I want to book a trip ORD-BKK in 2008, either spring or fall. Is there a best time to go to get a good rate on the flight? Do flights to Asia ever go on "sale"? And, are there any Asia-specific travel sites that would have better deals than trying to use SideStep/Expedia/Orbitz?

I am kicking myself for already booking a flight to Hawaii in October, now that I see that UAL has reduced them to <$450 r/t from ORD, while I paid $700+...

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

I don't think that you'll find very good prices this far out, but deals ($750-$900 range) will be popping up more than once before the time you are thinking about flying. I would use kayak.com and thaifly.com to monitor the prices.

I am kicking myself for already booking a flight to Hawaii in October, now that I see that UAL has reduced them to <$450 r/t from ORD, while I paid $700+...

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Call United and refare! You'll get a voucher for the difference, or cash (less because of fees that are waived with the voucher).

Oh yeah, Welcome to FlyerTalk!

Spring and Fall are off-season for USA to LOS travel. I would wait until 2 months to 3 weeks out.

You can try thaifly.com or an "Asian" travel agent.

As an addendum, I've never tried them, but I have seen Norcross Travel 1-888-888-7176 (apparently Rhonda is the go-to person) mentioned on many different boards for good deals on flights to Thailand.

If were not using FF miles I would go to Chinatown and work with a travel agent.

They can find you a Business Class ticket for less than full coach fares in most cases.

Oh yea.

Re-ticket the Hawaii flight.

I always book my flights with www.travel-depart.com
They are a Japanese travel agency based in IL. I've booked with them for 3 years now. The fares posted on their site are the fares...not the fuel surcharges, taxes, etc.

One other tip if you will be flying UA from ORD.. Sometimes a $49 one way on southwest will get you to a place that will have a BKK fare $200-300 less than ORD. You might even end up connecting back in ORD for the same ORD_NRT_BKK flight. But with and extra few hundred bucks in your pocket. ;)

You can also book through a consolidator. If you go to the forum for your preferred airline and search for consolidator, you'll find recommendations.

You can still earn miles, upgrade if you book the appropriate fare class, etc