Hi All-

During my upcoming trip to Thailand in March I will travel to Vietnam for several days. I prefer to keep my options open on dates if I can. My question is this. Am I going to pay a premium for waiting to buy that portion of my ticket until I get to Thailand? As many of you may know in the US if you wait until the last minute to buy airline tickets the fare can be ridiculously expensive--though this isn't always true in Thailand. I would prefer to wait until I get to Thailand to buy that portion of my ticket unless you guys advise otherwise.

March is a quiet travel month in Thailand.

Internet booking with airasia for example is usually cheapest about 6 weeks before you wish to fly. However its not that much more if you book a few days out. Mid week & night flights are often the cheaper flights.

You can internet book with Thai Airways, Air France, Luftansa. Suggest doing it here, when you know your schedule.

Air Asia only has BKK-Hanoi, instead of BKK-SGN (Ho-Chi-Minh City) !!

purchasing flight tickets is "ridiculously expensive" in Thailand (at least comparing to Europe and China) !! you won't get so much discount if you book thru thai agencies, sometimes even can't get the promotion fare from the airline companies by holding a TR visa !!

if you take Thai air (incl. its cooperating flights) for all your journey, i think fares of US-BKK-SGN (Ho-Chi-Minh City) should be lower than seperated ones. cos in this case, BKK can be considered as the transit stop (of course you still can spend couples of days in BKK either on the going or return way, as long as airport tax is added, or you pay in addition).

however, still, it's better you check the fares offered by your agency in the States, and compare to those here in thailand: http://www.chawlatravel.com , http://www.gotravelinter.com/main/index.php (suggest to give a call to thailand, since the price's always in changing, while the website's not always updated).

bon voyage ~~

The last time I booked a return flight to Saigon a day prior to travel from a Bangkok T/A it was about 9000 baht ($250,€200) with Air France, Vietnam Air or Luftansa. Thai Air is about $10 more.

You can go to Hanoi with airasia for about half that booking online.

Edited December 30, 200619 yr by dgoz