49er

I'd like to travel SFO-BKK roundtrip in late December. I understand that the online travel agencies usually don't have the best deals...instead one should go to a specialized travel agent.

Can someone recommend one to me? If such recommendations are against FT policy, please send me your recommendations via private message and post on this thread that you sent me one so I know to check it.

If there are other places I should look for good fares, please let me know that as well.

Thanks

plinko

Unfortunately, it's you and every other American, Australian, and European who seems to want to be in Thailand in late December, based on my previous travels there; I don't doubt there's deals to be had, but it may be a little too close to what seems to be a very peak tourism season for them to be still available.

What would your price threshhold for "cheap" be?

worldcupfan

Try searching the United forum and possibly other airline forums for consolidators. I was able to buy W fare class from a consolidator for a BKK flight in December when H was the lowest available on United. (appx. $500 RT difference)

You can also try www.kayak.com. There are a few consolidators that kayak searches (e.g., airfare.com)

nkedel

First, on timing. If your idea is to go anywhere near a beach, forget about it - peak season at Phuket and the other major beaches is very expensive (hotel costs can as much as quadruple from low season) and the crowds spoil the place. Bangkok itself is not changed nearly so much, and if the trip is to go there, or elsewhere in SEA that is not a beach resort, it might not be so bad.

Second, on cheap tickets : remember that there are TONS of very cheap seats, even that time of year (if purchased well in advance) on the various local low cost airlines. So even if your end goal is BKK (or someplace most easily reachable from BKK) and cost is a major factor, check fares into SIN, KUL, etc.

The three main low cost carriers are Air Asia, Tiger Airways, and Jetstar Asia (formerly known as Valuair). There are a couple of others, although the ones I can think of right now I think are all intra-Thailand routes (Bangkok Airways, 1-2-Go, and Nok Air).

In the case of my most recent vacation (which is somewhat mileage run-ish) I paid $932, all taxes included for AA: SJC->NRT->BKK/SIN->NRT->DFW->SFO - going into and out of SIN alone would have been over $1200, BKK alone over $1400. A one-way flight on Air Asia, BKK->SIN was $40, so my total savings was around $200, and could have saved some just going into and out of SIN and getting a round trip up to Bangkok. And the AA flights (/JAL codeshares for the in-asia legs) earn full miles.

How did I find it? Dumb luck, but persistence pays off, and checking the other major hubs can as well.