Tickets booked

We were finally able to book tickets for the 10th.  Now we can tell everyone that we are going!

Interview for Vietnam

I had a skype interview for a private school in Vietnam.  It was more involved than I had thought but went well.  The next step of the interview process is to present a 2 hour lesson plan.   Luckily it is based on a poem about a band.  These are the kind of lesson plans I like and it should be fairly easy.

We are not going to wait around for a job offer so decided to book a ticket.  Arin goes on the airplane website and finds out that my airline now offer trips to Vietnam, so we attempt to book on line for November 10.  For our flight, the web says there are 3 seats available.  By the time we finish the transaction, we get an error message stating that the seats just sold out.  I am in California and it is 10 pm on the west coat which means it is 1 am on the east coast.  Seriously, are there that many people in America booking flights to Vietnam RIGHT NOW!

So, we input for the next day and pay.  Right when I say to Arin, ¨Now we can tell everyone that we have a date... we are foiled again.  The reservation can not be completed and we need to call customer service.  Although I was impressed with the short hold time, the rep encounters information she has never seen before.  The third leg of the journey is run by a local airline which has seats available, but they are denying them.  I ask the rep what denying means and she says that sometimes they just deny seats.  I ask her to check for the 11th which the web also says has three seats.  She finds that there only one of the three seats is available which means, again, that two people were booking the fight at the exact same time as us.  She suggests calling back every few hours but I am very leery of this local airline.  I do not want the third leg of my trip cancelled at the last minute.  Of course, for these kind of reasons, I always purchase trip insurance, but we decide to sleep on it and make a new plan in the morning.  I can not believe an airline would deny available seats; in America, the land of capitalism, if money is offered for a product or service, the provider takes it.  Apparently, Asians are motivated by something other than the almighty dollar. Well, we already know that age is a big issue.

We first choose Vietnam, then have to switch to Taiwan

We have decided to travel to Vietnam.  Now it is time to choose a date.  Oops, my airline does not travel to Vietnam, so we change to Taiwan.  The cost is 35,000 bonus miles.  When I click on the purchase ticket link, the cost switches to 75,000 bonus miles.  Now I do not have enough miles to purchase tickets.  I will wait until tomorrow and try again.  I am hoping it is a glitch in the computer system.

Transportation options-frequent flyer miles

Most airlines, even those on which I flew in Mexico, have frequent flyer programs.  The mechanics of this program are that you earn miles by flying on the airline.  You can then use those miles to pay for future trips on that airline or one of its partners.  These programs generally have no costs. All you need to do is register with the airline.  My sisters flew for years on these programs  and I finally jumped on the bandwagon about 6 years ago.
 The problem is that it takes forever to accumulate enough miles using this method, especially if you always base your travel on buying a ticket for the cheapest airline of the day.  In fact, I never did receive any reward vouchers.
How to earn as many miles as possible:
1.  Read every piece of information concerning the FF program.  Rewards can be earned not only by flying, but by making purchases from program partners.  My sis and my brother in law take a vacation every year to the same spot.  Their FF program has a partnership with a restaurant on the driving route.  They have to eat somewhere, why not there!  If you are issued a frequent flyer card, present it at every point of purchase.  You never know when a new partner has been added.
1b.Take the round a bout way.  As I said, you earn miles by flying.  If you fly 2000 miles you earn 2000 miles.  My sis and bro in law take advantage of this by choosing the flight with the longest route to their destination, thus earning the largest amount of miles possible.   Warning:  Some airlines have changed this aspect of their program.  For example, Delta earned miles are now based on ticket price, not miles flown.
2.  Apply for an airline credit card.  There are many, many types of cards offered by each airline.  Some have fees, some are fee free for one year, etc.  But, what they all have is bonus miles which you receive just for joining and\or spending a minimum amount of money in a certain period of time.  Most will also give bonus points for flight purchases.
2a.  Most credit cards have added benefits. Here are some added benefits associated with my card:
priority boarding
discounts for on board menu items
free checked bag for all the people in my party
free companion ticket after one year of membership
As you can see, any fees associated with my credit card are gained back through these rewards.  When you have an airline credit card, you are treated better.  Recently on a trip back from Hawaii, I was upgraded to business class just by asking.   Also, one of my bags was retrieved with grease stains.  I complained to the airline and they paid for me to buy a new bag.

In my current situation, my FF miles saved me because if I had to pay $1000s of dollars, I would not be taking this trip at all.

Transportation options-Asian airlines

I asked my nephew for some names of local airlines and he came up with this:  Some cheap airlines are Spring Air and Air Asia, you can try checking the site ctrip.com for flights.  Arin also found one called Vietair. 

Transportation options -Cruises

I had the bright idea that we may be able to catch a cruise to Asia for less than the cost of an airline ticket.  I could not find anything leaving soon, but I did learn this:  Some cruise lines offer cheap passage on re-positioning cruises.  This type cruise will  have more days at sea and less days in port, but it is still a cheap way to go.  I found one from Asia to Australia for $800 which I am sure is cheaper than air.  It is definitely something to think about when I want to move on to a new place.

Flights to Asia on American carriers

To fly anywhere in Asia, from California, it costs from $1000 to $3000 for a airline ticket on an American carrier.  The exception is Shanghai.  For some unknown reason, Shanghai is only $400.  So, the best bet would be to fly to Shanghai and find a local airline to fly us to one of the less expensive countries.

Again, I asked my nephew for advise and he came up with this: If you are coming to Shanghai first you will have to pay $140 for the Chinese visa if you want to come into the country.

Well these prices are just impossible.  I only have $5000 and can not blow 1\5 of it on airline tickets.  I will need to search for alternatives.