Flight prices to & from the Far East
Discussion
We’ve just returned from a trip to Seoul to visit one of our daughters who is teaching English to the Korean kids. We got return flights for around £670 each (direct flights with Asiana).
I’ve been looking at flight prices for her to visit the UK next year, but the cheapest direct flights are roughly double what we’ve just paid. Having done a similar comparison with flights to/from Tokyo, Hong Kong & Beijing, it seems that this is common; return flights from the Far East to the UK are much more expensive than return flights from the UK to the Far East.
Given that they’re using the same aircraft, and flying the same routes, I’m puzzled as to why this should be. Is it just market forces, or is there more to it? And, more importantly, is there any way to avoid it?
I’ve been looking at flight prices for her to visit the UK next year, but the cheapest direct flights are roughly double what we’ve just paid. Having done a similar comparison with flights to/from Tokyo, Hong Kong & Beijing, it seems that this is common; return flights from the Far East to the UK are much more expensive than return flights from the UK to the Far East.
Given that they’re using the same aircraft, and flying the same routes, I’m puzzled as to why this should be. Is it just market forces, or is there more to it? And, more importantly, is there any way to avoid it?
That's consistent with my experience while in Tokyo. Only way round it was to fly outbound from the UK every time -- if you knew you were doing at least one trip a year, buy a semi-flexible ticket outbound from the UK and move the return leg as needed (even with the fees it was still cheaper).
Other option is to look at flights via a another European airport - particularly if end destination is nearer a UK regional airport than London.
No consolation, I'm sure, but the situation is reversed for business class flights - much cheaper purchased ex Tokyo than ex-London (though that may well change once Virgin stop flying that route).
Other option is to look at flights via a another European airport - particularly if end destination is nearer a UK regional airport than London.
No consolation, I'm sure, but the situation is reversed for business class flights - much cheaper purchased ex Tokyo than ex-London (though that may well change once Virgin stop flying that route).
Thanks for the replies. The open ticket idea sounds good, but may not be workable in this case as there's no guarantee she'll be coming back every year. Flying via a different European airport might be the best option. I've found that I can get the price down to £800-900 by flying Lufthansa via Frankfurt, so something like this may be the best option. I'll also have a look at different dates (trying the Wednesday suggestion).
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