What is, and which Airline is least expensive Business Class?

[BruceMangosteen]

Please make it easy for me. I've searched and searched. All of the board. 

 

Which is the least expensive Business Class offering for one way travel to the USA, west coast, from Bangkok? 

 

Thanks in advance for any tips. Any airline with a reasonable connection time is okay. No mileage issues to consider. 

 

Once clued in on the airline, I'll do the rest, dates etc.. Cheers mates. 

[Peterw42]

Others who travel that route may be able to advise, but keep in mind different airlines have a different opinion of "Business Class". 

Business class on a budget airline is sometimes only a slightly bigger seat and a pillow. 

[JaseTheBass]

Only flown with Emirates business class and I thought it was pretty good VFM, which is why I upgraded.

[manfredtillmann]

malaysian airlines - or one of their partners in their network appear to service the usa. check out MAS' s website.

 

i just booked a bkk - syd return over xmas / ny on their website for A$2670. that's a cool A$800 cheaper than TG and almost half of what QF - whose lounge i shall be using - was asking for.

and with an outside chance of a one - way mystery trip or the close proximity participation in a pyrolytic display...

can't wait.

no joke, i have flown MAS before, they are better than good. and their home airport klia in kul is have heaven of peace and tranquility.

highly recommended.

[KittenKong]

I dont think that there is any airline that is consistently the cheapest to the US West Coast in business class though China Southern, China Eastern and Asiana are generally at the forefront (none of this is a recommendation, not least because I have never travelled on any of them). I certainly dont know how good their business class offer is and that counts for a lot as mentioned by others.

 

What I prefer to do is look for current special offers which can often make other, hopefully better, airlines cheaper than the ones above. For example, Finnair were recently doing BKK>JFK>BKK in business class for 80,000B which was a reduction of about 40,000B on their usual price. Not all special offers are available on search engines, and not all search engines will have all the current special offers. You may have to look at the individual airlines offers pages. So it does involve a bit of legwork.

[DipStick]

16 minutes ago, manfredtillmann said:

malaysian airlines - or one of their partners in their network appear to service the usa. check out MAS' s website.

 

i just booked a bkk - syd return over xmas / ny on their website for A$2670. that's a cool A$800 cheaper than TG and almost half of what QF - whose lounge i shall be using - was asking for.

and with an outside chance of a one - way mystery trip or the close proximity participation in a pyrolytic display...

can't wait.

no joke, i have flown MAS before, they are better than good. and their home airport klia in kul is have heaven of peace and tranquility.

highly recommended.

Couldn't agree more, the last two years I have flown HK -LHR -HK four times with MAS. In HK I use any of the CX lounges, the MAS lounges at KL and LHR are very good. The food, service and cabin crew can only be rated as excellent.

[HampiK]

I always see very cheap offers on OMAN AIR for business class flights. The business class looks good on the airplanes.

[manfredtillmann]

38 minutes ago, KittenKong said:

I dont think that there is any airline that is consistently the cheapest to the US West Coast in business class though China Southern, China Eastern and Asiana are generally at the forefront (none of this is a recommendation, not least because I have never travelled on any of them). I certainly dont know how good their business class offer is and that counts for a lot as mentioned by others.

 

What I prefer to do is look for current special offers which can often make other, hopefully better, airlines cheaper than the ones above. For example, Finnair were recently doing BKK>JFK>BKK in business class for 80,000B which was a reduction of about 40,000B on their usual price. Not all special offers are available on search engines, and not all search engines will have all the current special offers. You may have to look at the individual airlines offers pages. So it does involve a bit of legwork.

finnair bkk - jfk - bkk might take almost a week out of your life...

[IMA_FARANG]

I do not know the answer to that question  but i just booked an Emerates busines class flight to Hong Kpng for the 20th of September  for only 400 baht more than a Economy fare on the same flight on thr sane day

Emirates is having a promotion on  fare discounts on their business class fares on certain sleccted routes this monrh. Only will last another week or so.

Not sure if you will get same busines fare by booking on line however.

Think it was a one off offer  fare available at their Bangkok booking office only

Just made a booking on an Emirates flight to Hong Kong today.  and was happily surprised by their discount on a business class fare from Bangkok to Homg Kong if paying by cash not credit card in 24 hours.

Ocassionally it does happen but you have to be llucky enough to be in the right place at the right time.

Edited September 14, 2016 by IMA_FARANG

[KittenKong]

2 hours ago, manfredtillmann said:

finnair bkk - jfk - bkk might take almost a week out of your life...

 

Not quite that much: 23 hour layover in one direction and 8 in the other. Some people might like the opportunity of breaking their journey and getting to look at Helsinki for a couple of days (or even taking a side-trip to somewhere else during the layover). Some may not. The flyer will decide how much importance he places on short connections, pod seats, good food, modern planes, limos, price etc etc. I was very tempted by this ticket at this price.

 

One thing is for sure: the newest planes, shortest layovers, best seats, best service and best food are unlikely to come from the cheapest carrier.

[mtls2005]

This is a pretty wide-open question.

 

There are often four or more Business Class fare buckets, from highest price/most flexible to lowest price/least flexible. Add to that inventory on those buckets gets adjusted quite often. So there may be two lowest fare bucket seats on a particular flight 330 days out.

 

There are seasons: peak, high, shoulder, low.

 

What is your destination airport?

 

Is price your only factor? (Schedule, # of flights, seat, service, amenities, lounges, airline, alliance, connecting airport(s)) 

 

What is your budget?

 

What fares have you been seeing?

 

Just noticed the one-way travel part; that complicates the issue.

 

With a bit more detail your question might move into the realm of 'answerable'?

 

 

 

[Khun Han]

1 hour ago, KittenKong said:

 

Not quite that much: 23 hour layover in one direction and 8 in the other. Some people might like the opportunity of breaking their journey and getting to look at Helsinki for a couple of days (or even taking a side-trip to somewhere else during the layover). Some may not. The flyer will decide how much importance he places on short connections, pod seats, good food, modern planes, limos, price etc etc. I was very tempted by this ticket at this price.

 

One thing is for sure: the newest planes, shortest layovers, best seats, best service and best food are unlikely to come from the cheapest carrier.

 

Keep a close eye on Qatar's Festival sales. They're not always great, but sometimes you can get flights on the latest metal, with short connection times, for simply astonishing prices.

[BruceMangosteen]

3 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

This is a pretty wide-open question.

 

There are often four or more Business Class fare buckets, from highest price/most flexible to lowest price/least flexible. Add to that inventory on those buckets gets adjusted quite often. So there may be two lowest fare bucket seats on a particular flight 330 days out.

 

There are seasons: peak, high, shoulder, low.

 

What is your destination airport?

 

Is price your only factor? (Schedule, # of flights, seat, service, amenities, lounges, airline, alliance, connecting airport(s)) 

 

What is your budget?

 

What fares have you been seeing?

 

Just noticed the one-way travel part; that complicates the issue.

 

With a bit more detail your question might move into the realm of 'answerable'?

 

 

 

 

As mentioned, I know about the seasonal impacts and just need to get to the west coast. From the west coast I'll use miles to get to my final destination. I have no budget. I'm hoping to find something around $1500.usd.(one way) As someone mentioned, the Chinese carriers come up least expensive. I suppose I could go the other direction(middle east) if actually less expensive. Budget carriers are not going to fly across the Pacific ocean, at least I don't think they are yet. Thanks for the replies. O O and God Bless You. BTW, why haven't we heard by the Egypt Air plane crashed? They found the black boxes...just wondering. 

[DipStick]

This may sound as a boast but I assure you it's not. I have been a Marco Polo club member with CX since 1991, I have flown nearly a million miles with them and One World affiliates, I have also flown possibly 500, 000 miles with no affiliated airlines. To me now, if I want to fly from A -B why should I even look at airlines that fly from BKK to LA  with many hours stop over at connecting airports. The posts about Emirates, Oman, and Finnair are totally ridiculous when you fly from A to B why do you need to fly the wrong way geographically , then end up being stuck for hours in some airport ... Experience is more important than costs 

[Khun Han]

Most people simply can't afford full fare business class tickets. So, for some of them, travelling in an airplane seat that converts to a bed and breaking up their journey in a nice lounge-or-two for 25 to 30 hours, all the while being pampered with nice food and drinks, is infinitely preferable to being wedged into an economy seat and spending some time queueing up for ridiculously overpriced food and drinks for 16 to 20 hours.

 

Cheap business class flying can be a holiday all of it's own .

[KittenKong]

11 hours ago, DipStick said:

To me now, if I want to fly from A -B why should I even look at airlines that fly from BKK to LA  with many hours stop over at connecting airports. The posts about Emirates, Oman, and Finnair are totally ridiculous when you fly from A to B why do you need to fly the wrong way geographically , then end up being stuck for hours in some airport ... Experience is more important than costs 

 

The main reason for taking anything other than a direct flight will be cost. Not everyone wants to pay top dollar when significant savings can be made.

 

Other reasons could also be departure times, and wanting to fly on a different model of plane or in a different type of seat. Or even to have a particular type of meal on board.

 

Next year I will be flying Finnair BKK>LHR>BKK. I've paid under GBP1200 for that ticket which is barely half of what the same ticket would have cost me on the three airlines that fly direct: BA, Thai and Eva. And my overall flight time including layovers is under 4 hours greater than it would be with the airlines that fly direct. My four hours are not worth that much to me, especially as I can spend most of that extra time with my feet up, listening to podcasts and drinking free champagne or cognac.

 

Previously I have done the same trip with Sri Lankan which involved layovers of up to 12 or more hours. However during that time they took me to a nice hotel where I spent the day by the pool and had two very nice buffet meals, at zero cost to me. I have no problems at all with this.

[BruceMangosteen]

I just read that Delta is pulling out of BKK. The end of a long tradition. The story said at the end of October! Shocking, and Delta was actually one of the airlines I was considering. 

 

[Heng]

Yep, last American carrier in BKK at present.   They do have some pretty good deals out there if you're flying out before the end of next month... and their business class has a half decent hard product albeit coupled with rather gruff soft product.   

[mogandave]

I think China Eastern is cheapest business class bkk to lax.

 

i do miss the TG bkk-lax non-stop...

[GinBoy2]

I usually fly either EVA or China Airlines (that's the Taiwan carrier, not Air China) business class to either SFO or LAX. It can vary which one is the absolute cheapest, but almost always they are the cheapest.

 

Also I find the connection in Taipei to be the fastest

[BruceMangosteen]

5 hours ago, GinBoy2 said:

I usually fly either EVA or China Airlines (that's the Taiwan carrier, not Air China) business class to either SFO or LAX. It can vary which one is the absolute cheapest, but almost always they are the cheapest.

 

Also I find the connection in Taipei to be the fastest

Thanks for the suggestion Don. Are you still in Mortons Grove?

[GinBoy2]

10 minutes ago, BruceMangosteen said:

Thanks for the suggestion Don. Are you still in Mortons Grove?

I'm not Don LOL

[wwest5829]

On September 15, 2016 at 6:11 PM, BruceMangosteen said:

I just read that Delta is pulling out of BKK. The end of a long tradition. The story said at the end of October! Shocking, and Delta was actually one of the airlines I was considering. 

 

 

Unfortunately, Delta declined recognizing my Skymiles on my last RT to the US. I started with partner airline China Southern. So, Delta, whom I have flown with for decades is no longer my preferred carrier. If you are interested in using a partner airlines and getting credit for miles flown...check with the airlines if they will recognize the miles.

[sgtsabai]

I'm with GinBoy2. When I used to have to fly back and forth from the not friendly airports of the states some 7 years ago  I used China Air. I never flew EVA as China Air always was better for my schedule. Many friends did use EVA and they were quite happy with it, except like China Air  almost impossible to redeem miles for a free flight. I used mine to upgrade to business. Good lounge, good service, decent food, real fork, knife etc. in business, good eye candy and unlike the American airlines, you don't have to pay for your drinks even in cattle class. I got the best and cheapest flights for me directly from their website, sometimes took a bit of work and I found a discrepancy in one schedule, notified them and they fixed it, no reward though...lol. So you have to work the keyboard.

Edited September 19, 2016 by sgtsabai

[Ireland32]

Friend of mine has been taking Sri Lanka airlines for cheap

[pauleddy]

Qatar or Emirates are both good going the other direction--miles better than TG crap and Doha has a new lounge------ but I never heard about their LAX. My last Qatar in Biz was such a new plane that the plastic was still on some fittings.

[F4UCorsair]

Which day??

[dansbkk]

Try EVA airlines.  I just booked Bangkok, Chicago and saved about 10,000 baht over the next best fare. That was for a round trip ticket in November with return early december.

[BruceMangosteen]

12 minutes ago, dansbkk said:

Try EVA airlines.  I just booked Bangkok, Chicago and saved about 10,000 baht over the next best fare. That was for a round trip ticket in November with return early december.

How much was it? Non stop from Taipei to O hare? Thanks.

[BruceMangosteen]

29 minutes ago, F4UCorsair said:

Which day??

 

If you are asking me, it's flexible. If you are asking someone else, what the heck? Cheers mate.