hey guys
just wanted some advice on whether to wait or not
basically its flying with air asia SYD to HCMC, then flight back will be from Hanoi to KL, 1 night in KL for the heck of it and then KL > syd
Total comes to $1070 for two people return not including the internal flight from HCMC to Hanoi
will i possibly get better or should i just jump on this?
OK great thanks for the advice, by the way i havent added luggage but..
I think air asia would have sent out an email by now anyway if they were doing a boxing day sale do you think?
Also Im thinkning of posting a deal for this because there's no advertising for it on the AirAsia website but i just searched and throughout Feb-April its 500 return !!
Funny, I have the same dilemma. For me it's simply I don't like booking more than 3 months in advance for holidays. I don't have conistent cashflow so I like to make these decisions closer to the date (I get kicks out of last-minute plans as well :)).
If it helps, if historical prices are anything to go by you won't be saving more than $160 or so at best since you're flying to Hanoi (typically ~$35+ more expensive than HCMC to/from Malaysia [and Singapore], and it's rare to get return tickets from SYD to KL/SIN for much less than $250). What I'm banking on is that I've noticed there have been consistent "specials" to Vietnam (i.e.<= $600) on an almost year-round basis if you always consider flights and/or extended stopovers to-or-from Malaysia or Singapore (but of course you need extreme flexibility, which I have, and accept you're still failing as an OzBargainer by not getting the cheapest price). That's assuming Vietnam diesn't suddenly become a mainstream destination overnight. These days Jetstar is comparitively a premium-priced airline to Asia outide its promotional periods.
I was planning to travel by land from HCMC (or maybe even Phnom Penh) to Hanoi though to see what's in between. I hate sitting so I don't know if it's the right choice (a third of my South American trip was sitting in buses…).
awesome peter thankyou for the advice, im going to book it :)
i would recommend flying to hoi an from HCMC or Phnom Penh and from there ur in a good central spot and could go up to da nang or quang binh on your way to hanoi but would cut alot of the travel out.
j
Thanks for the tip. I'll have to research if there are any amazing beaches I'll be missing in the meantime :)
We only paid $1250 for two return fares to Saigon ex Gold Coast in October. No meals 2x15kg outward and 2x20kg back. Also pre booked cabin seats by window. TBH $1200 for one seems full price to me. Air Asia announces special fares a few times or more a year whenever they anticipate quiet times for sales.
nono i think you mis read OP was for two people and peterpeter is referring to return with the 600 I would assume
ive got it to 1104 rt for two ppl with baggage on way back only (will buy suitcase there as it was 85 for luggage on the way there, can get two 20kg suitcases for less than that over there and will give away my current ones from phuket to my sister)
also on way back it is from hanoi so would normally add another 35 as peterpeter said
Yep, that was 600 return.
What I've done previosuly is lock in the return flights to Malaysia (or Singapore - but more expensive for stopovers) on special for ~$250 - $300 and then book whatever comes up in Asia (which can mostly be had for another $100 - $250 return, or less).
If timing is not an issue you can pretty much go almost anywhere in Asia for less than 700 return if you plan the first return leg in advance.
The most frustrating thing is that it's always cheap to and from Malaysia but not in between AirAsia's destinations. You can detour from SE Asia to Korea, Taiwan, Japan and India for relatively nothing these days but the price of country-hopping quickly adds up when you have to pay to return to Malaysia first unfortunately. And I guess you have to be willing to spend a day or two in Kuala Lumpur again, and again, and again :)
Funnily enough, Scoot had the same deal today from SYD->SIN in March for $149 one-way but it wasn't even posted on their website. Only the SIN->SYD "half-price" deal was advertised for around $170. Like I said in my last post, if you've never been to Singapore it could be worth staying a night if you don't mind hostels (you can gert a nice one for $20 but I think it has like 32 beds or so in a room - if there's two of you you could try the budget guesthouses for ~$60 but I have no expeirence with them). Then you could take KL->SYD on the return trip for around $115.
For a backpacker, Kuala Lumpur cost about the same as Phuket (and the surrounding islands) per day (or less) since hostels in Phuket and the surrounding areas are starting to exceed $15/day while $10 dorms are still common in KL.It's a shame KL doesn't have a beach or something else scenic. I go to the big shopping centres here about 4 days a year so it's not really my thing :)
That's a good price. You might get slightly better but I would just book it now.