Uk - Thailand, Any Deals ? When Best To Book

[scorpio]

we usually went to thailand 2-3 times per year me wife and baby, now i have to pay for 2 adults and chils seat so flights arent cheap anymore. we can only afford to go once a year now. we have to fly from belfast city airport to london then onto bangkok. does anyone have any advice on when it is best to book ? what are the best travel agents to use ? when there are sales coming up ? basically we want to go back around febuary 2012 time for a couple of months but flights are coming in at £860 upwards with netflights.com that is a lot of money each to pay.

any good deals or sites you can recommend or even when to book, i would of thought by booking now we could get a cheaper / better deal but it seems not. my friend booked only last week from belfast city airport - london - bangkok and he got it for £640 all in and that was with thai airways !!! so if anyone says book well in advance i dont think that is necessarilly true ?

any advice much appreciated . THANKS !!

[CharlieH]

I would say the best airlines for you to check would be Ethiad and Qatar, they are usually the best and often have deals where the child goes FREE with two adults you pay only the taxes for the child.

Always check their websites direct, not through an agent.

[beano2274]

asdatravel

[moobie]

The UK Government Air passenger Duty was increased last year and was applied according to the distance undertaken (actually it's the distance to the capital city of the destination country)- so on longhaul this increased a good deal more than shorthaul. Therefore, you may be better off flying to the European mainland(shorthaul) and then onwards to Bangkok to avoid the longhaul APD completely. Maybe look at flights out of Schipol, like China Airlines?

[WilliaminBKK]

Try Vayama, just checked 01feb-29Feb I see 693 pounds with Emirates from BFS using BD to LHR.

[WilliaminBKK]

Etihad fly's from Dublin

[scorpio]

ITS NOW SEPT 2011, I TRIED ETIHAD AND THEIR LONDON - DOHA-BKK FLIGHTS ARE SKY HIGH SO ETIHAD ARE NOT CHEAP!!!!! maybe we will try booking near the time as people allways say book early but from expirience this is not allways the case, i just want to know are any deals likely to crop up in new year ? thanks

[South]

ITS NOW SEPT 2011, I TRIED ETIHAD AND THEIR LONDON - DOHA-BKK FLIGHTS ARE SKY HIGH SO ETIHAD ARE NOT CHEAP!!!!! maybe we will try booking near the time as people allways say book early but from expirience this is not allways the case, i just want to know are any deals likely to crop up in new year ? thanks

Flying out on the 26th, £539 each inclusive with Etihad via Abu Dhabi (Less than 2 hour transfer both ways). Booked on-line through e-bookers.

[roamer]

I don't know how your searching for your flight but a quick search pulled up the following flights on Kayak, dates 5/2-2/4, flexible,as you can see from about £495. These are actual flight prices, what you see is what you get. Check the right hand side for flight duration, sometimes you might save £10 flying on the same airline but face a 10 hour layover. On the other hand, Sri Lankan would accommodate you in a nice hotel if the layover was overnight. Avoid Air India but Kingfisher and Jet Airways are OK. On the same dates the cheapest non-stop flight was on Eva Air at £603.

Do this. Go to Kayak.co.uk and search. But suggest you register as then you can input flexible dates and also create fare alerts which means they will email you daily, weekly,(your choice) what becomes available.

Feb is one of the cheaper months, play around with your dates or wait for the alerts.

Edited September 8, 2011 by roamer

[roamer]

ITS NOW SEPT 2011, I TRIED ETIHAD AND THEIR LONDON - DOHA-BKK FLIGHTS ARE SKY HIGH SO ETIHAD ARE NOT CHEAP!!!!! maybe we will try booking near the time as people allways say book early but from expirience this is not allways the case, i just want to know are any deals likely to crop up in new year ? thanks

Flying out on the 26th, £539 each inclusive with Etihad via Abu Dhabi (Less than 2 hour transfer both ways). Booked on-line through e-bookers.

Precisely. I use Kayak as they include sites like ebookers but offer alternatives. the flights are out there, just depends how you look for them,

Most important is to be flexible with your dates if possible, particularly if your a family, changing a day can bring quite a saving.

[Ricardo]

I find skyscanner, with its option to look at flights for a whole month, direct or indirect, a useful research-tool.

[Chivas]

ITS NOW SEPT 2011, I TRIED ETIHAD AND THEIR LONDON - DOHA-BKK FLIGHTS ARE SKY HIGH SO ETIHAD ARE NOT CHEAP!!!!! maybe we will try booking near the time as people allways say book early but from expirience this is not allways the case, i just want to know are any deals likely to crop up in new year ? thanks

Doesn't matter how much the flight is with Etihad as you're not going to get a London-Doha-Bkk flight as they fly out of Abu Dhabi.....

[coolhandjoe]

If it makes you feel any better, they're are loads of families in similar situations.

The exchange rate does not help either.

We visit every FOUR years now for a month due to cost of having a large family.

I know one guy who has a good salary but has to be very careful to be able to afford just annual trips.

Edited September 11, 2011 by coolhandjoe

[doc100]

i booked with usit travel in dublin for oct 2011 untill 17 dec for 2 adults i baby cost 1530 euros

[Ricardo]

If it makes you feel any better, they're are loads of families in similar situations.

The exchange rate does not help either.

We visit every FOUR years now for a month due to cost of having a large family.

I know one guy who has a good salary but has to be very careful to be able to afford just annual trips.

Yep, families make travel more-expensive, not just harder. But eventually one hopes that the 'little darlings' will leave home, and become financially-independent, meanwhile 'grin and bear it' time. (P.S. the grin is sometimes gritted-teeth !)

Good luck to the OP !

[steve187]

see here - http://matrix.itasoftware.com/view/flights?session=979916af-85e5-4d03-8e3e-219b55739856

jet at £645 and etihad at £650 out on the 10/2 return 23/3

[beano2274]

Try Egpytair, usually quite cheap, also Gulf Air, but use their websites not agents.

[Ricardo]

asdatravel

think that should be asda-travel.co.uk :jap:

[Babcock]

You should try Momondo.

They have flights in february for 2 months lastminute.com £512 air india!

Quatar airways £629. Not all that cheap.

Air asia is a very good bet. Fly LON to KL and flights from KL to BKK are pretty cheap. 5000 baht return.

[beano2274]

You should try Momondo.

They have flights in february for 2 months lastminute.com £512 air india!

Quatar airways £629. Not all that cheap.

Air asia is a very good bet. Fly LON to KL and flights from KL to BKK are pretty cheap. 5000 baht return.

Do the British Government charge the long haul tax on Air Asia flights?

Another alternative would be budget airline to Paris, then on with Airasia to

KUL avoiding the Long Haul tax, as France does not have such a thing.

Edited September 12, 2011 by beano2274

[Babcock]

It's a bit cheaper from Paris. £680 though Paris to BKK, change at KL. They email me a lot of offers though and these can be very cheap.

[true blue]

when i left uk last month the cheapest flights to bkk from man were turkish airlines 410quid,and they have a 30k luggage allowance.

[Ricardo]

when i left uk last month the cheapest flights to bkk from man were turkish airlines 410quid,and they have a 30k luggage allowance.

Not sure about the luggage-allowance on Turkish, good news if so, but their web-site says 20 kgs.

Just put London-Bangkok on 2nd Feb & back on 29th March into Kayak, who came up with :

Oman Air GBP 486

Etihad GBP 496

Air India GBP 519

Jet Airways GBP 525

Sri Lankan GBP 530

Flying from BFS starts at GBP 820, but perhaps you can find cheaper connections ?

Flying from Dublin gives Etihad at GBP 674, not too bad. Skyscanner also comes-up with Lufthansa at just-under GBP 600, one-stop in FRA, but connections aren't great.

Flying from Glasgow gives Emirates at GBP 744.

Good Hunting !

Edited September 14, 2011 by Ricardo

[MB1]

Try this Scorpio, try and get to Manchester UK as cheap as possible, ferry, bus, air, train or whatever you fancy travelling on, then try Ethiad Airways, I have just got a flight with them for £487 return with Ethiad travelling ecomomy.

I'm flying 14th September and scheduled to return 3rd November though I may change dates and return later or earlier at a charge for changing ticket date, as they say, TIT, UTU.

I have noticed recently that Ethiad seem to be far more competetive price wise than Qatar or Emirates.

HTH.

Edited September 14, 2011 by MB1

[theblether]

Emirates airlines will start daily flights from Dublin 9 January 2012

http://www.zawya.com/marketing.cfm?zp&p=/story.cfm/sidGN_08092011_090915/Emirates_to_begin_Dublin_flights_next_January&ref=cm