[Budget Travel Tips Vol. 06] Seoul-origin ticketing is heating up again for overseas travel

The content of this article varies significantly depending on the schedule and destination. Also, the travel time is quite long. Depending on the connections and the OTA you purchase from, it requires knowledge, experience, and negotiation skills. To be clear, this is reference information for advanced travelers.

I am simply conveying that when scheduling overseas travel, it is worth considering the option of departing from and arriving in Seoul, as was the case before. Outside of Seoul, I feel it is worth checking Hong Kong, various cities in China, and even Bangkok if you have the time.

For flights to Europe, Chinese airlines will almost always provide a free hotel if the layover is 6 to 8 hours or longer. However, this does not come automatically, so you need to research and book it yourself. Depending on the booking class (i.e., the fare) of the ticket, there may be cases where it is not eligible, but almost everything except for award tickets is covered.

If you search andit shows 36 hours to Europe, don't get discouraged thinking it's impossible; if you think you can take a detour and eat hairy crab in Shanghai,then it's a good deal.

For example, in the case of a trip to Amsterdam in November. Since Chinese airlines fly over Russia, the total flight time is actually about 16 hours, and even KLM's direct flights, which cannot fly over Russia, take 14 hours, so there is not much difference. Even Air France via Paris takes 17 hours and costs 230,000 yen.

Yet, Chinese airlines start from around 80,000 yen, which is less than half the fare. This is one-third the price of Japanese airlines. Furthermore, if you depart from and arrive in Seoul, it is commonly available for 55,000 yen, so it seems you could go for the 70,000 yen range even if you buy the ticket to Seoul separately, and this meansyou get Seolleongtang in addition to the hairy crab.

Regarding Chinese airlines, I strongly recommend searching on Trip.com rather than Skyscanner or Google Flights.

Or there are GoToGate and MyTrip, which are notorious and heavily criticized in Japan. They are spoken of in terrible terms, butthis is also simply because the level of the buyers is low. Japanese consumers are just too pampered.

Another thing, when I write articles like this, there are always people who say it's no good because you don't earn miles. Regarding mileage, to say something fundamental, it is not something airlines give out of goodwill. It is all your own money. While it is true that you may not earn miles for a specific carrier or alliance, if it is their own airline's miles, they are added even for the lowest booking class.

Also, to begin with, the value of mileage has been plummeting recently. Is there still any point to being a high-status member, crowded lounges, or flocking to curry that isn't even that delicious? I think it's better to think about this calmly. I was a JGC Premier member for many years, but I easily graduated before COVID. I firmly believe that was the right decision.

Yes, that's right. I feel that Seoul-origin ticketing is heating up again. ICN-LAX is 74,000 yen. You can make good use of LCCs, or there is also the elegant route for those with time: take a boat from Fukuoka or Osaka to Busan, and then take the KTX from there. For places like Paris, the LCC T'Way operates direct flights.

The reason why flights from Japan are expensive is that they are unilaterally soaring due to inbound demand. Roughly 90% of routes from Japan are for inbound travel, so we poor Japanese people cannot buy tickets at all.

Regarding North America, the only exception at the moment is probably the New York route. American Airlines, which has resumed service, is desperately running sales, and pulled by that, United and Delta are also selling at the same 105,000 yen. This is cheaper than the Los Angeles route, so for those who have time, entering the US from New York is also an option.

Even though it's this cheap, Japanese people are so intimidated by the talk of hotels and Big Mac sets costing over 2,000 yen that no one goes. Well, that's true, but there are plenty of workarounds, aren't there?

What's more interesting is that US carriers are 20,000 yen more expensive for the exact same schedule in the opposite direction, departing from and arriving in New York. I wonder if they sell even if they are expensive.

What is even more intriguing is that for the same schedule, JAL sells for double at 250,000 yen when departing from Japan, but it is half price at 125,000 yen when departing from New York. ANA is the same, selling for 270,000 yen from Japan but 160,000 yen from New York.

What on earth is this? Does it mean that Japanese people are poorly informed, so those on company expenses will buy them even if they are expensive? I seriously don't understand the reason. Airline ticket marketing is truly too deep.

All of this information, of course, has risks, or rather, I think there are cases where you might get stuck if you are not used to it.For those of you who are experienced, I am letting you know that the option of Seoul-origin ticketing and departure/arrival is available once again.