I've been looking into ticket prices, routes, stopovers and schedules for a while now, and have figured out what I think is the best route for our trip (if it ever eventuates) next month.
But, every single time I try to organise dates and ask the travel agent about seat details (three times already) I get a reply saying one of the sectors is no good. I can't figure it out. Weekdays seem to be fuller than weekends, but wouldn't you think it would be the other way round? Why is it the one day that I really would like to fly (a Monday night) is so booked out? Ok, so I don't really expect anyone to answer that but I wish I knew what the problem was.lol And coming back leaving Sydney on a Sunday seems to be a better option than leaving on a weekday??? I just don't get it.
I've thought about giving up a few times, but every time I do that I get e-mails from the airline I want to use (totally coincidental, usually about mileage or something), or see ads for Qantas and trips to Sydney on the Yahoo page or on the weather page. There seem to be so many signs saying to me just book the tickets already! But no matter how many times I try I can't seem to get things 100% right. And after another depressing e-mail from the travel agent this afternoon I'm back to square one. Aaarrgghhh!!!
There are a few things to consider here, and I'm going to write them down here to see if it helps me figure something out. Although it might just confuse me more.lol
- I will be 6-7 months pregnant, travelling with 2 kids, one who is just under 2
- I need to use an airline who I think will look out for me, and who have friendly staff
- Going to Narita or Kansai, or even Fukuoka is WAY more trouble than it's worth, so I'm no longer looking into schedules of other airlines
- We don't have much money to spare at the moment, just enough for flights
- The amount I was thinking for 3 fares is actually what it will cost for 2 plus an infant
- This is the last chance to go home before flight fares become even more expensive because there will be 3 kids as well as me
- The ticket price for an adult and a child over 2 is nearly the same
- I want a seat for A but after checking out ticket prices have realised this is impossible (it's nearly 40,000 yen for her WITHOUT a seat!!!)
- It's about 90,000 yen for a child fare, and an extra 50,000 yen is HUGE for us at the moment
- Which means I need a flight that is likely to have spare seats
- Why is the fuel surcharge still so damn expensive, and why is it the same price for a kid when they get discounts on other things like airport tax??? Oops, getting sidetracked.lol
- The only 'good' connecting flight is on a Monday afternoon, but is full the day I want to go
- Otherwise I need to survive a 6 hour wait at Incheon
- If I do that I have the choice flying on a Thursday or Saturday as well, not just Monday
- I have to arrange flights between doctors appointments
Ok, I think I need to check out the Thursday flights. I kind of had my mind fixed on Mondays. And if things work out with the flights maybe go to the transit hotel for a few hours (have done that once before with just B). Will keep thinking, but I'm so sick of sending e-mails to the travel agent.lol
Oh yeh problems for me too. We used to fly direct to Syd from Nagoya but now there isn't even a flight. Qantas only goes to the GC, and there is limited dirct flights even from Narita. Can I rely on JAL? they were great last time but will they still be here in Nov??
返信削除I am thinking of flying to Seoul then dirct from there. I have one who will turn 2 the week we fly, I can't imagine him sitting on my lap for the entire flight. i heard that Seoul has a great kids transit room (I'm hoping it still does!)
$$$ sure adds up. If we fly from narita or Kansai we are looking at 6 man return-I've butterflies just thinking about it again but I better get my act together as it is almost June :(
The flights may be booked on Mondays because of package tours, they usually offer cheaper prices for weekday departure and the travel companies buy the seats in bulk then try to fill them. They eventually offload lots of unbought seats cheaply
Please let us know what you decide I may find it helpful too (just leave a private message on my blog :)
gone are the days of impromptu travel and cheap flights with long stopovers!! So ,much more to think about when trying to organise a flight for you and 2 (and a half) kids, right. When I was in Kyushu, I used to fly thru Seoul a lot, esp since they cut a lot of direct flights out of Fukuoka. I figured that being in Tokes, would have a lot more options, but still have troubles, esp now that JAL has cut back a lot of flights.
返信削除And fares and surcharges seem to change with the wind, don't they. And I always think it is rude that they charge so much for a non-seated infant.
Hope you get something worked out - it is annoying having to go back and forth to the travel agent all the time, isnt it. You would think that they could be a bit more proactive and suggest things to you (like diff days to fly etc) but they tend to only reply with what you ask them. Makes it a long process.
Good luck with the ticket search!
Sorry to hear you are having so much trouble organising your flights. I hope you can sort something out soon. I am lucky that the Jetstar routes suit us (I'm from Townsville so we just fly out of Kansai into Cairns) and some of the sale prices are really cheap. We are going home in July and I paid about 80,000 return for my 5 year old and I and bub is free.
返信削除Good luck and just think about how much fun you will have when you are back :-)