Asia Flight Routes

Choosing the hub, not just the destination

Almost every Asia itinerary from Europe passes through somewhere, and the somewhere matters more than the hour or two of flying time it adds. The Gulf carriers via Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi offer the widest onward network and the most frequent departures. Singapore and Bangkok work best when you want the stopover to be part of the holiday rather than a corridor walk. Istanbul often prices lowest into Southeast Asia but puts you on the longer of the two legs first.

Within Asia, the same logic applies in miniature. Singapore's Changi and Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi are built for connecting, whereas Bali and the Maldives are endpoints — routing through them to get somewhere else rarely works out. If you are pairing cities, the Bangkok to Bali and Singapore to Tokyo guides cover how those specific hops behave.

Cities with two airports

Tokyo is the one worth thinking hardest about. Haneda sits close to the city and connects on the monorail or Keikyu line in well under an hour; Narita is a genuine journey out, and the difference is roughly the same as arriving in central London versus arriving in a different county. If two fares are close, the Haneda one is usually the better buy. Seoul, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur all have a similar split between the main international airport and a low-cost terminal, which matters most when you have a tight onward connection.

Where you stay compounds this. Tokyo wards, Bangkok's BTS corridor and Bali's split between Ubud and the southern beaches all change how much the airport transfer costs you in time — the Asia stay guides go through it zone by zone.

Baggage rules that change mid-trip

This is the most common and most expensive surprise in Asia. A long-haul ticket into Bangkok or Singapore typically includes a generous checked allowance, and the regional low-cost hop you booked separately for the next leg may include nothing at all — not even a full-size cabin bag on some fares. AirAsia, Scoot, VietJet and their peers price bags per sector, and buying that allowance at the airport costs substantially more than adding it online.

Read the rules per flight number rather than per booking, and if the sectors are on separate tickets remember that a delay on the first one is your problem rather than the airline's. Our guide on comparing indirect flight savings covers how to weigh that risk properly.

Seasons and the arrival hour

Asia's peak weeks are narrow and they sell out well before fare tools start signalling pressure. Japan's cherry blossom window moves by a week or two each year but the demand does not; Bali and southern Thailand run on a dry season that fills resorts months ahead; Korean autumn colour does the same thing for a shorter period. Book the accommodation and the flight together for these, rather than waiting for a fare to drop.

Then check what time you land. A late evening arrival into Denpasar or Phuket can mean paying for a night you sleep through, and in the Maldives it can mean losing a full day, because the seaplane transfers to most resorts only operate in daylight. Landing in the morning is worth paying a little more for on any trip where a boat or a small plane comes next.