Tickets to Seoul: a search on your own terms versus an aggregator newsletter

In short. An aggregator's newsletter and a search on your own terms find different things, even when they search on the same day. In August 2026 the newsletter offered me 87,000 roubles with one suitcase, while a search on my terms found 51,000 return with two suitcases of 23 kilograms each. The ticket price in the results is not yet the price of the trip.

What the newsletter found and what my own search found

In March I flew to Seoul for training with two suitcases of 23 kilograms each. The flight cost 116,000 roubles.

Preparing for the second trip, I subscribed to the Aviasales newsletter in advance. It kept sending 87,000 with one suitcase. As soon as I added the second one, the price went over 100,000.

Then I set up a task in Claude Cowork and installed the browser extension. Twice a day the task ran by itself: the agent opened the websites and searched on my terms. Two suitcases of 23 kilograms each, a layover no longer than four hours. A few days later an option from a Chinese carrier came in. 51,000 return.

Why the newsletter and the search find different things

The mechanism is simple, and it is not about luck. An aggregator sorts by the price of the basic fare, and the basic fare almost everywhere comes without luggage. Luggage is then bought separately and the price jumps. A carrier whose ticket is more expensive at first but includes luggage sits lower in that sorting and never reaches the newsletter.

My terms are the filter the newsletter does not have. Nobody told it how many suitcases I have or how many hours I am ready to sit in an airport.

What follows from this

Hence the rule. Write down your terms first, then search. And count the price of the whole flight together with luggage: the ticket price in the results is not yet the price of the trip.

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 repeats is the method, not the amount.

If you are travelling to study in Seoul

I was ordering materials in Seoul, so the second suitcase was in my search terms from the very start. Participants of the training in Seoul with Hong Jihoon pay for their own flights, so it is worth counting the same way: with all the luggage that will travel back.

A cheap option with a layover has its own price: how I missed my connection in Shanghai because of luggage. Before buying a ticket check K-ETA, and before the flight, how to pay in Korea without Visa and Mastercard.