Originally Posted by
mikelat
Seeing as you want Bangkok, I'd bet on Thai Airways flights. But you're going to have to do some research as to which airlines typically offer the lowest fare to BKK with the number of connections you'd be comfortable with. I'm only really familiar with OneWorld and I know there you could do Cathay SFO-HKG and then HKG-BKK.
From what I've heard, the Asian carrier's loyalty programs are not as generous as US Carriers (and even those are de-valuing). What are you looking for in a loyalty program?
Thai is super expensive (no better service than Cathay). Cathay is my favorite but I haven't really tried their loyalty program. Often United is cheapest but they have terrible service and their loyalty program is useless to me as a cattle class flyer. Can't even pick a seat on the partner legs you have to use now that United dropped the NRT-BKK route. I like China Air better than United. Singapore is supposed to be nice but has long layovers. I like Asean and indochine airport but haven't used them much.
I might just end up flying the cheapest price and not being loyal to any airline.