gray42 Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 I'm planning to fly to Phuket from Los Angeles on September 1st. When is the best time to buy my ticket? Will it be cheaper if I buy it in the off season, or does the ticket price depend on your actual flight date rather than when you buy it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigt3365 Posted April 19, 2011 Share Posted April 19, 2011 That's a tough one. I don't think Sept 1st is actually "low" season. It usually starts a bit later than that and many airlines start announcing lower prices around the beginning of Sept or so...even more towards the end of the month...for travel starting around mid-sept and later. I would start looking now. Here are two threads worth looking at for recommendations: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/426101-purchase-timing-for-international-air-tickets/ http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/429373-tickets-to-america/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geriatrickid Posted April 19, 2011 Share Posted April 19, 2011 Crap shoot. You need to track the fares. Look at the historical fares for the time period. Expect that fares have all increased 10-20%. So, if you see a fare either at a historical low or within 10% grab it. Avoid booking LAX-HKT until you look at LAX-BKK and the cost of the ticket for the separate leg of BKK-HKT. It can save you a few hundred$$ Check out the LAX-NRT-BKK routing. UA and DL are trying to fill their empty seats something awful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigt3365 Posted April 19, 2011 Share Posted April 19, 2011 Crap shoot. You need to track the fares. Look at the historical fares for the time period. Expect that fares have all increased 10-20%. So, if you see a fare either at a historical low or within 10% grab it. Avoid booking LAX-HKT until you look at LAX-BKK and the cost of the ticket for the separate leg of BKK-HKT. It can save you a few hundred$$ Check out the LAX-NRT-BKK routing. UA and DL are trying to fill their empty seats something awful. I leave in one week...booked my flight in January and it has now been changed 2 times! I booked with Continental, they slagged me off to UA who then slagged me off to ANA. Lost my seat assignments and had to spend an hour on the phone trying to get them back. Seems flights through NRT are not full for sure! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LindsayBKK Posted April 19, 2011 Share Posted April 19, 2011 (edited) Normally I would say 6-8weeks before departure but good to do weekly searches to see how fares fluctuate. Oil prices etc. have alot to do with it. Dohop I only searched 1 time and found this. Korean Air (ebookers) 36950bht sounds a good deal. Only 1hr50min @ICN ooops just found 6hrs the way back. Keep looking. ICN has great facilities, massages, showers, beds, you name it so 6hrs would fly by. Thu 01 Sep 2011 12:30-17:10+Flight KE18 (Korean Air)Los Angeles (LAX)-Seoul (ICN)12h 40mCAL Fri 02 Sep 2011 17:10-19:00Wait Seoul (ICN)1h 50m 19:00-23:15Flight KE637 (Korean Air)Seoul (ICN)-Phuket (HKT)6h 15mCAL Thu 15 Sep 2011 00:45-08:55Flight KE638 (Korean Air)Phuket (HKT)-Seoul (ICN)6h 10mCAL 08:55-15:00Wait Seoul (ICN)6h 05m 15:00-10:30Flight KE17 (Korean Air)Seoul (ICN)-Los Angeles (LAX)11h 30mCAL Edited April 19, 2011 by LindsayBKK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phuketrichard Posted April 19, 2011 Share Posted April 19, 2011 Check out Asian, also thru Seoul then on to Phuket avoiding Bangkok. or if u have the additional $$ book Cathy/dragon air Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FritsSikkink Posted April 19, 2011 Share Posted April 19, 2011 Before Sept. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tartempion Posted April 20, 2011 Share Posted April 20, 2011 I usually buy my intercontinental travel 3 months before departure. Then I ALWAYS find cheaper 1 week later.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gray42 Posted April 20, 2011 Author Share Posted April 20, 2011 Awesome, thank you all for the advice. I'm going to look into how to track previous fare trends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gray42 Posted April 25, 2011 Author Share Posted April 25, 2011 Just wanted to run a flight by you guys. It's with Thai Airways from Los Angeles to Koh Samui on Sept 1. There's 1 stop in Bangkok before heading to Koh Samui and it is about $1180 including taxes. The cheapest flight is with Cathay Pacific and is only $800, but it has 2 stops (one in hong kong, one in bangkok). I'll be traveling with my dog and I've read Hong Kong is not pet friendly. I've heard very good things about Thai Airways as far as shipping a dog. Does the Thai Airways fare seem good? Too high? Normal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phuketrichard Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 is that a one way price>> $1,180? Thai is a good airline and great for long distance though if i had my choice i would go with Cathy $800 is a good deal. I just booked Phuket-SFO via Seoul for 24,300 baht ($810) for end of June Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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