Choosing Airline

[yermanee]

What is paramount for you in choosing a particular airline for flights BKK/Europe?

For me it’s (flying business class) :

• Airport experience i.e. lounges, walking distances to negotiate, check-in lines, fast track yes or no, aerobridges and smoking rooms available.
  

• On board i.e. seating comfort and flat beds, staff friendliness and efficiency, whereby friendliness is the most important aspect, cleanliness of toilets and last but not least good wines. Food and IFE are the least important.
  

• Value for money i.e. in choosing an airline I always look where I can get the desired airline and flight for the least amount of money, but other than that if the price is within my budget, I will always choose a preferred airline even if it is dearer than the second in line.
  

Other than the above departing, arrival and connecting times also play a role, as for example I prefer to arrive early morning Saturday or Sunday at my arrival airport, since I still have to negotiate quite a distance (rental car) to arrive at my final destination. On return flight this is of less importance since my trusted limousine service can pick me up day or night for the short ride home.

So, what are your parameters, how far are you willing to go re comfort in choosing a flight, or is the price the most important parameter?

Yermanee

[RabC]

Again I normally fly Business or First. My priorities are:

1. Direct Flight

2. Flat Bed seat

3. Arrival and departure times.

4. Quality of onboard service.

For example once EVA introduce the full flat beds on the LHR route I will most probably stop using Thai First and use EVA business. I am lucky in that cost doesn't enter into it as someone else is always paying.

[craigt3365]

Mine? Cheapest flight with the shortest routing time wise (and decent safety record). I look at it like a job. If it costs $500 more for a particular flight, and it's 10 hours, I'm basically paying myself $50 (not figuring in tax issues) an hour to take the cheaper flight!! Not a bad job...especially when they are serving free booze.

[tw25rw]

Direct Flight

Room

Cost

Hence I fly EVA business LHR-BKK and Premium Econ BKK-LHR. I can't sleep sitting up so fly out in business, but the flight back is in the day so I save money by flying in PE.

The only other airlines with PE are overpriced, so EVA it is.

[Chivas]

Direct Flight

Room

Cost

Hence I fly EVA business LHR-BKK and Premium Econ BKK-LHR. I can't sleep sitting up so fly out in business, but the flight back is in the day so I save money by flying in PE.

The only other airlines with PE are overpriced, so EVA it is.

If money is no object Business Class it would be with Non stop routing.........

However I am at loss at anyone who pays £1800 rather than £500 for a seat comfortable or otherwise when money IS an issue, so for me its cost as well..........

[roamer]

1.) Avoid Air Berlin

2.) See 1.

[tw25rw]

Direct Flight

Room

Cost

Hence I fly EVA business LHR-BKK and Premium Econ BKK-LHR. I can't sleep sitting up so fly out in business, but the flight back is in the day so I save money by flying in PE.

The only other airlines with PE are overpriced, so EVA it is.

If money is no object Business Class it would be with Non stop routing.........

However I am at loss at anyone who pays £1800 rather than £500 for a seat comfortable or otherwise when money IS an issue, so for me its cost as well..........

I pay about £1300.

[Brown1950]

Direct Flight

Room

Cost

Hence I fly EVA business LHR-BKK and Premium Econ BKK-LHR. I can't sleep sitting up so fly out in business, but the flight back is in the day so I save money by flying in PE.

The only other airlines with PE are overpriced, so EVA it is.

If money is no object Business Class it would be with Non stop routing.........

However I am at loss at anyone who pays £1800 rather than £500 for a seat comfortable or otherwise when money IS an issue, so for me its cost as well..........

I pay about £1300.

What airline for 1300gbp - Departure Airport ? What class of travel ? Date(s) ???

[tartempion]

Flying business class

1) flat bed

2) prefer half way stop, thus no hopping to other airport than closest one (therefore I will avoid departing from CDG, FRA, LHR)

3) price

4) facilities: lounges, chauffeur, fast track

That's why I use Etihad exclusively so far: flat bed al the way, ex BRU, good facilities, look out for promotions, try to stay below 2000 euros return

QR and Thai ex BRU don't qualify (yet).

Flying direct out ZRH, FRA with interline from BRU might be third choice if EY 2000+ and LH or Oman or Swiss, but doubt price to be found at 2000-

[tw25rw]

Direct Flight

Room

Cost

Hence I fly EVA business LHR-BKK and Premium Econ BKK-LHR. I can't sleep sitting up so fly out in business, but the flight back is in the day so I save money by flying in PE.

The only other airlines with PE are overpriced, so EVA it is.

If money is no object Business Class it would be with Non stop routing.........

However I am at loss at anyone who pays £1800 rather than £500 for a seat comfortable or otherwise when money IS an issue, so for me its cost as well..........

I pay about £1300.

What airline for 1300gbp - Departure Airport ? What class of travel ? Date(s) ???

It's in the earlier post.

[SantiSuk]

Being an ex-accountant I adopt an analytical approach and I add various penalties to the fare price to get a comparable price (a comparable non-cash opportunity cost if you are an economist) for all the available different flights.

I travel economy and I have the choice of Manchester or Heathrow.

The penalty costs are as follows (per one way journey unless stated):

Travel - Leeds to Manchester (return) £26

Travel - Leeds to Heathrow (return) £78

'I hate Heathrow' penalty (extra time and hassle to get there) £40

Indirect flight penalty - less than 3 hours stop-over - £75

Penalty cost to add to an indirect flight with more than 3 hours stopover £100

Penalty cost to add to indirect flight with more than 8 hours stopover £150

Penalty cost reduced by 33% if stopover is in Europe and permits a good long sleep-inducing transcontinental leg

Penalty cost to apply for use of specific airlines (check-in and onboard factors - mostly food, staff courteousnous/responsiveness, number of alcoholic drinks offered, soft drink sweeps during the night, availability of self-serve pantry, IFE variety, seat comfort - some of these are more important to us non-business class wallahs because there are some poor examples):

Qatar/Emirates/Etihad/BA/Quantas £nil

Gulf/Oman/Thai £20

EVA £30

Austrian/Lufthasa £40

Finnair/Sri Lankan/Chinese £50

India £75

Jet £100

Anal or what? Actually all I have done is codify the types of considerations you all make - just a bit more (a lot more) logically. And yes I do use a spreadsheet of course! In my defence I do this trip 5 times a year and have done for 5 years (2 or 3 times a year on business for 15 years prior to that, so I can make such judgements (though I must admit some of the penalty airline add-ons are pure prejudice - I have never tried Indian or Jet (to Bangkok). I make a brief note of good and bad points on all long haul flights that I might repeat.

I can't be too far out because my results for different available flights tend to converge - ie everybody else is applying judgements that affect relative pricing. through the demand side in a broadly similar way. This is no accident - the premium for direct flights is a lot more now than it was several years ago and competition between the big 3 Arabs has mostly stripped out the old provincial airport premium that applied several years ago.

However in the last 2 years I have nearly always flown from Manc on one of the 'big 3 Arabs' - Emirates, Qatar and Etihad (which as airlines and hubs I marginally - very marginal in the case of EMI and QAT prefer in that order) even though I seem to have ascribed the same order in my algorithms to date - must go back and touch those airline penalties up!

I find that I end up paying a fare of about £575 to £700, depending on season. When I add my penalties most flights show a comparable non-cash opportunity cost in the range of about £900 to £1050

And to think that TV members are always asking what we Issaan falangs do with our time

PS - I think some people would be much more choosy about airlines - I can put up with bad food by buying a meal on departure and I can listen to my own i-Pod and sleep a lot, so many of the airlines fall in a narrow nil to 40 quid category.

Edited January 9, 2013 by SantiSuk

[Chivas]

Being an ex-accountant I adopt an analytical approach and I add various penalties to the fare price to get a comparable price (a comparable non-cash opportunity cost if you are an economist) for all the available different flights.

I travel economy and I have the choice of Manchester or Heathrow.

The penalty costs are as follows (per one way journey unless stated):

Travel - Leeds to Manchester (return) £26

Travel - Leeds to Heathrow (return) £78

'I hate Heathrow' penalty (extra time and hassle to get there) £40

Indirect flight penalty - less than 3 hours stop-over - £75

Penalty cost to add to an indirect flight with more than 3 hours stopover £100

Penalty cost to add to indirect flight with more than 8 hours stopover £150

Penalty cost reduced by 33% if stopover is in Europe and permits a good long sleep-inducing transcontinental leg

Penalty cost to apply for use of specific airlines (check-in and onboard factors - mostly food, staff courteousnous/responsiveness, number of alcoholic drinks offered, soft drink sweeps during the night, availability of self-serve pantry, IFE variety, seat comfort - some of these are more important to us non-business class wallahs because there are some poor examples):

Qatar/Emirates/Etihad/BA/Quantas £nil

Gulf/Oman/Thai £20

EVA £30

Austrian/Lufthasa £40

Finnair/Sri Lankan/Chinese £50

India £75

Jet £100

Anal or what? Actually all I have done is codify the types of considerations you all make - just a bit more (a lot more) logically. And yes I do use a spreadsheet of course! In my defence I do this trip 5 times a year and have done for 5 years (2 or 3 times a year on business for 15 years prior to that, so I can make such judgements (though I must admit some of the penalty airline add-ons are pure prejudice - I have never tried Indian or Jet (to Bangkok). I make a brief note of good and bad points on all long haul flights that I might repeat.

I can't be too far out because my results for different available flights tend to converge - ie everybody else is applying judgements that affect relative pricing. through the demand side in a broadly similar way. This is no accident - the premium for direct flights is a lot more now than it was several years ago and competition between the big 3 Arabs has mostly stripped out the old provincial airport premium that applied several years ago.

However in the last 2 years I have nearly always flown from Manc on one of the 'big 3 Arabs' - Emirates, Qatar and Etihad (which as airlines and hubs I marginally - very marginal in the case of EMI and QAT prefer in that order) even though I seem to have ascribed the same order in my algorithms to date - must go back and touch those airline penalties up!

I find that I end up paying a fare of about £575 to £700, depending on season. When I add my penalties most flights show a comparable non-cash opportunity cost in the range of about £900 to £1050

And to think that TV members are always asking what we Issaan falangs do with our time

PS - I think some people would be much more choosy about airlines - I can put up with bad food by buying a meal on departure and I can listen to my own i-Pod and sleep a lot, so many of the airlines fall in a narrow nil to 40 quid category.

The long winter Issan nights must simply fly by.................

Edited January 9, 2013 by Chivas

[Dancealot]

Direct Flight

Room

Cost

Hence I fly EVA business LHR-BKK and Premium Econ BKK-LHR. I can't sleep sitting up so fly out in business, but the flight back is in the day so I save money by flying in PE.

The only other airlines with PE are overpriced, so EVA it is.

If money is no object Business Class it would be with Non stop routing.........

However I am at loss at anyone who pays £1800 rather than £500 for a seat comfortable or otherwise when money IS an issue, so for me its cost as well..........

I oblige "the bandit" fellow moustache member

Direct flight

Arrival and Dep times very important. Once i landed 3am in bangkok, alone and unprepared.. If you dont know where to go the Good luck...

Ticket change with 1 phone call, no extra costs.

These criteria are imperative for me.

[Chivas]

Direct Flight

Room

Cost

Hence I fly EVA business LHR-BKK and Premium Econ BKK-LHR. I can't sleep sitting up so fly out in business, but the flight back is in the day so I save money by flying in PE.

The only other airlines with PE are overpriced, so EVA it is.

If money is no object Business Class it would be with Non stop routing.........

However I am at loss at anyone who pays £1800 rather than £500 for a seat comfortable or otherwise when money IS an issue, so for me its cost as well..........

I oblige "the bandit" fellow moustache member

Direct flight

Arrival and Dep times very important. Once i landed 3am in bangkok, alone and unprepared.. If you dont know where to go the Good luck...

Ticket change with 1 phone call, no extra costs.

These criteria are imperative for me.

Rodger Bandit

Smokies on your tail..............

[Dancealot]

Kojak with a kodak? Or the real smokie?

Snowman, out

[narak86]

If money was no object. I'd hire my own private jet with a michelin starred chef, personal masseuse, and some nice cold tins of lager.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Thaivisa Connect App