I have a return ticket that gets me from Turkey to Korea to Australia but it cannot be extended beyond the end of May.
I'm thinking of forfeiting or refunding some leg(s) of my ticket but as my savings are getting low and getting to Australia is usually not cheap I'm worried about how to ultimately get back to Australia when my funds have dwindled and I want to earn an Aussie wage again.
I know that in most of Asia and connecting Asia to the world the cheapest option is to fly Air Asia, but I also know that some important missing links in the network have been Australia, Korea, and Japan. I've also heard that both Korea and Japan have lacked low-cost carriers comparable to Ryanair and Easyjet, especially ones with international connections. I also know that there is at least the option of flying JetStar between Japan and Australia pretty cheaply.
So my questions is:
Is the Japan-Australia connection via JetStar the cheapest way to get from East Asia to Australia or are there now options with Air Asia or other carriers I don't know?
I'm happy to fly from Korea, Japan, or Somewhere in Southeast Asia that might be well connected to both, such as Bali or Bangkok.
(I appreciate that prices will vary depending on dates but as I don't have an idea of dates in advance since it depends on my money I'm looking for the generally cheapest routes and airlines that I should consider.)