Thai Airways - Premium Economy Lax-bkk Worth It?

[JBStuart]

I'm planning on heading to Thailand in January, 2008. I'm in L.A. and Thai Airways has a nonstsop flight between LAX and BKK. I'm thinking about trying out their Premium Economy section since I'm a big guy (6', 240lbs) and the extra leg room is a big plus. Right now, through the TA site, the cost for round trip is about US $1580, taxes inc. Any comments positive or negative? Also, any educated guess whether the prices will move in either direction in the next few months?

[SinCityGr8One]

I flew LAX-BKK-LAX in June of 2007 in Premium Economy. I am 6-3, 300 lbs. It was worth every penny! And then some. Took off from LAX and 17H-10M later, I was in BKK. That Airbus 350-500 is quite the comfortable flying machine. Service was great and the food was good. NO complaints from this Traveler. That extra room in the seat and for the legs made it worth it! Book it!

[jimmym40]

I've flown the Thai nonstop flight from LA - Bkk at least 5 or 6 trips. I've always flown PE class since they started using the Airbus. It is well worth the extra money. One time I had an economy class tix, and then upgraded at check-in, the cost was only $200 - one way. But if you do this you are not guaranteed a seat. It's only a bit more when you book at time of purchase.

My recommendation is to purchase tix as far in advance as possible. As the departure time approaches, the prices do go up.

Please check my agent in LA for pricing. I'm almost positive she can beat that price.

Diamond World Travel: 323-913-3938 Ask for Emily She is a thai lady. I never met her, but she always beat any price on the net. She is helpful and have assisted many of my friends. It won't hurt to tell her Jim from Las Vegas gave you her number.

January is high season for Thailand, so if you see a good deal on air tix, book it fast. Also, don't know how long you intend to stay, but Chinese New Year in February always has a way of affecting demand for travel.

Good Luck.

[JBStuart]

I've flown the Thai nonstop flight from LA - Bkk at least 5 or 6 trips. I've always flown PE class since they started using the Airbus. It is well worth the extra money. One time I had an economy class tix, and then upgraded at check-in, the cost was only $200 - one way. But if you do this you are not guaranteed a seat. It's only a bit more when you book at time of purchase.

My recommendation is to purchase tix as far in advance as possible. As the departure time approaches, the prices do go up.

Please check my agent in LA for pricing. I'm almost positive she can beat that price.

Diamond World Travel: 323-913-3938 Ask for Emily She is a thai lady. I never met her, but she always beat any price on the net. She is helpful and have assisted many of my friends. It won't hurt to tell her Jim from Las Vegas gave you her number.

Good Luck.

Thanks for the tips. I'll definitely checkout Diamnd Travel. I checked Google and it looks like it's in Thai Town only a few miles from me. I might just drop in; I'm in that area all the time. Thanks!

[scrunchielaura]

I've flown the LAX<->BKK route once in business class and once in premium economy. The premium economy is very definitely a good value!

Two negatives:

I found the premium economy seats really hard to sleep in. I just couldn't find a comfortable position. The fold up "leg rest" was simply annoying and totally useless. I wished there was a foot rest incorporated into the back of seat in front.

The InFlightEntertainment system simply "doesn't work". It works good enough for a tradeshow demo, but doesn't work in the real world. The cabin crew had to reboot the system several times each flight.

Two notes:

This May I bought a round trip ticket at the Thai check-in counter at LAX for about $1550. This was for a flight leaving in under three hours. The premium economy cabin was only about two-thirds full.

I'm not sure Thai will be flying this route come January. There is some online chatter that they've agreed to sell all four A340-500's to South African Airways as Thai can't make money on their LAX/JFK flights.

[JBStuart]

I've flown the Thai nonstop flight from LA - Bkk at least 5 or 6 trips. I've always flown PE class since they started using the Airbus. It is well worth the extra money. One time I had an economy class tix, and then upgraded at check-in, the cost was only $200 - one way. But if you do this you are not guaranteed a seat. It's only a bit more when you book at time of purchase.

My recommendation is to purchase tix as far in advance as possible. As the departure time approaches, the prices do go up.

Please check my agent in LA for pricing. I'm almost positive she can beat that price.

Diamond World Travel: 323-913-3938 Ask for Emily She is a thai lady. I never met her, but she always beat any price on the net. She is helpful and have assisted many of my friends. It won't hurt to tell her Jim from Las Vegas gave you her number.

Good Luck.

Thanks for the tips. I'll definitely checkout Diamnd Travel. I checked Google and it looks like it's in Thai Town only a few miles from me. I might just drop in; I'm in that area all the time. Thanks!

I just spoke with Emily who quoted a price of $1438, $150 less than I had from Thai Airways. I'm going to stop by her office later in the week when I figure out what dates I need and get the ticket from her. Thanks for the recommendation! - John

[Padkapow Guy]

I've flown the Thai nonstop flight from LA - Bkk at least 5 or 6 trips. I've always flown PE class since they started using the Airbus. It is well worth the extra money. One time I had an economy class tix, and then upgraded at check-in, the cost was only $200 - one way. But if you do this you are not guaranteed a seat. It's only a bit more when you book at time of purchase.

My recommendation is to purchase tix as far in advance as possible. As the departure time approaches, the prices do go up.

Please check my agent in LA for pricing. I'm almost positive she can beat that price.

Diamond World Travel: 323-913-3938 Ask for Emily She is a thai lady. I never met her, but she always beat any price on the net. She is helpful and have assisted many of my friends. It won't hurt to tell her Jim from Las Vegas gave you her number.

Good Luck.

Thanks for the tips. I'll definitely checkout Diamnd Travel. I checked Google and it looks like it's in Thai Town only a few miles from me. I might just drop in; I'm in that area all the time. Thanks!

I just spoke with Emily who quoted a price of $1438, $150 less than I had from Thai Airways. I'm going to stop by her office later in the week when I figure out what dates I need and get the ticket from her. Thanks for the recommendation! - John

Does Diamond world travel have a web site?

PKG

[JBStuart]

I've flown the Thai nonstop flight from LA - Bkk at least 5 or 6 trips. I've always flown PE class since they started using the Airbus. It is well worth the extra money. One time I had an economy class tix, and then upgraded at check-in, the cost was only $200 - one way. But if you do this you are not guaranteed a seat. It's only a bit more when you book at time of purchase.

My recommendation is to purchase tix as far in advance as possible. As the departure time approaches, the prices do go up.

Please check my agent in LA for pricing. I'm almost positive she can beat that price.

Diamond World Travel: 323-913-3938 Ask for Emily She is a thai lady. I never met her, but she always beat any price on the net. She is helpful and have assisted many of my friends. It won't hurt to tell her Jim from Las Vegas gave you her number.

Good Luck.

Thanks for the tips. I'll definitely checkout Diamnd Travel. I checked Google and it looks like it's in Thai Town only a few miles from me. I might just drop in; I'm in that area all the time. Thanks!

I just spoke with Emily who quoted a price of $1438, $150 less than I had from Thai Airways. I'm going to stop by her office later in the week when I figure out what dates I need and get the ticket from her. Thanks for the recommendation! - John

Does Diamond world travel have a web site?

PKG

Not that I could find. I'll ask when I talk to her again.