Asia Flights - Help!

[kingzac]

Hi Guys and Grls, Haven't been here for a while but I'm about to pull my hair out.
My missus and I are trying to book flights for a holiday next year but have found prices to be a little extravagant and thought I would reach out for a little help or suggestions.

We have flights booked into Tokyo on Feb 15th and out of Kuala Lumpur on March 3rd. The in betweens are the trouble.

The current plans is to train from Tokyo, through Nagano, Kyoto and finish in Hiroshima, no problem there, Ive used the trains before and with a rail pass I'm confident with that.
From there though we want to fly to Beijing (23rd), from there to Xian (28th), on to Shanghai (29th) and then to KL (2nd).

Order and dates are flexible. It doesn't bother me who we fly with, low cost or not,Stopovers or direct, just got to get there for a reasonable price.

Thanks for any help, like I said I'm just struggling to find what I think should be out there.

 

[kingzac]

Just realised that this should probably have been in the 'your questions' section of the forum. Feel free to move it powers that be.
Thanks again

 

[richie9x]

I did a very similar trip about 2 years ago. Except started in Hong Kong then went Beijing. So can't really help you with the Japan bit.

From what it was like 2 years ago the domestic flights in China are still quite regulated and it was hard to get a bargain. There are three main airlines - Air China, China Eastern and China Southern. You are flying pretty popular routes so at least 2 or 3 of these airlines will service the routes. However their prices will be pretty much exactly the same, one might be slightly cheaper than the others. There were no domestic low cost carriers. I suggest just picking the one with the best timing for you. Air China is Star Alliance the other two are Sky Team, no Oneworld domestic airline in mainland China although you can credit China Eastern flights to Qantas.

To get to KL I caught the train from Shanghai to Hangzhou (I think it took 1 and a half hours). Had a weekend in Hangzhou. It is a beautiful city built around a lake and is a popular weekend getaway for people from Shanghai. I then flew Air Asia from Hangzhou to KL which was the cheapest by a long way - CN886 (or about AU$130) not bad for a four hour flight. To fly one way from Shanghai to KL on Malaysian airlines was four times the cost!

 

[kingzac]

Thanks for that, I was suspicious that they might be regulated when every carrier came up expensive but about the same level of expensive.

The Hangzhou flight might be the way to go for those kind of savings, otherwise flight cost will start adding up very quickly

 

[Cruiser Elite]

For China flights - domestic or international - your best starting points are Travel China & save with Ctrip: Cheap flights, hotels & vacation activities or Login - eLong

I have used both extensively and both are 100% reliable - there is english speaking assistance if you require them but the online booking engines work perfectly.

 

[travelislife]

I have done the Beijing-Xian-Shanghai triangle on the overnight sleeper trains. If you book the firstclass sleepers it is very comfortable. I do like sleeping on trains though, but can highly recomnend it to experience more of China.

 

[moa999]

check spring airlines - a chinese LCC
http://www.springairlines.com/en-US/AirFlights/index
Appear to fly Shanghai to Xian at least


Air Asia to KL
From China fly from Chengdu, Guilin, Guangzhou, Shenzhen (both near HK), Hangzhou (near Shanghai) to KL.
So if you are finishing in Shanghai take the flight from Hangzhou.