What's a good airfare to Thailand from California?

I just booked my flight for February ( this place is addictive, 3rd trip in 6 months)and I paid $680 including tax. You should look at Korean and China airlines. They seem to offer the best deals right now. The U.S airlines seem to be the most expensive right now.

Ezgab,

Did you call the airline directly or did you shop the 'net? I'm trying to return myself in late Feb or sometime in March. $680 is a good price out of So Cal.

I've had good luck with EVA air, purchasing the tickets throught a broaker ( about $700 for eva economy delux class) good as business in NWA.

I find going on the "cheep" in tourst class is not worth the few $$ saved. arrining feeling good is a big plus for me.

and they leave bkk at a reasonable time ( 11 am)


also, Cathay pacafic is a good choice ( their business class is exellent, I don't know how they could top it with first class ( maybe I'll find out some day)


back to nwa ( northwest) I used to fly them with discount ticket ( about $600) and got mileage credit too, so every 3rd time was free ticket.

it was a good deal, but the flight times ( leaving bkk 6 am and small seats was the pitts)

Ezgab,

I'm in Bangkok right now. I'll be here for another 5-7 days. If you arrive while I'm here let me know and we can get together.

El Blanco

El Blanco,

I don't arrive there until the 8th of March, work got in the way once again for a Feb visit. It would have been good to hang out with you. Last time I was there I met up with someone from this board.

Where are you staying at? Are you staying around Bangkok or are you venturing outside, Pattaya, Koh Sumai, etc.

El Blanco and Ezgab,

Going to BKK March 1 to March 18. What's up in LoS? Again, where are you staying? What's available as far as girls go? Please post. Ezgab, how long you saying?

Harry

Harold Johnson,

I arrive the 9th and leave the 25th of March. My plan is to go to Cambodia on the 22nd. Believe it or not, I am staying with my girlfriend and her family. She lives about 1 hour outside of Bangkok, this should be interesting. Where are you staying? We could definetly hook up while you are over there.

Email me at ezgab@hotmail.com and we can make arrangements

Hey EZ,

Check your mail.

Harry

Harry,

I usually end up paying anywhere from 695 to 800+ for my tickets as I don't live in a major gateway/hub city and I'm happy to pay extra to cut down on layovers/connections. My trip for X-Mas/New Years is free as I cashed in some miles for a business class ticket. Have not been to TJ in a little over a year but may make a short (one week) business related trip late in the summer or early fall.

F1

Yeah, being in LA makes things easier.

I checked ticket prices from LAX to BKK the other day, and they were really, really high!

What do you consider really, really high? What time of the year. I'm looking at Thanksgiving time and it costs approx. $720 out of LA. Not bad.

Harry

Travelocity has deals for $580 b4 tax.... That's not a bad price.
Check it out....

From Nanapong:

www.thaitourstravel.com
tel: 1-323-644-1063
toll free #: 1-877-644-1063(out of state of CA)
fax: 1 323 644-1081
They are presently running a price of $522 RT LAX-BKK-LAX

I was seeing prices on Expedia of $1700 or so.

I got here by flying as an air courier. It cost me $430 R/T from LA to Bangkok with a stopover in Tokyo. The company is Jupiter Air in LA.

This way you'll have more money for mongering. Hey, you have to have priorities. :-)

Frenchie-
I will be retiring in a couple of years and would like to do a lot of traveling. I have heard that one can fly all over the world for next to nothing as an air courier. I know absolutely nothing on what being an air courier is all about. Can you furnish us with some information or tell us where we can find same? Thanks!

Avltourist,
The people that I have known that have used this is in the LA Times classifieds. I'm sure that other newspapers may have this. The bottom line is that you may not be able to pick the specific days but will have to agree to fly out and come back within a certain time frame.

For the guys that could live with this it was quite an experience and well worthwhile.

Hey Avltourist,

El Pelon who seldom posts anymore might be a good source of info...in addition I was given the following site by a guy who does this a lot

Courier

I know very little about that site so ymmv, enter at your own risk and all that stuff.

El Cochino and Redongdo
Thanks for the info! Should prove to be helpful.

The air courier thing worked well, but you absolutely lose any chance of extending your visit or changing departure dates once you fix them. Also, 95% of the time the seat provided will be in coach. This can be an issue when you consider the flying time from LA to Bangkok.

There are quite a few websites about courier flights. Just do a search on Google.com or Yahoo and you'll have your questions answered.

I've been researching airline tickets for a friend of mine that's going to meet up with me in BKK. The cheapest I've found is $760.00 (total) on Thai Airlines: LAX -> BKK, BKK -> LAX. I found it on cheapairlines.com (or something like that). Some of the other airlines have him flying to Taipae, then spending the night and flying AM next day... what's up with that? Korean Airlines didn't have too much to offer. Suggestions? The dates are: 9/6 - 9/19 ... (prog)

Progman,

Check out thaifly.com. A month ago, they had some really good discount fares in the $560 range on American and $615 for Thai Airways.

PLEASE NOTE: I have NOT done business with Thaifly. I am simply passing along info that is available to me. Further, I have NO business connection with Thaifly. I derive no benifit from this post, other than to help out someone looking for info.


StrikeEagle

StrikeEagle,

Your scaring me man - you sound like a lawyer. Thanks for the info. I'll check it out... (prog)

StrikeEagle,

Any suggestion on how I can read this web site in English, not Thai? ... (prog)

Progman,

http://www.thaifly.com/

Click on the map that you are BEGINING your trip from North America.

Oh, and worry not. Though I'm trained as a legal assistant, I spend my working hours in far more technical terms, now.

It's ALL about having fun!


StrikeEagle

A friend of mine just called up Jupiter Air to get a courier flight LAX/BKK for the July-August time period. The price has jumped to $500 for the flight, plus an additional $35 registration fee, plus another $100 refundable deposit.

When you consider that the flight is non-changeable/non refundable, maybe it is not such a good deal as it first appears.

Right now the best price I've found is $565 (total) per ticket. Its on Korean Airlines...

LAX -> Inchon, SK -> BKK (reverse on the return)

This ticket is Non-refundable ($75 to buy insurance), $75 transfer fee... typical rules

... (prog)

Oops... Reverse the 5's and 6... It was $656... (prog)

Progman,

JAL=$635
ThaiAir=$645
American=$695

This was using your dates.

The JAL flight goes through Narita, and the American flight goes through Tiawan.

Best of Luck,

StrikeEagle

StrikeEagle,

Thanks for the info. Where did you get the price on Thai Airlines? I was able to get it down to $760 and that was it. As far as JAL - The route they had was outrageous... We would have to spend the night in Taipae. Also, I looked into flying into Nagayo on Delta, using miles, then hoping on another flight to BKK. Seems the flights from Japan to Thailand were even more expensive! ... (prog)

Northwest has flights from Los Angeles and Minneapolis. I saw a quote for $694, one stop. UAL has joint flight with Singapore Air. There may be FFMs for that.

Wow! I've just now started reading about Thailand and am thinking that maybe Mexico should take a back-seat lol
NWA says airfare from Dallas, Tx to Bangkok is over $4,000! I'm thinking that the baht/$ exchange rate more than make up for travel costs in having fun, but there has got to be better airfare out there....any suggestions?

Wolfvgang - I flew from L.A. to BKK round trip a few weeks ago for $600.00 I would shop around a bit. For 4000 you should be able to fly to Thailand and stay a few months if you wanted to.....

I have another question about local travelling.
Do you need to purchase flight from Bangkok to Phuket from U.S. or can you buy it over there?

Same question to fly to Cambodia or PI from Thailand?
Buying in Thailand would give more freedom schedule wise.

Is July also a good time to go?

Athos, I fly Thai Airways while in Thailand. Their web page gives airfare, seat availbility, flight number info, etc. You have to buy domestic tickets in Thailand. When I arrived in BKK (middle of the day) I just went up stairs and purchased my ticket from their counter before leaving the airport. Very convienent. You can purchase tickets from the various agents found everywhere in BKK. Never done this myself though. Airfare BKK to Phuket is 4600 Baht RT.

Harry

P.S. Going to TJ weekend of 31-1 if anyone interested?

Progman,

Check Priceline, Travelocity, and Thaifly. All three came up with similar pricing.


StrikeEagle

StrikeEagle,

I checked all three. Thaifly had the best rate but I could not seem to get any details about the flights - only the date I wanted to fly and the airline.... no times, flight numbers, or layovers. I guess overall I'm looking at ~ $700 dollars (including taxes). I can live with that. Thanks for your help... (prog)

Try Yahoo best fares. There are flights for $550 plus some fees and on up to $700 on American or United. Some of these flights only need 5 days advance notice. There are more non US airlines on Yahoo than on many other sites.

649me,
Thanks for the infor. I just tried the site but no luck. Plenty of outbound flights but pretty weak on return flights. Looks like my best deal is still thru my travel agent at $656... (prog)

If anyone is interested a great deal on airline tickets, drop me an email. I can get tickets for anywhere in the world in any class. The ticket will be in your name but TJHombre requested that I keep the details offline.

Mail me at smitopher@hotmail.com

smitopher,

Sounds intersting... I just fired off an email to you with dates and locations. Thanks... (prog)

I just checked the Thai Airways website, and they quoted me $2499 for a ticket in late July.

Explorer,

Did you mean to say $2499 per ticket? That's a bit high! The best rate I got was though a local travel agent in SD. The cost was $760 / per person. I was then able to reserve my buddie a bulkhead seat. This wasn't possible using the internet... (prog)

I meant exactly 2499 dollars on the Thai Airways web site.

What do you think it would cost to fly to BKK during XMas?

Explorer;

You are always talking about how you DRIVE to remote Mexican locales - why don't you DRIVE to Thailand?

I think there is a ferry that goes from Nome to Siberia.

You could probably go there and back again in about 3-4 months. You could give us a report on how good the whores are in various remote places that NOBODY ever reports on... I bet you the chicks are great in Kamchatka.

Explorer,

I just bought a round trip ticket from LAX to Bangkok in early November for $599 plus tax and fuel. Total cost was about $641.00.

I would suggest checking out Asiana, Korean, or China air from Travelocity.com. Seats are limited, but all have fares available for $599.

Xenono,

Were those flights direct or non-stops? I found a few fares that were a little cheaper than what I ended up paying but they had either HUGH layover times (sometimes overnight) or the times you had to leave and return were at "god-awful" hours... (prog)

Explorer,

X-mas New Years is the peak of the high season in Thailand. There was plenty of discussion about and panic over the lack of available airline seats on some of the Thai oriented boards last year. Expect prices to be higher during this period as the airlines should have no problems selling seats. Your bet bet for lower priced seats may be carriers like China Air. I've also found if you have some flexibility available in your travel plans leaving a day or two earlier and/or returning a few days later can make a big difference. I've found that taking with someone directly at the airlines and asking directly about cheaper travel times has helped in the past. Many of the more popular hotels will also be booked during the holiday period if you wait too long to start making plans. I have my ticket in hand and hotel reservations already for this period. Sorry I can't advise as to what my ticket cost as it was free!

F1