That Time Again , Fathers On His Way

[N47HAN]

flying from the uk (any airport ) to Bkk and or Phuket

Spent longer than normal this year looking for a flight as they seem to be more than I recall the last few years , on average looking around 1,200.00GBP

for an economy return flight for any combination of the dates and / or airlines , either direct into swampy or 1 stop layovers

looked at the usual websites , anyone have a hidden gem they care to share ?

cant see them getting anymore expensive (can they) ? , am i aswell to wait untill a day or so before ?

Cheers

[beano2274]

Try Qatar Airways, they fly to BKK or Phuket, and have a sale on till 15 March, but not sure about black out dates.

Move the dates a little with Qatar comes up around 1.046 GBP, From Manchester to BKK.

itasoftware is a good price checker to use, however you cannot buy tickets from them.

Asda Travel is also quite good.

[beano2274]

using itasoftware and using plus or minus 2 days you can get flights with Qatar starting at 781GBP, by moving dates. Next cheapest was Emirates

[CharlieH]

Juggle the dates slightly, 24th Dec and return Jan 9th 786 all in, Air Asia, Gatwick - Kuala Lumpor short hop to Phuket from there..

Checkout the Air Asia website and play with the dates.

DepartD7 11 London (LGW) to Kuala Lumpur (KUL)Saturday, 24 December 2011Depart 1610 Arrive 1300 (+1 day)Regular (LGW - KUL)340.00 GBP1 Guest @ 340.00 GBP105.00 GBPAirport Tax and Fees20.00 GBPFuel SurchargeReturnD7 10 Kuala Lumpur (KUL) to London (LGW)Monday, 9 January 2012Depart 0840 Arrive 1440Regular (KUL - LGW)287.00 GBP1 Guest @ 287.00 GBP5.00 GBPAirport Tax20.00 GBPFuel Surcharge9.00 GBPCarbon Offset Surcharge786.00 GBPTotal

[otissp]

Often EVA airways has cheaper flights than you can get in search engines if you search directly on their webpage.

I dont see you reference your dates. Other people are searching end of year. I didnt see anything cheaper than 1200 gbp for that time range however.

[WilliaminBKK]

I use Vayama for consoldator bookings then I compare directly with the airline.

[lonewolf99]

Here is another tip. Set your alarm clock and search early in the morning when there is less internet traffic in your country. Also your searches become imbedded in the website and it knows you are looking and they give you less and less chance of a bargain....

[Mario2008]

Near Christmas is high season, so expensive. Dates a little bit earlier might give you a better price (and more flight options).

[SantiSuk]

30th and 31st December are the only dates to fly around Xmas/New Year if you want a reduced price. I have flown on the 30th for the last 3 years running (get here just in time to celebrate New Year) and the price is typically £700 rather than £1,000 for a Middle East stopover flight. Mind my returm leg is normally 2 months later - I think you will struggle to find a sub £800 flight returning anytime in January (exceot an Indian or Russian airline). I have always used Opdo.com, but I don't think they are any cheaper than all the other flight comparison websites. Once you have selected a couple of airlines from the flight comparator websites go to the airline's own website. On balance I find Opodo a few quid cheaper, but sometimes it works the other way around.

Try searching on Manchester if that it is at all accessible to you. Etihad/Qatar/Emirates competition has eleiminated the usual provincial airport preium on the Middle East/BKK route.

I agree that this year is a bit pricier - about £100 dearer I reckon. For that reason I am going to take a risk and book a little later. I started looking for a late December out/late February back flight in mid October. I have looked twice since then and the last time I looked was 4 November by which time the flight porice had gone down a little - about £40. Will be looking later today again.

Maybe you can decipher the hyroglyphics of my November 4 search results below. Blue were my favoured choices at that time (odd range of prices because I have finacial penalties I apply to prices depending on the nature of the flight. For instance to a basic Jet airlines fare ex LHR I will add £130 because it is LHR not MCH (Manchester) - £80 cheaper to get there from my UK place and £50 because I loathe LHR! £150 if both legs are indirect with less than a 3 hour layover; £250 if the layover is more than 3 hours (usually means 8 hours plus which I detest and £100 because it is Kingfisher.

Anal or what, but when you do it 6 times a year as I have for the last 5 years you get a bit technical

QAT ex MCH dep 30-Dec 08.55 arr 07.00 +1 via DOH

£726 ret 22-Feb

CHI ex LHR dep 30-Dec 17:40 arr 23:45 +1 via BEI £575 ret 23-Feb

JET ex LHR dep 30-Dec 20:50 arr 18:10 +1 via MUM £576 ret 22-Feb

OMA ex LHR dep 31-Dec 21:25 arr 04:35 +2 via OMA £518 ret 23-Feb

JET ex LHR dep 30-Dec 21:05 arr 19:10 + 1 via MUM (back with Oman) £583 ret 25-Feb

JET ex LHR dep 30-Dec 20:50 arr 18:10 +1 via MUM £611 ret 25-Feb

OMA ex LHR dep 30-Dec 21:25 arr 19:00 +1 via OMA £708 ret 25-Feb

BA ex LHR dep 30-Dec 22:10 arr 16:25 +1 DIRECT £842 ret 1-Mar

EVA ex LHR dep 31-Dec 21:20 arr 15:45 +1 DIRECT £795 ret 27-Feb

EVA ex LHR dep 1-Jan 21:20 arr 15:45 +1 DIRECT £760 ret 24-Feb

[Chi is China via Beijing; I know that the airport codes may not be the official ones but I can't be bothered to look them up]

If all you want is cheap, check out Air Asia to KL, Transaero and Aeroflot via Russia, Egypt air and Turkish Airlines. I think the latter 2 are covered by Opodo (but am not 100% which is why I included them). Opodo does not include the first there in its screening.

[Gonsalviz]

Asia Travel