It’s the end of the year again and for most of us, this means a time of respite from all the drama in the office. You load up your favorite travel planner website and start plotting your next big adventure.
But here’s the problem, there are just too many of them and you end up spending untold hours scouring the Internet for flights. Guess what? We’re here to help you do the heavy lifting so you don’t have to.
Why flights? Because accommodations are a more niche topic to be discussed. While there are those who still visit the typical hotels, travelers now have more varied choices with hostels, boutique stays, and even the AirBnb options.
Comparison Mechanics
What we set out to do was simple – to find out which site gives you the most value for your flights out of Singapore in December when most people are off for a holiday.
To keep things fair, we have standardised the following conditions for each website:
- Date: 01 to 08 December 2016
- Destination: Seoul, South Korea (Incheon Airport)
- Class: Economy (with baggage included)
- Return flights
Once the full list of flights have been generated, we then picked out three choices,
- The cheapest flight with one layover (that won’t take you more than 12 hours to get to Seoul)
- The cheapest direct flight
We gathered our findings to determine which website best fits you at the end of this article (TL;DR here).
Let’s get cracking then, here are all the popular travel booking websites that Singaporeans usually go to, and the one that gives you the best prices.
1. Expedia
Cheapest with one layover
Airline: China Eastern
Travel time: Average of 11 hours for each trip
Cost: S$651.40
Cheapest direct
Airline: Korean Air
Travel time: Average of 6.5 hours for each trip
Cost: $1,071.80
2. Zuji
Cheapest with one layover
Airline: China Eastern
Travel time: Average of 11 hours for each trip
Cost: $671.10
Cheapest direct
Airline: Korean Air
Travel time: Average of 6.5 hours for each trip
Cost: $1,105.76
3. Via.com
Cheapest with one layover
Airline: AirAsia/X (via Kuala Lumpur, and Bangkok during return flight)
Travel time: Almost 15 hours to Incheon, 9.5 hours back to Singapore.
Cost: $586.00
Cheapest direct
Airline: Korean Air
Travel time: Average of 6 hours for each trip
Cost: $1,065.43
4. Flight Network
Cheapest with one layover
Airline: China Eastern
Travel time: 13.5 hours to Seoul, and 10 hours back to Singapore
Cost: $663.37
Cheapest direct
Airline: Korean Air
Travel time: Average of 6.5 hours for each trip.
Cost: $1,112.54
5. CheapTickets.sg
Cheapest with one layover
Airline: China Eastern
Travel time: Almost 12 hours to Seoul and 10 hours to Singapore
Cost: $622.33
Cheapest direct
Airline: Korean Air
Travel time: Slightly above 6 hours average both ways
Cost: $1,029.13
6. Flight Centre
http://www.flightcentre.com.sg/
Cheapest with one layover
Airline: China Eastern
Travel time: Almost 12 hours to Seoul and 9 hours to Singapore
Cost: $666.40
Cheapest direct
Airline: Korean Air
Travel time: Slightly above 6 hours average both ways
Cost: $1,107.80
In Summary
Why did we pick Seoul, South Korea? Simple, seems like every other Singaporean has been there this past year, and there are no signs of this trend letting up anytime soon.
Some similarities across the board that we noticed too are that China Eastern offers the cheapest flights all around, albeit with a traveling time of half a day, and one layover in a Chinese airport.
For direct flights Korean Air is the way to go.
But still the important question is which website to go for?
The safe bet will still be Expedia, with just a few dollars difference (usually cheaper) separating them from their closest competitors. Not surprising considering that they are arguably the top site to get, not just flights, but also hotels.
CheapTickets.sg and Via.com come in at a close second. While not as widely known, they offer competitive prices for the same or different flights.
You can also get additional savings using miles, and cashback by paying through certain credit cards or using services such as Shopback for a little more spending money for your holiday.
Side note: Traveling during the year-end festive season is very taxing on the wallet.
So why not make travel plans earlier in the year when prices are as low as half the prices than what we found here?
Just some food for thought.
