Direct or connecting flight to Paris from Singapore: My Analysis

The type of flight you choose really depends on your requirements and budget, whether you want and can afford to save that bit (or substantial amount) of money and lose time in return. Being flexible with your travel date would definitely lessen the burden on your wallet as the prices for airline ticket prices vary depending on the day of the week, time of year, and upcoming holidays (e.g. Christmas, New Year etc…). Also, prices tend to be more expensive during holidays and weekends, so being flexible can be beneficial to your budget.

Although connecting flights are generally cheaper than direct flights, there might be other factors other then price to contend, especially when you your timing is not so flexible: timing of the flight, duration of the flight, flight dates, possible delays and the amount of time spent traveling are a few examples. Or the other option would be through travel agencies.

Not being so flexible with your traveling period doesn’t mean you have to pay the most expensive fare. There are still options and offers from airlines that you can take advantage of, albeit it won’t be as cheap as it could be, but still you can always minimize any cost where possible. Cheaper doesn’t always mean it is better, well, unless you are on an extremely tight budget or want to save (much).

Traveling in the month of June can be considered a peak period to travel as many families make use of the school holidays to travel abroad, but there are still ways to save (just not as much). I checked out a few airlines and found the offers (cheapest fare) that each airline was having at that point in time:

Singapore Airlines (Direct)
Departure Flight: 2355 – 0720
Return Flight: 1200 – 0640
Total Cost: S$1819.20

Air France (Direct)
Departure Flight: 2300 – 0610
Return Flight: 2320 – 1800
Total Cost: S$2148

Between the two direct flights, the Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight is not only cheaper, but the departure and return flight timings are more acceptable for someone who has limited leave and wants to maximize available leave. The timing, leaving Paris at 12 noon and arriving in Singapore at about 6 in the morning the next day, seems like a more smooth transaction that can help minimize any jet lag (as compared to arriving at 6 in the evening the next day by AirFrance). So SIA wins the direct flights round both in price and timing.

Lufthansa (Connecting)
Departure Flight: 2305 – 0825 (1 stop in Frankfurt for 2 hours)
Return Flight : 1900 – 1550 (1 stop in Frankfurt for 2 hours)
Total Cost: S$1275

Finnair (Connecting)
Departure Flight: 2335 – 0940 (1 stop in Helsinki for 1 hour)
Return Flight : 1900 – 1635 (1 stop in Helsinki for 1 hour)
Total Cost:S$1344.07

For the connecting flights with stopovers, Lufthansa is the cheaper option but 2 hours would be spent at the Frankfurt airport. While Finnair’s waiting time at the Helsinki airport is only 1 hour. Nothing much to say about the departure flight timing, but the return flight timing for both Lufthansa and Finnair makes it feel like a whole day has been wasted; not very feasible for people that have limited annual leave and want to make the most out of it. However, when comparing the two, based on timing (about an hour earlier than Finnair) and cheaper pricing, Lufthansa wins the round for connecting flights.

So between SIA and Lufthansa, who won? And the winner is…. SIA. The reason being that SIA’s timing, leaving Paris at 12 noon and arriving in Singapore at about 6 in the morning the next day, seems like a more smooth transaction that can help minimize any jet lag, as compared to spending 2 extra hours at the Frankfurt airport, and arriving later at both destinations.

Of course, if I had an unlimited amount of leave and/or on a tight budget I would just choose the cheapest option and travel with the inconvenience of transferring flights and spending time at the airport.

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When travel collides with a byte, a unit of information made up of bits, TravelBytez is formed: snippets of ramblings on travel, food, shopping, living and anything else that comes to mind.