Korean Job Discussion Forums

[JulieAnne81]

Hi All,

I'm looking to book my flights home for the Holidays from Incheon to Fredericton, NB, Canada. I book through Travelocity.ca because I've always found the best prices there in the past.

Two years ago, I booked at the end of July. The price was about $1700 CAD. Expensive but not bad considering the distance of the journey. Last year, the prices were up at that time, but dropped by mid-September, and I ended up paying the same amount.

This year, I've been watching the prices regularly since mid-July, and they've stayed at a steady $2100 - $2200. I'm really hoping they're going to drop, but it's hard to say. Whatever the cost, I'm going home for sure, but I hate the thought of paying $400 to $500 more than the last two years.

That said, does anybody know if the trend has been higher flight prices in general this year? If so, I'm thinking I should bite the bullet and book now before they go up even more...

Any information will be appreciated. Thanks!

[Mr. BlackCat]

The prices have definitely gone up. This summer a flight to Toronto was $2200-2400. And that was with two layovers and sometimes up to 24 hrs of travelling. Just to compare I looked through my email to check what I paid for a pretty last minute flight about 3 years ago. 1.3 million from an agent here in Seoul. And it was direct!

I was able to get a ticket for this coming winter for about $1700 on expedia.ca with one short layover about a month ago. It wasn't the exact dates I wanted, leaving a day later and coming back a day earlier saved me about $350 and layover headaches.

It seems that flights to/from North America and Korea are the culprits. I was going to go to Europe this past summer because I was seeing flights to pretty much every capital city there for less than a thousand, many direct. But then if you wanted to go on to anywhere in NA, it was over a thousand. Just doesn't make sense. On the flip side, I found a flight to Toronto direct from Beijing for about $1200, but from Seoul to Beijing was $800, making it pointless. I've had two separate friends go to Japan and China this past year with the airfare being significantly cheaper than flying to Korea. It just seems like Korea and NA (esp Canada) are the expensive destinations for whatever reason. Well, Korea has always been more expensive than other Asian cities due to the chaebols.

I would recommend kayak.com, they compare all the sites. But they don't use the Canadian sites (expedia/travelocity.ca), so check those, too. Move dates around as much as you can. You can also sometimes find flights just to LA or NY (or Vancouver) for cheaper, then look at separate discount airlines webpages to make it the rest of the way. Travel agents in Seoul used to offer competitive prices, but they've been ridiculously overpriced the last couple of years in my experience (I was quoted 3.2 this past summer and 2.9 this winter for multiple layovers and over a day each way for travel). Good luck!

[Deja]

I was going to say flights to/from Europe-Korea did not seem more expensive. What's more I think the prices were better, but the problem is there were absolutely no bargains in the last year (sep-sep), that were fairly common about 2 years ago.

E.g. I could get a roud-trip flight from London to Seoul for 450EUR (600.000KRW) if I booked in March/April then. The last 12 mo... 700-900 only, regardless of the timing.

Layovers are a must for me, for travel anywhere outside Europe, so I'm not considering direct flights only.

I paid I think 900EUR for my roundtrip in January, but it was a booking made for 2 days in advance, with no choices

[Steelrails]

Prediction- At some point this thread will degenerate into another Canada vs. USA kerfluffle.

[Swampfox10mm]

I buy my tickets direct from Delta about 4 months in advance. This year, I paid around $200 more than the rate a year previous.

[Who's Your Daddy?]

I live near Pusan, and fly to Victoria (Canada). I find it cheaper to use kayak to book Pusan to Vancouver, then buy Vancouver to Victoria separately.

Maybe book to a large airport, then get the short flight separately.

[JulieAnne81]

Thanks for the information, folks.

I checked kayak.com and a few other sites, but Travelocity.ca is still the best. I looked into breaking things up a bit; possibly purchasing flights separately from Incheon to Vancouver (none are available direct to Toronto that time of year, unfortunately), and then Fredericton, but it came out to the same amount, if not a little more.

I even considered going the other way, which I've never done before; from here to a European city, and then onto Fredericton, but it's way more expensive.

I think I'm screwed mainly because my hometown is on the east coast of Canada. That extra flight from Toronto/Montreal to Fredericton/Saint John, really brings up the total.

Guess I'll wait it out a bit...

[JulieAnne81]

[Slaps]

Taxes have gone up a lot. There was a tax increase again only last month.

[Slaps]

Taxes have gone up a lot. There was a tax increase again only last month.

[gforce645]

Prediction - At some point this thread will degenerate into another Steelrails vs Everyone Else kerfuffle. (not kerfluffle)

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kerfuffle

[Weigookin74]

[Weigookin74]

[Steelrails]

[furtakk]

I just flew home for about $1500 direct return. Granted it's off season, but still excellent.

I've had the best experience with skyscanner. They will look up most of the major sites plus the airline websites. It works best if you're a little flexible with your dates.