Mistake Fare – One Way First Class Originating in Myanmar is Back!

by Gary Leff

Some months ago there was a major mistake fare where you could fly first or business class direct cheap as long as your trip started in Yangon, Myanmar.

Sounds crazy to many, but frequent flyers from all over the world have been descending upon that country to start trips.

Now – crazy thing that it is – someone has pointed out on Milepoint that the fare is back.

It appears to you fly between Yangon (RGN) and cities in Eastern Canada for under $600. Here’s business class on ANA from Yangon to Tokyo and then continuing on in Swiss first class to Zurich and then JFK, with American (economy) up to Montreal.

One could of course just get off in New York, or without checked bags in Zurich if one preferred.

Getting the Yangon – Tokyo flight on ANA, operated just 3 days a week, is key to making this work.

I’ve managed to price this in business class on Travelocity using multi-city search but I haven’t been able to price it on a live, bookable site in first class yet. (The screen shot above is from the ITA Matrix.) So this is a work in progress, I play to play with the various country Expedia websites next.

Bear in mind that a visa is required for Myanmar.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. @gary, we booked three for Jan 20th $258 RGN-KUL-FRA business, FRA-YUL economy, but I’ll take it. Thanks for the heads up as usual, couldn’t get the F to work, expedia may have solved it as NONE of their fares were showing up, Travelocity still appears to be alive but after “roaming alone” episode I have my doubts until it’s ticketed and in my inbox.

    Thanks again, fingers crossed!

  2. @wildway,

    Thanks for the OP, and the HAN alternative- are there particular days of the week for the RGN – HAN flight to work?

  4. I went RGN-HAN-CDG-JFK-YUL, and i saw a lot of Sunday and Thursday availability. (1/24 for me). I used month long ITA searches to find the dates that worked, RGN-YUL, with advanced routing codes thrown in there to explore various options.

    I note that I was only able to price a small portion of what I actually found on ITA. But when it was working, it was RGN-HAN-SIN-LHR, which yielded the Qantas A380 F options. And Singapore, as well.

    But there’s a huge range of available routes, at least as far as ITA is concerned. RGN-HAN-KIX-FCO-JFK-YUL.

  5. Just purchased itinerary on travelocity in December (departing 22/12/2012) RGN-PEK-ZRH-YUL in F for $572 USD… How long does it take for a ticketing confirmation from travelocity to arrive ?

  6. Also, I booked everything through the US to make sure the DOT protection would be there. I’d recommend that to everyone considering this fare.

  12. I booked RGN-HKG-LHR-JFK-YUL. About $680, CX first and BA business across atlantic. THanks!

    Now time to wait and see *glee*

  13. ITA is showing $2354 as the lowest price from now until end of calendar…does that mean it’s dead? Was hoping to go to Myanmar next year anyways, would have been perfect!

  14. Got nervous and pulled the trigger on RGN-NRT-ZRH-NYC-YUL for 7/15/13 at $586 without searching other options. NH business, LX First. Purchased on travelocity.com about 7 hours ago. No email, no ticket numbers yet. Reservation shows up in my Travelocity account. PNR pulls up itinerary with Ana and Swiss. Thanks Wildway & Gary.

  15. I was just called by Travelocity about my RGN-PEK-ZRH-YUL in about a month purchased ~2.5 hours ago to confirm my CC information. Received the confirmation email a moment later. It is ticketed on Swiss (724) stock.

  16. So this is the secretive first strike then? Well thanks! Im glad I didnt bother trying to figure out what it was since you actually have to fly the first leg.

  17. @ClearedCustoms – call Travelocity and ask for your ticket number. No ticket number means no chance.

  19. Anyone have a direct line to Travelocity Revenue Management? I’m in Singapore and my US cell won’t ring here. A CSR just told me I needed to wait another 4-6 hours for Revenue Management to complete a review of the transaction, then hung up on me when I asked to be transferred to them. Am I getting hosed?

  21. pulled the trigger on RGN-PEK-(a380)FRA-PHL-YUL for $366 US. too bad could not get FRA-WAS and just dump the rest of the ticket. Any chance i can do this after the fact since its booked in F??

  24. Fare Rules From Expertflyer

    Fare basis code FIFOW3

    Generic IATA Fares YY

    STOPOVERS
    UNLIMITED FREE STOPOVERS PERMITTED ON THE PRICING UNIT.

    TRANSFERS
    UNLIMITED TRANSFERS PERMITTED ON THE PRICING UNIT.
    FARE BREAK AND EMBEDDED SURFACE SECTORS PERMITTED ON THE FARE COMPONENT.

    PENALTIES
    NO PENALTIES APPLY.

  25. Found a roundtrip that works if anyone is interested. Prices just under $1100

    RGN-NRT-ZRH-YUL-AMS-KUL-RGN

    Outbound is on NH and LX in in C and F and return on KL and MH in J. search for the return as YUL-KUL, KUL-RGN

  26. @douze, still waiting for confirmation, although its hit my CC already and have booking reference numbers
    RGN-PEK (with a connection in KMG) F China Airlines Feb 3
    PEK-FRA F LH a380 Feb 4
    FRA-PHL C (envoy US Air) Feb 5
    PHL-YUL F (US AIR) FEB 5 (going to be dumped) and will either amtrak or bus back to DC

  31. thanks. best of luck. let me know if you are the same flights.. cheapoair.com had it for slightly more give or take US$100

  33. @z thanks so much. got it!!!! still playing around with it. these dates do sound enticing though 🙂

  35. In my opinion, I would stay away from Air China. In the past, I had a problem with them for not crediting miles to my United account. Regarding to a possibility for a ticket being cancelled, I would stay away. Maybe I am wrong here. Who knows? Here we are all gaming with the booking.

  37. Heads up availiabilty in August 2013.
    Booked & Ticketed via SIN in F on SQ & Swiss.$689.00 AI
    Several dates in August.

  38. @z – What segments did you search for? Can’t seem to reproduce that, searching multiple dates.

  40. No, they did not credit miles to my United account. Even I paid full fare for economy ticket on their flights to Southeast Asia. After several tries, emails, I decided to give up. Wasted so much time with their people.

    So for this kind of mistake fair, I am highly doubt that they would credit miles to UA account.

  41. Booked 4 hours ago and no Ticket Number. Got an email saying the flight isn’t available, but 1 min later got a confirmation with no ticket number. I made the stupid mistake to call Travelocity and was told the ticket is under revenue control. Has this happened to anyone else? Should I not count on this to be ticketed and book another using a different account?

  43. the segments were
    RGN-PEK
    PEK-FRA
    FRA-PHL
    PHL- YUl on the dates listed above

    Tried looking on both cheapo and traveloicty.ca and xpedia.ca, cant seem to find them. Chas might be right they pulled the fare. i got a call from travelocity.ca through my Chase fraud department number to authenticate my purchase. hopefully that means a ticket number is forthcoming

  44. I know this is kinda taboo, but I am new to this game and would really appreciate the help. I would like to take advantage of this and stopover in Paris long enough to propose to my girlfriend in the city. I am looking at the return being after new years day. Can anyone help me or point me to a pay service that can take care of this for me?

    What my plan is: Spend New Years eve in Hawaii or Tokyo. After that I will take advantage of this offer, so I am thinking the routing needs to start on the 3rd. I would like to route throug CDG and have enough time there to propose to my girlfriend at the Eiffel Tower. Then return to the US. Obviously as much use of First class or even first class on an A380 would make this trip all the more memorable.

    Thanks for the help or for pointing me in the direction of someone who can.

  46. Looks dead to me – *may* be bookable on some sites that don’t update immediately, but fare has definitely been pulled.

  47. Got on RGN-KUL-SIN-CDG-JFK-YUL for $683 in mid-February. RGN-KUL-SIN on Malaysia business class, SIN-CDG in Singapore suite, CDG-JFK in Air France first. Both SQ and AF on A380.

    @SH_BK: I am planning to redeem United miles to BKK or SGN and figure out a cheap fare to RGN from there.

  48. I managed to book on expedia this morning, and have ticket numbers.

    RGN – KUL – SIN – ZRH – JFK // LGA – YUL. I get to fly SQ R-class on an A380, and LX F. Sweet

    At $850 it is not as good a deal as others, but still an amazing deal!

    Now my question is as follows: SQ gives 300% for R class in KrisFlyer miles, and United 150%. I have about 180,000MP already in the bank : should I start building up a KrisFlyer account with the SQ flight?

  50. my ticket was just voided, anyone else’s? Have an eticket number..
    OTA:travelocity.ca
    claiming the fare was “expired”

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