Foreigners To Pay More On Thai Airways

[george]

Foreigners to pay more on Thai Airways

BANGKOK: -- Thai Airways International (THAI) plans to increase its fare for foreigners on the Chiang Mai-Mae Hong Son route to coax more competitors into flying the route.

The price for foreigners will be raised from Bt1,070 per trip to Bt1,500 in October.

Vasing Kittikul, senior executive vice president of THAI, said, “The current fare is too low to lure other airlines to operate this route.”

--The Nation 2005-08-03

[ilyushin]

What kind of cure is this? They should drop the route until a carrier is able to operate at the actual cost. Sorry, a smaller plane might work. They use a USD 10 million aircraft when a small turboprop will do the job and keep the cost down. Guess I could take over if they issue me a "AOC". Probably cost more than I would ever earn. Same as the other carriers. Phuket Air tried it once.

[cclub75]

Another typical load of thai bullshit regarding the explaination.

If the price is too low to operate the line, then 4 solutions :

-stop the line

-cut the costs

-increase the airfare

-or a mix

Solution 3 is fair enough, but why they dont increase the price for ALL passengers ?

My guess : they try this amazing "double pricing" solution on a small route to "test" the reactions of the market. And then : apply this wonderfull TIT solution to other lines...

Even Vietnam slowly but surely try to cease this "double pricing policy" by increasing the airfaire for the vietnameses....

Thai Airways looks to go backward.

What a harmfull contrast between the image of Thailand as a dynamic and modern country who sign FTA agreements with the whole planet and such of stupid thinking...

[OlRedEyes]

the image of Thailand as a dynamic and modern country...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[barryofthailand]

If this spreads to other domestic routes on Thai, and eventually to international routes the solution is easy. Don't fly Thai.

Barry

[penelope]

Foreigners to pay more on Thai Airways

BANGKOK: -- Thai Airways International (THAI) plans to increase its fare for foreigners on the Chiang Mai-Mae Hong Son route to coax more competitors into flying the route.

The price for foreigners will be raised from Bt1,070 per trip to Bt1,500 in October.

Vasing Kittikul, senior executive vice president of THAI, said, “The current fare is too low to lure other airlines to operate this route.”

--The Nation 2005-08-03

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The drive is nicer than the flight anyway.Mae Sa valley is cool.

[meelousee]

Raising the price for foreigners is not only bad idea it is out of line with the Chicago Conventions and violates 12 of the CFR regulations.

They stand to lose more than just freedom of the air rights. The fine for each violation is around 25,000 US and if pressed into international quarters it is much higher. I can just see my German friend in Chang Mai throw a wall eye fit when he makes his monthly trip to Bangkok, bet they put him in jail AGAIN! He did the same thing when he told the ticket counter his son was now 11 months old, and then they told him he had to buy a 3rd ticket!

Discrimination of non nationals also violates 8 international carrier regulations the fines here are not much but sanctions can cost 100 times more than CFR regulation infractions.

Besides being stupid who thinks raising the price for foreigners will stimulate someone else trying to compete with a public monopoly?

[marquess]

If this spreads to other domestic routes on Thai, and eventually to international routes the solution is easy. Don't fly Thai.

Barry

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Agreed! Thai Airways are already comparatively expensive, when compared to their other Asian counterparts.

[TokyoT]

Thai Airways International (THAI) plans to increase its fare for foreigners ....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sounds like a good way to lure more tourists to travel to more locations in Thailand. Maybe the TAT can fit into some kind of new ad campaign?

[midas]

What is the definintion of " foreigner " for this purpose ? Does it include farangs living in Thailand ? If so I wonder what the fares would be for say a farang husband with a Thai wife both on the same flight ? Surely they wouldn`t each be paying different fares ? I never even think about selecting Thai Airways these days particularly for international flights for the simple reason they can never seem to compete with quotes given other Asian carriers...

[meelousee]

Note to my post #7

Ha I was wrong you can discriminate based Race or origin "on domestic airfares" the FAO and FAA say so, I asked!

So if you have a Thai wife and travel together the fare can and will be different, based on what passport you hold, in addition you may be taxed different as well. Thai Airways got the idea from Japan and they do the same thing when you travel to Korea, if you are Korean you pay more from Tokyo to Seoul than if you are Japanese!

Go figure, if it is international they can not base it on origin, they can however discount a Thai citizens fare not charge you more for not being Thai.

Twisted twisted!!!

Just have your wife buy the tickets..

[Rinrada]

Looks like the message is finally getting through that the majority of visitors actually like coming to LOS and look forward to paying (in the case of Pati ha Bt Buses) double or even 3 -4-5-6-...times more than the locals.

After all as many stalwards have indicated over the years Thailand is cheap and we should all of course pay a LOT more for the convienance of them having to put up with us.....yea...but why stop at the airlines?..

What about the Skytrain,Buses,Bottled water,Taxis,Tuk Tuks......argg...dont mention Tk-Tks

Surely it would make sense if say all non Ts were charged maybe..what say double for their early morning som tam or eggi om-ma-lets and the ice creame in MBK could easily go up a couple of 100%..... ...sweeze em til they squeek/faint .....and make us feel at home.

Got some friends who are sending their kids over here for the next school term and they will have to pay the new increased fees .(£20,00 a year).....so are they worried ....of course not ...just like us...... they can EASILY afford a little extra...helps the country out .....yea

What do you mean you might stop visiting LOS?.............cant do that surely

[joinme2leave]

Raising the price for foreigners is not only bad idea it is out of line with the Chicago Conventions and violates 12 of the CFR regulations.

cannot await outcome of the first lawsuit! Hopefully one (farang) really DOES complain in case this racist behaviour is really put into action...

[Rinrada]

Hopefully one (farang) really DOES complain in case this racist behaviour is really put into action...

[ovenman]

Domestic airfares in India have been priced in this manner for years: i.e. Indian nationals pay one fare in rupees, foreign nationals pay a higher fare in US dollars.

[lampard10]

Sorry George, I must be losing my comprehension of the English language. I could swear you wrote that Thai Airways are raising their price so other Airlines can come in undercut them and do them out of business. Silly me. I know, I'll look again tomorrow.

[astral]

Sorry George, I must be losing my comprehension of the English language. I could swear you wrote that Thai Airways are raising their price so other Airlines can come in undercut them and do them out of business. Silly me. I know, I'll look again tomorrow.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No you read it correctly.

Note the guy is a "senior vice president".

If this is typical of the people in charge at Don Muang, it is no wonder THAI is in a mess.

[astral]

Only a 43% premium.

Not enough.

Off with his head............

[AmeriThai]

Seems pretty typical of the double pricing standard to gouge more from foreigners. If I understand correctly, the gouging here only applies on the CM-MHS route. If Thai Airways opts to do this on other routes, like the BKK-CM route, then that's the end of it for me. I used to fly Thai Airways International LA-BKK, but the prices kept increasing to the point that it just wasn't worth it anymore to me.

Concerning foreigners, I wonder what the percentage of 1st time visitors to LOS are? Maybe Thai Air is hoping new visitors won't know the difference. I'd guess there are a lot of 1st timers visiting MHS.

In general, on other routes, I'm guessing there are more frequent visitors and expats that fly Thai. Higher fares may put a damper on revenue if fewer people use Thai Air. They may need to rethink the pricing policy or use smaller planes. We used to fly the CM-Sukhothai route on Thai Air in a puddle jumper prop plane.

[ovenman]

Sorry George, I must be losing my comprehension of the English language. I could swear you wrote that Thai Airways are raising their price so other Airlines can come in undercut them and do them out of business. Silly me. I know, I'll look again tomorrow.

No you read it correctly.

The way I interpreted the statement was that THAI wanted to raise the fare so other airlines would be tempted to come in and operate the route at the new, raised price. But even that doesn't make sense... If THAI can raise the fare by ~50% and make money flying to Mae Hong Son, Nakhon Nowhere, or wherever, why would they then want to give up a profitable route...?

[samran]

Sorry George, I must be losing my comprehension of the English language. I could swear you wrote that Thai Airways are raising their price so other Airlines can come in undercut them and do them out of business. Silly me. I know, I'll look again tomorrow.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There is more to this than meets the eye.

I think you'll find that Thai is trying to prove to its regulators and political masters that the route is unviable. If I remember correctly, when the airline industry was de-regulated, Thai had first/preferential dibs on routes that it wanted in Thailand. Routes/Slots that THAI didn’t want, the competitors could have. It was a way to keep a second rate airline in business.

However, THAI is under a lot of pressure from its political masters (remember it is 92% owned by the RTG) to maintain routes to certain areas for ‘social’ regions. Mae Hong Son would be one of them. My guess would be that certain MP’s need to get home quickly on the weekend. To get out of this route, it needs to prove that it is truly uneconomical.

Based on this logic, by raising the fare (even if it is only on foreigners), squeezes the market even more, revenues drop. Voila, THAI has a ready-made reason to apply to get out of that route and open it up to a competitor.

[Rinrada]

Domestic airfares in India have been priced in this manner for years: i.e. Indian nationals pay one fare in rupees, foreign nationals pay a higher fare in US dollars.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Same in Vietnam

I was was working there for some some and although had work permit etc,still paid in $ greenbacks for Hanoi-H.C.M internals while locals dished out Dong and at about ...think.... 50 % more.

At that time EXC Rate was $1Us = 11,200 dong (100 $ got you a nice new 1m D. promisary note with uncle HOs smiling face on the front + 200,000 small ones )

Going back a bit further however to ....Nigeria it was a little different since once again I had a work permit but I could buy locally priced internal flight tickets .....Lagos-Kano-Lagos-Kano-Lagos-k...forget it.....

The deal was better with old British Caledonia which would accept local "Credits"in even more local money and with a bit of sensible.."wana change some "Niara" at 2-3-4" to one you could get a return to Gatwick for around £50.....

some u win some you lose..

[ovenman]

I think you'll find that Thai is trying to prove to its regulators and political masters that the route is unviable.

That sounds about right. The Chiang Mai-Mae Hong Son route was one that THAI was forced to keep when they made the great purge of domestic routes a few years back. TG have always wanted to drop this route but political pressures of some sort have kept it operating. It wasn't all that long ago that the one way CNX-HGN fare was 345 baht!

[Nam Kao]

Another "Fleece the Falang SCAM"

I'll never fly them again

[samran]

I think you'll find that Thai is trying to prove to its regulators and political masters that the route is unviable.

That sounds about right. The Chiang Mai-Mae Hong Son route was one that THAI was forced to keep when they made the great purge of domestic routes a few years back. TG have always wanted to drop this route but political pressures of some sort have kept it operating. It wasn't all that long ago that the one way CNX-HGN fare was 345 baht!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That’s right. I think too many people were too quick to jump to the conclusion of ‘its another case of scam the farang’. I think I wouldn’t be too far wrong to say that the only Thai people who fly that route are all politically connected somehow, and raising fares on them couldn’t be done.

You need to know that one of the biggest political prizes in Thailand is to be put on the THAI board. It means free first class travel for you and your family for the rest of your lives….even if you only stay on the board for one month. That why the THAI privatisation in the mid 90’s was more of a privatisation still birth with only 8% of shares allowed to be sold. For politicians, the airline is another play thing to pay off lackies, and curry favour with constituents. Turning it into a commercial enterprise is a non option.

The real people who are getting scammed is the Thai people themselves, forced to put up with a shabby airline who is supposed to be their national flag carrier.

[Greer]

I think Samran has it right by the looks of it.

Regarding the number of foreigners that would fly that route for the first time, I doubt any of them are going to notice a fare "hike" of a few hundred baht anyway, as to them, the flight is cheap even at that price.

I am no supporter of the double pricing policy at all, and have let more than one ticket office of one sort or another know in no uncertain terms, but this is based on such off-beat "logic" on the face of it, that even the locals couldn't expect anyone to believe the "official" story, so although it falls into the category of appearing to be another farang rip-off, it looks more likely to be a cover.

Regaring flying Thai, I do a lot of air miles, and as a result of the on-going drop in standards of service, as well as having to put up with flights in obviously old aircraft, I gave up using TG quite a long time ago.

My airline of choice is Emirates, but if it is not available, my alternatives are now SQ, BA, or CX.

Actually, the BA World Traveller Plus is excellent - much more room with a larger seat, and 2/4/2 seating (best to go for an external aisle or a window).

Sadly, TG is falling way behind, AND is much more expensive on international routes - I hope they sort this out - but a HUGE injection of funds would be required to bring the airline up to similar standards to those of it's competitiors.

As I very rarely travel on domestic flights, I wonder how it fares against the quality of service etc of the alternatives in the country?

[dezeure]

What is the definintion of  " foreigner " for this purpose ? Does it include farangs living in Thailand ? If so  I wonder what the fares would be for say a farang husband with a Thai wife both on the same flight ? Surely they wouldn`t each be paying different fares ?  I never even think about selecting Thai Airways these days particularly for international flights for the simple reason they can never seem to compete with quotes given other Asian carriers...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes they will... its already this way... Try going to a national park with your Thai Wife, or even better: Go to Siam Park with your Thai wife and half Thai kid (who looks a bit farang...) and you end up paying two times 200 Baht for you and the 'farang' kid and 100 Baht for the wife...

Even half Thais get phucked in this country!!!! That's how racist they are...

The first airline in Europe that tries dual pricing still has to arise, and will probably fall quicker than gravity can pull objects down, as this is absolute discrimination and racism!!! Thai should be banned from flying foreign routes, or better even, pay double landing fees, and higher costs for their refueling and catoring in other parts of the world... Make them feel what its like to be discriminated, cause these people apparently have no bloody clue...

Great going TIT!!! keep messing up your country... Tourists are already going to neighbouring countries because they are FRIENDLIER, cheaper, nicer, and at least they show some respect for others.

Is this another idea of Toxin? He does own part of the Thai no?

[bobrcb]

I was interested to read about the proposed fare increases for farangs travelling to Mae Hong Son. I live in England, but have just booked tickets for my Thai friend and I from Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Son in October, through a Bangkok travel agent, which I shall pay for and collect next week. It will be interesting to see whether the date of travel or purchase is important, or whether I am charged a surcharge when I travel.

Bobrcb

[jrincon17]

Foreigners to pay more on Thai Airways

BANGKOK: -- Thai Airways International (THAI) plans to increase its fare for foreigners on the Chiang Mai-Mae Hong Son route to coax more competitors into flying the route.

The price for foreigners will be raised from Bt1,070 per trip to Bt1,500 in October.

Vasing Kittikul, senior executive vice president of THAI, said, “The current fare is too low to lure other airlines to operate this route.”

--The Nation 2005-08-03

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

They are way more expensive comapred to other people anyways

[Foggy Bottom]

Until August 2002, Thai domestic operated four northern routes at B500 per head each way (CNX-MHS, CNX-Nan, CNX-Chiang Rai, and CNX-Sukhothai)

In Aug 2002, they did a nationwide "fare increase of 20% on all routes" and the CNX-MHS route increased to B790 (20% ???)

At that time I wrote a story in CityLife magazine accusing Thai's management of collusion with the government and Phuket Air, because the same week as the increase, Phuket Air started operating on that route at B695 per head each way - thus entering the northern routes at pricing under Thai's new rates, but higher than their old prices.

My accusatory conclusion was that Thai had only increased fares to allow a private company (owned by a Thai General) to enter into competition and make a profit. Everyone said I was imagining it.

Seems to me that this latest announcement backs up what I said 3 years ago ...... unless they read my old story and it gave them the idea for doing it for real?

(Gaz ducks below desk and hides from the hordes of angry farangs)