This is at minimum $200 less than we have seen Ho Chi Minh City go for from San Francisco and is $218 cheaper than yesterday’s United fare. This fare is hard to price and it is not easily searchable — it took us a bit to find the right combination to get this price out.

Update 9/12/2013 @ 12:00PM Eastern – fare gone.

 

Sample Travel Date:

• October 1st – 8th

Fare Availability:

• Valid for travel until November 30th or January 1st, 2014 – May 20th, 2014. Must purchase by September 30th

How to Search for Availability:

• Use ITA Software Matrix Airfare Search and flexible month search to see availability — enable advanced routing codes and enter “lax nrt” on the outbound advance routing code field and and “nrt lax” return fields to search for this itinerary. This will not give you the $701 price — in fact, it will give you a $787 price. Just use that as the dates to book. The travel agencies will give you a different price that is lower.
• ITA will price itineraries from Japan to Vietnam with a mix of Japan Airlines and Vietnam as the connection partner.
• Beginner’s Guide on How to Use Matrix by ITA Software
• How to Read Airfare Rules and Use It to Your Advantage

Partner Fare Class:

• N – Japan Airlines (30% mileage earning with AA)
• N – Vietnam Airlines (0% mileage earning with Delta)

Routing:

• SFO – LAX (Los Angeles) – NRT (Tokyo) – SGN (Ho Chi Minh City) – NRT – LAX – SFO

Stopover:

• Two permitted at $100 each.
• How to Take Advantage of a Stopover

Mileage:

• 16,992 miles or 4.1 cents per mile if you manage an itinerary with all American flight #. If you end up with an itinerary that has Japan Air or Vietnam Air flight numbers from Japan to Vietnam, your mileage earning can be as little as 11,577 or 6.0 cents per mile

How to Buy:

• Some dates work on Vayama and some dates work with Orbitz.com. We recommend that you check Vayama first because it will price the entire itinerary with American flight numbers or 100% mileage earning!
• Book on  Vayama using dates found at ITA Software Matrix Airfare Search
• Book on Orbitz.com using dates found at ITA Software Matrix Airfare Search. Make sure you select “Additional Search Options” and then “Narrow the search to my preferred airlines” and select American on Airline 1, Japan Airlines on Airline 2 and Vietnam Air on Airline 3.

Vayama – $701:

 

Orbitz – $725

 

Accommodations

For hotel bookings, we recommend that you only book using online travel agencies (Hotels.com or Hotwire.com) if it is a non-chain hotel. We don’t want you to miss out on earning rewards with chain hotels.

• Accor Hotels
  • Sofitel, Pullman, M Gallery, Grand Mercure, Novotel, Mercure, Ibis
• CheapTickets
• Country Inns and Suites
• Design Hotels
• Expedia
• Hilton Hotels
  • Waldorf Astoria, Conrad, Hilton, DoubleTree, Embassy Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton Inn, Homewood Suites, Home2
• HomeAway.com
• Hotels.com
• Intercontinental Group
  • Intercontinental, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites, Candlewood Suites
• Marriott International
  • Marriott, JW Marriott, Courtyard y Marriott, Renaissance, Residence Inn, Fairfield Inn & Suites, Springhill Suites, Delta Hotels, Moxy, AC Hotels, TownePlace, Autograph Collection, Protea Hotels.
• Orbitz
• Preferred Hotels & Resorts
  • Preferred, Sterling, Summit
• Radisson Hotels
  • Radisson Blu, Radisson, Park Plaza, Park Inn, Hotel Missioni
• Venere
• Wyndham Hotels
  • Wyndham, Tryp, Wingate, Hawthorn, Microtel, Dream, Planet Hollywood, Ramada, Night, Baymont, Days Inn, Super 8, Howard Johnson, Travelodge, Knights Inn

Car Rentals

• Avis – US and Canadian Rentals
• CarRentals.com
• Fox Rent A Car
• Hotwire
• Orbitz
• Payless Car Rental
• Sixt Car Rental – Good Agency for Rentals in Europe

Background Information:

• Visa Requirements: US Citizens – Visa required prior to arrival. Prices vary. However, you may have an agent arrange a visa for pick-up upon arrival at Ho Chi Minh City Airport for a $20-25 handling fee paid upfront + $45 for the visa itself (also payable upon arrival). The Flight Deal team has used VietnamStay.com in the past for this service. It is much better than sending away your passport. Other nationals, check the TIMATIC Visa Database.
• Currency: Vietnamese Dong (VND). $1USD = 21,275 VND

Tips for saving when using credit cards at international destinations:

• No Foreign Transaction Fee Credit Cards to save on international purchases
• Don’t get hit with Dynamic Currency Conversion
• Get your taxes refunded when shopping
• How to Avoid International Data Roaming Charges

For more of the latest cheap San Francisco / Bay Area Flight Deals:

• Go to the The San Francisco / Bay Area Flight Deals page

* The Flight Deal will receive a small commission if you use the Vayama, Orbitz, accommodation or car rental affiliate links to make a booking. Thank you for your continuing support.

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The Flight Deal does not sell travel products or services. We provide you with information about third-party travel suppliers’ offers, and link you to their sites. The information posted by The Flight Deal is valid at the time of publication. However, we have no control over the suppliers, and we therefore do not warrant or guarantee that their offers will not change or become unavailable. Nor are we responsible for their products, services or site content. Please see their sites for their most up-to-date offer information and all applicable terms and conditions.