Booking of air tickets to Jeju

I realised I haven't been updating this blog for a long time cause I was so busy with the trip preparation... Even till today, I haven't finalised the itinerary yet!

But, there is one thing that has been finalised ie the internal flights to Jeju.  Since air fares are usually more expensive nearing the travel date, I thought we better booked the tickets as early as possible.

Currently, there are a few airlines with English websites which we can access to get the tickets, namely Korean Air, Asiana, Jeju Air and Eastar Jet.  There are a few other airlines but they are all in Korean.  Though they may be cheaper, we can't book them since we don't know Korean and we do not have their local credit cards.

Of the 4, Jeju Air and Eastar Jet are comparable in terms of prices and timings.  I called Korean Air (since our international flight to Korea is via Korean Air) to ask if they can quote us discounted fare to fly from Seoul to Jeju.  The reply was quite favourable... they quoted adult fare of S$200 and child fare of $150 inclusive of all taxes.  I was very tempted to book the tickets with them though they are more expensive cause I have heard horror stories such as problems with Jeju Air and Eastar booking websites, payments made but tickets not received etc.  Moreover, unlike the budget airlines, I think bigger airlines like Korean Air and Asiana have a lower tendency to cancel flights.  Unfortunately, the timings were not ideal.  If we book the Korean Air flights, we have to get to the airport really early to catch the flight, which is something I tried to avoid.

To conclude, Jeju Air offered the cheapest of all at a total of KRW645000 (about S$750) for 2 adults and 3 kids.  Besides, I find their timings to be just nice - flight to Jeju from Gimpo is at 8.10am and flight back to Gimpo is at 9.05 pm. 

However, I did feel a little jittery during the booking process.  I was keeping my fingers crossed that the process would be smooth sailing.  Though the website was a little slow, the tickets were booked without much of a clinch.  I didn't select the seats though on the spot as I had yet to discuss with DH.  On the same night, we decided on the seats.  However, there was no confirmation sent to tell us that our seat selection was successful.  The next morning, I checked again and horrors of horrors, I couldn't find my reservation!

I emailed them to ask and while waiting for their reply, I went in to check a few times... Finally, at about 3pm, I could see my reservation again and in it, the seats were stated.  Phew! what a reliefThe airline sent me a reply about the same time to tell me that my flight was confirmed.

Now, I just hope that the flights will take off as scheduled on the actual days of our travel.....