Best time to book a flight to Bangkok

Jonnytwotimes

Hi,

I am looking to book a return flight to Bangkok in August from Dusseldorf or potentially any other European airport if I could save enough money to make the extra short haul flight worth while.

Now I have seen it for as low €414 from Oslo and €530 from Dusseldorf which I would have paid but could not book at the time.

At the moment its now gone up to about €614 from Dusseldorf and I would prefer to pay no more than €600.

However the cheapest carrirer Air China is advertising the same flight for around €467 if you leave within 30 days and I have seen similar from other carriers.

So here is my question, am I more likely to get a cheaper flight by holding off until around 30 days before I fly because it seems the cheapest flights are been advertised within 30 days of travel ?

Also if I book with an Airline and it drops, would they refund the difference ?

Any advice from folk who have experience with booking long haul would be appreciated.

Thanks

Voyager2002

Jonnytwotimes wrote: »

Hi,

Also if I book with an Airline and it drops, would they refund the difference ?

Thanks

Absolutely no chance!

August is rainy season in Thailand (I hope you know that) so not a peak time for tourism, so your chances of finding a bargain are relatively good.

You might also check the website of Air Ukraine, which is consistently cheap on flights from Europe to Thailand (and there are obvious reasons why it is cheap, although the connection in Kiev is only about two hours).

eDicky

Low season fares are probably making it cheaper for flights within 30 days from now, compared to high season fares in August. It is very unlikely you will get a cheaper fare by waiting.


If you book with an Airline and the price later drops, they will not refund the difference.


The cheapest fares will involve lengthy flights with inconvenient connections in Beijing, Hong Kong, Moscow, etc, whereas for a bit more you can fly non-stop, maybe even from UK. Eg €680 return from Amsterdam nonstop on China Airlines on certain dates in August. A travel agent may be helpful. August in Bangkok is not the best time, hot and rainy.

Jonnytwotimes

Thanks for the input so far. My ultimate destination is Nanning China where I will meet a relative for a week, which I intent to travel overland to and then hop back to Bangkok for some time to myslef about 2 weeks. I just realised from some research recently that August is low season in Thailand but I have to go at that time.

Voyager2002

Jonnytwotimes wrote: »

Thanks for the input so far. My ultimate destination is Nanning China where I will meet a relative for a week, which I intent to travel overland to and then hop back to Bangkok for some time to myslef about 2 weeks. I just realised from some research recently that August is low season in Thailand but I have to go at that time.

Nanning is an interesting destination... I once spent a couple of weeks there for work, and it deserves another visit. I hope that you know that it is a very long way from Bangkok, and to get from Thailand to China you have to cross Burma, which is difficult overland. (Or you could go across Indo-China, which is also complicated.)

August in Thailand is not so bad (I once had an August holiday there and had a good time) but since it is low season for tourism you might get lucky with air fares.

NiftyDigits

What gave you the idea that August was low season? I think you'll get a shock...
People travel when they get their holidays...that means many in Europe travel in August...including yourself.
Low season is now. You can get flights to Asia(Malaysia) for around £250(yes, return) currently and from September onwards.

You might do it with Norwegian in August, out of Oslo and in to Stockholm, for perhaps 434€

Jonnytwotimes

So what you are saying is that although the destination itself may be low season according to the guidebooks and people I have spoken to who have been there, the travel period is peak so the fares will be high.

This does not sound hopeful.

Voyager2002

Jonnytwotimes wrote: »

So what you are saying is that although the destination itself may be low season according to the guidebooks and people I have spoken to who have been there, the travel period is peak so the fares will be high.

This does not sound hopeful.

For Thailand, the absolute peak season is around Christmas, when people have some time off and the weather there is at its best.

August, our Summer holidays, is when leisure travel is generally at high levels and fares reflect that: however well-informed travellers will tend to choose destinations other than Thailand, so your chances of finding a bargain are better than zero.

richardw

China Southern are big in the region and have new aircraft on some routes to Europe, perhaps consider an open jaw/ multi sector trip.

Jonnytwotimes

Hi, I eventually found a flight for €549 after days of searching and I would like to offer some tips.

My biggest mistake was relying too much on the price comparison sites like sky scanner and the ITA matrix software because in my particular case they were not showing the cheapest flights, they were way off by hundreds.

What I did was continuously search with Momondo for flights departing from all over Europe, as soon as I seen a relatively cheap flight eg €600 from somehwere in Europe I would go straight to the airlines site and check it from my city, not the city displayed in Momondo.

Very often the flights from my city were a lot cheaper than what was displayed in Momondo and none of the price comparison sites were picking this up. So all in all I got my flight from my preferred city for €549.

Thanks to everyone who offered advice.