Thai Airways Ff Miles Royal Orchid Plus

[tartempion]

Just checked my Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus mileage statement and noticed a 30 may domestic flight 500 miles plus an extra 500 miles labeled Domestic Bonus miles. Anyone knows until when they give these Domestic bonus miles?

I need to book a return domestic and have the choice between Air Asia and Thai, I might choose for Thai based om FF miles...

[theoldgit]

Seemingly only until the end of June

http://www.royal-orchid-plus.com/Jun11/index.php?load=content_3

Worth noting that for redemption's they are offering a 50% reduction of the miles required for selected destinations, until the end of August, not domestic flights though.

http://www.royal-orchid-plus.com/Jun11/index.php?load=content_2

[wtk]

if you choose THAI remember to use their promo site to book the domestic trip to get the fare cheaper

won't affect the FF miles

http://www.thaiairways.com/offers/special-fare-promotions/en/passage_en.htm?WT.tg_id=NA00001

Effective for Ticket date 01 May 2011 until 31 July 2011

Departure date 15 May 2011 until 31 July 2011

[martin81]

Thais ROP miles are rather worthless as you have to pay very expensive fuel surcharges on their bonus tickets.

So a "free" round trip to europe will be around 12000 baht. Not what I call free.

[samran]

Thais ROP miles are rather worthless as you have to pay very expensive fuel surcharges on their bonus tickets.

So a "free" round trip to europe will be around 12000 baht. Not what I call free.

That isn't unusual. I'm also a Qantas FF and still have to pay the taxes.

The trick with Thai points is to use them on routes on where there isn't too much competition. Much better value then.

[Benjie]

Most of that 12,000 Baht is tax from airports.

What airlines fly to Europe for 12,000 Baht?

[martin81]

Most of that 12,000 Baht is tax from airports.

What airlines fly to Europe for 12,000 Baht?

Airport taxes are not 12000 baht. Maybe around 2000 baht.

The rest around 10000 b are insurance and fuel surcharges which goes into the airlines pocket. Therefore they should not add it to bonus award ticket that you buy for FF points. Some airlines like SAS do not add these surcharges to award tickets.

And believe me, I know what I am talking about as I have programmed for some airlines to add insurance and fuel surcharge to their total revenue for a ticket. They do not add airport tax to their revenue.

I did not write that you can get a normal round trip ticket to europe for 12k b; only a so called "free" Thai award ticket.

[theoldgit]

Airport taxes are not 12000 baht. Maybe around 2000 baht.

The rest around 10000 b are insurance and fuel surcharges which goes into the airlines pocket. Therefore they should not add it to bonus award ticket that you buy for FF points. Some airlines like SAS do not add these surcharges to award tickets.

And believe me, I know what I am talking about as I have programmed for some airlines to add insurance and fuel surcharge to their total revenue for a ticket. They do not add airport tax to their revenue.

Certainly airport taxes are not 12,000 but, depending on location, they can be considerably more than 2,000 - flights to and from the UK for instance are more than double that.

As a matter of interest I have added a screen shot from BA which details their charges. I know this thread is about Thai, but I presume their charges are similar.

BA Taxes.doc

[NanLaew]

Thais ROP miles are rather worthless as you have to pay very expensive fuel surcharges on their bonus tickets.

So a "free" round trip to europe will be around 12000 baht. Not what I call free.

Another whingeing tightwad retiree?

If you aint paying for the seat and only paying taxes and surcharges, it's free enough and paying ONLY 12000 baht for a European trip is a bargain.

Edited June 18, 2011 by NanLaew

[kurtmartens]

Thais ROP miles are rather worthless as you have to pay very expensive fuel surcharges on their bonus tickets.

So a "free" round trip to europe will be around 12000 baht. Not what I call free.

Another whingeing tightwad retiree?

If you aint paying for the seat and only paying taxes and surcharges, it's free enough and paying ONLY 12000 baht for a European trip is a bargain.

Finally someone calls a spade a spade! Well done NanLaew! Everyday there is a whinging cheapskate going about 2,000 baht, 10,000 baht, 12,000 baht. If you can't afford to live here, then move! A ticket for Europe from Bangkok for 12,000 is a good fair....and even if it wasn't, its only 12,000 baht!

[martin81]

Certainly airport taxes are not 12,000 but, depending on location, they can be considerably more than 2,000 - flights to and from the UK for instance are more than double that.

As a matter of interest I have added a screen shot from BA which details their charges. I know this thread is about Thai, but I presume their charges are similar.

Of course you are right, airport taxes are differnt for different airports. 2000 B was my example for af light copenhagen-bkk return airport tax are as follows according to TG website:

Tax (YQAC) 10,160.00 THB

Tax (YQAD) 310.00 THB

Tax (TSLA) 700.00 THB

Tax (ZOAE) 895.00 THB

12,065.00 THB

x 1 adult(s) = 12,065.00 THB

The 2 last amounts are 700 B and 895 B are airport tax for BKK and CPH total 1795 B.

The rest 10160B + 310b total 10470B are surcharges and are kept by the airline.

To you 2 guys that think I am are retired whinger you are wrong. I still work abroad and even though I have house and car in Thailand I only go there 4 times a year.

The problem is not the normal ticket price. I just booked a Premium economy return eurpope-bkk with TG for around 78.000 B.

I only complain about TG adding running costs of an airline to an award ticket.

[jfchandler]

I won't and don't fly Thai Air....

But I do have a bit under 10,000 miles with them from a past flight years ago that are expiring soon...

Too little for even a domestic flight, and the options for buying more miles from them are ridiculously overpriced.

Any serious suggestions on something useful and productive that I can use the ROP miles for other than magazines?

[tartempion]

A one way domestic economy costs 9k miles, 15k return, business 12k and 20k resp.

Edited June 23, 2011 by tartempion

[NanLaew]

Certainly airport taxes are not 12,000 but, depending on location, they can be considerably more than 2,000 - flights to and from the UK for instance are more than double that.

As a matter of interest I have added a screen shot from BA which details their charges. I know this thread is about Thai, but I presume their charges are similar.

Of course you are right, airport taxes are differnt for different airports. 2000 B was my example for af light copenhagen-bkk return airport tax are as follows according to TG website:

Tax (YQAC) 10,160.00 THB

Tax (YQAD) 310.00 THB

Tax (TSLA) 700.00 THB

Tax (ZOAE) 895.00 THB

12,065.00 THB

x 1 adult(s) = 12,065.00 THB

The 2 last amounts are 700 B and 895 B are airport tax for BKK and CPH total 1795 B.

The rest 10160B + 310b total 10470B are surcharges and are kept by the airline.

To you 2 guys that think I am are retired whinger you are wrong. I still work abroad and even though I have house and car in Thailand I only go there 4 times a year.

The problem is not the normal ticket price. I just booked a Premium economy return eurpope-bkk with TG for around 78.000 B.

I only complain about TG adding running costs of an airline to an award ticket.

Since when does THAI or any airline keep the taxes? Do you understand the taxation system at all? It's a government revenue stream and doesn't get kept by the airline or any other business for that matter.

I am a frequent flyer with Skyteam and use KLM or Air France in and out of the US. Before I changed my Star Alliance 'alliance' from United to THAI, I used to burn my miles on the former when coming to/from the US. When I bought award travel with Air France in the US, it would be processed through their Canadian operations and the taxes for a standard trans Atlantic r/t would be nearer US$400. If I burned a United award, processed through the US, the taxes and fees would be around 80 bucks, tops. I recall an Skyteam award with KLM redeemed in Europe incurred about 180 Euro's in taxes and surcharges.

My point is THAI don't arbitrarily rip you off on award travel. ALL airlines legally charge taxes and service charges on ALL travel. If you are a penny-pincher (and you are), then by all means shop around for the airline partnership that charges the least on what really is a free seat. When you win the lottery, the government takes it's tax cut from your 'free' money.

Don't go around inferring that THAI are thieves any more than any of the other airlines.

[NanLaew]

I won't and don't fly Thai Air....

But I do have a bit under 10,000 miles with them from a past flight years ago that are expiring soon...

Too little for even a domestic flight, and the options for buying more miles from them are ridiculously overpriced.

Any serious suggestions on something useful and productive that I can use the ROP miles for other than magazines?

I will take them jf since anything you will use them for will still be tainted by your opinion of THAI.... like the 'free' magazine wasn't stuck in your mailbox properly and it rained heavily and it was mostly unreadable.... Damnit! Another THAI rip off!!!

[jfchandler]

My opinion of THAI has nothing to do with their selection of magazine subscriptions (which I've never used or received) or anything else about their ROP program.

Rather, it has to do with their excessively inflated ticket prices, mediocre service and less than mediocre cabin amenities.In other words, speaking as someone who pays for his own international air travel, they provide NO value for my money.

Edited June 24, 2011 by jfchandler

[NanLaew]

It's a flying bus service, not the best, sometimes expensive but sometimes better than most. Since I usually sleep on any and all long-haul flights, paid or provided, biz or coach, I just make sure the legroom works. Toilets come as standard!

Now, gimme your <deleted>' miles!

Edited June 24, 2011 by NanLaew