This was precisely my predicament: How could I book a seat on a reputable airline to go from Hong Kong to New York during this peak holiday season, without paying a bomb and without booking a challenging itinerary with multiple stops including, say, a troublesome connection in Beijing or an overnight in Tokyo?
It was just after Christmas when I decided I really needed to get to New York. But after the spending spree of the holidays, I didn't really want to shell out the big bucks that last-minute travel usually requires. At this time of the year, of course, seats are few - and bargain economy ones rare, especially if you wish to start your journey in just a few days. As expected, when I checked the usual airline websites I use - Cathay, Singapore, Thai, and even United and Continental (I rarely fly American carriers) - the best prices I could get for a trip starting anytime from the afternoon of Friday, 4 January, to anytime on the 5th or 6th of January ranged from about HKD12,800 to HKD30K-plus (in economy!). At the best of times, it is possible to do the HKG-NYC nonstop on CX for, say, HKD7K, maybe more if you want an upgradeable fare or one that could get you mileage credit. So traveling during the peak period and booking at the last minute practically doubles your cost.
What was I to do? I checked travel websites - kayak.com, orbitz.com, flights.com, expedia.co.uk (which often has better international airfares than expedia.com), and travelocity.com. The results were disappointing. Most kept pointing me to itineraries on Continental that involved going through Beijing. Some offered the Continental nonstop to Newark. But the best price was a very rich HKD15K or so. (I tried the Continental website directly and that was also the best I could get.) I then went to Zuji.com, which is about the closest thing there is in Asia to a travelocity because, well, it is travelocity, but without the ability to book multiple destinations.
For a while, Zuji was spewing out results similar to the others - all too expensive. I tried checking for departures out of Guangzhou (CAN). I found an itinerary that cost HKD9K without taxes and charges, but it involved flying on a Chinese carrier, which I decided against, mainly because I wouldn't get mileage credit. I also checked out departures from Beijing and Shanghai, but didn't find anything worthwhile if the cost of a cheap round trip to the mainland were added. I then tried to be counter-intuitive and checked the British Airways, Swiss and even the Finnair websites. Still no luck.
So now you might ask: Why not ask an agent? Well, that's exactly what I did. I thought to myself that if I can't get anything reasonable online, maybe an agent might have something. So I got in touch with an excellent lady at Compass Travel in Hong Kong and asked what she could offer. She came up with something good: an itinerary on ANA through Tokyo for about HKD12,500. Not bad. But this ticket required an overnight (provided by the airline) in Narita on the outbound trip, which I'm not opposed to, but it does add a lot of travel time. I would hold out, I thought.
Now, time was running out. I managed to get my agent to hold on to the NH (ANA's code) bookings through New Year's. I checked out the websites and couldn't do better. On CX, my first choice, the best fare available was a very attractive HKD9,200 but I could not get a departure to my liking, i.e. from the afternoon of 4 January through the weekend.
Early on 2 January - and I mean really early, i.e. 2 am - I randomly checked the Thai website. I got lucky! On offer: a round trip on TG through Bangkok, connecting to the carrier's nonstop to JFK, for HKD12,200! I was about to buy it but then hesitated. Given the difference of just HKD300, why not give the business to my agent, with whom I had never done business. It would be a goodwill gesture. So I e-mailed her the itinerary and asked her if she could match it and the price.
That afternoon, she e-mailed back and said that she couldn't book it but added that, if I could do so, then I should go ahead and buy it online - I like this classy lady! Otherwise, she said, she was holding on to the NH booking but would need to issue it that day, the 2nd. Now, I went back to thaiair.com and tried to replicate my success. But the fare was no longer available. Still, I was so encouraged by the ability to book a "bargain" fare late in the game, that I thought I would hold on until the next day. The NH itinerary at about the same fare as my agent was offering was available on Zuji so I was not so worried. (Zuji, I should note, will not generate itineraries that start less than 48 hours away, though it is possible to "trick" it into doing so by changing your computer date and time.)
On 3 January, I had hoped to get up in the early hours and try my luck again. Unfortunately, I woke up a little late - 5.30 am. I did the website rounds. It was all disappointing. Zuji was still offering the NH itinerary. Once my travel agent opened for business, I would just ask her to go ahead and issue the ANA ticket, I thought.
Then I had a brainstorm - how about Emirates (EK) and Qatar Airways (QR), two very good airlines, that now fly to New York? I tried QR but their website wasn't working well. The EK Hong Kong website was brilliant. It offered a one-stop itinerary through Dubai for HKD11,856, inclusive of tax and charges! The departure from Hong Kong was after midnight on the night of 4 January, which would allow me to do the things I needed to do on the 4th and then fly off. This was the best I could do, I concluded. I decided to buy it.
Now, somehow, during the transaction, something went wrong and after I had gone through the purchase request and then input my password for the verification by Visa, nothing happened. I got no purchase confirmation either on screen or by e-mail. What to do? I couldn't buy another ticket because I may have actually already bought one. So I had to wait until Emirates opened for business to confirm the sale. I called just after 9 am and found out that the booking had gone through, but the purchase had not. EK could confirm the seats and the fare, but would hold the booking until 5 pm that afternoon. I would need to either pay in person or make a deposit into the airline's bank account and send EK the proof of payment by around 4 pm and the e-ticket would be issued.
That was that, I thought. I e-mailed my agent and told her to let go of the NH booking. I thanked her for her trouble and apologized for going with an online booking but hoped that I would be able to bring some business her way this year. It was then that I realized that I had actually - and fortuitously - won myself some extra time. I had this booking (sans overnight) and decent fare in the bag. So long as I bought the ticket by 5 pm, I was fine. The only thing that would make the scenario better would be if a seat on CX for the HKD9,200 special fare (with miles offered!) were to open up. During the day, I checked. The only day from the 4th to the 6th that had availability was the 4th, but the flights with a seat were too early. I could only go on the 7 pm departure, which was full.
At about 2.30 pm, I decided that I would have to give up and head for the Emirates office to buy the HKG-DXB-JFK ticket for HKD11,856. Before walking out the door, however, I thought I would try the CX website one more time. Miraculously, there was now a seat on the 7 pm 4 January departure for the lowest available fare! I acted very fast. I bought the ticket I needed - out on 4 January and back on a nonstop on the 13th - for just HKD9,200.
So the moral of the story is this: Even at the eleventh hour, it may be possible to get a good restricted economy or "bargain" fare. A seat might open up all of a sudden and may be gone again in an instant. (I checked later in the afternoon and saw that the CX 7 pm departure on 4 January was again listed as full.) It pays to check regularly and at different hours of the day. If you don't have the time to check or don't wish to be bothered about a few hundred dollars, then buy the ticket that you like and that is within your budget. Try an agent because you can have bookings held for several days without paying for the ticket. Do not ask the agent to issue the ticket unless you are prepared to pay for it.
Clearly, it pays to book travel online and to be patient. But be realistic. Once you have put in the time and found something good, go for it.
