Roundtrip from Korea, is this alright?

Hello everyone,

I am planning my first trip to Japan until I found a cheaper flight than flying directly to Japan. My current idea is to go from USA to South Korea to Japan to South Korea to USA. So in other words, one roundtrip from USA and South Korea and another roundtrip from South Korea to Japan. I was wondering if I would have any issues from customs or luggage if I come from Korea to Japan since my original departure country is the USA and there are two separate flights?

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I've never flown out of my country before and this was the cheapest route I could find while and didn't want to buy my tickets and regret it later on because I made a mistake. Just want to make sure this isn't a bad idea or if I'll run into any problems.

Thank you very much.

There are a lot of variables here. For example, if it's the same airline through the same airport (such as Incheon) then it's not such a problem (as long as they take your luggage through automatically). Just check that it's not through two different airports (Incheon and Gimpo).

This is really common, specifically for longer flights. I have in the past caught cheaper airlines to save a lot - but if it's something that $50-100 USD return then it's not really worth the savings. This is just my opinion though.

It�fs a great idea.
- Stopover in Seoul is very easy - you can visit two countries for the price of one!
- Korean Air is a perfectly good airline. It also flies from Seoul to loads of regional Japanese airports, so you can plan a trip which starts in one part of Japan and ends in another, without having to backtrack to the airport you originally landed at.

My only tip would be to book all tickets with the same airline and as part of the same itinerary- so if you miss a connection because the first flight is delayed then that is the airline�fs problem, not yours.

A lot of people access Japan through Korea as flights to smaller regional areas are plentiful. Where longer international flight from normally only go to the main bigger areas.

Lots of people do this. Singapore fly via Singapore, other airlines have different hubs, like Korea. Immigration will have already noted your flights (they do things like that - security and profiling and all of that), but they really do not mind what your route you take.

Try staying in Korea a few days on your way back! The food is amazing and super cheap, so is the accomodation. Our favorite place there was Nami Island.

It will be good if you can tell us if your connecting flight is made one after another, or will you have a few hrs in between, if you haven't booked yet, like what other have said, try to stay in korea for a few days before returning back to the US.

Hello everyone, thanks for the great advice.

Sorry, I forgot to mention that part. I actually haven't booked any of the flights yet because I wasn't sure yet if this was a good idea or not. The airline I was looking at for my roundtrip to Korea was United, so I'm not sure if I can get the connecting flight from Korea to Japan through United at the price I wanted but I'll try to look into that.

Based on everyone's recommendations, I think I will make a little space and spend a few days in Korea as well. Not sure if I want to do that at the beginning of the trip when I'm already there or at the end when I leave, but it sounds like a fun experience and I will definitely plan for that.

I think my biggest issue right now is to try and book both flights with the same airline. Unfortunately, I'll be going during the winter (Dec-Jan) right around the holidays so the prices seem a little higher than another time. Hopefully I can get the same airline, but if not I hope that it won't cause too much trouble either.

Thanks again for the advice everyone, I really appreciate it.

Korea is deathly cold in December/January. I think it got to -17 celsius when we were there in early December, and it felt every bit of it especially in Seoul where there is a lot of shade and wind

I agree on the comment on the temperature in Korea. Japan (at least outside of Hokkaido) is much warmer. (Not warm, but warmer).

For your flight, if you book the flight as ONE flight, i.e. with a stop in Korea, that is fine. But if you book it as two completely separate tickets consider that you will not be able to check in luggage through and that if anything happens to your first flight (e.g. delay, cancellation, overbooking...) you will miss your second flight and this will then be on you, because you showed up too late. So unless you can buy it as one itinerary ticket, you should build in 1 extra day in Korea at the beginning and the end, or a LOT of hours between the first and second flight, which will make the entire travel feel endless.

To LikeBike, what do you mean that I won't be able to check in luggage through? Because at the moment I think I will have to buy two separate flights from two separate airlines. Does this mean I won't be able to bring my luggage from Korea to Japan? I really hope that is not the case because I don't know if I can fit enough clothes for 2 weeks in my backpack.