Where to find discounted Thai Airways tickets?

[Rob5lax]

Thai Airways is the flag carrier of Thailand and comparatively super expensive vs the Premium airlines like Cathay, Singapore, Emirates, etc.  Thai Airways has good service but uses older equipment and cabin configurations. Whereas a good airline, not what I consider premium.    I would imagine they are subsidized by the state considering their exobornant international pricing.

 

That said they have a flight I’m interested in but won’t pay the 30% premium over Cathay.

 

I am aware carriers often discount to certain resellers?

 

In other words, anybody know where I can buy discounted Thai Airways tickets?

[jackdd]

There is no real secret, you just have to be lucky and flexible with your dates.

I prefer https://matrix.itasoftware.com to narrow the possibilities down

And then i use a site like for example https://www.skyscanner.com to find the cheapest reseller

(It can happen that the first site shows a flight that is not available for booking at this price anymore)

Edited April 26, 2018 by jackdd

[KhunBENQ]

Are you certain that Thai Airways is still THAT expensive?

What routes are you looking at?

 

The nonstop routes to Bangkok have pretty acceptable prices.

I did an arbitrary search: MUC - BKK, 5 June to 21 June.

(that's low season and "cheap" weekdays)

TG comes out with 529 Euro.

Substantially cheaper: Air China, Etihad, Kuwait Airways, China Southern and Oman.

I you fancy Kuwait Airways, give it a try

And of course all connecting flights, no other nonstop.

 

And what I would consider "quality airlines" are close or a bit more expensive than TG.

 

[cornishcarlos]

My flight this month from Perth to BKK, return, was 1500 AUD...

That's quite expensive when, for less than that, I could fly with Emirates from BKK to London return.. Twice the distance for 75% of the cost !!!

Edited April 26, 2018 by cornishcarlos

[Swimman]

1 minute ago, cornishcarlos said:

My flight this month from Perth to BKK, return, was 1500 AUD...

That's quite expensive when, for less than that, I could fly with Emirates from BKK to London return.. Twice the distance for 60% of the cost !!!

I have recently returned from Perth and TA was the most expensive of the full-service carriers - we chose not to fly with them.

[CNXBKKMAN]

TG do have promotions from BKK where their expensive tickets become more reasonable and they do include Hong Kong. Best to sign up for emails notifications for when these happen. I don't know of any local agents that get discounted tickets from BKK but they do have access to discounted tickets that they can only sell bundled up with with a hotel creating a holiday. So if you want to fly TG to HKG check out what some local agents offer for a package, tell them what hotel, area you want etc you might get lucky. You wont get any date change flexibility though once its booked and you need to find a reputable agent in your location.

[KhunBENQ]

17 minutes ago, cornishcarlos said:

My flight this month from Perth to BKK, return, was 1500 AUD...

Business class?

I varied my search from post #3 to PER - BKK.

TG nonstop for 413 EUR (660 AUD).

 

Malaysia is 338 EUR with a stop in KL.

Emirates is 383 EUR with a stop in SIN.

None of the other full service carriers is substantially cheaper.

Only the low cost carriers ARE cheaper.

Down to about 250 EUR with travel times up to 20 hours.

 

It must be a question of season, day of week, travel duration...?

Edited April 26, 2018 by KhunBENQ

[cornishcarlos]

1 minute ago, KhunBENQ said:

Business class?

I varied my search from post #3 to PER - BKK.

TG nonstop for 413 EUR (660 AUD).

 

Malaysia is 313 EUR with a stop in KL.

Emirates is 383 EUR with a stop in SIN.

None of the other full service carriers is substantially cheaper.

Only the low cost carriers ARE cheaper.

 

It must be a question of season, day of week, travel duration...?

 

Economy class but I forgot that it also included BKK to Surat :)

[KhunBENQ]

6 minutes ago, cornishcarlos said:

Economy class but I forgot that it also included BKK to Surat :)

Ha, that's the point

Result for my search then 650 EUR (1044 AUD).

237 EUR (!) more for the connection to Surat.

No idea why this happens.

 

I get ridicolous results when I search Khon Kaen to a German hub.

50000 Baht and up

 

Edited April 26, 2018 by KhunBENQ

[jackdd]

26 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

Are you certain that Thai Airways is still THAT expensive?

What routes are you looking at?

 

The nonstop routes to Bangkok have pretty acceptable prices.

I did an arbitrary search: MUC - BKK, 5 June to 21 June.

(that's low season and "cheap" weekdays)

TG comes out with 529 Euro.

Substantially cheaper: Air China, Etihad, Kuwait Airways, China Southern and Oman.

I you fancy Kuwait Airways, give it a try

And of course all connecting flights, no other nonstop.

 

And what I would consider "quality airlines" are close or a bit more expensive than TG.

 

The price is indeed low, but compared to Etihad or Qatar it's nearly 30% more, that's what OP said in his first post. Imho Etihad and Qatar can be called "quality airlines"

With Kuwait airlines it depends on which plane you travel on. If both flights (check before booking) are with their new airplanes you can also call them "quality", but they have very old planes in their fleet, then it's definitely not quality.