China Eastern has two low fares to two of the least developed capital cities for tourism in Southeast Asia in Vientiane, Laos (SFO-VTE $482 round trip) and Yangon, Myanmar (SFO-RGN $499 round trip). There are limited dates with fares in $400s, mostly in September (VTE) or October (RGN), and more dates with fares in $500s for travel Sep-Dec. Lowest fare on other airlines are $800s and higher.
China Eastern flights transit via Shanghai PVG. Both of these destinations are two stop itineraries with the routing shown in this post for VTE a 3-stop itinerary on the outbound. Overnight in Kunming both ways is required on routings I checked.
The interesting aspect of these fares is China Eastern economy booking class T for trans-Pacific flight SFO-PVG and intra-China flight PVG-KMG book in S class and both these fare codes earn 50% miles in most SkyTeam Alliance frequent flyer programs. Both low fare ticket destinations share the same SFO-PVG-KMG-PVG-SFO routing on four of the six flights for 14,745 flight miles for 7,372 redeemable miles. The final legs for Kunming KMG to Vientiane VTE or Yangon RGN are economy Z class, a non-miles earning fare class.
Far more common with China Eastern California to Asia fares in the $400s are long-haul flights book in Z class and do not earn frequent flyer miles. Earning 50% SkyTeam Alliance miles makes these low fares a great value to destinations infrequently visited by Americans.
China Eastern (MU)
San Francisco SFO – Shanghai PVG – Kunming KMG (overnight) – Yangon RGN – KMG (overnight) – PVG – SFO
$498.26 October 2 – October 15
China Eastern (MU)
San Francisco SFO – Shanghai PVG – Kunming KMG (overnight) – Vientiane VTE – KMG (overnight) – PVG – SFO
$481.76 Sun September 4 – Wed September 14
SFO-PVG-KMG-NNG-VTE-KMG-PVG-SFO = 16,091 flight miles with three flight segments non earning miles Z class. So this ticket also earns 7,370 redeemable miles in SkyTeam Alliance programs, including Delta.
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