Location: HKT ~ Phuket Thailand & YVR Vancouver; UA1K Lightest of the 1KLite's (for'09), BD*Gold, HHonorsGold, SPGPlatinum, Fairmont Plat
Posts: 4,304
Flew HKT-BKK yesterday and the FA asked me if I had heard of the cancelaton of the JFK flight. I asked where they were going to route the planes and she answered that they'd sold 2 of them...
... 3rd hand rumours, but it seems to follow the same line of thought.
Programs: THAI Gold, Star Alliance Gold, WorldPerks
Posts: 720
Why cancel JFK? Why not LAX, or both?
I was in the BKK Royal Orchid lounge yesterday, asked about the route, and got an answer that they are awaiting a board meeting to make the JFK route cancellation official and announce it. Maybe at that time we'll get more answers.
I'm curious about why it appears that JFK is finished, while the LAX route survives, since (in terms of fuel load) they seem to be so similar? Anybody have any insight on why they may have preferred to end just the one route, and chose the JFK route to terminate?
I do know that the LAX route lends itself to adding a stop somewhere (like China/Japan/Korea etc.), while a stop on the JFK route really doesn't make sense (since depending on tail winds, many times the actual routings make JFK>BKK transatlantic and BKK>JFK transpacific.)
What happens to the two A340-500s that become available due to the cancellation? It's hard to imagine they sold them this quickly, in this environment. They were apparently having trouble finding a buyer for them last year when both routes were threatened, and it's hard to imagine that situation being any better now.
They should extend their service from LHR to JFK. Currently, the world's largest alliance doesn't even have a direct flight betwen 2 of the most important cities. It's a shame, but TG wouldn't be the airline with the balls to start that.
Anybody have any insight on why they may have preferred to end just the one route, and chose the JFK route to terminate?
Sam, maybe it has something to do with the enormous Thai population in Los Angeles. It singlehandedly has the largest Thai population in a city outside of Thailand.
Don't know if that's the reason or not for the retention of the route, but would assume LA has a much higher load factor on a regular basis than JFK...but maybe that's just naivete or inexperience talking.
You mentioned the possibility for a stopover on the LAX route, which I'm sure factors in as well.
The Thai board meeting that was to decide the fate of the BKK - JFK route was supposed to take place today June 6th as posted on other forums. When do you think they will annouce the results of that meeting?
After that we will see what is true and what is rumour.
Thai Air to Scale Down
Fleet Expansion, Sell Planes
By PHISANU PHROMCHANYA
June 6, 2008 10:09 a.m.
BANGKOK -- Thai Airways International PCL said it will scale down its fleet expansion plans, cut flights to the U.S. and sell long-haul planes to cope with soaring jet fuel costs.
President Apinan Sumanaseni said Friday that the number of aircraft to be procured over the next 10 years will be cut from the 65 planned. A revised proposal will be put to the airline's board next month.
The spiraling jet fuel cost is also forcing the airline to terminate its direct Bangkok-New York flights from July 1 and to cut flights to Los Angeles to five a week from seven, he told reporters.
LOL - I'm not doing too well on my batting average with selecting flights lately - I should be fine on my LAX-BKK-SIN flights departing June 28th, but depending on schedule am interested to see what happens to my return flights KUL-BKK-LAX on July 7th. Knowing my luck, will get some old, creaky C seat to LAX with a mechanical delay on the fuel stop.
And to think I cancelled my SQ booking to save a few $$
As a NYC resident who flies to BKK twice a year, this will be the end of ROP for me, and probably most of my flying on Thai. I have miles and an upgrade to use somehow, meanwhile.
I'll keep my fingers crossed that they figure out a way to stay in the NY market with a direct flight, but I'm not optimistic.
I phoned Thai Air's US 800 number this morning, and they said they still don't know anything and won't until early next week.
We've already payed for our honeymoon JFK-BKK trip for this October, so this is quite depressing. If there was a crying emoticon, I'd use it. We were looking forward to the relatively comfortable and reasonably priced Premium Economy. Doesn't look like there are any good alternatives, but please post any ideas you may have.
