Best way to book international flights?

textbook

Wanted to book an international flight to Tokyo possibly with a stopover in Bangkok.   Is 8 hrs transit enough to go out in Banglok or is it the same coast to to extend your stopover in Bangkok by a day?  How do you do this online?  I used to use agencies to do this sort of thing. 

I've tried using Skyscanner but was told it's not a good way yet sometimes it links to booking.com which I heard is a good site.

Also considering quicker flights e.g. klm.  Looking for advice on a this please to make a decision 

la531983

Use Skyscanner to find prices by all means but I would always then book direct through the airlines website.

As for 8 hours between flight in Bangkok, I would just stay in the airport or make it a longer layover.

SiliconChip

Since I stopped using travel agents I've only ever booked flights direct with the airline, should there be any issues it's a lot easier to resolve them without involving a third party. Skyscanner can be useful to tell you who flies where (although not alyways 100% accurate) but I just use that as a pointer to what airlines to book with.

I don't think 8 hours would give you a lot of time to see much in Bangkok, given the time it'll take to deplane get through the airport, travel into the city and then reverse the whole thing. A whole day would give you much more opportunity to view the sights, and your selected airline should be able to tell you if you can break your journey at no extra cost.

bagand96

As above use Skyscanner/Kayak/Google Flights to compare prices, but don't link through to any old agent they send you to, general advice is go direct to the airline website and book with them.

8 hours would be tight to leave the airport, won't have much time to see a lot. 

If you did want to stop overnight in Bangkok or elsewhere, then search for a "Multi-stop" or "Multi-city" itinerary (all the comparison sites/airlines have this option). 

RogerPensionGuy

8 hours in Bangkok is a very small time in my opinion.

UK prices of air travel are currently very high. 

If I wasn't in a rush I would keep searching any China Airlines for UK to Japan on their websites or any search engines. 

DullGreyGuy

SiliconChip said:

Since I stopped using travel agents I've only ever booked flights direct with the airline, should there be any issues it's a lot easier to resolve them without involving a third party.

Not always. 

Wife and a friend were going to France for a day trip, each independently booked the same flight with Air France, my wife with an agent, her friend with the airline. On the day AirFrance had wildcat strikes which both found out about on the way to the airport to catch the redeye. 

Wife called our agent, within 30 minutes she'd been rebooked on BA for a flight leaving 5 minutes later than the original at AirFrance's expense. As my wife took her seat on the plane her friend was still landside at the airport still physically queuing and on the phone in a queue trying to get through to AirFrance. 

Personally would generally avoid airfrance in general, we had another problem with them before when they cancelled a flight in anticipation of bad weather that never materialised. Flight was at 6:20am, airport customer service desk didnt open until 8am (both call centre and at the airport)

On-the-coast

IMO 5hrs is the bare minimum time you need to get to and from airplane to central Bangkok and that assumes airport queues are working well.  

I allow an extra 2 hours for hold ups so 8hrs would give you a safe 1 hour of sight seeing.  

Not worth it I think.  12hrs is worth it (5hrs sight seeing) as long as you can safely store luggage. 

textbook

China Airlines and east China are cheapest.   Thai would be good too.  Anyone know the links for booking with these?   I'm struggling to use thai site

Voyager2002

textbook said:

China Airlines and east China are cheapest.   Thai would be good too.  Anyone know the links for booking with these?   I'm struggling to use thai site

There is an agent called Trip.com that is good for flights on Chinese airlines. (Incidentally, the second airline that you mention is normally called China Eastern: you might want to read some reviews before booking.)

eskbanker

textbook said:

China Airlines and east China are cheapest.   Thai would be good too.  Anyone know the links for booking with these?   I'm struggling to use thai site

In what way(s) are you struggling?  Just had a quick look for the sites and they're all readily accessible from the obvious terms at popular search engines and appear intuitive to use....

textbook

I booked with klm.  I found the sites of China and Eastern China rubbish.   Kept on timing out and poor.  But I didn't book seats on klm I was so angry you have to pay.   £900 already.  Do I have to pay for them?  The whole prices has gone ip crazily in last few years.  Hope I booked on genuine klm site too not scammed.  I got klm app on phone which says I have my flight.

I can leave from Heathrow at 5 30pm which is good as I need to pop into London and fo something beforehand.