PURCHASING AIRLINE TICKETS:
Everyone has their favorite travel agent and many love the service that goes with it but the best way to purchase your ticket is online. The best sites for purchasing tickets are as follows: Travelocity.com. , thaifly.com and priceline.com. If you have a particular airline that you prefer, it is good to join their site and they will e-mail you any specials that they may have. The price on your ticket will vary from $599 in the low season to $999 in the high season...plus tax and fees. The high season is from November through February. If you plan to book a flight for December or January, do it at least 6 months in advance.
Another option is courier service. I joined aircourier.org as they publish last minute fares. Fares can range from $100 to $350 but you must have the time available and your schedule must be flexible. You can also try to get a courier fare through jupiter air and avoid paying the fees for aircourier.org. There are some restrictions to you flights regarding baggage and each courier service has different rules.
SARS- This disease has scared off a lot of travelers and it shouldn't. I would try to avoid airlines that fly through Taiwan or Hong Kong but you can wear a mask at the transfer airport and you should have no problems. Thailand is now SARS free and so is Japan so choose your airline accordingly.
WHICH AIRLINE?
This will get varying responses but you want to look at safety record, service and convenience. I have flown nearly all of the airlines and can tell you that Thai and Eva have given me the best overall results, especially the Eva economy deluxe which gives you great amenities at economy rates. Cathay Pacific and Japan are also good Airlines but Cathay goes through Hong Kong now and Japan has tiny seats. The one airline that I would avoid is China Airlines. They have cheap rates but the pilots have no clue what they are doing....I think they purposely fly into turbulance. Two of the most awful flights of my life were with China.

I've flown Korean, Northwest, and American to Bangkok. Korean was by far the best experience, better food and service than the US carries. I paid $899 in high season. I joined their frequent flyer club before I left but elected to add the miles to my Delta account instead. It gave me enough miles for a continental US flight which I still have not used. Maybe I'll use it to go to TJ sometime.

American was the better of the US carriers because it has a one connection route through Japan and more legroom. The NRT to BKK leg is handled by JAL.

Northwest was the worst experience in the air but... I can use Northwest frequent flyer miles to get to Bangkok. American will only take me to Japan with their frequent flyer miles.

I paid $638 for the American flight in low season. I just bought a flight on Northwest for $650 for travel on 07-21-03. Keep in mind I am flying from DFW so this is not a west coast price.

The worst thing about Northwest is that I must change planes twice, once in Minneapolis and once in Japan. After this trip I should have enough miles for a free flight to Bangkok. Woohoo! I'll save it for high season.

Btw, these fares on Northwest are on sale until June 13th for travel through September. I think I am going to buy another one today, stocking up so to speak, what!

poster...

The only thing that sucks about Korean is that the layovers are usually too long.

Are the Korean flight attendants good looking?

What do you think DJ? Have you been to Korea? The land of fuglies.

Thailand not SARS free. i spoke to a Thai friend of mine who said she spoke to her father and there are a few cases, one reported last week.

Korea, the land of fuglies! lol. Is that right? I haven't been there. I thought there are some hotties there.

There are some hot Korean girls in L.A. esp at the expensive Korean dance clubs me and my friends used to go to. But the Korean girls' attitude scares me. Nice one minute, a bitch the next. Korean guys are the same, your best friend one minute, the next....

I'll date Japanese and Taiwanese, Latinas etc. More reasonable people. Korean girls I fuck at AMPs but I don't date them.

-DJ

(Message edited by DickJohnson on June 11, 2003)

Hahaha!

They live in the Dallas AMPs as well.
Some are pretty darn hot, if do say so myself. Well, I am destined to be in BKK in July and September. I loaded up on the $650 specials from DFW. Maybe some of you will be there on one of those dates. I'll post 'em on the trip calendar.

ciao...
lunch time now.

You might want to check out EVA Air also for your flight. Not the cheapest, but for under $900 US, you will have one of the most comfortable fights for that price. The seats are almost business class size.

I hate spending money on a flight, but when Big Dawg tols me that is was well worth the extra 200 bucks, I tried it, and it was. EVA Air is the official air line of the K-9's now.

If you go to their web site, you can book with them directly online. You will get the smae price from them, that you will thru your travel agent, or somewhere else.

Most of the times, you will have a 747 for both flights, instead of a smaller plane on the second leg of your trip.

If you sign up for EVA's FF miles, you will get an upgrade card if you fly again with in 6 months of your first trip. This card entitles you to use of the EVA lounge in the Taipei Airport.

Use Cathay Pacific with your AA FFMs. Go via Hong Kong and get into BKK at a reasonable time. If you go on United via NRT and you plane is late you will waste a full night.