Cheap tickets to South Korea: SQ, 29k return

I have spotted some cheap tickets to South Korea- Capital Seoul (airport code ICN), Busan etc from Mumbai & Delhi on Singapore Airlines. Return ticket costs around 30 to 33k INR, which is a good deal under current circumstances in my opinion.

Singapore Airline is a great airline with good food and 25 kg checked baggage included. Thus 33k is decent price for a 12 hour flight (6 hours to Singapore, 6 hours to Seoul, approx). However be careful not to select a scoot airline while booking.  Scoot is a budget carrier, won’t serve food and has baggage restrictions and no hope of upgrades, entertainment. To save a few hundred rupees, you may not want to compromise on all these features.

Note: Above price is for return journey and not one way.

Key information:

From: Mumbai, Delhi

To: Busan, Seoul (ICN), South Korea

Travel Dates: September 2023

Ticket cost: 30-32k Return, Economy

Conditions: Non Refundable, no date change (more expensive options available with these flexibilities)

Airline: SQ (Singapore Airline and Scoot)

But then there is some catch:

South Korea tourist visa is a bit complex if you don’t live in Delhi and Kolkata. We have to physically travel to Delhi or Kolkata to give our biometrics, original passport and visa application at VFS center in Delhi or Kolkata. VFS has office in all major cities in India but they don’t have support for Korean visa in other cities. So we have to factor cost of travel & stay to Delhi for Visa purpose.

South Korean visa costs around 4000 INR + your cost of travel & stay in Delhi or Kolkata to physically visit for visa purpose and collect it back.

If you are staying close to Delhi/Kolkata or if you have a plan to visit Delhi for some purpose, then you can get your visa as well during the visit.

For my case, Mangaluru to Delhi flight costs 15000 K, plus stay, visa cost and other expenses- I will end up spending around 30k just to get visa. Need to assess if it is worth

South Korea has a popular island named Jeju, capital Seoul has several attractions, including a tour to the North Korea border. Port city Busan is also worth visiting. At least one week is needed to explore South Korea.

Pros:

1. Reasonably priced tickets

2. May get to fly A380 between Mumbai and Singapore

3. Free Singapore tour by Changi airport if you have 5 hour transit (suspended post covid, may resume soon hopefully)

4. Ticket price includes food and checked bag

Cons

1. Non refundable ticket

2. South Korea visa needs physical visit to Delhi/Kolkata

3. Need to plan n commit 6 -8 months in advance. Not sure what all will change between Now and September/October

What do you think?