Flights to Seoul: Searching on Your Own Terms vs the Deal Newsletter
In March a flight to Seoul with two suitcases cost me 116,000 roubles. The aggregator's newsletter offered 87,000 with one. A search on my own terms found 51,000 with two.
Oksana Prisyazhnaya, founder and editor. 9 August 2026, updated 19 October 2026
In short. A fare newsletter and a search on your own terms find different things, even on the same day. The aggregator sorts by the basic fare, which usually excludes baggage, so the price in the listing is not yet the price of the trip. I wrote down my terms, two suitcases and a short layover, and had an agent search by them twice a day. Below: what the newsletter found, what my own search found, and why they differed.
What the newsletter found and what my own search found
In March 2026 I flew to Seoul with two 23 kg suitcases; the flight cost 116,000 ₽. Before the second trip I subscribed to the Aviasales newsletter. The best it sent was 87,000 ₽, and that was with one suitcase. Add a second and the price went past 100,000 ₽.
So I set up a task in Claude Cowork and installed the browser extension. Twice a day the task ran on its own: the agent opened the sites and searched by my terms. There were two: two 23 kg suitcases and a layover no longer than four hours. A few days later a Chinese carrier appeared at 51,000 ₽ return, with two suitcases.
Converted at the Bank of Russia rate for 19.10.2026
Why the newsletter and the search find different things
The aggregator sorts results by the basic fare. Baggage is usually not in it and is bought separately, after which the total jumps. A carrier whose basic price is higher but already includes baggage sits lower in that listing and never makes the newsletter.
The filter a newsletter does not have is your own terms: how many suitcases, how long you are willing to spend on a layover. Without them it is not trips being compared but the numbers in the first line.
What follows from this
One rule: write down your terms first, then search, and count the full cost of the flight with baggage rather than the price in the listing.
I saw these prices in the first half of August 2026. A fare lives for a day, and tomorrow the numbers will be different. What does not change is the method: terms first, search second.
The second suitcase was in my terms from the start: I bring perm solutions and tools back from Seoul. If you are flying for purchases too, count the flight with all the baggage that will travel home. The cheap option with a layover has its own price: how I missed my connection in Shanghai because of baggage. On entry and money: K-ETA for Russian citizens and how to pay in Korea without Visa or Mastercard.
Questions
Why is the layover capped at four hours and not shorter?
A short layover saves time but carries more risk: if baggage has to be collected and re-checked, three hours may not be enough. Four hours is the compromise between travel time and a margin for the connection. What happens when there is no margin is in the Shanghai article.
Should I unsubscribe from the aggregator's newsletter?
No, it shows the floor price for the route. Just do not take its price for the price of the trip: add baggage and see what it comes to on your terms.
Can this search be done by hand, without an agent?
Yes: write down the terms, check the results two or three times a day with baggage switched on, and compare the full sum. The agent did the same, only by itself and on a schedule.
How long does it take?
My 51,000 ₽ option appeared a few days after the search started. A single run gives nothing: prices change daily, and the right option appears and disappears.
From the editor. In January 2027 we go to Seoul: two days of Korean perm with Hong Jihoon at MASSTIGE HAIR Academy; participants book their own flights and accommodation. Programme on versionacademy.com.