Bangkok - Sydney Thai Airways Waitlists

[XBHT351]

I purchased my Sydney - Bangkok Return flight on Thai Airways around 29th November 2007 for Departure on the 7th Dec 2007. I booked it from the Thai Airways office in Sydney and it has a 3 month validity period. At the time the earliest they could give me a return date was the 5th Feb. I took it thinking I would just waitlist myself for around the 19th Jan or so and get on a flight. So far it seems they are pretty well overbooked and even though I am a Silver Royal Orchid memmmber with priority waitlisting, I still do not seem to be getting any closer to returning to Sydney.

The reason for this post is to get some feedback from others trying to get from Bangkok to Sydney and find out how many other are stuck like me.

I did notice that some flights do have Business class available still, but I do not really want to upgrade (unless it is a freebie).

My fare is a 3 Month Ticket with no special conditions.

I mainly need to get back to Sydney to get back to work rather than spend an extra 2 weeks in Thailand (Not such a bad predicament though).

Any discussion on this topic will be welcome as it seems all airlines are pretty much overbooked.

[david96]

I purchased my Sydney - Bangkok Return flight on Thai Airways around 29th November 2007 for Departure on the 7th Dec 2007. I booked it from the Thai Airways office in Sydney and it has a 3 month validity period. At the time the earliest they could give me a return date was the 5th Feb. I took it thinking I would just waitlist myself for around the 19th Jan or so and get on a flight. So far it seems they are pretty well overbooked and even though I am a Silver Royal Orchid memmmber with priority waitlisting, I still do not seem to be getting any closer to returning to Sydney.

The reason for this post is to get some feedback from others trying to get from Bangkok to Sydney and find out how many other are stuck like me.

I did notice that some flights do have Business class available still, but I do not really want to upgrade (unless it is a freebie).

My fare is a 3 Month Ticket with no special conditions.

I mainly need to get back to Sydney to get back to work rather than spend an extra 2 weeks in Thailand (Not such a bad predicament though).

Any discussion on this topic will be welcome as it seems all airlines are pretty much overbooked.

If your return seat is confirmed do not cancel it until the airline can confirm a waitlisted seat for you first. All airlines are heavily booked at this time of year.

[think_too_mut]

If your return seat is confirmed do not cancel it until the airline can confirm a waitlisted seat for you first. All airlines are heavily booked at this time of year.

Is that right? Jan 15 (or even 8th) is the mark when travel nosedives, all specials and promotions start about then. Mid-Jan to mid April (or whenever Easter falls) is the same dead season as September- November.

Before Xmas, for Dec 21. 2007 departure, all JAL flights from Japan to BKK were fully booked. I had my ticket already but was looking for some good seat. All taken, JAL web site was showing all seats in red.

1 week before the flight, my mailbox was almost spammed with travel agencies emails, all offering tickets at 1/3 of their former (already discounted) price. As it became more and more obvious that some seats may go off as perishable goods, they went into frantic advertising mode to offload them.

Still, JAL web site was showing all seats taken. On the flight itself, the plane was about 40% full. All those "plane full" seats were gulped as a loss by the agencies who bought them and were unable to sell.

Still, to JAL, the seats were sold and they could not sell them again.

That could be happening here with the OP. As there might be "no refund" policy between the agencies and Thai Airways, the agencies have no interest (or may be even bound by "you sell it or you lose it" clause) to give the seats back to TG to sell them again or take the OP off the waiting list and let him on board. What a bizzare situation.

Before someone says "it is school holiday season in Oz", a few years back I was on QF06 (then it was going FRA-BKK-SYD) and almost every passenger had as many seats as they wanted to sleep horizontally.

School holidays travel patterns don't change that much over several years.

Edited January 20, 2008 by think_too_mut

[david96]

If your return seat is confirmed do not cancel it until the airline can confirm a waitlisted seat for you first. All airlines are heavily booked at this time of year.

Is that right? Jan 15 (or even 8th) is the mark when travel nosedives, all specials and promotions start about then. Mid-Jan to mid April (or whenever Easter falls) is the same dead season as September- November.

Before Xmas, for Dec 21. 2007 departure, all JAL flights from Japan to BKK were fully booked. I had my ticket already but was looking for some good seat. All taken, JAL web site was showing all seats in red.

1 week before the flight, my mailbox was almost spammed with travel agencies emails, all offering tickets at 1/3 of their former (already discounted) price. As it became more and more obvious that some seats may go off as perishable goods, they went into frantic advertising mode to offload them.

Still, JAL web site was showing all seats taken. On the flight itself, the plane was about 40% full. All those "plane full" seats were gulped as a loss by the agencies who bought them and were unable to sell.

Still, to JAL, the seats were sold and they could not sell them again.

That could be happening here with the OP. As there might be "no refund" policy between the agencies and Thai Airways, the agencies have no interest (or may be even bound by "you sell it or you lose it" clause) to give the seats back to TG to sell them again or take the OP off the waiting list and let him on board. What a bizzare situation.

Before someone says "it is school holiday season in Oz", a few years back I was on QF06 (then it was going FRA-BKK-SYD) and almost every passenger had as many seats as they wanted to sleep horizontally.

School holidays travel patterns don't change that much over several years.

When one books a flight overseas with an airline for a specific date in Australia with a travel agent you have to pay for it within 2 days. You can change the dates subject to availability of seats.Travel agents no longer have seats allocated to them to sell. Previously a traveller could put down a deposit and pay the balance 30 days before departure. Then they might cancel it. In the meantime this seat could not be sold. Airlines might finish up with empty seats on some flights.

In Sept I booked a flight to Bangkok with CPA from Australia, the travel agent could only hold the seat for 2 days for me, once I paid it was confirmed. You pay the travel agent then the travel agent pays the airline.

The agent said that "group tours" had been the main offenders, they might book 50 seats on a flight then later on cancel them.

Edited January 20, 2008 by david96

[think_too_mut]

The agent said that "group tours" had been the main offenders, they might book 50 seats on a flight then later on cancel them.

Group or no group, the agencies have caused this bizzare situation, that does not help the OP who is still dangling on the waitlist.

Now I remember, when booking with 1 travel agency in Tokyo (No.1 Travel), i had to pay cash within days and then, at the airport, I had to go first to "Group Checkin" counter to get a voucher and then queue again at the arline's counter to check in.

[rak sa_ngop]

If there are any empty seats on a plane surely most airlines will allocate them on a stand-by basis.

If you register as a stand-by passenger and wait beside the check-in desk maybe you will get a seat 30 - 60 minutes before the flight.

I have done this once when in transit to get an earlier flight (Emirates). Of course it helps if you have no check-in luggage (and a valid ticket).

Worth a try maybe?

[jingjoe]

I encountered a similar problem having a return biz class seat on thai for the 23rd January. On New Years I got news that mum was really crook, and had been taken to hospital. I contacted thai, asking for the first biz, first, or even economy seat. It took 7 days to get a seat, it's a busy time, what can you do.

I should add that the seat beside me in Biz was empty on that BKK-BNE (via SYD) flight.

Edited January 20, 2008 by jingjoe

[lomatopo]

If I had to return before the earliest date I could get a confirmed seat I would strongly consider going to the airport and standing-by. A surprising number of people cancel their travel plans at the last minute, miss connections, have flat tires, over-sleep, get ill etc. These are called no-shows and factor into an airlines oversell formulas. TG have two daily flights so you could go early and ask about standing-by on either flight.

I would suggest you join FlyerTalk and post your query in the TG sub-forum. Plenty of savvy and experienced TG fliers there.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=503

I should add that TG offer same-day buy-ups for Y-->C so this makes room in economy day-of-departure. Also they do Op-up Y pax to C to make room for over-sells and stand-bys. I wouldn't expect an Op-up, someone with a seat would get that but double-bumps(stand-by into C) can happen when pressure mounts to close the flight out.

Y = Economy class

C = Business class or whatever TG calls it.

Edited January 20, 2008 by lomatopo

[pgs]

Have been wanred that flights in/out of Oz from June to Nov '08 will be very difficult this year if not booked early. Too many sports events in the region.