Bkk - Man Expensive

[G54]

Dep Tues 4th Nov - Ret 10 Dec 1 stopover @Abu Dhabi

Etihad :-

BKK - MAN 49850 [11625 taxes] @ 60 Baht £ = £193 taxes and a total fare of £830

This is getting expensive. Especially the taxes.

My dates can be changed but I need 3 weeks to a month in the UK and would like to be back here in Thailand for Xmas..

Any cheaper solutions would be gratefully received ..... Thanks.

edit typo

Edited October 9, 2008 by G54

[jdinasia]

keep looking

contact a travel agent

try other airlines like Qatar etihad and Emirates

[george]

Check here: http://travel.thaivisa.com

[Razzler1973]

direct to Manchester always more expensive compared to say, London. Try an airline with stop offs, Qatar a good shout or maybe Gulf if they fly from Manchester (they're a bit pants though). Also check KLM, sometimes do good prices on long hail to Asia from Europe

[Thaivisa Travel]

We have some ideas for you, but you have unfortunately run in to a couple of problems, firstly that the promo fares all stopped 30 Sep and in any case required travel to be completed by 30 November, and secondly the so-called Xmas rush starts about 8 December, and whilst not all are coming to Thailand it does block the UK to Middle East seats. We can offer you THB 43500 on Qatar to Manchester out 4 Nov back 9 Dec which is a good improvement. Please also note that it is the fuel surcharge, not the taxes so much that are hurting everyone, and these are not yet coming down although we all feel they should be. Just email [email protected] and we will be pleased to help you

[HYENA]

Trying to figure out the cheapest from Baltimore/Washington DC January through March. Best I can see so far is Korean Air at $1300 something. All the other websites are around $1600 (crazy).

Because of the US monopoly on flights (price fixing and inability for foreign airlines to discount too deeply) it's a pain to find a true bargain. Back in February I found a $980 deal. I've gone three times since Feb...would like to find a reliable low price place to keep buying for my 4-5 trips a year if possible (make that 2-3 trips with new wife in tow after March)....

[Super Hans]

We have some ideas for you, but you have unfortunately run in to a couple of problems, firstly that the promo fares all stopped 30 Sep and in any case required travel to be completed by 30 November, and secondly the so-called Xmas rush starts about 8 December, and whilst not all are coming to Thailand it does block the UK to Middle East seats. We can offer you THB 43500 on Qatar to Manchester out 4 Nov back 9 Dec which is a good improvement. Please also note that it is the fuel surcharge, not the taxes so much that are hurting everyone, and these are not yet coming down although we all feel they should be. Just email [email protected] and we will be pleased to help you

Oil prices have fallen significantly recently - why aren't fuel surcharges coming down in a corresponding fashion?

[gk10002000]

Orbitz online is usuallly tough to beat and shows a lot of connection options and price ranges. Not all airlines use orbitz so try one or two other discount sites.

I am in the Seattle (USA) area and see that the EVA website is noticably cheaper than Orbitz which surprises me a bit.

Just some ideas to try some online sites and also the airline website themselves.

[Hairy]

Oil prices have fallen significantly recently - why aren't fuel surcharges coming down in a corresponding fashion?

Because the airlines want to make a profit for once in the last five years.

There was a good article on Yahoo about this in the last few days. The airlines have cut capacity sharply, so they are maintaining control over pricing (few empty seats). The fuel prices are still higher than they were a year ago. The airlines will continue to charge as much as traffic can bear, so unless there's a sharp dropoff in travel due to the financial crunch, don't expect to see any dramatic bargains like during the SARS fiasco.

[G54]

After much trawling of the net and several phone calls to agents, I phoned Etihad in BKK. He could do it for a bit less but he wanted me to either go to the office and pay up front or to transfer funds to their account. He says Etihad in BKK do not have the facilities to take Visa transactions???

Needless to say that was not a viable proposition.

KLM, BA, Turksh Airlines and so many others were even more expensive. Emirates came in under the price but with bad reports about service and flights I decided against them.

Finally after several calls to places in the UK I finally found a nice lady at Etihad in Manchester who has given me the dates I want and the cost is down to 40,040 Baht. A saving of almopst 10,000 Baht. AND I get to keep my silver status.

All is well that ends well

But thanks to those who did reply.

[pampal]

Mahan Airlines was doing MAN-THR-BKK for 299 quid last year, maybe worth checking into

[samui04]

Oil prices have fallen significantly recently - why aren't fuel surcharges coming down in a corresponding fashion?

Because the airlines want to make a profit for once in the last five years.

The surcharges are coming down, very slowly.

I paid 210E on my KLM flight AMS to BKK 2 month ago (a robbery), now the return is 174E.

Bangkok Airways BKK-SAMUI is 5$ less, and all december days all flights are empty as today....

Am I the only one tourist to Samui this december?

Last year at this time december was practically full after the 15th.....

[Patsycat]

If i had the cash i would be tourist no.2!!

[zorro1]

.

Edited October 11, 2008 by zorro1

[zorro1]

Dep Tues 4th Nov - Ret 10 Dec 1 stopover @Abu Dhabi

Etihad :-

BKK - MAN 49850 [11625 taxes] @ 60 Baht £ = £193 taxes and a total fare of £830

This is getting expensive. Especially the taxes.

My dates can be changed but I need 3 weeks to a month in the UK and would like to be back here in Thailand for Xmas..

Any cheaper solutions would be gratefully received ..... Thanks.

edit typo

freighter if your not in a hurry. Avoid stopping of in Somalia

[kingwillly]

We have some ideas for you, but you have unfortunately run in to a couple of problems, firstly that the promo fares all stopped 30 Sep and in any case required travel to be completed by 30 November, and secondly the so-called Xmas rush starts about 8 December, and whilst not all are coming to Thailand it does block the UK to Middle East seats. We can offer you THB 43500 on Qatar to Manchester out 4 Nov back 9 Dec which is a good improvement. Please also note that it is the fuel surcharge, not the taxes so much that are hurting everyone, and these are not yet coming down although we all feel they should be. Just email [email protected] and we will be pleased to help you

Oil prices have fallen significantly recently - why aren't fuel surcharges coming down in a corresponding fashion?

hahaha. Surely you jest? That is a rhetorical question, right?

Edited October 11, 2008 by kingwillly

[torrenova]

Etihad had some deals at 20k plus about 12k extras which is the best I've seen recently but not over peak season.

[Hairy]

freighter if your not in a hurry. Avoid stopping of in Somalia

Tried that; they want cruise-ship rates per day, at least on the sites I found.

[Ricardo]

Oil prices have fallen significantly recently - why aren't fuel surcharges coming down in a corresponding fashion?

Because the airlines want to make a profit for once in the last five years.

There was a good article on Yahoo about this in the last few days. The airlines have cut capacity sharply, so they are maintaining control over pricing (few empty seats). The fuel prices are still higher than they were a year ago. The airlines will continue to charge as much as traffic can bear, so unless there's a sharp dropoff in travel due to the financial crunch, don't expect to see any dramatic bargains like during the SARS fiasco.

True but another factor, which slows the price-cuts due to lower oil-prices, is that most airlines fix/hedge most of their fuel-costs for several months ahead, which means (in theory) that short sharp price-increases are also not immediately reflected.

If airlines fixed at $100/barrel, the fact that it is now $75 won't work-through into ticket-prices, for some tim

[machlad]

Am I the only one tourist to Samui this december?

Last year at this time december was practically full after the 15th.....

No I am there for 5 days over new years so they will at least be 2 of us. 555

[Vato]

look into airline consolidators...much better prices.

[torrenova]

True but another factor, which slows the price-cuts due to lower oil-prices, is that most airlines fix/hedge most of their fuel-costs for several months ahead, which means (in theory) that short sharp price-increases are also not immediately reflected.

If airlines fixed at $100/barrel, the fact that it is now $75 won't work-through into ticket-prices, for some tim

Not quite so simple though they would have you believe it.

If oil drops to $75 from $100 then their cost is not $100 as they will just not exercise the call options they had at $100. Their cost will be spot ($75) plus the cost of the option (just use $5 as an example). Thus their cost is $80 and they could reduce prices.

However, for ease of operation, they are not going to adjust fuel surcharges every day or week so they will run at varying levels of profit or loss on fuel surcharges and look to balance the book over the period. In the example given at $75, then they would surely be able to reduce costs as current forward prices would be much nearer $75 than $100.

[gk10002000]

freighter if your not in a hurry. Avoid stopping of in Somalia

Tried that; they want cruise-ship rates per day, at least on the sites I found.

Yes. I occasionally have some time to kill and was more than receptive to the idea of hopping a freighter from the west coast of the USA to Asia. Maybe do some odd jobs on the ship along the way. I am quite good in the kitchen having worked in the family restaurant for 7 years before becoming an engineer. Everything I looked into was like cruise ship prices. No bunk room and cheap passage that I could find. Maybe down closer to the docks one might find some information, but I couldn't find anything like a cheap and one or two week slow crossing in a freighter or cargo ship. Those old stories of catching a tramp steamer off to India may be possible, but I didn't see any upfront advertising.