PHOTOS: Qatar Airways’ first direct non-stop flight between Doha - Pattaya

[Jonathan Fairfield]

PHOTOS: Qatar Airways’ first direct non-stop flight between Doha - Pattaya

 

 

Qatar Airways’ first direct non-stop flight to the beautiful holiday destination of Pattaya touched down at U-Tapao Rayong Pattaya International Airport today, inaugurating the award-winning airline’s newest Thai destination. 

 

This celebration marks Qatar Airways’ fifth route to the Southeast Asian country, and is the first new route launch for Qatar Airways in 2018, as the airline continues the rapid expansion of its global route network. 

 

Flight QR828 touched down at U-Tapao Rayong Pattaya International Airport at 06:30am and was welcomed with a traditional water cannon salute.

 

His Excellency Mr. Soonthorn Chaiyindeepum, Thai Ambassador to the State of Qatar, travelled on board the inaugural flight with Qatar Airways Senior Vice President Asia Pacific, Mr. Marwan Koleilat, from the airline’s five-star hub, Hamad International Airport (HIA). 

 

Upon arrival in Pattaya, the VIP delegation was greeted by Rear Admiral Luechai Sri-Eamgool, Director for U-Tapao Rayong Pattaya International Airport; the Qatari Ambassador to Thailand, His Excellency Jassem

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dario]

Great! And Qatar is a good airline with very competitive air fares.

[Petesie80]

Be good to hear a report on how the immigration procedures went and also the transport availability to Patts.

[Briggsy]

OMG. £424 return from London on the official Qatar Airways website. For a return flight later this year.

[Eff1n2ret]

Got ~25k baht for a return from Pattaya for the end of next month, but it always more than the other direction. It's certainly tempting, Qatar are a good airline.

We actually flew with them out of U Tapao when Suvarnabhumi was closed by the Yellowshirt protest.

[wgdanson]

1 hour ago, Eff1n2ret said:

Got ~25k baht for a return from Pattaya for the end of next month, but it always more than the other direction. It's certainly tempting, Qatar are a good airline.

We actually flew with them out of U Tapao when Suvarnabhumi was closed by the Yellowshirt protest.

EVA Air is only 25k for DIRECT BKK to LHR. Plus the Bht 127 for bus .

 

[Eff1n2ret]

15 minutes ago, wgdanson said:

EVA Air is only 25k for DIRECT BKK to LHR. Plus the Bht 127 for bus .

 

But for those of us who live just down the road from U Tapao it's worth considering.

[midas]

2 hours ago, Dario said:

Great! And Qatar is a good airline with very competitive air fares.

People seem to agree with you because I wanted to fly with them from Bangkok to London in 10 days time and I want to go business class but it's almost all sold out no other airline seems to have their business class seats snapped up so quickly .

Edited January 29, 2018 by midas

[balo]

Good will be my next flight to Europe.

[Crisu]

1 hour ago, wgdanson said:

EVA Air is only 25k for DIRECT BKK to LHR. Plus the Bht 127 for bus .

 

Are yu sure this is for a return flight bkk-lhr-bkk?

 

Because if its only bkk-lhr then eva is double price then QR.

[wgdanson]

1 minute ago, Crisu said:

Are yu sure this is for a return flight bkk-lhr-bkk?

 

Because if its only bkk-lhr then eva is double price then QR.

Return. And it is usually the same price, whatever date, so no need to trudge around looking for cheaper days. The bus is Bht 127 EACH WAY.

Edited January 29, 2018 by wgdanson

[Crisu]

18 minutes ago, wgdanson said:

Return. And it is usually the same price, whatever date, so no need to trudge around looking for cheaper days. The bus is Bht 127 EACH WAY.

Aha, where yu see/find this price because the cheapest i could find for next month is 1200 eur for bkk-lhr-bkk on EVA?

I search for flights on checkfelix which search on all major airlines similar to google flights.

Edited January 29, 2018 by Crisu

[Blue Muton]

3 hours ago, wgdanson said:

EVA Air is only 25k for DIRECT BKK to LHR. Plus the Bht 127 for bus .

 

The down side of that? It's with Eva Air, tried them. Once.

[steve187]

3 hours ago, wgdanson said:

EVA Air is only 25k for DIRECT BKK to LHR. Plus the Bht 127 for bus .

 

would also depend on your final destination in the UK

[Kadilo]

2 hours ago, wgdanson said:

Return. And it is usually the same price, whatever date

Not in my experience. Varies quite a bit. Used them many times, decent flight for money. 

[balo]

I had some extra air miles to use so I  tried their business class to Vietnam , good comfort and food was excellent.

 

[Soikhaonoiken]

12 hours ago, Briggsy said:

OMG. £424 return from London on the official Qatar Airways website. For a return flight later this year.

Booked a flight on Qatar before Xmas to travel in May from Man (UK) to BKK RTN cost £410 via travel trolley, as previously said a good airline.

[alant]

16 hours ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

beautiful holiday destination of Pattaya

Not quite the description I would use but, there you go.

[jacko45k]

Nice to have alternatives, and I can save a fortune on the new Motorway tolls for going the other way.

[Kaoboi Bebobp]

Can anyone report their experiences after using U-tapao immigration and customs? Speedy? I was just through Swampy on a flight from HCMC and it took me one and a half hours to get through passport control. Which made me late to get my luggage from the belt. Had to chase BFS down to find out what happened. Anyway, they were very helpful but whole process was over 2 hours to get outside.

 

Reason I'm asking is that in the spring I may visit the UK and then fly to Thailand.

 

Edit: Just checked from May/September return flights LHR-UTP. Return flights are cheap but 13-hour layovers?!?!? Not a chance. Total flight durations run 27 hours, that's 3-4 hours more than my times from the middle of Canada.

Edited January 30, 2018 by Kaoboi Bebobp

[Jerry780]

Booked Business Class return to LHR for the end of next month for 1400GBP with a flexi on the return doubling the price. Still a bargain to the 3200GBP I paid for my mother last month. Don't think they have a Business lounge in Utapao though!!

[Rimmer]

A troll post has been trashed

[Mattd]

15 hours ago, steve187 said:

would also depend on your final destination in the UK

Absolutely, when I go to visit the UK, then it is to Manchester, so a direct flight to LHR doesn't appeal or work that well, much rather fly via DOH, AUH or DXB to MAN, breaks a long flight in to two medium ones and the connections times are usually OK.

Unfortunately the location of my house means that there isn't a huge difference in time to travel either UTP or BKK.

[punchjudy]

The John's are flying in direct now

[ginjag]

23 hours ago, Petesie80 said:

Be good to hear a report on how the immigration procedures went and also the transport availability to Patts.

A taxi cost me 1000 baht to Jomptien,     BKK  airport direct bus to Jomptien. 125 baht BKK is cheaper to get to Pattaya.

Now if they put on shuttle buses from the airport to Pattaya say every hour  that would be Brilliant.

[ginjag]

3 hours ago, Jerry780 said:

Booked Business Class return to LHR for the end of next month for 1400GBP with a flexi on the return doubling the price. Still a bargain to the 3200GBP I paid for my mother last month. Don't think they have a Business lounge in Utapao though!!

EVA Air from LHR   at 495 pound to BKK,  Business class say about 1000 GBP,    why do you pay this sort of money ???  and you call this a bargain  ??

[patrick1968]

nice 

[wgdanson]

22 hours ago, Crisu said:

Aha, where yu see/find this price because the cheapest i could find for next month is 1200 eur for bkk-lhr-bkk on EVA?

I search for flights on checkfelix which search on all major airlines similar to google flights.

EVAs website. Bht 50500 for two of us, 1 Jun to 5 July.

[wgdanson]

22 hours ago, Crisu said:

Aha, where yu see/find this price because the cheapest i could find for next month is 1200 eur for bkk-lhr-bkk on EVA?

I search for flights on checkfelix which search on all major airlines similar to google flights.

GBP 572 on checkfelix via EVA Air  = BHT 25292. = 650 Euro.

[wgdanson]

23 hours ago, Blue Muton said:

The down side of that? It's with Eva Air, tried them. Once.

When was that? They get very good reviews these days.