Thai Airways - smooth as silk but hopeless online

[kaptainrob]

Attempting online booking of TG flights from CNX to SYD or AKL results in an ERROR message. Seems the site can't handle regional connections.

... and BKK to AKL return direct flights @ 60,000 THB ... peng mak mak! :(

Thai obviously has problems [and losing money hand over fist] yet they are a great airline to fly with. A 'Smooth as Silk' 747 landing at SYD last month was possibly the best ever in all my years of flying.

Online search engines can book TG all the way from CNX to AKL [via BKK] and also throw up cheaper alternatives ... Bangkok Airways/Qantas/Emirates for example, at ~ 18,000 THB less! [CNX >BKK flight included. BKK to AKL not direct but extra 3hrs transit in SYD quite acceptable].

I hope Thai get their act together under new management.

[Chicog]

Just a cursory search on the web....

http://www.thaitravelcenter.com/en/airticket/index.asp

BKK AKL 21,900 on Thai, but that's excluding taxes and surcharges.

Still you could worse than call them. A bit of shopping around never hurts.

ThaitravelCenter.com
Thai Travel Info Service Ltd.
Call Center : 02-308-8383 (Auto 90 lines ISDN)
Fax : 02-308-8355 (24/7hrs)
email : [email protected]
Travel Agency License : 11/03799
Open Daily : Monday - Sunday

Edited December 5, 2014 by Chicog

[Awk]

I've ordered tickets online departing from CNX before without problems. Perhaps it was a temporary error? I just tried CNX - SYD now on the Thai air website, leaving Dec 15, returning Jan 06. Routed via BKK and a total of 41,750 with taxes.

A tip may be that sometimes cheaper airlines have a codeshare with Thai air. Last time I flew away for work, I ordered on the website of an european airline that serves the country I was flying to. That european airline has the usual crappy service most european airlines have (not that I consider Thai to be great, but it is a step above most european carriers IMO), but from past experience I knew they only fly to Thailand some part of the year, while the rest they codeshare with Thai, so you end up flying Thai instead. Price was about 70% that of Thai. Guess the chance of this applying to a given destination is pretty small though.

Also remember to check out the promotions on their webpages. Usually the duration of the trip is too short for me, but now and then I luck out. Don't think you can order them and start in CNX though, so will have to order the CNX - BKK leg separately.

[ovenman]

The TG website doesn't always handle domestic connections to/from an international segment well or it comes back with some insane price (even for THAI). And sometimes it works okay. It's been like this forever...

[kaptainrob]

Just a cursory search on the web....

http://www.thaitravelcenter.com/en/airticket/index.asp

BKK AKL 21,900 on Thai, but that's excluding taxes and surcharges.

Still you could worse than call them. A bit of shopping around never hurts.

ThaitravelCenter.com

Thai Travel Info Service Ltd.

Call Center : 02-308-8383 (Auto 90 lines ISDN)

Fax : 02-308-8355 (24/7hrs)

email : [email protected]

Travel Agency License : 11/03799

Open Daily : Monday - Sunday

555 if only 21,900 was still a current fare ....

From Bangkok To Auckland Airline Thai Airways Intl Ticketing period 19 February 2012 - 30 September 2012 Travel period 01 May 2012 - 30 September 2012

[kaptainrob]

I've ordered tickets online departing from CNX before without problems. Perhaps it was a temporary error? I just tried CNX - SYD now on the Thai air website, leaving Dec 15, returning Jan 06. Routed via BKK and a total of 41,750 with taxes.

A tip may be that sometimes cheaper airlines have a codeshare with Thai air. Last time I flew away for work, I ordered on the website of an european airline that serves the country I was flying to. That european airline has the usual crappy service most european airlines have (not that I consider Thai to be great, but it is a step above most european carriers IMO), but from past experience I knew they only fly to Thailand some part of the year, while the rest they codeshare with Thai, so you end up flying Thai instead. Price was about 70% that of Thai. Guess the chance of this applying to a given destination is pretty small though.

Also remember to check out the promotions on their webpages. Usually the duration of the trip is too short for me, but now and then I luck out. Don't think you can order them and start in CNX though, so will have to order the CNX - BKK leg separately.

That routing works ok. Price is good as the outbound trip [to Aus unti Jan 31st] is on sale @ ~ 15,000 bt.

CNX > AKL is no go.

[mesquite]

My Royal Orchid Plus Gold membership, Thai's frequent flyer program, expires at the end of the month and I'm glad to leave them. I'm flying discount carriers whenever possible and EVA for long haul and couldn't be happier. I've been a Gold member for about 8 years.

The Gold upgrades, which used to be as good as gold, are now essentially worthless for long-haul. Forget the mileage upgrades.

EVA, Nok, AirAsia, Bangkok Air are all much better than Thai these days, if you're interested in value for your money.

[millwall_fan]

I usually found that trying to include a Chiang Mai leg to an online flight itinerary resulted in higher fares than booking it separately. I generally booked ex Bangkok and then did the CNX add on afterwards. Mind you my experience of flying Thai is obviously different to yours Rob, I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. Emirates/Etihad/Qatar are far better IMO.

[kaptainrob]

Emirates, AirAsiaX, Cathay and others offer better value and service and I have no problem taking either Nok or AirAsiaThai to DMK and shuttle to BKK if necessary. My wife used to fly Thai exclusively, some years ago, and wanted to fly with them from CNX to AKL to avoid transit time as long haul + transits don't agree with her. Unfortunately Thai just aren't competitive [even with comparable carriers].

AirAsia have a ~3,500bt low fare CNX to HKG so a day & night stopover there might be an option as Cathay have direct Akl flights at ~48,000bt.

Some of the Chinese carriers have good although routing via Mainland China makes for a long trip.

[northernjohn]

_{Well a lot of talk about cost and difficulty of booking but not much other than two about the fact that Thai Air is not exactly silk in the sky. More like comparable to air Asia.}

_{I have flown EVA deluxe economy with better service than Thai air.}

Edited December 6, 2014 by northernjohn

[PostmanPat]

I just flew to UK with Lufthansa, but with the leg from Chiang Mai to Bangkok with Thai (partner airline with Lufthansa). One ticket, all legs showing thereon, but was unable to reserve my seats in advance because the first leg was Thai and their seat reservation system wasnt working.

Add to that the extremely rude and offhand attitude of the check in woman at Chiang Mai means that I will do all in my power to avoid ever flying with Thai again.

[Sparkles]

We flew Scoot ,the low cost carrier out of Singapore to Sydney earlier this year.

Bangkok/Singapore/Sydney and return was 12,400 baht each.

Of course there's a 2 hour stopover going and 15 hours coming back but Singapore is not the worse place to spend a night.

New planes , Oz pilots and on time we were pleasantly surprised.

Maybe that was just a promotional price as they were relatively new at the time.

[evenstevens]

hell sport, you are on a loser, big time

how did u get from c/mai to bangkok return , walk,??? 15 hrs stop over in singapore, further costs and inconvenience, when flying long legs

with air asia , my fares over the past 7 yrs also ,from c/mai to k.l. to syd return have been on the average , around the 13.000 baht mark, but i do book well in advance

the stop over in k.l. is now approx 2 1/2 hrs both ways, and air asia have a new airport in K..L.

prices now are around 17.000 baht , but if u login and checked their site on a regurlar basis, better deals do come up

scoot from c/mai , you have lost your sparkle, light up again , and get on board with air asia... from c/mai .. on the anzac route.. is the best by a country mile

capt rob..when i do my work on the air asia w/site.., i do the cnx/k.l. leg separately to the k.l /syd leg(both return)

if i do cnx /k.l. / syd return all in one, i get mumble jumble trash, plus much higher prices

a truly brilliant morning to all

Edited December 7, 2014 by evenstevens

[kaptainrob]

I did AirAsiaX Coolangatta > CNX [via KL] for ~17,000Bt a few weeks back. Booked online only a week ahead. The new LCCT terminal is a vast improvement but the aircon was unbelievably cold.

[daveAustin]

The THAI site is horrible; either a case of too many cooks or no-one wanting to step on the web developer's toes (loss of face blah blah) I'd say. And yes, expensive; almost 30k over BA for two flying to London... not direct either! Hat Yai-Bkk 3.3k three months in advance... AA, Nok, Lion Air etc around the 1k mark. Never had a bad flight with them, but as you say op, they need to get their act together.

[hmficc]

The Thai web site has always been a mystery to me. Hundreds of millions of $ for aircraft any pennies to sell the seats on the web. I would guess that they did not use advanced technologists to develope it and test it.

Perhaps it was a friend of the senior execs.