Thursday 4 December 2014

Planning - Booking of Flight

We had the intention of going for an overseas trip this year. I was looking for information on Taiwan, Gold Coast or Perth in Australia, Vietnam and some parts of China. I could not decide which one because of the costs involved and other uncertainties, but my preferences at that point in time were Taiwan and the Gold Coast, Australia.

By the time we could firm up our departure dates, many of the departure dates for tours to Taiwan did not coincide with the dates that Ardon could take leave for. Doing free and easy in Taiwan seemed to cost more and the air tickets to Taiwan were also quite expensive during the holiday season. The cheaper airfare from a full service airline involved a stopover in another country's airport before reaching our final destination. This would waste too much time and time was not on our side. Seats from budget airlines to Taiwan were limited on the days that we wanted.

My next choice was the Gold Coast, Australia. However, after checking with Flyscoot and other airlines, the airfare, including their surcharges and taxes, would cost between $3300 to $4000+ for our family of four to just get onboard the aeroplane. So it seemed like an impossible dream. Perth was not on the list due to the schedule of the flight time. Effectively we would only get 2 days there. Comparing carefully between the tours in Vietnam and China, for the places that we wanted to go, the tours would cost at least $1000 which means $4000 or more for the whole family during the holiday peak season. In order to visit those scenic places in Vietnam and China, joining a tour group would be much easier. I nearly settled for Bangkok. However we had just been there a few years ago, so I would prefer to visit another place.

Then, the impossible happened. One evening, I checked my email and realized that Flyscoot was running a promotion with one way fares to Gold Coast at $98. What's more, the dates that we wanted qualified for the promotion. This meant that - inclusive of surcharges, taxes, meals, check-in baggage allowances, seat selections and travel insurance - it was about $2500+ for the whole family. That was a total discount of $1000! So, naturally we booked the tickets on the same day. The journey to Singapore to the Gold Coast would involve a one hour stopover at Sydney airport. However, the return journey was a direct flight from the Gold Coast back to Singapore.



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