Long haul flight booking advice...

blunther

Hello :j

I'm looking to go to Thailand next year in April for a couple of weeks. I've been looking for flights nice and early, but it seems that many operators haven't actually opened up flights for sale yet. I've never booked long haul before, only budget flights, which are obviously much cheaper if booked well in advance. Is the same true of long haul, or can I get better deals waiting closer to the time I want to fly?

Also, it seems very few airlines go direct. Is it usually cheaper to go direct (I know Thai Airways do so from London) or is it better to use someone like Emirates, flying from my local airport (Birmingham) and going via Dubai (seems there are more choices this way... Qatar Airways, Lufthansa, KLM, etc., via their respective hubs...).

Any advice would be gratefully appreciated!

Thanks! :beer:

slinga

Can't help with flights to Thailand.
But regularly go to Singapore or rather return from Singapore to UK and then return.

We find BA/Quantas are always cheapest, we fly economy, no problem.
We book direct with airline and the price does vary, not in a straight line, sometimes a cheaper price will disappear only to reappear later.
Sometimes indirect flights can be cheaper but not generally and sometimes the stopover period can be up to 12 hours, which is OK if you want to see a bit of the stopover place which people do when flying to Australia and stopovering in Singapore.
Booking well in advance can be problematical as some tickets can't change date or get money back if cancel completely.

Years ago we found that by far the cheapest ticket from HK to UK was through Singapore which was where we wanted to do a stopover anyway. Don't think this is the case now.

Perhaps airlines don't put their prices on the net until maybe less than 6 months before the flight.

Keep your eyes open for deals, try and decide if you want a stopover and where, also try to finalise the airline so find out who flies to Thailand and how.
The more investigation you do over the next few months the more likely you are to get the best deal.
Maybe check prices and stuff for flights in say September as a means of comparison.

Doesn't Martin do a screenscraper for flights.

All my info is a bit flaky as the missus does all the work when booking tickets.

littlereddevil

I think the big airlines all put their prices on 11 months before. Having travelled regularly to the far east we always found it cheaper to book real early. But as op says these are usually non-refundable. However I am the eternal optimist.

Donnie

slinga wrote: »

Can't help with flights to Thailand.

All my info is a bit flaky as the missus does all the work when booking tickets.

That's about right.

Too early to book for next year. Lots of good quality indirect flights to BKK that are considerably cheaper than direct. Stopovers for the most attractive are between 45 mins and 2 and a half hours. Indirect around £400, with direct from around £100 more.
Direct, EVA is usually the cheapest, followed by THAI and then BA. Indirect; Kingfisher. Jet, Gulf etc..

blunther

Donnie wrote: »

That's about right.

Too early to book for next year. Lots of good quality indirect flights to BKK that are considerably cheaper than direct. Stopovers for the most attractive are between 45 mins and 2 and a half hours. Indirect around £400, with direct from around £100 more.
Direct, EVA is usually the cheapest, followed by THAI and then BA. Indirect; Kingfisher. Jet, Gulf etc..

Thanks to you all for replying - £400 seems well cheap! Cheapest I've found so far is £600 indirect with Emirates and £700 direct with Thai Airways - £400-500 would make me very happy, so I'll hold my horses for a while! Just getting quite excited already even though it's10 months away :j

fifeken

Both Easter and Thai New Year are in April and can keep the prices high so if you see good deal snap it up quickly. Most, if not all, scheduled airlines will have seats for sale now for April 2011.

Heliflyguy

fifeken wrote: »

Both Easter and Thai New Year are in April and can keep the prices high so if you see good deal snap it up quickly. Most, if not all, scheduled airlines will have seats for sale now for April 2011.

Although Easter may impact a little on availability and prices the Thai Sonkrun festival doesnt so much and its probably about the hotest time of the year in Thailand so prices can be cheaper than UK schools summer holiday.

I have been looking at prices for July to August 2010 direct and Thai comes in the cheapest followed by EVA but the price is up by £150 on what was payed for travel in Easter and surprisingly direct is cheaper than indirect, you may also find the travel via the middle east can be impacted by travellers escaping the heat, India is often the cheapest via point.

I would be very happy to get a £400.00 return ticket but unlikely, with taxes etc you would be ok with £600 - £650 direct and maybe £550 - £600 indirect, currently prices for direct in July - August are about £750 - £800

There may be some deals released around January for April but if you can get the lower prices above before I would go for it.

jonorth

Hi Blunther,

I am living in Thailand at the minute and always fly with Emirates or Etihad.

This time my flight cost £470 return. If you are going at Easter this will probably cost a bit more, but keep looking at the websites and when the flights are available you can just book. £600 return is still a good price for an airline like Emirates. I love flying with them, very good service.

As for going direct or indirect, some people prefer going indirect as it breaks up the journey abit. Other people like just getting it over and done with. With Emirates you stop in Dubai and it is only a couple of hours, it is such a great airport too.

Donnie

jonorth wrote: »

Hi Blunther,

I am living in Thailand at the minute and always fly with Emirates or Etihad.

This time my flight cost £470 return. If you are going at Easter this will probably cost a bit more, but keep looking at the websites and when the flights are available you can just book. £600 return is still a good price for an airline like Emirates. I love flying with them, very good service.

As for going direct or indirect, some people prefer going indirect as it breaks up the journey abit. Other people like just getting it over and done with. With Emirates you stop in Dubai and it is only a couple of hours, it is such a great airport too.

Hmm.... for example; an email sent earlier from Emirates: Bangkok £483 6th April - 15th July 2010 & 11th August - 30th November 2010
Emirates are rarely the cheapest indirect, so £600 is just too much.

hanwellmike

I've flown to BKK from London many times. Always choose direct flights which means BA, Qantas, ThaiAir or EVA. Normally book 4 to 8 weeks before travelling. You just need to keep monitoring the internet to look for good prices. In my experience BA & Qantas are nearly always the same price and the most expensive (£600 +). Few bargains to be had. EVA have had some of the lowest prices (around £450) and sometimes Thai can be had for around £500. All good direct flights (except Thai Air's in flight entertainment which is poor). I would keep an eye on ThaiAir and EVA for some bargain prices (under £550) and you may be lucky that the dates suit.

Dave_Z

I work for EVA Air at Heathrow. Throw me some dates and i can have a quick check for you.