travling time on average).
Cathay: 32 hours
Singapore: 34 hours
Average US airline: 23 hours

Price wise, between Cathay, Singapore and your average US carrier things are not that for off for an off season flight (an average of 120CAD per ticket...x4 that does add up however).

Fastest trip is Air Canada at under 20 hours but the price is not competitive at all.

Seriously, I would gladly like to get your contacts for asian travel for trips from Canada to Korea.

If you can point me in the direction that will get me and my family on an asian airline for a decent price AND with a reasonable travel time (under 25 hours) and with 2 plane changes then I will be pretty darn happy man!

[Swampfox10mm]