Need airline booking advice for Bali

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

cadlina_mac

Registered
Messages
12
Reaction score
0
# of dives
500 - 999
I am booked to go on the Komodo Dancer in Dec. 2010 and am looking for flights from LAX to Bali. About 3 weeks ago there was a China Airlines flight for around $1500, and now it has gone up to $1700, so I'm wondering if I should book my flight pretty soon. I found a Cathy Pacific flight on Vayama.com for $1589 today.

Is it better to book flights as early as possible, or is there a chance prices will drop in a few months?

Thanks for your advice!
 
Book as soon as you can. Also check EVA. They have Elite Class (like exec economy). With that you get 63 lb bags vs 50 lb.
 
If it was myself, and I had to be somewhere on a certain date, I would book asap,
the lowest price. If I didn't have other bookings to meet, then would wait.

Cathay Pacific is much nicer airline to ride than China Airlines.
Eva is better than both.
 
Cathay Pacific used to have a May fare sale to Bali and other points ... not this year. Better book now, since fares are already much higher than 90 days ago.
 
When you are doing your online price searches, try looking for prices to nearby gateways like Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. I find that I get the best TOTAL prices by booking tickets in more than one record. Fares between major gateways in Asia and North America are often very low, and by adding a locally-booked (even via internet) regional flight rather than putting it in your regular itinerary makes a huge difference. Here's an example: I live in Phuket, Thailand, and I've just bought a ticket to go see my daughter in Arizona, USA. When I did a search between Phuket and Tucson, I got ridiculous fares, but when I did the search between Bangkok and LAX, the fares were half as expensive. It doesn't cost all that to buy local round trips between Phuket and Bangkok + LAX and Tucson, so I booked those separately. You can still check your bags all the way by presenting all your etickets.
 
Thanks for all the advice.....I'll buy my tickets soon then!
 
Yep, Christmas and particular New Years is a big time in Bali. We paid $1500 for SFO->DPS, and cheapest was $750 to Jakarta in November. I use SingaporeAir.com and say show me prices +/- 3 days.
 
Hi Cadlina_mac,

I have recently found some great info on farecompare.com that helps with this type of planning. Helped me understand the booking process more.

I have done the booking pattern as described by Quero however it can be difficult for US residents to purchase tickets online from domestic airlines in other countries; it may be very easy for people living abroad like Quero to work the pattern in reverse.

For example:

3 years ago I booked a trip from Honolulu to Manila and then tried to book a connector flight on Cebu Pacific from Manila to Cebu. All seems to work fine on the website until you try to pay. It became a huge hassle involving multiple phone calls, photocopying ID, and etc etc etc just to get things processed.

Best way in the end so I found was to do things by phone: first call your credit card company and tell them to allow payment processing from the airline(s) you will use. Get a cheap phone card like the good ones at Costco or Sams club and call the foreign airline directly and get them to book the flight & email you the itinerary (trust me it is the cheapest way).

The second time I did this everything was very cheap and easy :)

If you have a bit of time you might want to book your connector when you get to the country...sounds a bit risky but if it is a highly traveled route it can be cheap and easy and you will get the locals price.

We did that last trip to the Philippines. We flew to Cebu and then spent a few days with family and booked a connector to another island quite easily during the first afternoon after arrival. The only quirk was that they only took cash at the ticket office! Mind you...it was in the Philippines :wink:

I hope some of this was helpful,

Your humble co-traveler,
 
Avoid China Airlines at all costs!!!! Trust me! I am still traumatized! :)
 
Thanks for the info. I booked a flight from LAX to Bali on EVO (or EVA) airlines in May.....haven't looked at prices since.....don't want to find out if I got a bad deal or not!
 

Back
Top Bottom