can anyone tell me if there are any discount airlines flying from phuket to denpasar? i am in need of a little break and am thinking of bali but im not sure of the cheapest way to get there. i can fly out of either phuket or bkk.

From BKK you can get there on Air Asia via Kuala Lumpur, but it requires you purchase two separate tickets, one BKK-KUL and another KUL-DPS. I recall seeing someone saying they bought the round-trip for about US$200-US$300, but of course that depends a lot on which fare you get. THAI sometimes has Super Deals on that route and the price should be similar, but those aren't available until a few days before the flight, aren't changeable, and their availability is very spotty and dependent on if they have a lot of unsold seats or not.

there are no budget airlines flying to DPS from either HKT or BKK.

its actually quite a distance (almost 4 hours from BKK !) so this is probably too much of a long-haul and not very attractive for a no-frills-carrier.

your options are:

from BKK the cheapest will probably be Royal Brunei or Garuda. They both have Promo-Fares sometimes, but then its still not really a bargain. certainly NOT less than 10.000 plus all the surcharges and taxes.

if both offer same rates, make sure u book BRUNEI AIR as they are safe and never had an accident in their entire history. With both airlines u will need to transit at BS BEGAWAN (Brunei Air) or JAKARTA (Garuda). Another reason to choose Brunei Air, as the small Airport in Begawan is very convenient and hassle-free.

In Jakarta, u would have to change from International to domestic terminal, and the airport in jakarta is widespread.... usually long walks or even a short bus-ride necessary.

If money is not an issue: THAI flies non-stop every day, other comfortable airlines (offering not-so-cheap fares) serving this destination (though u have to transit) include Malaysian and Singapore Airlines.

from HKT:

you would have to get to KL or Singapore first. so you could fly AirAsia HKT - KUL - DPS or JetStar (better than AirAsia, 20 Kg baggage allowance, asigned seats, but definitely much more expensive than AirAsia) HKT - SIN - DPS. TIGER flies HKT-SIN as well, but they arrive at the new Low-Cost-Terminal, from where you would have to change to the regular-Terminal, as JetStar departs from there.

but in both cases, you would have to go thorugh immigration, and pay departure Tax again (has been reduced in KUL for the low-cost-airlines recently, but its still adding up).

unfortunately, there is still no convenient inexpensive way to fly to Bali from Thailand.

But the "Island of Gods" is worth the efforts for sure