A cheap way to Thailand and South East Asia

misterspoon

I go to Thailand quite a lot, but each year it gets harder and harder to find cheap flights without booking way in advance. But this year I got my cheapest deal.

It's not direct, it's flying with Oasis airlines to Hong Kong ( £178) and then booking a seperate flight with Sri Lankan Air to Bangkok ( £75). The total price including all taxes etc is £253 one way. The total flying time is 14 hours, which isn't much different from some "cheap" airlines that fly via the middle east.

The cheapest "direct" flight I could find, via the middle east, at the time of booking was about £370 one way.

I already know there are plenty of cheap one way tickets to London from Bangkok. Or as I will be doing, flying back from India.

If you want to see something of Hong Kong there is a cheaper Airline that flies from Macau, a short ferry ride from Hong Kong. It's Air Asia and sometimes they offer silly price flights , like £20 inclusive. But this is only worth doing if you want to see Hong Kong and Macau, as by the time you pay accomdation and ferry you wouldn't save much or anything.

This is my first post, but I'm a big fan of this website. Hope it's useful to someone and please ask me any questions.

GIRLPOWER_2

Hello

What time of year is your price for?

odowdchr

It's quite difficult to find great deals when you want more than a return flight.
I fly from Birmingham, which means Emirates or a hop to Europe then onwards from Paris, Amsterdam or Germany usually.
This year I'm trying to get to Guangzhou, then Cambodia and then home.
The flights to KL from BHX seem to be about £100 cheaper than to Bangkok which is a shame, but then the AirAsia hub is there so there's a lot of choice for onwards travel.
The route so far looks like Birmingham > Dubai > KL > Guangzhou > KL > Phomn Penh > KL > Dubai > Birmingham.
I reckon it'll cost about £700 all in, but it's a lot of messing about getting the cheap AirAsia flights and returning to the hub for each leg, and you lose a lot of time over a 3 week trip.
Still not sure what to do. A simple charter flight to Goa looks more attractive each day.

DAVE1003

Hi
Are They As Bad As I Have Read About .
I'm Trying To Sort Out A Flight For The Begining Of Feb . The Price Sounds Great. But Do You Get 2 Propellors & An Elastic Band. With A Slice Of Bread & A Glass Of Water For Meals.
Lol.

pompeii

Dave1003 [Are They As Bad As I Have Read About .
I'm Trying To Sort Out A Flight For The Begining Of Feb . The Price Sounds Great. But Do You Get 2 Propellors & An Elastic Band. With A Slice Of Bread & A Glass Of Water For Meals.
Lol. ]

We looked at Air Asia for a flight from Singapore to KL it would have cost about £32 for two of us but there were so many negative that in the end we booked an overnight train and paid £76 for two, return.

The Air Asia flight we wanted were early morning, they did not go to the main airport in KL. they do not issue seat numbers so it is a free for all to get a seat, we read that the interiors of the planes were well used/worn, although i did not find any negatives about their safety record. Not sure about food or drink as ours was to be a relativly short flight.

That said the flight was significantly cheaper than any other flight to KL and if you factor in all the negatives you can save lots flying Air Asia.

pinkteddybear

I'm just about to look for flights myself for June 2008.

We want to spend about three weeks in Thailand, but anywhere in South East Asia will do. Those overnight trains just add to the fun!

Thanks for the tip off. I've looked at Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, but I don't think there are any savings there.

I wish martin's flight checker covered Thailand.

misterspoon

Sorry I haven't replied, I've been away. My price for Oasis airlines was in Jan, but seem to be pretty stable year round.
Air Asia do not give food, you have to pay for snacks but the flights are short so there is no need to eat. I think they are a great airline, nothing wrong with the planes, clean and new, helpful staff, much better than the european budget airlines.
Here is an example of a Budget trip to South East Asia.
250 GBP one way to Thailand via Hong Kong on Oasis and Sri Lanka airlines to Bangkok. Even cheaper if you use Air Asia from Macau
37 GBP to Phnom Penh in Cambodia One way and 7 GBP on the bus back to Bangkok.
From Bangkok its fairly easy to find a one way back to London for about 300 GBP or cheaper with the Oasis , Hong Kong route. But you can get caught out at peak times. Of course if you have a return with Oasis it's cheaper still.

Air Asia flights to most South East Asian destinations in the 30 - 40 GBP bracket. Lots of special offers much cheaper. I've never taken an Air Asia flight to anything other than the main city airport.

For India I recommend Jet Airlines, cheap and excellent service.

cundall

Just returned from second trip to South East Asia and i have flown with Oasis 2 times now and i don't think i will again.... You can fly the UK > HK route around the same price when offers are on with BA / Virgin / Air New Zealand. (when the offers are on)

Oasis have been good for the first 3 legs but the last one was very poor.... (landed at 6:40 this morning). Look at the asian airlines as when they have offers on they are good and regional flights are cheap.

robin123_2

I have just been looking at flights to Bangkok, leaving in August and coming back in September. I found it relatively easy to find return flights all in for under £500. Qatar airways from Manchester via Doha were £470 return as were Emirates from London via Dubai.