I wrote previously about looking for flights to Shanghai that were cancellable for a reasonable fee, as the Chinese visa had not been obtained.
Now that the Chinese visa has been obtained, life is simpler ... and we're just looking for the usual price / timing / routing matrix!
Starting off with the basic Skyscanner query - departing at the start of February, and returning at the end of March ...
Luckily the prices have barely increase in the six weeks since we last looked
One aspect which complicates the comparison is that some airlines include a hold bag in their basic fee (mostly Middle East airlines) whilst most of the European airlines do not. And then you need to work out whether it's better to add a bag separately, or accept the airline's "standard" fare. Thankfully BA make it pretty simple - 35 euro for a bag on the way out and 34 euro for a bag on the way back, and no bundling / unbundling calculations to work out.
This gives a grand total of 577 euro for the return flights including one hold bag.
577 euro is actually cheaper than any other airline on the original Skyscanner list - so we don't have to go and see what their baggage fees are!
Looking at departures within a few days of the original dates - all the best options are still British Airways, which makes the analysis straightforward.
On the outbound journey the last few days in January are priced the same as the 1st February
On the BA website they offer both Aer Lingus and British Airways flights for the Dublin to Heathrow legs - but since Aer Lingus use a different terminal, it's definitely worth selecting the BA flights so that the connection between the two flights is within the same terminal.
On the inbound journey there are options either side of 31st March with the same price
And in the unlikely event of missing the outbound connection - China Eastern have both a mid afternoon and an evening departure from Heathrow, so I would expect BA to use one of them. Or a night in a Heathrow hotel isn't the worst thing that could happen!
Conclusion: all the way with BA ... now just book your flights!
