What a blow to TG's prestige tp drop a route like this. I could even understand reducing flights to maybe 3x per week. A TG crew friend of mine told me about a year ago he thought this route would be scrapped. I didn't believe him at the time. Shame.
My biggest concern is that if THAI changes aircraft on it's North America routes, the replacement will not offer Premium Economy, something desperately needed for travel from North America to BKK, whether it is nonstop or including a stop.
I believe NH offers an executive economy seating option. Although those flights arrive late at night in BKK. I enjoyed the early evening arrival on TG much more.
Programs: United 1K, Delta MM, Lufthansa FTL, SPG Gold
Posts: 21
I had booked two award seats in business for the JFK-BKK flight for mid-January. Should I call United to try to sort out alternatives for my scheduled trip or should I expect United to work out by itself the re-bookings through another (route, airline)?
Programs: THAI Gold, Star Alliance Gold, WorldPerks
Posts: 720
Quote:
Originally Posted by mitflyer
I had booked two award seats in business for the JFK-BKK flight for mid-January. Should I call United to try to sort out alternatives for my scheduled trip or should I expect United to work out by itself the re-bookings through another (route, airline)?
I'd give it some time, seeing as there hasn't even been an official announcement from THAI yet, which (when it comes) should shed some light on the whole picture. As it appears now, they are keeping the LAX nonstop (they're still accepting bookings well into the future, and showing it as a nonstop A340-500). I would think the most logical first re-accomodation to be made would be to keep you on THAI and get you to LAX to catch that flight. Give them some time to sort it out and establish some reaccomodation policies.
Interesting chat on the pilot, crew and airline boards re this "cancellation", most saying that it was inevitable with so few seats and that large fuel load, others saying that even SQ's solution is flawed and that the price will have to rise to make it profitable. All seem to agree that premium paxs will pay more for a non stop, even suggesting a $2500 price increase would have been acceptable, they suggest economy paxs are programed to expect more stops, so in the short term maybe SQ have it right,. A lot of speculation about the LAX flight becoming direct, having a technical stop to pick up fuel , thereby easing the load. Although many of the posts are out of BKK, nobody as yet are prepared to say where the 345 will be used, I imagine there are 2, some are saying 3, that could be utilised somewhere else, but without a F class component, Europe is out, NZ is mentioned as a possibility, shuffling their 772's onto the Australian runs, which needs extra capacity. regards bkkrop
I just phone TG office in Bangkok @ 5.00pm June 1st.
The flight is over at the end of the month confirmed 100%
So the next question is how will TG deal with its paid ticketed pacs?
What if you have stared the first have of your return ticket? (this could be a real problem for some people with connections or hotel bookings and so on)
Cheers
1000%????
TG has made such announcements of US route cancellations in the past. But changed their mind after reactions from "important" people. So let's wait....
For those of you booked on award TG tickets on the non stop I would strongly urge you to investigate other flight options, now. While I have no "inside" knowledge as to the TG non stop situation, a couple months ago nearly this same circumstance happened to me on the Singapore Air EWR-SIN non stops. I had booked FF seats for summer travel and, subsequently, the flight was converted to all business. I war reassigned to the one stop flt out of JFK through Frankfurt, something I was not happy about. But, by that time all other FF seats on other airlines were long gone - including seats on TG.
Although SIA had had some publicity on the possible conversion to all business, when I called the ticket agents, and supervisors, concerning this they all said such a change "wouldn't happen," or is "unlikely." Even when I was then unable to book any economy seats on the non stop, for weeks on end, I was told only "those flights must be sold out." I wasn't informed of the change, via email from SIA, until days after there had been a press announcement.
In short, I imagine you need to try as best you can to confirm whether the non stops will be a thing of the past but, simultaneously, try to get yourselves booked/reserved or wait-listed on the next best option. Waiting will only mean less seats available.
Good luck.
And, for what its worth, I too hope the TG non stop isn't eliminated. It is a great flight.
if you're flying from the east coast it doesn't seem to make any sense to me to fly to LAX just to take the TG flight from there. Isn't it quicker to just fly NH or another Asian airline from IAD or JFK or EWR with a connection in Asia?
I flew NH from IAD last year and I would certainly find that schedule (arrive BKK 2245) much preferable to the LAX connection on TG that arrives BKK 0645.
In short, I imagine you need to try as best you can to confirm whether the non stops will be a thing of the past but, simultaneously, try to get yourselves booked/reserved or wait-listed on the next best option. Waiting will only mean less seats available.
Good luck.
I doubt that would be possible before an official announcement has been made - after it has - my best guess is the airline who issued the ticket will find you an option on their own metal (e.g. UA via IAD and NRT).
I flew NH from IAD last year and I would certainly find that schedule (arrive BKK 2245) much preferable to the LAX connection on TG that arrives BKK 0645.
Having flown UA: SFO-HKG-BKK, SFO-NRT-BKK, both arriving after 11PM as well as the SQ: LAX-SIN-BKK arriving morning and TG: LAX-BKK also arriving morning I will say the latter is far superior to arriving late night.
And then there's the possibility of an extended delay in NRT resulting in arriving in BKK at 3AM.
For most of us east coasters, the disadvantage of switching to LAX-BKK is that we still have to fly cross-country, and those fares aren't as low as they once were. Also, I think the return flight arrives around 9/9:30pm? After clearing customs, the choice of connecting flights is rather limited.
I thought about EVA, but their return flight arrives at EWR in the evening as well, too late to connect to DCA after customs. Looks as if it's back to AA - on the positive side, I think I can get AA Platinum with one trip through their Challenge.
EDIT: I also did a check on All Nippon's (NH) premium economy IAD (Dulles) to BKK - $3000+. For a thousand less I'd give it strong consideration, but for 3K ... don't think so.
This is upsetting...we took this flight once and loved it. Just last week booked 2 FF awards in biz class for November through USAir. What is the best way to proceed now to get these changed. I don't want to fly thru LAX - - will USAir let me redeposit miles or try to book on another airline? Should I wait until after the official annoucement from Thai...just in case??
I am in the same boat and not sure what to do now..
:-(
Quote:
Originally Posted by FromDC
This is upsetting...we took this flight once and loved it. Just last week booked 2 FF awards in biz class for November through USAir. What is the best way to proceed now to get these changed. I don't want to fly thru LAX - - will USAir let me redeposit miles or try to book on another airline? Should I wait until after the official annoucement from Thai...just in case??
