28 minutes ago, crouchpeter said:

2 weeks holiday in Australia will probably cost twice as much as 2 weeks in Bali or Thailand, including airfares. Every hotel, country restaurant, coffee shop etc. is a rip-off. The Maggie Beer <deleted> syndrome!

but Aussies like it that way, gives them something to complain about. if they were really worried about prices they'd do something about it. but it's easier just to hand over your hard-earned to the rich corporations then go on Facebook and whine about it ????

I suspect there wouldn't be many European forum members trying the alternatives as some options more expensive than flying

Who Needs Planes? From London to Bangkok Without Flying

https://www.jtgtravel.com/europe/united-kingdom/london-to-bangkok-without-flying/

Checked Emirates today BKK to LHR business class B150,000 through

August and December, back end of 2018 paid B110,000.......know where

the missus is sitting on the next flight.

Edited July 4, 20224 yr by dick turpin

Bummer! Just when the travel restrictions have just been lifted. 

6 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

How else should the airlines recoup their losses ?

and what about the ordinary people? Do they not have losses??

14 hours ago, BestB said:

A mate booked a flight Syd to Bkk, with Quantas, $1850, normally it was 1100-1300 max 

If it is during the school holidays it can go that high, it's the prime rip off time. Tickets with Jetstar in October - November recently were as low as $175 from Sydney to Phuket.

Back in November 2021 I paid £350 for LHR to Phuket rtn for March with Etihad.

 

Back in April I paid £650 for BHX to BKK rtn for June with KLM. (This was Economy Comfort and checked baggage) 

 

Last week I paid £580 for LHR to BKK rtn for October with Eva. 
 

I’m looking at Skyscanner now and you can get an indirect flight in October for £380with Saudi or £480 with Royal Jordanian, both flying from LHR return. Both include checked baggage (Something that the European airlines do not).
 

The key as always is flexibility. 

Edited July 4, 20224 yr by thisisrascal

On 7/3/2022 at 12:54 PM, webfact said:

This coupled with the fuel hikes

Oh, and the massive layoffs to spike profits in the middle of the pandemic...  leads to another round of price gouging to hurts those same workers.  

23 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Certainly Thai air can dictate some silly prices to LHR direct, but if BA return and EVA  return to normal then those prices will have to go down. Personally I think its about lack of airline choice and profiteering rather than fuel cost

The people at Thai are too dumb to lower fares to meet the competition, they never did it before and they certainly won't now.

1 hour ago, Andycoops said:

The people at Thai are too dumb to lower fares to meet the competition, they never did it before and they certainly won't now.

Flying every three weeks between EU and BKK, I think it polite to tell you, Thai Airways have been my cheapest option on all but two occasions

"the current expensive flights are caused by 1 / Fuel costs 2 / Reduced flights because of lack of check in staff and baggage handlers 3 / High season and school holidays." 

 

The first is reasonable if cost  increases need to be passed on to the end user. The other two seem not necessary and are there only to increase profit on the number of flights actually performed. Increased demand does not lead to increased costs, and increases in price are because sellers want to shaft buyers while they can. ????

13 hours ago, gearbox said:

If it is during the school holidays it can go that high, it's the prime rip off time. Tickets with Jetstar in October - November recently were as low as $175 from Sydney to Phuket.

It was for next week flight

Prices for flights is a lot depending on availability and demand, If the demand is higher than seats available prices go up fast. I also believe most air lines do not have staff yet to bring all their planes up in the air. Even ground staff has not enough staff, and when I was checking in yesterday the nice lady at the checkin counter, told me they were terrible understaffed. The queue line at the check in counter was extremely long. Never seen it this long with only 3 economy checkin counters open, 3 Gold members/Business class fast track checkin helped as much as they could.

 

Before they open the gate (was very late) the same lady came rushing to help with the gate work. They started boarding at scheduled departure time. Well in Bangkok we had to wait close to one hour before the first bags hit the luggage carousel.

17 hours ago, vinny41 said:

I suspect there wouldn't be many European forum members trying the alternatives as some options more expensive than flying

Who Needs Planes? From London to Bangkok Without Flying

https://www.jtgtravel.com/europe/united-kingdom/london-to-bangkok-without-flying/

Im not even sure its possible to go those suggested routes any longer, they seams to go through Russia. Does passenger trains go that route? And if they do who would travel with them?

On 7/4/2022 at 1:09 AM, Iamfalang said:

have a feeling I'll only be able to buy a loaf of bread and a broken watch when I get to falang land.  

Sorry the breads out, but I have a few broken watches you can have                     Cheap.

On 7/4/2022 at 7:39 PM, crouchpeter said:

July and August to Europe is high season. Should have waited until September. Much cheaper.

I know but I was already too long in <deleted> Belgium