How do we get to Koh Samui after using Cathay to BKK?
 

We' be using a chunk of our OneWorld miles to get to BKK in Cathay Business. Final destination, however, is Koh Samui and I can't find a mileage partner that will get us there? Does anyone have an idea of how to do this without coughing up $300 by using Bangkok Airways or some other discount carrier? Thanks! Cathay was able to get us to Bali last year in great style but then we had to purchase two one ways to get to Phuket on Air Asia.

TG is the only major airline that flies there... so your choices for using miles are very limited.

I believe PG is the only "major" airline that flies there as they were the original builder of the airport. TG only operate one or two flights.

OP, given such a small island...and tiny airport, your options to redeem OW tickets to USM is almost non-existence. I would just cough up that ~$200 USD for a revenue ticket.

Furthermore, this topic has nothing to do with CX. It would be more appropriate here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/thailand-624/. As a matter of fact, the 4th most recent thread is on http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/thail...ui-advice.html

My definition of "major" was an international airline that is useful for awards since that was the question.... :-).

Not sure if using miles for such an inexpensive flight is a good idea.
Try nokair.com for an inexpensive alternative (flight+ferry, takes a bit more time)

We found this to be our cheapest option for travel within Thailand including to USM: http://www.thaiairways.com/offers/sp...fares-2011.htm

For miles, the redemption options via United were very limited in dates because Thai only flies 2x daily BKK-USM. You can also fly SilkAir from SIN but only using KF miles.

Not sure what benefits this will mean for CX Pax, but PG will be code sharing with BA soon.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...k-airways.html

You could use AB miles or JAL miles to redeem on PG flights to USM. However I believe AB option is not good value.

Another possibility is to wait until PG forms sort of redemption agreement with BA or CX.

PG also codeshare with MH I believe. Check that out.

Just in case you have overlooked the following:

PG flies from HKG to USM twice a day. So if you are connecting through HKG anyway, you could skip the detour via BKK.

PG is a nice little airline and usually the best option to USM.

EY also does awards with PG

USM is only a codeshare (AB codeshare but PG metal), so no OW redemption is possible http://onw.innosked.com/?show=MAP

JL is running a promo on PG flights redemption, BKK-USM RT is only 5K/person. If you don't have any JL miles, you can transfer SPG points into JL, the transfer usually takes about 1 week.

Any way to check award availability on PG before the transfer? It would be pretty dumb to transfer a decent chunk of SPG and have it get stranded in an orphan account if there wasn't award availability...

OP: In theory you can connect in PEN instead of BKK and fly FY to USM; CX 633 arrives about 2 hours before FY 3602 leaves. The catch is... separate tickets. The tickets are generally more reasonable than PG's, especially around peak travel times to Ko Samui (like December, Full Moon Party, etc.).

I don't know if buying an FY ticket as the MH codeshare through MH would get you under the oneworld guarantee of IROPS protection on separate tickets (sadly, you can't book FY through oneworld awards). Depends on what your tolerance for risk is (that or do an overnight stay in PEN to minimize risk, like I did- Georgetown is certainly not Bangkok but it has it's own charms).

The cheapest LCC options involve some airline like DD and connecting through URT, plus a bus and ferry ride, as Unterwegs mentions. Not bad but chews up a lot of time.

I would be disinclined to burn many miles on a couple hundred dollars of airfare in SE Asia, especially when the LCC options for flights are perfectly reasonable.

This is what I did: call first to verify availability on Thursday, then initiate the transfer, points hit JL account next Tuesday, call to book. AFAICT the weekday availability for BKK<-->USM is pretty decent.

I just called JAL to check on my dates in August to do BKK>REP>USM(via BKK)>BKK (for only 8,000 mi/per person!) but neither leg had availability. Is there any way to do check online? I don't want to have to spend 15 min on the phone every time I want to check, and I also don't want to transfer 16,000 out of my SPG if they are not going to get used...