Seeking Information: Cheapest Airfares

[ivan96822]

I have been tinkering around with several airline industry websites and am currently seeking information on the cheapest flights from the States, particularly Hawaii, to Bangkok.

I noticed that to travel in June via United Airlines, the tickets are TWICE AS MUCH as Philippine Airlines. As it stands, Philippine Airlines offers a two-way flight from Hawaii to Bangkok for approximately $1111/US.

Does anybody here have any other suggestions? I looked at some of the other suggested airliners, such as Tiger Air, but Tiger Air does not go to Hawaii (mostly based out of South East Asia and Australia).

Any suggestions from you, the members of this forum, who are hopefully in the know, would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[ivan96822]

By the way, I am not particular regarding seats. I could care less if I have to sit business class or economy, so long as I can order four beers and have a shot or two of whiskey for the flight....It's all about finding the cheapest flight possible. Please let me know your input.

Thanks.

[hagler]

There is a reason PAL flys from Hawaii. There are banned to Europe because of safety concerns.

Edited December 4, 2011 by hagler

[bob4you]

I flew many times Hawaii to LOS and almost always flew China Airlines. I now am permanently in Thailand and have not flown across the big pond for many years but always enjoyed China Airlines and were often the cheapest.

[WilliaminBKK]

Booking June is pretty far out, the consolidator fares are not updated until January for USA point of sale.

I would avoid PAL at all cost, terminal 2 in MNL is a bit better but the airline is poor in my opinion, food, safety, on time performance and trust me you don't want to get stuck in MNL

[phuketrichard]

friend of mine flys abut 4 times a year from Hawaii to Bangkok. always on China airlines :jap:

[craigt3365]

I flew many times Hawaii to LOS and almost always flew China Airlines. I now am permanently in Thailand and have not flown across the big pond for many years but always enjoyed China Airlines and were often the cheapest.

+1

Problem is, the various Chinese airlines don't always show up in the various search engines. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. So you have to search their sites directly, or a variety of "meta" search engines. This is one of my favorite search sites:

http://matrix.itasoftware.com/

And as mentioned above, it might be best to wait a bit and see how the fares go. Here's a few sites that give you updates as to your search or allow you to do flexible searches:

http://www.farecompare.com/

http://www.bing.com/travel/

http://www.kayak.com/

www.hotwire.com

A few others:

orbitz.com

expedia.com

moissimo.com

fly.com

[ivan96822]

There is a reason PAL flys from Hawaii. There are banned to Europe because of safety concerns.

Come on...In today's day and age, how bad could Philippine Airlines be? Certainly they are not falling out of the sky or getting stuck on the tarmac at some southern Philippine Island....

In all seriousness, please respond with some detail/proof/concrete evidence as to why to avoid them.

Thanks for the speedy responses, and I look forward to hearing from more of you on this.

[ivan96822]

There is a reason PAL flys from Hawaii. There are banned to Europe because of safety concerns.

Come on...In today's day and age, how bad could Philippine Airlines be? Certainly they are not falling out of the sky or getting stuck on the tarmac at some southern Philippine Island....

In all seriousness, please respond with some detail/proof/concrete evidence as to why to avoid them.

Thanks for the speedy responses, and I look forward to hearing from more of you on this.

Also, I checked China Airlines and they have nothing available for June - July of 2012. What's up with that?

[craigt3365]

There is a reason PAL flys from Hawaii. There are banned to Europe because of safety concerns.

Come on...In today's day and age, how bad could Philippine Airlines be? Certainly they are not falling out of the sky or getting stuck on the tarmac at some southern Philippine Island....

In all seriousness, please respond with some detail/proof/concrete evidence as to why to avoid them.

Thanks for the speedy responses, and I look forward to hearing from more of you on this.

Their last fatality was in 1994, if I am not mistaken. Here's some reviews of the airlines:

http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/pal.htm

And here's some warnings:

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2008-01-15-philippine-safety-warning_N.htm

MANILA — The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has downgraded Philippine airline operations and put them under heightened scrutiny because of their inadequate safety standards, the U.S. Embassy said Tuesday.

The decision gives the Philippines a Category 2 rating along with countries such as Bangladesh, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Indonesia. It means Philippine carriers can continue flying to the U.S. but only "under heightened FAA surveillance," the embassy said in a statement.

The embassy also advised Americans flying to and from the Philippines to use carriers from countries whose civil aviation authorities meet international standards.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/LD20Ae01.html

EU ban darkens Philippine skies

By Jennee Grace U Rubrico

MANILA - A European Commission decision to ban Philippine carriers from European airspace, which took effect on April 1, threatens to undermine the country's crucial tourism sector.

The prohibition, the most recent in a series of problems for the Philippine aviation industry over the past two years, was issued on the basis of safety assessments by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in September 2009 and the downgrade of the country's safety rating by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2008.

[pomchop]

There is a reason PAL flys from Hawaii. There are banned to Europe because of safety concerns.

Come on...In today's day and age, how bad could Philippine Airlines be? Certainly they are not falling out of the sky or getting stuck on the tarmac at some southern Philippine Island....

In all seriousness, please respond with some detail/proof/concrete evidence as to why to avoid them.

Thanks for the speedy responses, and I look forward to hearing from more of you on this.

Also, I checked China Airlines and they have nothing available for June - July of 2012. What's up with that?

I have flown hnl/bkk/hnl dozens of times...usually either china or korean is best deal...i would call or go see china sales office in hnl and ask why they don't show flights yet for june and july and maybe also ask them which of their consolidators will have teh best fares...i just checked orbitz and right now it is cheaper to fly lax/bkk/lax than from hnl...not good

try this:

China Air Sales office: 1600 Kapiolani Blvd., Suite 1401 Honolulu, HI 96814, U.S.A.

Tel : 1-808-955-0087

Fax: 1-808-955-0091

Reservation Tel : 1-808-9550088

[rakman]

Don't forget to check different departure days. Tuesday departures can save considerable money.

I wonder if the EU ban on Philippine Air is partially due to them not buying the A380, yet.

Something like the threatened EU Thai shrimp ban if Thai Air didn't buy the A380.

[Ricardo]

Don't forget to check different departure days. Tuesday departures can save considerable money.

I wonder if the EU ban on Philippine Air is partially due to them not buying the A380, yet.

Something like the threatened EU Thai shrimp ban if Thai Air didn't buy the A380.

Cynical ! I like it !

Perhaps the Europeans had shellfish motives ?

[ivan96822]

I was messing around on the China Air and Korean Air sites and found some new developments:

1. Korean Air offers a flight out in mid-June and returning mid-July for $1536.

2. China would not release flight information that far in advance, but when I did a "mock" search from mid-March to mid-April, the price for $1477. Not much of a difference.

I will continue to monitor this situation, and I would appreciate some more information from those of you in the know. Are there any other airlines that you can think of besides China/Korea? I checked Asiana, (as another person suggested in another forum), but that connects directly to Seoul, Korea, and I would need to find a flight from Seoul to BKK, which is doable, but not worth the time, money, or effort if China and Korea Air both offer a stopover, yes, but a stopover that connects to BKK within a matter of hours.

Thanks again for the responses. Please keep me informed.

[Wavefloater]

I have found KAYAK to be a good sight for what you want to do.

http://www.kayak.com/

[pomchop]

I was messing around on the China Air and Korean Air sites and found some new developments:

1. Korean Air offers a flight out in mid-June and returning mid-July for $1536.

2. China would not release flight information that far in advance, but when I did a "mock" search from mid-March to mid-April, the price for $1477. Not much of a difference.

I will continue to monitor this situation, and I would appreciate some more information from those of you in the know. Are there any other airlines that you can think of besides China/Korea? I checked Asiana, (as another person suggested in another forum), but that connects directly to Seoul, Korea, and I would need to find a flight from Seoul to BKK, which is doable, but not worth the time, money, or effort if China and Korea Air both offer a stopover, yes, but a stopover that connects to BKK within a matter of hours.

Thanks again for the responses. Please keep me informed.

expedia.com is showing r/t hnl/bkk/hnl on china air for 1299 dept jun 2 return jun 21 fyi...

[rakman]

Don't forget to check different departure days. Tuesday departures can save considerable money.

I wonder if the EU ban on Philippine Air is partially due to them not buying the A380, yet.

Something like the threatened EU Thai shrimp ban if Thai Air didn't buy the A380.

Cynical ! I like it !

Perhaps the Europeans had shellfish motives ?

I love it..

Story from 2005:

http://www.scotsman.com/news/international/tsunami_hit_thais_told_buy_six_planes_or_face_eu_tariffs_1_672009

[kamahele]

I am a Honolulu resident currently working in Thailand and have used several carriers between Hawaii and Thailand. The lowest fare is normally on China Air with stops in Narita and or Taipei. I have also used United as well when they had reduced fares. UA's food was probably the least in amount of all carriers I have taken but the crew was a HNL crew and very friendly. I have also used JAL with a stop in Narita. I have used Philippine Airlines but only between Manila and BKK but their service was just as good as Thai Airways and the food was the normal airline food and I have visited their kitchens which are clean. In reply to the post that PAL flies to Hawaii because they can't fly to Europe, while being banned from Europe may be true, they serve Hawaii because of the very large Filipino population. Hawaiian Airlines also serves Manila for the same reason and I have used Hawaiian to Manila and then that night flown to BKK on Cebu Pacific, however Hawaiian is usually a kind of expensive way to travel to BKK. Best of luck.

Edited December 19, 2011 by kamahele

[beano2274]

Try www.momondo.com

[ivan96822]

I am a Honolulu resident currently working in Thailand and have used several carriers between Hawaii and Thailand. The lowest fare is normally on China Air with stops in Narita and or Taipei. I have also used United as well when they had reduced fares. UA's food was probably the least in amount of all carriers I have taken but the crew was a HNL crew and very friendly. I have also used JAL with a stop in Narita. I have used Philippine Airlines but only between Manila and BKK but their service was just as good as Thai Airways and the food was the normal airline food and I have visited their kitchens which are clean. In reply to the post that PAL flies to Hawaii because they can't fly to Europe, while being banned from Europe may be true, they serve Hawaii because of the very large Filipino population. Hawaiian Airlines also serves Manila for the same reason and I have used Hawaiian to Manila and then that night flown to BKK on Cebu Pacific, however Hawaiian is usually a kind of expensive way to travel to BKK. Best of luck.

So, kamahele, no problems on the flight with Philippine Airlines?

Can anyone else pitch in on this inquiry? Philippine Airlines is by far the cheapest I have come across ($1100/US from HNL to BKK with a stopover in Manila). Has anyone else on this forum taken Philippine Airlines? Surely it can not be as shoddy as some on this forum have suggested.

Please respond. Thanks.