How to buy an airline’s free travel package—who is it suitable for?

Many airlines are doing activities recently. At present, people are more concerned about free travel packages. After all, flying frequently is very cost-effective, but some independent travel packages are actually quite tricky. Let's go see what pitfalls there are.

What kind of person is suitable to buy the Fly As You Like package

If you fly frequently and plan to make more than 5 round trips in the second half of the year, congratulations. This airline’s free flight package will suit you.

But if you are an ordinary office worker, what you need to know is that the time cost and energy consumption of your trip are very high. You are too tired in a short time and have no vacation for a long time.

I wouldn’t travel so much. It's all about creating demand. Then I advise you to be cautious when purchasing Suixinfei products.

In fact, it is like a fitness card. When I didn’t buy it, I thought it was a good deal. On average, I only spend this much money every day. I have to buy it. I must come often.

What was the result? How many times a year do you apply for a fitness card?

So if you are an ordinary office worker, especially an office worker with few holidays and it is difficult to ask for leave. All I can say is that if you buy a free travel package, there is a high probability that the airline will take advantage of you.

It is important to choose a local airline for your current location.

Journey to the West currently does not launch any free travel packages, which has a lot to do with my base in Hangzhou. I feel that the current free travel packages are almost insulated from Hangzhou.

Hangzhou’s local airline is Air China. Air China’s largest base in the Yangtze River Delta is Hangzhou, so it also has the most routes. However, Air China currently does not have free flight packages.

Let me give you an example. It is indeed good to travel freely in spring and autumn, but if you use Hangzhou as your base, there are only four flights to Hangzhou in spring and autumn (only Shenyang, Shijiazhuang, Jieyang, and Lanzhou), and most of them have to fly to Shanghai and Ningbo.

You said that if you are based in Hangzhou, it is not appropriate to buy Spring and Autumn Spring.

Domestic airlines often represent the most comprehensive capabilities of this place. Let me give you another example from Air China.

If your base is in Hangzhou, you can go to dozens of destinations through Air China, just direct flights.

Alas, Air China is not currently flying freely.

So, how do you know which routes are available in your city and which airlines fly directly? Here is a recommended website: map.variflight.com.

You can search directly through airports, airlines, and direct flights.

Of course, capacity isn’t everything. If you are traveling, I would recommend you to check the capacity of some tourist destinations.

In fact, China Eastern Airlines is very good in Hangzhou, and can fly to Baoshan (Tengchong), Guilin, Xiamen, Chengdu, Xi'an, Lanzhou, and Qingdao.

China Southern Airlines can. It can fly to Haikou, Sanya, Zhuhai, Xi'an, Lanzhou, Chongqing and Harbin.

Unless you are a business traveler, when looking at your own cities and airline capacity, remember to focus on your favorite cities to travel to.

Be aware of restrictions.

Although almost all of them are called free flights, these tickets cannot be used to fly on any flight. These free travel packages generally have the following restrictions.

Be sure to pay more attention when purchasing.

Limited period

For example, China Eastern Airlines can travel freely on weekends, but can only use it on Saturdays and Sundays. Many people choose this package to fly to a city on Saturday, stay one night, and fly back on Sunday. In my opinion, this is a close game. The essence of traveling is to slow yourself down, and flying is actually a tiring thing.

What if I take a week off in between? In fact, most students do not necessarily have holidays.

For example, if you want to fly this package in the morning and earlier in the evening, it will only be available on flights restricted to before 8 a.m. and after 20 p.m.

Actually, it’s not suitable for me. How early do you need to be at the airport before 8am? It is very likely that public transportation will not be available at that time, and you can only take a taxi.

The same goes for flights after 20:00 in the evening. By the time you fly to your destination, it will actually be very late.

The package ticket seems cheap, but with the cost of taxi and accommodation, it may not be cost-effective.

However, everything has two sides. I think travel parties, or company bosses, who buy package tickets for employees’ travel, should be happy to fly with China Eastern Airlines this morning and evening.

Route restrictions

Some airlines fly at will, but it is true that not all routes can be flown, which also requires good attention.

For example, Hainan Airlines can fly freely, and Hainan can only fly in and out of Hong Kong an unlimited number of times. In other words, the flight you change must be to or from Hainan.

Hainan has only three airports: Sanya, Haikou and Boao. Most people don’t go to Hainan too many times a year.

Therefore, I think this free trip of HNA seems more suitable for young ladies and students who buy Hainan base.

In the same way, Xiamen Airlines’ Xpress Fly is a national route to and from Fujian, which has a somewhat narrow audience.

Now, the same is true for Chongqing Yuefei, a subsidiary of HNA West Airlines. It travels to and from Chongqing across the country. However, Chongqing has at least one advantage. It is located in the middle of China and you can transfer to Tibet and Yunnan via Chongqing.

In addition, although these free travels are not necessarily suitable for people across the country, it is quite suitable to travel freely across the country in the opposite direction (from Chongqing, Fujian).

Segment restrictions

Let’s talk about China Southern Airlines’ free flight package, which is limited to two flights per segment. That is, if you switch to Hangzhou-Beijing, you can only change this line twice, and you will not be allowed to change the third time.

It is not very friendly for those in long-distance relationships, but it is still good for travelers. I'm unlikely to travel to the same place twice in half a year.

So when you purchase a free flight package, please check if there are any sector restrictions.

What kind of free flight package is suitable for you?

The number of redemptions per flight

For example, the free flight in the sailing boat can only be exchanged for each flight. 20 tickets. In other words, if 20 tickets have been filled in for a flight, the remaining people cannot change.

This will make some popular airlines less redeemable.

China Southern Airlines is even more exaggerated, saying that it has 20,000 seats open every day.

In fact, there are some word games, and China Southern has the final say on how to proceed. If the popular ones are released less and the unpopular ones are released too much, everyone will be fooled. Even if it is completely evenly distributed, with China Southern's current size, 20,000 are evenly distributed on each flight. In fact, there were far fewer than 20 on each flight.

So it seems that 20,000 flights per day are not as good as the 20 flights each of HNA and Spring and Autumn.

This shows the reliability of China Eastern Airlines. As long as there are seats available on the flight, you can trade them in for free flight packages.

These will directly affect whether you can book the flight of your choice after buying the package.

Luggage weight

In fact, except for Spring and Autumn, all other airlines operate free flights. Spring and Autumn's most basic independent travel package does not include checked baggage and only 7KG of carry-on baggage. The same is true for China Airlines.

In addition, HNA's flywheel actually only checks 10KG of luggage, which obviously prevents purchasing agents from purchasing too much.

These may be scams, so be careful when buying free travel packages.

Maximum number of unused segments

This may not be easy to understand. Many airlines' free travel packages generally allow 3-4 unused flight segments.

Unused flight segments means that after you have booked a few tickets, you can no longer book them (unless there is travel write-off).

Seats on popular routes on popular dates may be particularly popular and are usually locked in advance. However, the catch is that your free flight package is limited to three flights. If you lock in a date far in advance, that means you can only book one flight in the days leading up to the lock date.

The third area is no problem. Some airlines’ free flight packages only allow you to have one unused flight segment, which is a pitfall. This means you cannot hold two tickets at the same time.

For example, Sichuan Airlines’ Easyfly pass only allows you to use one unused flight segment. Hey, I can’t even book a round trip ticket.

In addition, unused flight segments are not too unfriendly to connecting routes. After all, a transfer takes up two of your unused flight segments.

I still don’t recommend that you take the flight carefully and hold it too late. Carpe diem is a must.

No program was disqualified several times

Hainan Airlines and China Eastern Airlines both failed to show up three times. No refund will be given if free flight qualification is cancelled.

Personally, I don’t think it’s a problem not to show for three games. Generally speaking, as long as you don't arrange too many follow-up itineraries and have a good memory, I don't know how you can show off.

As for not showing off, I think it’s ultimately a matter of my tight schedule. The round trip is too tight and there are too many connections. Once the first flight is canceled or delayed, I may ask not to perform in the second half of the year.

What are the possible pitfalls of the Fly as You Like package?

Single, unmarried, or without children, you will have relatively free time and can really fly as you please. I didn't buy it, mainly because I'm too old to leave.

For long-distance relationships, the independent travel packages offered by various companies are really suitable for you, and you can definitely make back the cost.

It’s easy to make back the cost of a travel party.

GapYear has free travel packages that allow you to travel around the country for half a year, but remember to choose big airlines like China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines, which will have more route choices.

The overtime dogs who do not have holidays are really carefully selected, and most of them are eventually returned. What's more, travel requires quality, and a hasty trip will have no quality at all.

"Fly as You Want" is very suitable for people who like to travel and have enough time and energy.

However, it is recommended that you choose a package that suits your situation after comprehensively comparing several airlines and considering your own situation. This is the best way.

Who is more suitable for the fly-as-you-go package?

map.variflight.com/

This website Variflight can easily check the availability of each destination. Which airlines and which routes are available will be a good helper for you to choose which airline to buy and fly carefully.

sxf.dustark.cn/

This website is made by a certain expert in China and provides inquiries about departure routes from all over the country.