Airline Information And Flight Deals For Expats

[craigt3365]

Note: This topic is for posting travel deals only, not for discussions!

Cheap flights tickets by Thaivisa Flights and Jetradar

Please refer to this thread for ongoing airline and flight discussions:

Airline Information And Flight Deals For Expats

Off-topic or argumentative posts will be removed without notice. Also, to keep posts to a minimum, travel questions (like what routing to use, what airline flies where, what's the best airline to travel to ????), should be done as NEW topics in the Travel forum, not replies to this thread. This topic is for airline information and up to date travel deals ONLY.

As suggested by beano2274, we're going to use this pinned topic as a source of information for airline information and flight deals to and from Thailand. This is going to be an ongoing process, so be aware changes may be made without notice. Let's work on this together! If you have something to add to a section, just reply to this post and one of the mods will move it up to this section for permanent display. Hopefully, it will help keep this thread manageable. We'll also prune posts with information/deals that have expired. A one stop shop for airline stuff.

Rather than try to list every airlines website, let's have others do the work for us and just link over to there. How about this one, though I do think a few need to be listed here, especially the domestic ones:

Airports of Thailand (AOT) Official Website


Cheap flights tickets

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Flight Deals to all destinations


Thailand Domestic Carriers:
Flight Arrival and Departure Site for Thailand's Airports (Carib)
Air Asia
How to Beat AirAisa's Extra Charges (Quit4Justice)
Bangkok Air
Happy Air (Boycie)
Jet Asia Airways
Kan Airlines (Boycie)
Legacy Air (Pattaya to Siem Reap)
Lion Air
Nok Air
Orient Thai Airlines
Phuket Airlines
Solar Air (Mosha)
Thai Airways International
Thai Regional Airline (TBWG)

Other Carriers Covering Thailand:
Cebu Pacific Air
Fly Scoot
Jetstar Asia Airways
Mandala Airlines
South East Asia Airlines (SEAir)
VietJetAir
TransAsia Airways (Taiwan)
Tiger Airways

MTT Pattaya - Has updated listings of promotional fares from Thailand

Real Time Tracking of Flights:
http://www.flightradar24.com/ (dabhand)
http://flightaware.com/ (rakman)
http://www.flightstats.com/ (mosha)

http://www.checkmytrip.com enter in your reference number and you will get details of your booking, by Amadeus.

Visa, Passport, Travel Insurance and Health Requirements Information:
IATA Passport, Visa & Health travel document requirements
Visa Mapper (SBK)
Embassy Finder
** Always check the embassy's website of the country you are visiting to make sure of visa requirements **
AA Insurance Brokers
World Nomads

Riding Motorbikes in Thailand - A Must Read

Airline Passenger Rights:
US Airline Passenger Rights (Yermanee)
European Airline Passenger Rights (Lomatopo)

Bringing Controlled Substances into Thailand:
BBC Article on Dubai Stopovers
Thaivisa Thread on Dubai

 

Thai Language Guide Books and References:

http://www.forward-books.com/

Interesting Travel Articles/Websites:

*** The New "Big Three" of Travel Search Engines: Competition Dies

 

*** The Newest Way to Find the Best Airfare Deals

*** When to Buy the Cheapest Airline Tickets (Yermanee!)
*** Why There is No Right Answer in Travel (Nomadic Matt)
*** How To Find A Cheap Flight (Nomadic Matt)
*** 10 Ways to Find Cheap Flights (Johnny Jet, with great chart comparing Airfare alert sites)
*** Avoiding ATM Fees When Traveling Abroad (The Points Guy Blog)
24 Best Travel Sites to Save You Money (kiplinger.com)
Airfarewatchdog.com (List of airline route maps)
Airfarewatchdog.com Top Ten Tips for Finding Low Airfares (Phatcharanan)

Airlinequality (SkyTrax) Reviews of airlines, seats, lounges and airports

Airfare Secrets USA Today (Phatcharanan)
Airline Routes - Official Airline Route Maps
Airline Route Maps
Airline Seating Maps (seatguru.com, great site to find out if a seat is good or not)
Alternative Airlines (Good listing of lesser known, smaller airlines - Globally)
Asia River Cruise Guide
Booking a Flight the Frugal Way (NYTimes.com)
Confessions of an Airline Revenue Manager (patekatek)
How to Find Cheap Airfares in Any Season (HuffingtonPost.com)
Disaggregating Fare Aggregators 2009. Which Airfare Comparison Sites Are Best? (upgradetravelbetter.com, discusses several search engines listed below)
Etiquette - The Ultimate Worldwide Guide (Swissotel)
EU Passenger Rights (Yermanee)
FlightFox (experts help find the best airfare for a small fee)
Google.com/flights (great for seeing fares listed on a map)
Guide To Sleeping in Airports
Help Finding Budget Airlines Globally (whichbudget.com)
Hopper (great flight data and research tools!!)
iflybags (Checks baggage allowances and costs, WilliaminBKK)
Low Cost Airlines Globally (Shows budget airlines around the world)
ProMED(Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases)

Rome2Rio (How to get anywhere by plane, train, bus, ferry and automobile)
Safety Ratings Per Airline
Stay.com (great for creating personalized travel guides, also available off line)
Teeza's Beaches and Islands For Thailand
Thailand's Railway Map (Idnguy)
The Man in Seat 61 (for train travel anywhere in the world)
Travel Weather Worldwide
Which Budget Airline (Shows budget airlines by country)
Wikivoyage (great source of destination information)

Meta Search Engines:
Adioso
Best Travel Store (NanLaew)
Bing
CheapTickets
Dohop (LindsayBKK)
Dohop/Away (Great for searching for deals from a particular city) (LindsayBKK)
Farecompare
Faregeek (Ezzra)
Flight Centre UK (Boycie)

Google Flight Search Tool
Hipmunk (A very interesting way to book flights-agony factor included!) (THAIPHUKET)
Hotwire
Igougo
JetRadar
Kayak(also has an alert feature for when fares go up/down for a particular route)
Kelkoo (pattayadingo)
Lastminute
Matrix Airfare
Mobissimo
Momondo
Orbitz
Priceline (Name Your Price!)
Round The World Experts UK (Boycie)

Skypicker
Skyscanner

Travelocity
Travelope (jocko)
TripAdvisor Flights (tripadvisor.com)
Vayama (has special J class deals) (WilliaminBKK)
Yapta
Zuji (Great for Australia and NZ)

Travel Agents Specializing in Thailand:
ATN Inter (UbonOz)
Mastic Travel (Updated promotional fares from Thailand, Dexterm)
Mox Travel (yermanee)
MTT Thailand
SaveFlights
Thaifly
Travelconnecxion

Thailand Bus Information:
The Transport Company (Inc. international routes)

 

Thailand Train Tickets:

https://www.thairailwayticket.com/eTSRT/

Round The World Sites:
Airtreks
Bootsnall
Flight Center (daviddrinkell)
Roundtheworldflights.com (Boycie)
Star Alliance (WilliaminBKK)
One World (WilliaminBKK)
Sky Team (WilliaminBKK)

Travel Games:
geoguessr

Hotel Booking Sites:
Thaivisa Recommended
Book Now, Pay When You Stay!
With FREE cancellation on most rooms, No booking fees, All inclusive prices.
Booking.com


Agoda.com


Other
Airbnb.com
Flipkey.com (Vacation Rentals)
Hostelz.com (huge listing of hotels, hostels, apartments, etc)
Hotelscombined.com (PattayaParent)
Latestays.com
Roomorama (short term and vacation rentals)
The Beach Front Club (only hotels directly on the beach, worldwide)
Tingo.com (jocko)
Tripexpert.com
trivago.com (krisb)
Wimdu (private accommodation rentals)

Thailand Car Rental Deals.
Thailand Car Rentals


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_________________________________________________________________________________

All suggestions are welcome!!!! Please report any broken links.

[puuchaibaa]

I compiled a few Thai booking sites which offer a bit more than the run of the mill Amadeus fares. Never had a chance to purchase from any of them so can't vouch for their reliability. I always seem to miss out on the special promotions either because of availability or timing. If I only save a few hundred baht through an agency I will buy directly from the airline because it's less hassle to refund and there are no credit card fees. Good for reference, though. You might also want to check Air China's Thai website because they offer some pretty good biz & eco promotions there (however, good luck trying to booking them). In no particular order:

http://www.eticket.co.th/index.aspx?lang=en

http://www.his-bkk.com/en/air_ticket/index.php#

http://www.statravel.co.th/flights.htm

http://www.anewtravel.com/default.asp

http://www.saveflights.com/index.php

http://www.sstravel.co.th/sst_airfare/int.asp (Air India GSA, for cheap Star Alliance FF pts)

[yermanee]

Srilankan had unbeatable business class fares to Paris. Not sure if their seats/flat beds are up to scratch though, or how they compare with the average business class standard.

Read my tripreport here : http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/602634-airline-trip-reports-let-us-know-about-your-flight/page-6

Yermanee

[55Jay]

Thought some here might find this an interesting, quick read.

Confessions of an Airline Revenue Manager:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/confessions-airline-revenue-manager-094500117.html?ref=gs

[Khun Han]

Anyone prepared to position to Cairo (I know, I know!) can get Etihad biz class return to BKK for less than 600 Euros. Dates from September through to next June.

[ExpatOilWorker]

Thai Airways is surprisingly currently the cheapest carrier on Skyscanner for a trip back to my part of farang land in Europe in July 2017, even cheaper than any of the Middle Eastern carriers.

 

I doubt most airlines have even considered any kind of promotions 8 months into the future and some of the ME carriers could very well drop their prices.

What is the optimum time frame to purchase a airline ticket? 2-3 months prior to the trip?

[siam2007]

3 hours ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

Thai Airways is surprisingly currently the cheapest carrier on Skyscanner for a trip back to my part of farang land in Europe in July 2017, even cheaper than any of the Middle Eastern carriers.

 

I doubt most airlines have even considered any kind of promotions 8 months into the future and some of the ME carriers could very well drop their prices.

What is the optimum time frame to purchase a airline ticket? 2-3 months prior to the trip?

 

 

Agree, THAI seem to have changed their policy of charging the highest fare of any Airline to anywhere. Some reasonable Promo fares available these days, they were the cheapest on the BKK - KUL - BKK route recently, and now they are the cheapest (a lot cheaper than the budget Airlines such as Cebu Pacific) on BKK - MNL - BKK, as I just found out minutes ago (7.700 return on the date I checked). Plus at least 25% miles earned on Royal Orchid Plus.

[KhunBENQ]

Thai Airways schedule adjustments for the winter season.

A number of increased frequencies and two new non-stop routes:

 

Phuket - Frankfurt - Phuket (since Nov 17, 2016)

Bangkok - Moscow - Bangkok (from Dec 15, 2016)

 

http://www.traveldailynews.asia/news/article/63388/thai-adjusts-winter-schedule

 

The new A350 is used on routes to Rome, Milan and Singapore.

[KhunBENQ]

If you want to share detailed experiences with your flight, please use this thread:

 

and add a link here if you see a deal for the airline.

Thanks.

 

[siam2007]

Thai Lion Air finally got approval to fly to TRANG, starting February 11, and are offering a PROMO fare at 425 Baht (including 15 KG checked luggage and Airport Tax). I don't know how long these fares are available, but as of now they still are.

Skyscanner does NOT list them all. According to skyscanner, no such fare in February, but I found many 425 Baht fares for February as well on the www.lionairthai.com website and I will book a flight for February within a few minutes before you guys grab it  ;-)

[Ricardo]

8 minutes ago, chiang mai said:

I was just getting excited at that except when I looked at the cost versus dates in February or March, the cheapest I could find is 30,000 return to London, about the same as BA currently.

Ouch !

 

The differencebetween what an airline says,and what they actually deliver, allcovered by that nasty little word "from" !

 

I was looking recently at BKK-LHR-BKK for late-November/early-December, when the advertised fare did definitely come up, FWIW.

[siam2007]

MALAYSIA AIRLINES has just implemented a large chunk of PROMO FARES into their system a few minutes ago (Monday 00.01 hrs as usual). Nothing sensational, but a few good deals can be found, such as 5.100 THB return fare from Bangkok to Kota Kinabalu (via KUL) or any other Borneo destination which is pretty decent value for money. BKK - Bali for 7.310 THB return not too shabby either.

BKK - London (LHR) is 10.500 one-way, 19.900 return.

All fares at MH include 30 KG of free luggage and of course meals.

Sadly, the business class "deals" are once again nothing to write home about, except maybe for the 13.375 THB fare from BKK to Manila via KUL (and as KUL-MNL is more than 3 hrs, you can expect booze on board)

 

If you need some inspiration for your Songkhran escape, here you go --->>>

 

http://www.malaysiaairlines.com/th/en/deals/deals-of-the-day.html

[KhunBENQ]

A couple of outdated offers (book until...) have been removed.

 

[Khun Han]

Not the greatest ever deal, but may be of interest to some. Biz class in a wide body jet with angled lie flats and a full catering service onboard, BKK to HKG with Hong Kong Airlines for a bit over 12,000bt return. Dates from September to December.

[golfer1111]

Seychelles anyone?

 

Sri Lanken has BKK - SEZ RT for $881 usd business class

 

Sun, Tues, Fri departures only, looks wide open through february

[Khun Han]

^ I believe some of the flights BKK -CMB are 737s with recliner seats, and some are A330s with the full biz product. Worth looking into before booking. Great deal, all the same.

[golfer1111]

Pretty good deal on BKK - LAX, China Airlines premium economy, RT just under 40000 baht

 

The BKK-TPE-BKK sections are in business, the TPE-LAX sections are on the 777's which are quite nice & the layovers are short. 

 

Looks available from now until 11/30 except July & August

Edited April 10, 2017 by golfer1111

[golfer1111]

The China Air deal is also good to SFO starting in Sept & they have the new A350's.

 

For some reason, it's hard to book on the China Airlines website, use Google Flights to find the fare & then purchase on China Air website

 

https://www.google.com/flights/?f=0#search;f=BKK,DMK;t=SFO;d=2017-09-20;r=2017-10-11;sel=BKKTPE0CI834-TPESFO0CI16,SFOTPE0CI15-TPEBKK1CI837;sc=p

[Khun Han]

Vietnam Airlines has some good deals from BKK to Paris CDG for most of the year (excluding European summer holidays) for about 14,800Bt. Short layovers in Ho Chi Minh, too. Search with an OTA.

[Khun Han]

Some excellent biz class deals with the high class Oman Air, Milan to BKK. Plenty of available dates in May and June for 1048 Euros. Again, search with an OTA.

[golfer1111]

Qatar has some pretty good deals on business class - travel must be completed by 6/20 for full discount, return flights after 6/20 look to be normal fares

 

sample fare of 66000 RT BKK - BCN or BKK - TXL, many more available

 

book by 5/22

[Prbkk]

On 09/05/2017 at 9:59 PM, golfer1111 said:

Qatar has some pretty good deals on business class - travel must be completed by 6/20 for full discount, return flights after 6/20 look to be normal fares

 

sample fare of 66000 RT BKK - BCN or BKK - TXL, many more available

 

book by 5/22

This is a good one if anyone needs to be in Vienna or close by. RTN Business for under 55,000 ( does require an overnight in Doha and limited dates, late May/early June). Qatar, nice airline, great fare.

https://www.google.com/flights/#flt=/m/0fn2g./m/0fhp9.2017-05-31.BKKDOH0QR835~DOHVIE1QR185*/m/0fhp9./m/0fn2g.2017-06-08.VIEDOH0QR184~DOHBKK1QR834;c:THB;e:1;sc:b;sd:1;t:f;sp:0.THB.54030*0.THB.54030&spf=348

 

[moonseeker]

Wow, this is all great info. I am looking for a site or airline with good business deal to Brasil and/or to Capetown and to sites where I can find business flights at discounts in general. Any info much appreciated.  Regards.   MS>

[Prbkk]

12 hours ago, moonseeker said:

Wow, this is all great info. I am looking for a site or airline with good business deal to Brasil and/or to Capetown and to sites where I can find business flights at discounts in general. Any info much appreciated.  Regards.   MS>

It's uncommon to see anything cheap to either: occasionally Ethiopian has some cheapish deals to South Africa but it's a long, long route and stopover. Brazil: never seen anything cheap ex BKK....but there is a reasonably cheap fare around ex Cairo ( BA, AA), but of course you have to get to Cairo to take it.

[Prbkk]

It looks as though Qatar is trying to better manage ( from their perspective) these frequent sales, by restricting the ticket validity/travel dates to about a 6 week period. Previously they offered long validity/return options( 6 months or more).

Consequently the current deal ( book by May 22) requires travel to be completed by the end of June. 

[ExpatOilWorker]

17 hours ago, Prbkk said:

It looks as though Qatar is trying to better manage ( from their perspective) these frequent sales, by restricting the ticket validity/travel dates to about a 6 week period. Previously they offered long validity/return options( 6 months or more).

Consequently the current deal ( book by May 22) requires travel to be completed by the end of June. 

 

I am sure Qatar is doing what is best for them, but these unpredictable promotions really don't work when you also have to juggle with a visa for the spouse. I was 100% committed to fly with Qatar this year, but at the end another airline had much better fares during the time window we could purchase tickets.

[ExpatOilWorker]

On 16/5/2560 at 9:01 PM, Prbkk said:

It looks as though Qatar is trying to better manage ( from their perspective) these frequent sales, by restricting the ticket validity/travel dates to about a 6 week period. Previously they offered long validity/return options( 6 months or more).

Consequently the current deal ( book by May 22) requires travel to be completed by the end of June. 

 

More annoyingly, a friend just bought tickets with Qatar (Europe-BKK-Europe) for 13,400 baht in 2018. You will have to pay nearly 40,000 baht if that same flight originates from Bangkok.

That said, plenty of "Business Saver" slots available for a reasonable price in 2018, but again annoyingly they are all cheaper if the flight originates from Europe. Unfair world!

To add insult to injury, even the layout of the Qatar search engine is better when the flight is from Europe.

Edited May 25, 2017 by ExpatOilWorker

[Ricardo]

On 16/05/2017 at 9:01 PM, Prbkk said:

It looks as though Qatar is trying to better manage ( from their perspective) these frequent sales, by restricting the ticket validity/travel dates to about a 6 week period. Previously they offered long validity/return options( 6 months or more).

Consequently the current deal ( book by May 22) requires travel to be completed by the end of June. 

 

IME they have a good Sale every mid-January, for far-ahead (I booked my September trip) this year Etihad & Emirates also joined-in the bun-fight with similar Sales.

[Konini]

18 hours ago, Ricardo said:

 

IME they have a good Sale every mid-January, for far-ahead (I booked my September trip) this year Etihad & Emirates also joined-in the bun-fight with similar Sales.

 

Sri Lankan also, but this year it was economy only.  The business (also 30% as usual) didn't come until March or April this year, by which time we'd already booked.  

 

For anyone interested Sri Lankan announced that it is now flying to Melbourne, so if the timing is right we'll get business to see both friends and family at a good discounted price.

[Ricardo]

Playing with dates for a possible trip late-November/start-December, I noticed that Oman Airways are offering BKK-MCT-LHR return from B19.805 currently  ...  seems a very reasonable price ex-Bangkok, with 30 kgs of hold-luggage.

 

 

Edited June 4, 2017 by Ricardo