Why is it more expensive to fly from Bangkok to the UK ?

[jamie2009]

I normally book my return flight from the UK, Newcastle,  £400/£500 with Emirates but circumstances the next time mean I need to book a return from Bangkok to Newcastle.

The return flight from Bangkok with Emirates is twice the price, over a £1000, the cheapest KLM flight is £200 plus more expensive, why ?

[Upnotover]

Because people flying Bangkok to Newcastle HAVE to whereas flying the other way is more likely a case of WANT to. 

[kannot]

even worse with Emirates, fly  into Heathrow 103k fly  into Birmingham 148k just 100  miles apart.......ridiculous Business class, Switched to Sri lankan air 67k almost identical service includes chauffeur  limo in the Uk only to/ from airport up to 50  miles, Lie  flat beds VIP lounges and fast track  immigration etc etc

Got tired of Emirates declining service.

[KhunBENQ]

Emirates is outstandingly bad.

I still haven't found better answers to the OP question than found in post #2.

Or otherwise: why do they charge so much? Because they can.

Non working competition on low volume?

[White Christmas13]

Just to hijack this one why do Australians pay 2200 dollars return to London on the non stop flight

but from London to Australia (Perth) only cost 1750  

[KhunBENQ]

19 minutes ago, White Christmas13 said:

Just to hijack this one why do Australians pay 2200 dollars return to London on the non stop flight

but from London to Australia (Perth) only cost 1750  

A non-stop(!) from Australia to London?

I thought it is still a "dream" of the future.

18h+ flights are more a like a nightmare to me.

[steve187]

27 minutes ago, White Christmas13 said:

Just to hijack this one why do Australians pay 2200 dollars return to London on the non stop flight

but from London to Australia (Perth) only cost 1750  

is that Qantas - http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/qantas-perth-london-non-stop-longest-flight-mistake-time-uk-australia-a7708581.html

 

read the last line of the article

Edited May 4, 2017 by steve187

[White Christmas13]

13 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

A non-stop(!) from Australia to London?

I thought it is still a "dream" of the future.

18h+ flights are more a like a nightmare to me.

 

13 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

A non-stop(!) from Australia to London?

I thought it is still a "dream" of the future.

18h+ flights are more a like a nightmare to me.

yes Qantas will fly from Perth to London non stop from next April I thing

the flight will take 17 hours this is from Perth

[KhunBENQ]

So in the near future. Interesting.

 

But now please back to the original topic about the asymmetrical price to and from Thailand.

It's not limited to UK flights BTW.

[steve187]

I think UK to Thailand is cheaper because its supply and demand, but saying that there are some good prices around for BKK to UK, but it tends to be that London is the cheapest, trying to fly to some of the small UK airports cheap is more difficult, but still some good prices from BHX, MAN and Scotland

[jacko45k]

Supply and demand....

Had reason to book 3 tickets ex-UK on Emirates in Biz Class this year, got them a lot cheaper than what ex-BKK would have been. Personally have no complaints of Emirates service, other than I do not like Dubai or the lounge there. Great flight on the A380.

[KittenKong]

I suspect that one contributing reason is that tickets originating in Thailand are billed in THB which is a fairly useless currency for airlines to hold in excess of their actual expenses in Thailand. I also wonder what sales taxes are applied by Thailand to tickets originating in Thailand.

[Chicken George]

Apparently its to do with Australians. Flying into Bangkok and onwards so there are less seats. Seems legit! :-)

[terryw]

Air pollution taxes are higher when flying to the UK compared to flying out?

[ThaidDown]

It's obvious, just look at an Earth globe.

 

Bangkok to London is 'uphill'. Therefore more fuel, higher cost!

 

 

[Beats56]

Same as flying to Canada from Bangkok. It cheaper to fly from Canada to Bangkok than from Bangkok to Canada. Crazy.

[simoh1490]

9 minutes ago, ThaidDown said:

It's obvious, just look at an Earth globe.

 

Bangkok to London is 'uphill'. Therefore more fuel, higher cost!

 

 

That's too funny! It really doesn't matter whether the flight originates in Thailand or the UK, either way it is a two leg journey, outbound and return which both planes must make - the fuel cost is therefore identical regardless of where the flight originates.

 

The real reason is simply supply and demand which is priced accordingly. There's more Brits wanting and able to fly to Thailand than there are Thai's wanting and able to fly to the UK. There is then the hub factor where Brits flying to Australia will stopover in Thailand which further increases the demand.

 

 

[Kenegg]

11 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

That's too funny! It really doesn't matter whether the flight originates in Thailand or the UK, either way it is a two leg journey, outbound and return which both planes must make - the fuel cost is therefore identical regardless of where the flight originates.

 

The real reason is simply supply and demand which is priced accordingly. There's more Brits wanting and able to fly to Thailand than there are Thai's wanting and able to fly to the UK. There is then the hub factor where Brits flying to Australia will stopover in Thailand which further increases the demand.

 

 

I think the reason for fewer Thai people fly to the UK from Bangkok is they can't get the bloody visas to enter!!!! Stupid UKVI

[jesimps]

37 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

That's too funny! It really doesn't matter whether the flight originates in Thailand or the UK, either way it is a two leg journey, outbound and return which both planes must make - the fuel cost is therefore identical regardless of where the flight originates.

 

The real reason is simply supply and demand which is priced accordingly. There's more Brits wanting and able to fly to Thailand than there are Thai's wanting and able to fly to the UK. There is then the hub factor where Brits flying to Australia will stopover in Thailand which further increases the demand.

 

 

Your first para sounds about right, but then you contradict it with your second para.

 

Surely the Brits returning to UK on their return tickets make the demand as high as flying out to Thailand. I can't see demand being the reason for the high prices. I think the reason they charge a lot is because they can.

 

Same as the price of golf here. It should be as cheap as chips, far cheaper than playing in the UK. Land's incredibly cheap, labour's ridiculously cheap, why is it so expensive to play?

Also swimming pools. They're just a hole in the ground with a bit of concreting, tiling, a few pipes and a pump/filter unit. The answer of course is that people are willing to pay the money because they have no option.

 

Same with the flights.

 

That's my opinion anyway, I'd really appreciate a reply from someone who actually KNOWS the answer to the OP's question.

 

[simoh1490]

Just now, jesimps said:

Your first para sounds about right, but then you contradict it with your second para.

 

Surely the Brits returning to UK on their return tickets make the demand as high as flying out to Thailand. I can't see demand being the reason for the high prices. I think the reason they charge a lot is because they can.

 

Same as the price of golf here. It should be as cheap as chips, far cheaper than playing in the UK. Land's incredibly cheap, labour's ridiculously cheap, why is it so expensive to play?

Also swimming pools. They're just a hole in the ground with a bit of concreting, tiling, a few pipes and a pump/filter unit. The answer of course is that people are willing to pay the money because they have no option.

 

Same with the flights.

 

That's my opinion anyway, I'd really appreciate a reply from someone who actually KNOWS the answer to the OP's question.

 

It's all about where the tickets are purchased, if the return ticket is purchased in the UK that makes UK demand (and consequently supply and competition) higher than in Thailand.

[The Dark Lord]

53 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

That's too funny! It really doesn't matter whether the flight originates in Thailand or the UK, either way it is a two leg journey, outbound and return which both planes must make - the fuel cost is therefore identical regardless of where the flight originates.

 

The real reason is simply supply and demand which is priced accordingly. There's more Brits wanting and able to fly to Thailand than there are Thai's wanting and able to fly to the UK. There is then the hub factor where Brits flying to Australia will stopover in Thailand which further increases the demand.

 

 

Actually Simon you are nearly correct but not quite, flying anti-clockwise (East to West) is actually a bit more expensive because of the additional fuel burn ( longer transit too) whilst flying against the very strong winds up high ( whose name is on the tip of my tongue but will not slide off preferring to make me look stupid instead)  ah Gulf Stream ?

[ResandePohm]

Just as illogical is that you are allowed twice the weight in baggage on the outward journey only to have it halved on the return journey. This is regardless of which direction is first. Surely tourists are more likely to have more weight on the return trip with all the souvenirs and presents bought while away.

[UniqueWord]

Jet Stream.  Cheers, UW.

[simoh1490]

6 minutes ago, The Dark Lord said:

Actually Simon you are nearly correct but not quite, flying anti-clockwise (East to West) is actually a bit more expensive because of the additional fuel burn ( longer transit too) whilst flying against the very strong winds up high ( whose name is on the tip of my tongue but will not slide off preferring to make me look stupid instead)  ah Gulf Stream ?

Once again: every flight between Bangkok and London makes the same round trip. In that journey they both fly the same distance, encounter and endure the same weather conditions and use an identical amount of fuel, where the flight originates be it London or Bangkok is totally irrelevant to those factors. The only differences in that journey is whether the plane encounters a particular set of weather conditions on the inbound or the outbound leg.

[simoh1490]

1 minute ago, ResandePohm said:

Just as illogical is that you are allowed twice the weight in baggage on the outward journey only to have it halved on the return journey. This is regardless of which direction is first. Surely tourists are more likely to have more weight on the return trip with all the souvenirs and presents bought while away.

That is untrue. When you buy your round trip ticket, assuming you fly both inbound and outbound with the same airline on the same route, the baggage allowance is identical on both legs.

[simoh1490]

2 minutes ago, UniqueWord said:

Jet Stream.  Cheers, UW.

Whoosh.....was not the sound of the jet stream!

[Wiggy]

My penny's worth from what I've read about this in the past: 

 

About one million Brits travel to Thailand each year - that's one million seats UK-Thailand-UK, so prices need to be competitive, i.e. cheap. The number of Thai tourists to the UK is obviously much, much lower (a few thousand?). Therefore with low seat availability Thailand-UK-Thailand then prices are higher as airlines base their seat availability to cater for passenger trips originating in the UK and not Thailand. In other words, there is a greater demand for return flights UK to Thailand than vice versa so prices are fixed accordingly. It's how the airlines work. I imagine there's a similar imbalance in other countries too, as Thailand is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world.

[Kabula]

The ongoing world currencies, markets, and recent airline passenger reports/videos/crisis no doubt which leads to hyperinflation over time.

 

Of course no one believes it until it hits their wallet!

 

 

Edited May 5, 2017 by Kabula

[Prbkk]

13 hours ago, kannot said:

even worse with Emirates, fly  into Heathrow 103k fly  into Birmingham 148k just 100  miles apart.......ridiculous Business class, Switched to Sri lankan air 67k almost identical service includes chauffeur  limo in the Uk only to/ from airport up to 50  miles, Lie  flat beds VIP lounges and fast track  immigration etc etc

Got tired of Emirates declining service.

Yes, but it's rare to see that Sri Lankan fare these days. Cheap Finnair also gone. Vietnam to Paris no longer seen. Getting anything cheap ex BKK is very difficult, so I'm resigned to going back to ex Europe rtn with long validity.

[Beachdude]

Somewhat off topic but I searched LHR to JFK one way and cheapest non stop was BA at 1,240 sterling. 

 

So im doing a three hour layover in Reykjavik for under $500 US on Icelander.