Qatar Airlines Phuket – Kuala Lumpur

[Felt 35]

Just found out that there now are possible to fly with Qatar from HKT-KUL.

Anyone flied with them on this route and eventually knows if this route is part of a long haul flight or do they have a fixed route between Phuket and KL

Thanks!

[NanLaew]

It's a fixed route AND part of their service to/from Doha.

I used it several times last year when I was working Mon-Fri in KL and wanted some Thailand time. The flight times were excellent as I could work a half-day Friday, leave KL and be in my room in Samui well before midnight. The return leg timing allowed me a late afternoon Sunday departure from Samui and be back in the KL condo for 4am Monday for a full day in the office. If you are unfortunate enough to stay in Phuket, you get about 5 more hours there, each way.

Service was excellent apart from the shit transit airport at Phuket and I could earn miles on my United account. It was also dirt-cheap.

Edited June 18, 2011 by NanLaew

[Felt 35]

It's a fixed route AND part of their service to/from Doha.

I used it several times last year when I was working Mon-Fri in KL and wanted some Thailand time. The flight times were excellent as I could work a half-day Friday, leave KL and be in my room in Samui well before midnight. The return leg timing allowed me a late afternoon Sunday departure from Samui and be back in the KL condo for 4am Monday for a full day in the office. If you are unfortunate enough to stay in Phuket, you get about 5 more hours there, each way.

Service was excellent apart from the shit transit airport at Phuket and I could earn miles on my United account. It was also dirt-cheap.

Thanks for that Nanlaew.

[Ricardo]

It's their old flight from Qatar to KUL, which is now extended to Phuket, hopefully in preparation for an eventual Qatar-Phuket direct-flight ? Should be good for tourists, from all-over the M.East/Europe/Africa, who wish to avoid the time/expense of travelling via Swampy.

Roll-on Chiang Mai's turn, we all hope, up here !

Whichever Gulf-based airline is first to open these secondary-routes into HKT & CNX, should win a lot of loyal local-farang customers, who would be tied-into the entrepreneurial-airline longer-term by their frequent-flyer programmes ! But they need to consider frequency/aircraft-size carefully, to ensure that the early-operations remain profitably-busy, an ER-version of an A320/321 or B737 might be the answer ?

[THAILIBAN]

It's their old flight from Qatar to KUL, which is now extended to Phuket, hopefully in preparation for an eventual Qatar-Phuket direct-flight ? Should be good for tourists, from all-over the M.East/Europe/Africa, who wish to avoid the time/expense of travelling via Swampy.

Roll-on Chiang Mai's turn, we all hope, up here !

Whichever Gulf-based airline is first to open these secondary-routes into HKT & CNX, should win a lot of loyal local-farang customers, who would be tied-into the entrepreneurial-airline longer-term by their frequent-flyer programmes ! But they need to consider frequency/aircraft-size carefully, to ensure that the early-operations remain profitably-busy, an ER-version of an A320/321 or B737 might be the answer ?

their fares are VERY competitive, around 4.300 Baht RETURN, Inclusive all Taxes (and no rubbish such as "convenience fees", "luggage-fees" and the likes).

forget those ridiculously expensive "BUDGET"-Airlines such as AirAsia, JetstarAsia or, even worse, Firefly.

same as on domestic flights within Thailand on BANGKOK AIR (Chiang Mai, Phuket), you can as well have international FULL-SERVICE-PREMIUM-FLIGHTS with 5-star-carriers for MUCH LESS than those "Budget Airlines"

oh, I want to add another one:

for BKK - KUL, there is another great option too, even with a Star-Alliance member.

Lufthansa flies 4 times per week, and the fare INCLUDING EVERYTHING is just 4.300 Baht, as long as you don't stay longer than 7 days. that can be cheaper than a ONE WAY FLIGHT on Air Asia, if you consider all the fees and charges. check the Lufthansa Thailand website for that.

PLUS you can earn Miles on any Star-Alliance FF-program (incl. THAI), yeah, unlike SIA or THAI, Lufthansa gives you some Miles even for the cheapest classes ^^

Edited June 20, 2011 by THAILIBAN