Booking Flights to Asia
People have been trying to get to Asia for centuries. North America was discovered “by accident” as people were looking for alternate routes to get to Asia and discover all its wonders.
We are lucky to live in a time where the world is now so accessible, if you just know a few tricks to get you there. I will be leaving NEXT WEEK!! for my 3-week trip to Asia, specifically Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand.
Where is that? How do I get there? Keep reading friends:
If you are considering booking a flight to ANYWHERE go and check that you have a passport and it is still within date: right now!
If I choose 4 cities in Asia and look them up right now on Google Flights for the arbitrary dates of Mar 1-15th, there are differences:
| Destination | Cost | Layover |
| Hong Kong | $893 | Nonstop |
| Beijing | $667 | Nonstop |
| Hanoi | $1023 | 1 change |
| Manila | $1006 | 1 change |
Here we can see that Hong Kong and Beijing are less expensive than cities in Southeast Asia, and they are direct from Vancouver. (Nothing is direct if you live in Winnipeg!)
Because of the frequency that these routes are flown, and the large amount of people that fly these routes, the demand creates competition which drives the price down. In 2018 when I flew to Hong Kong from Vancouver there were 3 gates next to each other, all going to Hong Kong at 11:00am, 12:00 and 1:00pm with Hong Kong Airlines, Air Canada, and Cathay Pacific. There must be a high demand if 3 airlines can all leave with 3 hours with full planes!
I have heard that you can change in Beijing without a visa, but because their visa requirements are so tight otherwise, Hong Kong becomes a solid choice without all the visa hoops. Also if your destination is Southeast Asia, Hong Kong is much further south than Beijing, saving some flight time. The Hong Kong airport is large, with connections to everywhere and easy to navigate in English. If you are budgeting how much a trip to Asia would be, tally up the cost “all-in”, then do a comparison tally with somewhere like Hong Kong as your “base” and fly in and out from there. For example, last year when my “base” was Hong Kong I flew:
Hong Kong – Siem Riep – Phnom Penh Yogjakarta- Jakarta- Hong Kong
AirAsia is similar to EasyJet in Europe, and even though they charge for anything additional, you do get cheap flights around Asia. The difference is that these flights aren’t codeshared, so when you type in “Canada to Vietnam”, these flights won’t be offered by the large airlines because they don’t have partnerships. By having a “base” you can take these cheap flights from Point A to Point B and don’t need to have them looped into a larger package deal.
What next? Do some comparisons. They are some good options out there, but they may take a bit of digging. I do all my flight comparing in Microsoft Excel, since you can get it to automatically tally, order based on cost, and many other super useful things.
Happy hunting! x