SMcV

Last mentions I could find were from July this past year, but does any know if direct flights have been planned for winter 23/24?

Thanks

SKT-DK

Winter 23? How about we start with summer 23 first and go from there?

fdem

Possibly a route with virgin Atlantic is on the cards as BA no longer fly given virgin dropped the Hong Kong route

SKT-DK

Source?

Not that I would ever set foot on that airline, but if this is anything more than your personal speculation, I would be curious to see a source..

Ghoulish

Given that BKK demand is largely driven by holiday bargain seekers, and the precipitous fall of GBP, I'd be surprised if any carrier was placing bets on a rebound in demand.

PES_B1

But tickets to Thailand now are exorbitant, can you believe the cheapest possible single round trip from Singapore to Bangkok on Scoot in coach cost more than Cathay Pacific A350 business class 5 years ago(Oct 2022 vs Oct 2017)?

xxxxx

As you well know it’s USD strength rather than GBP weakness. The pound is currently stronger against THB then when I was last there in mid 2019.

Bangkok is now a cancelled route rather than a suspended route so this would require a full route restart.

Ghoulish

Oh believe me I know it. I lucked out and got tickets for two winter trips in J. ex-US via Tokyo, and another BKK-SIN-JFK only to see them both more than double a few days later. Yet, seat maps show significant availability. Expecting to sop up the last of stimulus cash vacationers perhaps?

No relief in fares to BKK from US or Europe until April of 2023, and those are hardly a bargain compared to earlier this year.

Thai just restarted directs from the US, but I have no idea who's taking them up at such exorbitant prices.

Ghoulish

True, but with very significant inflation in Thailand, even the strong USD only gets to about par with buying power from a year ago, while it aggravates the weakened pound and Euro. I realize that's not likely much of an issue for the flyertalk demographic, but it will hit the economy cabin hard.

nomadabroad

Depending on your dates but I saw a pretty good deal with SQ return to BKK from LHR for £620, if willing to go outside OW.

Thai and Eva direct are now consistently expensive in the range of £900-1000+, AY pricing has gone wild recently too so no longer a cheap option to BKK. QR used to be reasonably priced but have been expensive lately too (they’ve done well with two fully loaded A380s every day)

The other wildcard is CX with some dates around £620 LHR-BKK this winter but whether their schedules are reliable or not is a whole different question lol…plus HKG-LHR is now a 15h flight so might want to consider that when flying via HK

nomadabroad

Since when did Thai restart direct flights to the US? Unless I’ve missed this in the news recently….

Magic01273

I vacation in Thailand every other year or so and always want to fly Business for that length of flight, but since I normally skip Bangkok and go straight to Samui anyway - if I want to fly with BA, I'll just go via Singapore now probably and then onwards to Samui on Bangkok Airways.

Bangkok Airways fares SIN-USM are usually pretty expensive considering the short flight time, but you can redeem Avios for their tickets fairly easily I think.

I flew with Qatar via Doha there and back this year and it wasnt bad but it was expensive and with a mix of business cabins (Q-suites great - 2-2-2 on 777 not so great). Stopping half way in Doha had it pros and cons I guess but overall would prefer to go via SIN and get most of the way there in one hop. Direct via Thai and Eva is not appealing due mainly to price (I loved Eva but they were SO expensive this year - more than twice the price they were pre-pandemic).

Ghoulish

My mistake, filtered for "nonstop" in Kayak but was displaying LH codeshare via FRA. Hadn't bothered checking flight details because of the price.

thejohn

Around a month ago I got a single return on Swiss departing/returning LCY all in J, outbound ZRH and HKG then TG to BKK. On the return BKK to ZRH to LCY for £1525. And 5 internal flights on Bangkok Air for around £50 each. But I think that fare has also disappeared now. Google flights are your friend.

John

Door5L

BA still advertising direct flights on its website though. Oops.

https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb...hts-to-bangkok

Many of us remember the days of a full 747 to BKK (which admittedly went onto Australia) but it seems that not even a 788 is viable on this route now.

Virgin did announce this week that it was pulling out of HKG but it would be unwise to speculate that BKK may be the replacement, especially as VS is joining Star Alliance from 2023 where Thai Airways sit. After pulling out of Tokyo to focus more on its US market, I’m not sure BKK would be at the top of their list but more likely a new US destination - but all that is for the VS forum.