Budget Travel - Best Flights to Beijing and Bangkok

I'm looking for some advice on the best air carriers to use travelling from north america (likey Toronto) to Beijing and then out of Bangkok and back. If you have any good tips I'd appreciate it. Also I'm looking at domestic flights within Thailand (Chaing Mai and somewhere south. How easy is it? And what would be some good advice. Thanks.

I'm looking for some advice on the best air carriers to use travelling from north america (likey Toronto) to Beijing and then out of Bangkok and back. If you have any good tips I'd appreciate it. Also I'm looking at domestic flights within Thailand (Chaing Mai and somewhere south. How easy is it? And what would be some good advice. Thanks.

I've actually noticed that flights from Toronto to Asia are INSANE. Depending on when you want to fly, you might be better off flying to a US west coast gateway and flying to China. You might spend a little more time travelling, but you could possibly save a couple hundred each ticket.

I've never flown a China Bangkok segment, but I *think* they have a LCC going to China from BKK (don't quote me on this...I was half asleep when I was looking at the departures board). Therefore, I don't feel qualified to comment on this part.

For Intra- Thailand travel, air tickets are CHEAP if you purchase in advance. Some LCC's that have had some favorable reviews as of late are: one two go and Nok air. From recent reports, I'd be wary of air asia, but personally I've never had any problem.

Welcome to Flyertalk.

When you say "best air carriers" what do you mean? Since this is the budget forum, I assume you're probably talking about price. But this being Flyertalk, "best" can mean any number of things, from connecting-time to comfort to entertainment to food to the all-important miles.

You need to find a China Eastern Airlines consolidator in Toronto try

http://www.royalscenic.com/index.htm

Or has been previously mentioned fly to California first and then buy at ticket from a Californian Chinese consolidator such as

www.asaptickets.com

Welcome to Flyertalk.

When you say "best air carriers" what do you mean? Since this is the budget forum, I assume you're probably talking about price. But this being Flyertalk, "best" can mean any number of things, from connecting-time to comfort to entertainment to food to the all-important miles.

To clarify "best"...You are right cheapest for me is best, but I'm also interested to find out what is going to be an enjoyable flight ie comfort and shorter connections. Thanks

Consider flying to JFK and taking the Thai Air nonstop from there to Bangkok. Maybe not the cheapest flight (on the TG website, right now around $1089 USD taxes & fees included), but definitely the most legroom of any flight in economy, excellent AVOD, and your total trip will be only 2 legs instead of the typical 3 (but it will be a 17-hour flight!) Your total travel time will also be at least 6 hours shorter. Unless I can fly premium class, this is my first choice for east coast travel to BKK.

(but it will be a 17-hour flight!)
Ouch :eek:

Ya know, I kinda like spending an extra four hours or so and have a stop or two along the way so I can stretch my legs :)

I managed to do the nearly impossible, and get a reward ticket FROM BKK back to IAH (you can often find reward tickets to BKK, with no return date :rolleyes: ). I was originally set to fly CO's nonstop IAH-NRT connecting to NW on Sunday, but at the last minute Saturday opened up on NW, so I changed to an extra stop in PDX. Must say, it seemed a little more relaxed than my previous nonstop to NRT (and I had to wait for NW's flight to BKK anyways, so I spent less time at NRT airport).

So ya, nonstops can be nice, but it's a very long time to spend on a plane :eek:

Oh, and welcome to FlyerTalk TrueNorth.

EmailKid

So ya, nonstops can be nice, but it's a very long time to spend on a plane :eek:There's no denying that the nonstop between JFK and BKK is a long flight, and I do miss (a bit) strolling around NRT grabbing a bowl of udon and maybe picking up a spare yukata or some cutesy omiagi, but I was still flying 12 or 13 hours between NRT and ORD (longer if there was storm along the flight route), followed by another 6 hours between NRT and BKK. With the nonstop it is REALLY great arriving at 5pm instead of the typical midnight. I now have time for a relaxed dinner schmoozing with my Thai friends, and I find it helps me get more quickly over jet lag.

I personally pay $400 more for Premium Economy (42" seat pitch), but I don't think any other airline offers Thai Air's 36" pitch in regular economy (http://www.airlinequality.com/news/210405-THAI.htm) (on the nonstops). Since I sleep so poorly on airplanes (even in CX first class), the AVOD IFE system is a godsend.

I can assure you that I was very dubious about that 17 hours the first time I took the JFK-BKK nonstop, but I was pleasantly surprised that the flight did not seem that much longer than the typical ORD-NRT flight. YMMV, but for me it is the only way to go if I can't latch onto to business or first class seats.