The cost of China Tours largely depends on how much you spend on the airline tickets, unless you are flying from adjacent countries. Many big-name airlines provide some certain discounts, but these discounts are not so attracting. I assume that you already know that booking the round trip through same airline 
companies. And I always recommend connecting flights with one or two stops. One obvious benefit of choosing connecting flight is the cheap price. One potential problem of China Flights usually neglected by travelers is that a long time flight will make you feel quite uncomfortable and sick. So the other benefit is to give you some time to walk on the ground and stretch yourself while waiting for another flight. But more than two stops will cost much more time on the road and perhaps your luggage will be lost or delayed during the transfer. Two of my friends came across this luggage issues. One got her luggage lost in Egypt and the other one was lucky with just delayed luggage transportation in Shanghai.
Other than the two common tips above, there are also some suggestions may help you to book the airplane ticket as cheap as you can.
1. Gather more people to book tickets together. Sometimes the airline companies have the promotions of “buy two tickets and get one free” or similar ones. Or if you are booking tickets through travel agencies, you can also negotiate with them by giving this fact. The tickets from agencies are not so firm, so try to use your bargaining skills to persuade them.
2. Choose proper time and date. It is an uneasy job to get cheap flights during Christmas or the summer time.
Try to travel before these regular vacation times or travel just on the Christmas day. Another holiday that is always forgotten for travelling to China is the Spring Festival. Not only the international flights to China, but also the domestic flights are expensive. If these “black-out” days can be not avoided, then choose the very early or late flights, such as departing at 8am, or arriving at 12am. The expense on taxi is much less than the money saved by flights.
3. Join an airlines alliance and accumulate miles. The Star Alliance is the 
largest airlines alliance and the Air China is also a member of it. What is more, some credit cards companies also have certain types of cards to accumulate the miles while using them by booking tickets. You get double miles while you are using the alliance card and this type of credit card. What is the purpose of accumulating miles? Well, you can exchange the miles with some gifts, gift cards or airplane tickets for free. Personally, I would expend my miles on free airplane tickets, because you can select the “black-out” period when there is no tickets sales.
4. Select other airlines. There are also other airlines you may not familiar with and they are more likely to have sales. These airlines are popular within Asian countries, but not so well-known in western countries. 
The Korean Air also provides connecting flights from North America to some cities in China. Usually it stops in Seoul and stays for several hours. This flight is one of my favorite ones, as I can buy ginseng, cosmetics, or Korean snacks in the duty-free shops in Seoul airport and take a rest after a long journey. The China Eastern Airlines also have international direct flights, such as Vancouver to Shanghai.
If you have plans to visit China, remember to book your tickets as soon as possible. Enjoy your cheap flights to China!
Related posts:
