Emirates BKK-LHR return - stopover in Dubai allowed?

[Argus Tuft]

Just wondering if anyone has experience with booking a return ticket BKK-LHR-BKK on EK

Can the trip be broken in Dubai on one of the legs and is there a cost involved?

Is it cheapest to book online with Emirates directly?

It is for 3 person for a 2 week trip in 3d week of July returning early August

Any experience or advice would help thank you

[rak sa_ngop]

Suggest you go to the Emirates website and do the Advanced Search where you can input multiple cities and break up your trip.

However you might be in for a surprise/shock because somebody posted recently that flights from Bangkok to some European destinations were cheaper than flying just to Dubai.

I am not aware that on-line prices are more than agent prices. If anything Emirates used to advertise a discount for on-line purchases.

[coulson]

It will cost you more to hand pick an itinerary on one of the legs only, particularly Emirates can be expensive.

Also be aware that the third week in July is the Eid Al Fitr holiday (17th-20th approx.) and is very busy in Dubai, Hotels will be expensive and there will be limited availibility of certain refreshments.

It is also the hottest time of year, not my idea of a good time.

[Argus Tuft]

Suggest you go to the Emirates website and do the Advanced Search where you can input multiple cities and break up your trip.

However you might be in for a surprise/shock because somebody posted recently that flights from Bangkok to some European destinations were cheaper than flying just to Dubai.

I am not aware that on-line prices are more than agent prices. If anything Emirates used to advertise a discount for on-line purchases.

Thank you - did the advance/multiple search yesterday, was considerably more than direct each way.

I wondered if they had a similar ticketing policy to say TG or SQ where you can normally break the journey in the major hub on one leg

Will keep digging

[mogandave]

I think EK has some layover promotions that includes hotel and whatnot.

How long did you want to layover?

[Bpuumike]

I believe you need to check the visa situation if travelling with Thais.

[coulson]

I believe you need to check the visa situation if travelling with Thais.

Good point....temporarily reduce the limit on your Visa too

[mogandave]

The layover promotion includes visa, ground transport & hotel.

[moojar]

I priced (didn't book) Emirates flights on their website for a trip to Europe from Sydney recently, and it cost no more to have a stopover in Dubai - I was looking at one or two nights. Hotels were an extra cost, but cheaper than Hong Kong.

From memory there is a 'multi-city' option on the website when searching for fares - one-way, return, or multi-city, something like that. You use this multi-city function for a stopover, so that both legs are on the same booking. I expect making separate bookings for the two legs would cost more.

Even arriving and departing in different European cities didn't seem to cost any more with Emirates, although the large departure tax at LHR for long haul flights distorts any comparisons.

[sanuk711]

Just wondering if anyone has experience with booking a return ticket BKK-LHR-BKK on EK

Can the trip be broken in Dubai on one of the legs and is there a cost involved?---op

As far as I am aware--you have to stop over----its not an option, (the amount of time is ) Airlines can not overfly their base.

That's why there are only 3 airlines that can fly direct to London from here non stop,,,,,because they don't overfly their base

Thai Air

British Air

Eva Air

[Argus Tuft]

Just wondering if anyone has experience with booking a return ticket BKK-LHR-BKK on EK

Can the trip be broken in Dubai on one of the legs and is there a cost involved?---op

As far as I am aware--you have to stop over----its not an option, (the amount of time is ) Airlines can not overfly their base.

That's why there are only 3 airlines that can fly direct to London from here non stop,,,,,because they don't overfly their base

Thai Air

British Air

Eva Air

You have definitely misunderstood my meaning there.

I'm well aware that EK stops in DXB on the way to London Have flown this route many many times.

My question related to the family wanting to break their trip in Dubai for a few days - their brother lives and works in Dubai. They wanted to know if there were any options to book a normal BKK-LHR return trip, and then break the return in Dubai instead of connecting through to BKK.

As it turns out, you can't, and I have already been through the Multi sector booking engine on the Emirates site. Cost is significantly higher than on a normal return booking.

[Argus Tuft]

I think EK has some layover promotions that includes hotel and whatnot.

How long did you want to layover?

They wanted 2-3 days.

They have decided not to do the break in Dubai now given the costs and other factors of getting back to school for the daughter.

Thanks for all of the replies

[moojar]

I think EK has some layover promotions that includes hotel and whatnot.

How long did you want to layover?

They wanted 2-3 days.

They have decided not to do the break in Dubai now given the costs and other factors of getting back to school for the daughter.

Thanks for all of the replies

Out of curiosity I just did two dummy bookings - SYD - LHR return leaving Sydney on the same day. Second dummy booking included a three-night stopover at DXB on the way back. Difference in price was $29 AUD (around 1.7% of the fare), which may have been due to the flights / times chosen, or the difference in the day of arrival back into Sydney. I suppose if there were four or five people travelling that would add up to B3000 or B4000 though.

Maybe it is different when booking from Thailand, I have heard flights booked from Thailand are more expensive - friends that come visit us always seem to pay more than I do for our trips to Thailand.

[Argus Tuft]

Out of curiosity I just did two dummy bookings - SYD - LHR return leaving Sydney on the same day. Second dummy booking included a three-night stopover at DXB on the way back. Difference in price was $29 AUD (around 1.7% of the fare), which may have been due to the flights / times chosen, or the difference in the day of arrival back into Sydney. I suppose if there were four or five people travelling that would add up to B3000 or B4000 though.

Maybe it is different when booking from Thailand, I have heard flights booked from Thailand are more expensive - friends that come visit us always seem to pay more than I do for our trips to Thailand.

Totally apples and oranges there.

Cannot do a fare comparison between BKK-LHR-BKK and SYD-LHR-BKK to see what difference there is between stopover vs no stopover

Different issuing countries, different fare matrix, different pricing, different rules for stopovers.

[mogandave]

I think EK has some layover promotions that includes hotel and whatnot.

How long did you want to layover?

They wanted 2-3 days.

They have decided not to do the break in Dubai now given the costs and other factors of getting back to school for the daughter.

Thanks for all of the replies

They had multi-day options.

[Argus Tuft]

I think EK has some layover promotions that includes hotel and whatnot.

How long did you want to layover?

They wanted 2-3 days.

They have decided not to do the break in Dubai now given the costs and other factors of getting back to school for the daughter.

Thanks for all of the replies

They had multi-day options.

Yeah, I know - it was one of the first things I checked, but they decided not to go ahead with it.

They aren't going to stop in Dubai any more, they have changed their plans.

[moojar]

Out of curiosity I just did two dummy bookings - SYD - LHR return leaving Sydney on the same day. Second dummy booking included a three-night stopover at DXB on the way back. Difference in price was $29 AUD (around 1.7% of the fare), which may have been due to the flights / times chosen, or the difference in the day of arrival back into Sydney. I suppose if there were four or five people travelling that would add up to B3000 or B4000 though.

Maybe it is different when booking from Thailand, I have heard flights booked from Thailand are more expensive - friends that come visit us always seem to pay more than I do for our trips to Thailand.

Totally apples and oranges there.

Cannot do a fare comparison between BKK-LHR-BKK and SYD-LHR-BKK to see what difference there is between stopover vs no stopover

Different issuing countries, different fare matrix, different pricing, different rules for stopovers.

I've just done dummy bookings BKK-LHR-BKK, with and without a DXB stopover on the return. Difference was B1295 pp in economy, which is around a 4% premium.

Not trying to call you out, I just did it for my own information, as we plan to do a bit of travelling once we retire (in Thailand.) I'm in Australia atm, will compare those prices with dummy bookings next time I'm in Thailand. Might be I get my son to make any bookings from Australia using my credit card.

Enjoy your trip.

Edited June 4, 2015 by moojar

[rak sa_ngop]

You may also want to look at Gatwick instead of Heathrow. Certainly in Business class LHR sells out in cheaper seats faster than LGW. Can make a 20,000 baht difference. And the fast train can get you into Victoria faster than the tube from Heathrow.

[CNXBKKMAN]

A decent travel agent can book an EK ticket and very quickly tell you what days, stopover durations give you the lowest airfares. They dont use the airlines website they have direct access to the seats and available booking classes and can steer through it all very quickly. They can save you money as well.

The other airline that does DXB is Etihad. Their hub is Abu Dhabi. If you book with a Dubai stopover you get off the aircraft in Abu Dhabi and the next sector complete with an EY flight number is a bus , one hour or so straight to Dubai. They have a city centre office with check-in facility in downtown Dubai and some other city spots.

The Emirates website wont tell you about the Etihad option or that Royal Brunei will stop in DXB on the way to LHR, a travel agent will. When you use the websites you are your own DIY travel agent and only as good as your own knowledge of routes , airlines, visa rules, seasonal dates where fares go up and down, aircraft types, minimum connection times, possible bad weather, etc etc