Advice Re Flying To Englamd

[smokie36]

.

I am the queen of getting flight deals... First I go to the major travel search engines Mobissimo, Kayak etc......run my dates through clicking dates flexible whenever possible, check with surrounding airports as well. Then the cheapest dates and options they come up with I then go directly to the airlines website and save a bit more. This isn't just a one time thing. Go back different times of day and different days of the week as the prices fluctuate. When you find a good price you are happy with, bite the bullet and purchase.

( Sept 2010 found $19 flights out of Bellingham to Las Vegas ) $129 all in for four of us November 2010 $802 roundtrip Vancouver to Bangkok

good luck if you need some help give me some more specifics and I'l have a go at it for you...

that's how it was in 1991 times have changed where have you been living!, aggregators take commission from the airline at cost price these days there is no mark up to the customer just a mark down for the airline

In 1991 we weren't booking our own flights online ... maybe your remark would have had some grain of intelligence if you had used the year 2001.:jap:

In any event thanks for the Mobissimo link...indeed very cheap...cheers!

[oldsailor35]

Hi Rob, I have not done it myself, but have friends on Samui who did a lot of research and if you don't mind landing at Stanstead, the cheapest is from Kuala Lumpur via Air Asia. They were very happy with that . Three ways to reach KL. 1) Firefly from Samui.

2) Air Asia from Surat.

3) Coach to KL.

They went by coach and will do it again.

Good luck and please let us know how you went .

[oldsailor35]

,

I have done the flight back to England twice in the last year. First time went with BA... absolute nightmare and even changed my return flight to Emirates with extra cost because I couldn't bear to fly with them. Second flight Emirates again... I was flying on my own - 24 year old female and they gave me a four seater to myself the whole way. Change in Dubai is easy too and they have wi-fi internet in the waiting areas - its around 2-3 hours if I remember rightly.

Sri Lanka airlines is one of the cheapest at the moment as is Air Berlin but they fly from Phuket with a change in either Munich or Dusseldorf I think. China Airlines is a nightmare as is Turkish - don't recommend either. The flights may also be cheaper from KL so look around - this may be with Air Asia though so it depends how much comfort you require and how much you are willing to pay for onboard.

I always use skyscanner to check for prices then visit the travel agents in Lamai to see if they can beat the price - the one near the weekender resort is great and they don't charge any extra should you need to change the flight. If they cannot beat the price or meet it, check out the site's official websites. Hope this helps a bit.

What airport are you planning to fly into... I much prefer Manchester to any of the London ones and the train station is literally joined to the airport. Oh and book sooner rather than later - I have found the prices tend to drastically increase rather than decrease as you may expect. If you have been in Samui 13 years I doubt you are under 24 but for anyone reading this that is check out STA travel - they have a Thai one as well as English and people can find flights for half the price considering they are under 24. My two cents, hope it helps!

Hi Perkie,

I find nothing wrong with Air Asia longhaul. Yes you need to order and purchase food online, but the menu is quite good and reasonable. I reccommend AA, was a frequent Thai Air flyer till recently.

[careless]

You might want to try searching some flights out of Phuket HKT. Oh and I forgot to add, the different Mobissimo sites can come back with different prices. Tuesday and Wednesday departures are generally lower in price as well.

good luck

[robsamui]

Hi Rob, I have not done it myself, but have friends on Samui who did a lot of research and if you don't mind landing at Stanstead, the cheapest is from Kuala Lumpur via Air Asia. They were very happy with that . Three ways to reach KL. 1) Firefly from Samui.

2) Air Asia from Surat.

3) Coach to KL.

They went by coach and will do it again.

Good luck and please let us know how you went .

Ta dude - but logic dictates - and the subsequent costing also - that going south to Malaysia then buying a flight that heads back this way again will be more spensive cos

a) you have to fly south to begin with,

you've then got to add the cost of flying back to where you began - before you then add the cost of whatever flights.

Doing it this way comes to 40,000 baht at the minimum.

Going on a cheapie from BKK costs 28,000 plus the cost of getting to BKK.

But thanks for the input! I couldn't be so assertive without others like you helping me already!

R

[robsamui]

You might want to try searching some flights out of Phuket HKT. Oh and I forgot to add, the different Mobissimo sites can come back with different prices. Tuesday and Wednesday departures are generally lower in price as well.

good luck

Oooh. Tuesdays and Wednesdays? I'll have another go!

Already got it down to 25,000 baht (plus cost of getting to BKK) But I'll keep nipping on to the websites and checking every 2 or 3 days.

Ta for the info

R!

[oldsailor35]

Hi Rob, I have not done it myself, but have friends on Samui who did a lot of research and if you don't mind landing at Stanstead, the cheapest is from Kuala Lumpur via Air Asia. They were very happy with that . Three ways to reach KL. 1) Firefly from Samui.

2) Air Asia from Surat.

3) Coach to KL.

They went by coach and will do it again.

Good luck and please let us know how you went .

Ta dude - but logic dictates - and the subsequent costing also - that going south to Malaysia then buying a flight that heads back this way again will be more spensive cos

a) you have to fly south to begin with,

you've then got to add the cost of flying back to where you began - before you then add the cost of whatever flights.

Doing it this way comes to 40,000 baht at the minimum.

Going on a cheapie from BKK costs 28,000 plus the cost of getting to BKK.

But thanks for the input! I couldn't be so assertive without others like you helping me already!

R

OK Rob, but KL to London Stanstead is 156.50 English pounds one way

[oldsailor35]

Firefly to KL and then AirAsia to London.

Bht 7701.89 one way

[SantiSuk]

For those who prefer to fly direct, I was looking at fares for a London to BKK to London return fare in the mid May to end July period today. It is noticeable that Thai Airways have stopped competing with EVA's price (either that or they have filled their old buses with tour operator bookings and don't need to compete at EVA's level).

For the last year or so Thai have been head to head with EVA. Now I can get EVA for £581 (£591 on their own website) on a wide choice of dates, whereas Thai seems to be up in the low.mid £700s. BA and Quantas seem to have come down a bit from last year - somewhere in between EVA and Thai.

For those who like the savings of an indirect flight, the Indians are down there in the mid £400s as always and the Middle Easterners are in the low £500's - this latter not so much of a saving over the direct flight as it used to be.

I did not detect such an aggressive price increase towards the end of July as I have noticed in previous years - maybe the airlines are struggling for summer (July/Aug) bookings from Europe to Thailand.

The above are just directional comments - I'm sure one or two of you dedicated surfers can come up with the odd one-off bargain that would seem to contradict the above.

[BigC]

google south hall travel , and request kingfisher, top notch airline and only 450 quid return with them ... if you aint been back to uk for a while , the shock of the floods will seem like a brezze when you are back ! ....

It's actually Southall Travel, as in Southall, South London..

http://www.southalltravel.co.uk/

I'd recommend using a Middle Eastern Airline as it would be middle of the Road cost wise, gives you a chance to stretch your Legs & no matter what anyone says, they're genrally the bets Airlines in teh World with Qatar being number 1 choice if you can find a Price that suits you..

Thanks - already found that on Google

They are advertising a London-Bkk return at 460 pounds (22,000 baht) but no quotes for the other way around.

I've emailed them for a quote . . .

Thanks for the info!

R

u might be in for a shock the other way round i was quote 44 k rtn from bbk to london. which makes it impossible for me and my misses to go.

nearly 2k english just to go to a country which i have escaped from. though i would also like to go back to do my visa and visit family.

i only want to do a week max. that is all i could handle i went back about 5 years ago and was shocked absultly hated it and they call that a free country. the only thing that is free is the air that u breath even then they will probably tax people for it.

[smokie36]

For those who prefer to fly direct, I was looking at fares for a London to BKK to London return fare in the mid May to end July period today. It is noticeable that Thai Airways have stopped competing with EVA's price (either that or they have filled their old buses with tour operator bookings and don't need to compete at EVA's level).

For the last year or so Thai have been head to head with EVA. Now I can get EVA for £581 (£591 on their own website) on a wide choice of dates, whereas Thai seems to be up in the low.mid £700s. BA and Quantas seem to have come down a bit from last year - somewhere in between EVA and Thai.

For those who like the savings of an indirect flight, the Indians are down there in the mid £400s as always and the Middle Easterners are in the low £500's - this latter not so much of a saving over the direct flight as it used to be.

I did not detect such an aggressive price increase towards the end of July as I have noticed in previous years - maybe the airlines are struggling for summer (July/Aug) bookings from Europe to Thailand.

The above are just directional comments - I'm sure one or two of you dedicated surfers can come up with the odd one-off bargain that would seem to contradict the above.

Have just booked similar through mobissimo for £405 return with Royal Jordanian similar dates too.

Edited April 9, 2011 by smokie36

[SantiSuk]

I might try that one and hadn't even thought about it. Jordan is probably the only Middle Eastern country I would want to stop over in for more than 2 hours (Petra etc, which I have not seen).

Spurs fans sometimes have their uses

Edit: you'll be missing out on the cute Thai/Chinese trolley dollies though, even if they are a bit parsimonious with the drinks on EVA.

Edited April 10, 2011 by SantiSuk

[BigC]

just would like to know if it would be cheaper direct from KL

if so it is not a long flight rom thialand to KL then direct from there.

For some reason Thailand is the onlu country where they charge the same price for rtn as for 2 singles rarther than every where elese they charge u cheaper for rtn.

also thailand is the only duty free i have seen wherwe the price goes up. seems like they just want as much money as possible before u leave the country.

seems a bit greedy to me.

it is also a country that favour manolpyies which is obviuos.

BBk airways

duty free at bangkok airport. they know u cannot go anywhere once u have gone through international deparutres so if u want some good or a coffee they wake the prices up.

really annoys me at times.

the thais can seems so nice and at other times seems so greedy.

then still u can't knocjk thailand it has more pro's than cons

that why i ain 't left yet

[SantiSuk]

In most countries the phrase 'duty free' has been a misnomer for prices that have been jacked up above what you pay in that country's local supermarket for - oooh 20 years now at least.

Vote with your feet and buy before you hit the airport. For sustenance, I wouldn't take a sandwich to Swampy as Thai sandwiches are uniformly disgusting, but there's always that level 1 staff and locals canteen.

Go on - kick a marketing man in the crotch. Airports are for catching planes and reading books/ playing on your laptop/listening to CDs/watching DVDs while you wait. Never a 'buying opportunity' - except water.

Edited April 11, 2011 by SantiSuk

[robsamui]

Hi Rob, I have not done it myself, but have friends on Samui who did a lot of research and if you don't mind landing at Stanstead, the cheapest is from Kuala Lumpur via Air Asia. They were very happy with that . Three ways to reach KL. 1) Firefly from Samui.

2) Air Asia from Surat.

3) Coach to KL.

They went by coach and will do it again.

Good luck and please let us know how you went .

Ta dude - but logic dictates - and the subsequent costing also - that going south to Malaysia then buying a flight that heads back this way again will be more spensive cos

a) you have to fly south to begin with,

you've then got to add the cost of flying back to where you began - before you then add the cost of whatever flights.

Doing it this way comes to 40,000 baht at the minimum.

Going on a cheapie from BKK costs 28,000 plus the cost of getting to BKK.

But thanks for the input! I couldn't be so assertive without others like you helping me already!

R

OK Rob, but KL to London Stanstead is 156.50 English pounds one way

Sounds really good!

But then add taxes and the cost of coming back and we're on 40,000 baht for the UK flights plus the cost of getting to KL and back.....45,000 baht?

I've got it down to 25,000 baht (plus cost of getting to BKK) from BKK to Heathrow.

But thanks for helping!

R

[robsamui]

just would like to know if it would be cheaper direct from KL

if so it is not a long flight rom thialand to KL then direct from there.

For some reason Thailand is the onlu country where they charge the same price for rtn as for 2 singles rarther than every where elese they charge u cheaper for rtn.

also thailand is the only duty free i have seen wherwe the price goes up. seems like they just want as much money as possible before u leave the country.

seems a bit greedy to me.

it is also a country that favour manolpyies which is obviuos.

BBk airways

duty free at bangkok airport. they know u cannot go anywhere once u have gone through international deparutres so if u want some good or a coffee they wake the prices up.

really annoys me at times.

the thais can seems so nice and at other times seems so greedy.

then still u can't knocjk thailand it has more pro's than cons

that why i ain 't left yet

Correct o large one. It's Duty Free but it's certainly not profit free! Shops can set the prices at anything they want!

R