Strange Travelling Filter: I am trying to get to Singapore in the next few weeks from Madrid or New Jersey. Intrigued? Read on and humor me.

June 25, 2007 6:13 PM

Strange Travelling Filter: I am trying to get to Singapore in the next few weeks from Madrid or New Jersey. Intrigued? Read on and humor me.

Preliminary infos: I'm in Madrid right now. I go back to the US July 9th.

Details: Due to unforseen and wonderful circumstances (re: a woman), I have got the very fickle and far-fetched idea in my head that I will go visit this woman in Singapore. She will be travelling all summer, but she'll be in Singapore from the 10th to August 4th.

I've been scouring mefi and trying websites like airgorilla (which is strangely blocked in Spain?) and courier and stuff. I can't seem to wrap my head around this.

My question to you all is, what should I do? Should I look for Madrid -> Singapore? Should I look for Newark/NYC -> Singapore? Should I do Madrid -> Bangkok -> Singapore? Some of these combinations promise to yield a price that's significantly lower (especially if I use airasia at some point...15$? are you kidding me?)--and I am looking for the cheapest possible. Some of these sites have very poorly made search functions, so I can't just search for 'the month of july,' and my searches so far have yielded nothing. What else do I need to know? Do I need super special documents to make this work? Right now I'm just trying to work out this theoretical trip stage: where I stay and whatnot would come later.

Please help a foolish, lovesick young man.

posted by Lockeownzj00 to Travel & Transportation (2 answers total)

There is a nonstop daily flight on extremely nice Singapore Airlines from Newark to Singapore; there's a one-stop daily from JFK via Frankfurt. Singapore Airlines also flies from Barcelona to Singapore via Milan a few times a week. Thai Airways also has a non-stop flight from JFK to Bangkok, and Malaysia Airlines flies from Newark to Kuala Lumpur via Stockholm. Pretty much everyone in Europe and Asia flies there too - you're lucky this special someone lives in such a hub.

Connecting through the Middle East or South Asia from Europe on a variety of airlines might be cheaper - Air India, Srilankan, Turkish, Qatar, Emirates, Etihad. They are all - ALL - better than US domestic flights, if that's your baseline of acceptability. AirAsia is a slightly pickier Southwest, but not as bad as Ryanair. Jetstar can also get you from Bangkok to Singapore, I think.

You absolutely can search for the whole month using "month-long search" on ITA Software, which will show you the cheapest day in a month; click on a fare's "detailed view" and it will tell you how to book it (usually a phone number; you can check the airline's website for local contact numbers in Spain and the US).

There are other threads here about Singapore and Bangkok, too.
posted by mdonley at 6:30 PM on June 25, 2007

Using the ITA software tool above, I found the following round-trip fares for a stay in Singapore of about a week including taxes/fees:

Newark-Singapore on Virgin Atlantic and Singapore Airlines on July 10, connecting in London, for €1031

Madrid-Singapore on Turkish Airlines on July 12, connecting in Istanbul, for €827

JFK-Bangkok for €965 on AeroSvit, on July 10, via Kiev

Madrid-Bangkok for €875 on Turkish Airlines, on July 10, via Istanbul

If the links don't work or if you want different parameters, just follow the link to the month-long search on ITA above; it's pretty self-explanatory.

[I'll accept my commission in cupcakes, thanks]
posted by mdonley at 6:45 PM on June 25, 2007