Inexpensive Ways to Travel to Asia

by Brad Alexzander

I have been traveling around Asia for more than 10 years and living in Indonesia for nearly 7 years now. Because of my love of travel I often found myself in situations where I was looking for inexpensive plane tickets. From the beginning I realized it was quite different to deal with domestic versus international flights. For example, in most countries when you purchase domestic flight tickets there is little difference in the prices between two “one way” tickets OR one “return” ticket. Sometimes there is a slightly discounted price for the return ticket.

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When it comes to finding international air tickets it is more difficult to find discounted Asia travel tickets. You might find that it is easier to get cheaper return tickets. So if you plan to travel to a variety of cities (round trip with many transit stop) it can be difficult to find good deals. Below is some tips that should help you find the cheapest flights to Asia available online.

I have separated this article in two parts, international and domestic flights.

First, let’s talk about international flight. There is a lot of good web site around there, but you will need to do a lot of searches before you find what you really want. I suggest you to start by looking for the available airplane companies which deserve the concerned country you are flying to or from.

For example, if you are in Indonesia and want to flight to Australia, you will most likely have to choose between Garuda and Quanta’s airlines. You could also use other airlines such as Malaysia Airlines or Singapore Airlines. Regrettably you will undoubtedly lose time during your trip as you will have layovers in their hub cities.

Air Asia is one of my favorites when I fly in and around Indonesia as they service many cities. They are also quite inexpensive which is a huge bonus.

Regarding domestic flights, I have had two entirely different experiences in Indonesia and Australia.

If you are looking to purchase a domestic flight ticket in Indonesia you will have plenty of choices. Indonesia is made up of more than twelve thousand islands. More than three thousands of these Islands are inhabited and I believe that over a hundred of them have their own airports. You can imagine the number of possibilities and markets available in Indonesia. The main company airlines in Indonesia are Garuda (also provide international flight), Merpati, Mandala, Lion Air, Adam Air, Star Air, Batavia, etc.

Find the cheapest airline ticket is one thing, but don’t forget about safety. I don’t have any statistics about safety right now so I prefer not mention specifically any of them. But if you had read the newspaper these last few months, you probably know what I’m talking about. Some of the above names are probably famous around the world right now, but probably not for the cheapest airfare…. But don’t worries too much as airplane remind one of the safest transportation systems in the world.

After you had eliminated the worst flight company from your newspaper research, you can start compare price between few of the companies. Just go to Google, type the company name and you should find their web site in manner of seconds. If you looking for ticket long in advance (let’s say more than three weeks), you will find that most of ticket have similar quotes with the international and most reputed national company…..Garuda Indonesia. And that’s the problem in Indonesia if you want to order domestic flight more than three weeks in advance…No cheap airfare ticket available. You will have to wait the “perfect” time to order your ticket (between three weeks and two weeks in advance…. be careful after that it could be too late) and you should be able to get 20% to 70% discount.

If you want to order your tickets in advance there is another way to find inexpensive tickets. You can use Air Asia. Air Asia has cheap airfare and an easy to navigate website. Air Asia is based in Malaysia and provides travel to many cities and countries around Asia. Air Asia is a really good solution for discounted Asia travel.

In Indonesia, AirAsia only deserve the main cities such as Jakarta, Denpasar (Bali), Medan, Surabaya, etc… Globally, they fly over fifty cities around Asia. The service is limited (no seat pre-reserved in check-in), but it is safe and their fees really defy all concurrences for this range and types of services. They really get the Cheapest Flight in Asia I have seen so far. So, have a look….

Australia seems to work like most other countries in the others western countries. The farther in advance you book the more likely you are to find discounted airfare. Quantas has some great discounts available on purchasing tickets in bulk. If you need to book a lot of flights it could be advantageous. You also might find some great values if you book your tickets with Blue Virgin or Jet Star. Both airlines fly to many different cities in Australia however not necessary the same one. So, it really depends where you want to go. Sometimes you could do too much research. For example, once I was looking for a cheap airfare between Sydney and Darwin. Blue Virgin offered 450 AUD (via Brisbanne) and Jet Star didn’t have this flight available. But when I checked a bit further into some others cities, I found out that I can get Sydney-Adelaide for 99AUD and Adelaide-Darwin for 167 AUD with Jet Star. Total 266 AUD. I just saved 184 AUD. Sometimes you will find better price with Blue Virgin. It all depends of the availability. Good luck on your research.

By the way, JetStar also provide some of the Asia Cheapest Flight as they deserve many others country such as Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, etc…

About the Author:

Discover these Cheap Travel Tips written by the illustrious Brad Alexzander and check out his Cheap Travel Blog