Flights to thailand and internally

byebye

Hi

Just want to find out about flights to thailand. Which airlines are cheepest and best peples experiences? also internally to phuket?

Cheers

Stinicker

byebye wrote: »

Hi

Just want to find out about flights to thailand. Which airlines are cheepest and best peples experiences? also internally to phuket?

Cheers

I am also looking into this at moment and there are several options really all with different prices.

You can get to Thailand from Ireland with two flights or three if you want to save money.

The easiest if you are in Dublin is to fly Etihad to Abu Dhabi and then connect for Bangkok there.

As I will be flying from Cork I will probably go through Heathrow, and this gives me the option of flying Aer Lingus to London and then flying onwards with either Thai Airways, Qantas, British Airways or Eva Air direct to Bangkok. Alternatively I can fly to Mumbai with Kingfisher from Heathrow and connect for Bangkok there, Kingfisher are a 5 star airline and very competitive on price. I could also go via Doha in Qatar with Qatar Airways.

I could also connect Amsterdam's Schiphol with either KLM, China Airlines or Eva Air.

The absolute cheapest option I have found to get to Bangkok is to fly Ryanair to London Stansted and then get an Air Asia flight to Kuala Lumpur and then fly Air Asia again onto Bangkok or Phuket. You could incorporate this with a few days in Kuala Lumpur which is supposed to be pretty cool.

Flying this way works out at anywhere between €100 to €200 cheaper than flying a full service airline out there. Air Asia is like Ryanair and charges extra for bag (although not as dear as Ryanair's baggage charge mind you!).

I am budgeting anywhere between €650 to €850 for my flights and plan to travel early next year.

To fly internally there are several carriers and to fly from Bangkok to Phuket should cost no more than €100 return.

Bangkok Airways, Thai AirAsia and Thai Airways all operate flights from Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi (Bangkok's main International Airport) and Happy Air, Nok Air and One-Two-Go Airlines all operate flights from Bangkok's secondary Don Mueang Airport.

I'd probably stick with either Thai AirAsia or Thai Airways as they sound at least reputable, wheras the others sound a little Mickey Mouse for my liking. I am thinking of just doing Bangkok and Pattaya and may not head south to Phuket anyway.

I am wondering what sort of value would there be in the winter sales by the airlines? As I am not sure whether to book so soon or else wait until around Christmas or January to book.

killbillvol2

It varies is the simple answer. You can book up to 11 months in advance and early is almost always cheapest for long haul flights.

Booking separate flights with Ryanair/Air Asia is a very bad idea for long haul. If you miss your connection you have zero comeback.

Booking a single ticket is the only sensible option and that means going through Heathrow, Schipol, Middle East, Copenhagen, Paris, Istanbul etc. There's not a huge differnece between airlines in economy tbh so price will probably decide it for you. Turkish often do good deals if you book well in advance and the journey is nicely broken up.

Try Kayak, Orbitz or Skyscanner for cheapest flight options.

Given that the previous poster has never been to Thailand you can best ignore his advice on internal flights. There are very regular flights to Phuket from BKK so you'll have a choice. If you know your dates well in advance you might get a good deal on Air Asia (Ryanair with red planes/uniforms and a little more smiling). Thai Airways are usually the most expensive but nice. Bangkok Airways is a really excellent airline and is often the best option if you're booking close to the date. Their prices are more or less the same all the time so they're often the cheapest if you're booking late. In any case they're by far the best to fly with - they even have their own lounge in some smaller airports. The other smaller airlines are all fine but you're better off using Suvarnabhumi from now on as the new rail link from BKK will be open.

byebye

thanks lads!!

also any recommendations for cheap but good accomadation in phuket??

killbillvol2

Phuket's a big island. I presume you're going to Patong? Chong Ko guesthouse is near everything in Patong and is pretty cheap. Link

I didn't like Patong - very touristy - but I was there for a wedding. Can't fault the guesthouse though. They organise tours, rent bikes, cars etc.

byebye

ya patong beach but i'l be renting a car to travle around phuket island!