FARE ALERT: Southeast Asia Under $400 Roundtrip

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For a decade it was unheard of to see roundtrip fares to Southeast Asia for under $600. I don't even bother sharing fares to Europe unless they're under $500… preferably under $400.

When I first started seeing deep discount international fares popping up last year, I worried they were mistake fares that might not be honored by the airline. But they're not.

Major airlines are facing:

Economic challenges and greater uncertainty. There's Brexit and terrorism, and that's all on top of issues faced by Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain.

New competition from low cost carriers. Norwegian and Wow Air, and even LEVEL and Primera, are driving down transatlantic fares.

Low fuel costs. Airlines are competing aggressively and are able to make money in lower revenue environments.

Copyright: zhukovsky / 123RF Stock Photo

Against this backdrop what we're seeing are very short term deep discount fares because airlines have a hard time telling the difference between business and leisure travelers and charging them different prices.

Airlines are doing their best to figure out how to price in a way that picks up the cheap leisure travelers who won't buy at a higher price, without offering tickets to price inelastic business travelers for less than they'd otherwise be willing to pay — and the old ways of doing it don't work anymore. So with a quick price drop they pick up 'excess' leisure business without cannibalizing higher fare purchases too much.

Here's a great example via Fly 4 Free: Washington Dulles to Kuala Lumpur and back from Bangkok from $396 for travel this fall.

Petronas Towers from the Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur

Here's an itinerary found with airfare metasearch site Momondo traveling on United partner and Star Alliance member ANA.

I love both Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, they're two of my favorite food cities in the world. KL for prawn mee soup, satay, and durian (in nearby Singapore I'll grab laksa, chili crab, and char kway teow). Bangkok for food both at the high and low end as well.

Visit both cities and book a cheap ticket between them, figure about $55 for the 750 mile flight (or redeem 15,000 British Airways Avios for Malaysia Airlines business class if you prefer).

Or if you'd rather just fly in and out of Kuala Lumpur that's cheap too:

Add a stopover in Tokyo and you're still under $500 roundtrip.

I'm planning a Japan trip soon myself using 120,000 Virgin Atlantic miles to fly ANA first class.

I know many readers want business class sales, it's a long way to go in coach, but this is clearly the golden age of air travel.

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Source: FARE ALERT: Southeast Asia Under $400 Roundtrip