Travel Agents have Discount Airfares to Asia
Unlike reservations made for cities within the US, getting discount airfares to Asia are often best done offline through the old-fashioned way of travel agents. Many people that travel regularly to Far East Asian countries like Singapore, Japan or Malaysia, the Indian subcontinent or the Middle East often find better fares with their trusted travel agents. This is because not many people buy international tickets online and because of the reduced demand, the supply or the number of options available is limited too.
More Money + More Distance = More Risk
Another reason why discount airfares to Asia are usually found with travel agents is because people would rather trust a brick and mortar agency and a real live travel agent with a larger sum of money and a further place to go to. They may be willing to take a chance with a domestic flight – after all how lost can you get if you miss a connecting flight in Philadelphia as opposed to Beijing! Also, the air fares themselves are much higher for traveling such a long distance and hence you wouldn’t want to trust any new website.
A third reason why discount airfares to Asia are better off being bought offline is that by establishing a rapport with a travel agent or agency you might get a better deal on an open ended ticket. This means that if plans change, you can make adjustments to your date of travel or even add a stop en route. After all who travels to India everyday? It just might be worthwhile to make a stop in the new and upcoming Middle Eastern city of Dubai.
Frequent Flyer Miles
Many travel agencies have partner airlines and hence can pass on considerable savings if you choose to fly with the airline with which they do the most business. This can help you in getting discount airfares to Asia as well as earn frequent flyer miles. If for instance you fly from Chicago to Pakistan via Istanbul on Turkish Airlines you can be rewarded in two ways. Not only will you get the chance to see a new county practically free of cost (excluding visa charges) since the airline does stop at Istanbul en route to Karachi, Pakistan.
The second plus point is that Turkish Airlines is a partner of American Airlines so even if you do not travel to Asia again in the near future, you can transfer the miles earned (and there will be plenty) to your American Airlines Advantage account and perhaps earn a free ticket to anywhere in the US (with some restrictions of course).
Therefore carefully research discount airfares to Asia; they can bring you rewards at home as well.