Destination: Thailand from North America [Consolidated]
Jul 18, 2013, 9:53 am
#196
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 42,048
Yeah, it's pretty bad. Maybe okay for westbound though.
Jul 18, 2013, 8:32 pm
#198
In memoriam
Join Date: Dec 2001
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Posts: 1,732
Jul 18, 2013, 11:26 pm
#199
Join Date: May 2008
Location: BOS/SIN
Programs: SQ
Posts: 2,704
Again, not sure how targeted it is, but it seemed to me that almost everyone got it.
Jul 21, 2013, 6:14 pm
#200
Join Date: Feb 2013
Programs: AA, UA, US, DL, SPG Gold, HHonors Gold, Club C. Gold, Marriott Silver
Posts: 122
Thanks so much for all the great responses. I am trying to consider all my options. I just noticed that US has a 5,000 off mileage discount if you have their credit card. I assume this is only for USAIR flights and not allowed when using US miles and redeeming on their *alliance partner carriers?
Jul 25, 2013, 2:04 pm
#201
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 756
Strange as many industry experts have been saying that Full lie down seats are now and near future will be the industry standard. Dont know why they made the dreamliner downgrade this instead of an upgrade as its a new plane.???
Jul 26, 2013, 10:04 am
#202
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 5,439
Thanks so much for all the great responses. I am trying to consider all my options. I just noticed that US has a 5,000 off mileage discount if you have their credit card. I assume this is only for USAIR flights and not allowed when using US miles and redeeming on their *alliance partner carriers?
Jul 26, 2013, 8:22 pm
#203
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Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Atlanta, GA, USA
Programs: Frontier Gold, DL estranged 1MMer, Spirit VIP, CO/NW/UA/AA once gold/plat/comped gold now dust.
Posts: 38,166
Availability will probably limit the options a lot, though if you're in November outside Thanksgiving you have about as good a chance as any in the year. If memory serves, Loi Krathong is around then as well (nice holiday, much better than Songkhran).
Am a frequent redeemer to BKK; all-time best was for 70K DL miles via AMS (mostly SQ) with a 5-day stop in AMS in June. Second best was 40K DL award sale. Those days are gone. I too tend to try to max out allowable stopovers & open jaws. Can't give advice on US as far as that goes, but Thailand is well-covered with LCCs (Nok Air my fave, but also Thai Air Asia & others) and the domestic fares have gotten so cheap that it could be better to get one of those and play the stopover or open jaw card in another spot on the itin.
Would also advise loading the first days with diurnal stuff. Eastern time zone to Thailand is the worst-case for jet lag, and I usually have to fight crashes around 8, 9, 10 p.m. etc. the first days there. YMMV but don't underestimate it.
Am a frequent redeemer to BKK; all-time best was for 70K DL miles via AMS (mostly SQ) with a 5-day stop in AMS in June. Second best was 40K DL award sale. Those days are gone. I too tend to try to max out allowable stopovers & open jaws. Can't give advice on US as far as that goes, but Thailand is well-covered with LCCs (Nok Air my fave, but also Thai Air Asia & others) and the domestic fares have gotten so cheap that it could be better to get one of those and play the stopover or open jaw card in another spot on the itin.
Would also advise loading the first days with diurnal stuff. Eastern time zone to Thailand is the worst-case for jet lag, and I usually have to fight crashes around 8, 9, 10 p.m. etc. the first days there. YMMV but don't underestimate it.
Jul 26, 2013, 11:10 pm
#204
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Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 42,048
They use it mainly on thin routes with no competition (e.g. BOS, SAN).
Jul 27, 2013, 12:33 pm
#205
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Anchorage, Alaska
Programs: AS MVP 75K, DL Gold
Posts: 204
Thailand Travel
I am not an expert on many of your reward programs, but I have been to Thailand 5 times in the last 2 years. If it were me, I would combine some of my UR with my UA and fly United. RT is 65,000 miles in coach. Generally pretty good award availability and low fees.
A suggested route may be to fly directly into Chang Mai. You can catch a night sleeper train (10 hrs) from Chang Mai to BKK or vice versa for around $30 US. They are really comfortable and can save you a night in a hotel. Air Asia works pretty good for getting from BKK to Phuket on short notice.
Happy Travels
A suggested route may be to fly directly into Chang Mai. You can catch a night sleeper train (10 hrs) from Chang Mai to BKK or vice versa for around $30 US. They are really comfortable and can save you a night in a hotel. Air Asia works pretty good for getting from BKK to Phuket on short notice.
Happy Travels
Hello,
I'm a newbie to Flyertalk and I am looking for some advice. I would like to travel to Thailand in mid-November for a much needed vacation. I am hoping to do an open jaw and fly into Chang Mai and out of Phuket (or do the reverse). I plan to see Bangkok as well. I also hope to have a stopver (under 24 hrs okay) on the way. I haven't done much international travel and I have never been to Asia. I have some flexibility and I am traveling alone, so these miles are for one coach ticket.
UA - 11K
US - 88K
AA - 67K
Avios - 68K
UR - 54K
MR - 77K
I'm not sure if I have any choice, but to use USAirways miles for a coach ticket (80K miles) and possibly stop in Zurich or Istanbul, if possible for a few hours. If I keep the stopover under 24 hours, I believe it will be allowed. Do you think it would be better/more availability to try to earn enough to fly on AA (I would only need 3K more for coach)?
I am working toward building up more miles, so I can fly business class for future intl flights.
Thank you so much for any advice you can give me!
I'm a newbie to Flyertalk and I am looking for some advice. I would like to travel to Thailand in mid-November for a much needed vacation. I am hoping to do an open jaw and fly into Chang Mai and out of Phuket (or do the reverse). I plan to see Bangkok as well. I also hope to have a stopver (under 24 hrs okay) on the way. I haven't done much international travel and I have never been to Asia. I have some flexibility and I am traveling alone, so these miles are for one coach ticket.
UA - 11K
US - 88K
AA - 67K
Avios - 68K
UR - 54K
MR - 77K
I'm not sure if I have any choice, but to use USAirways miles for a coach ticket (80K miles) and possibly stop in Zurich or Istanbul, if possible for a few hours. If I keep the stopover under 24 hours, I believe it will be allowed. Do you think it would be better/more availability to try to earn enough to fly on AA (I would only need 3K more for coach)?
I am working toward building up more miles, so I can fly business class for future intl flights.
Thank you so much for any advice you can give me!
Aug 8, 2013, 2:59 pm
#206
Join Date: Feb 2013
Programs: AA, UA, US, DL, SPG Gold, HHonors Gold, Club C. Gold, Marriott Silver
Posts: 122
Thanks again everyone. I have a USAirways booking on hold in Biz class and wondering if the itinerary seems too crazy. I don't have long layovers, just a lot of flights.
I decided to try for business class, but the availibility wasn't great. I did find some biz flights using United's search engine. I booked the following and now I am thinking maybe I should just transfer my UR miles to United and fly coach directly to CNX and do a open jaw on the return from Phuket! I would appreciate your thoughts. This is my first trip to Asia and my first award ticket booked since being a FT member! Thanks for your patience and valuable help!
Nov. 6th
Bos-SFO UA
SFO-ICN OZ
ICN-HKG OZ
Stay in HKG for a couple days.
Buy tix to Thailand (cnx or phuket) or use other airline miles
Nov. 20th
Fly from thailand (cnx or phuket)
HKG-BKK TG
BKK-IST TK
Stopver in IST for couple days
Nov. 23rd
IST-MUC TK
MUC-BOS LH
I decided to try for business class, but the availibility wasn't great. I did find some biz flights using United's search engine. I booked the following and now I am thinking maybe I should just transfer my UR miles to United and fly coach directly to CNX and do a open jaw on the return from Phuket! I would appreciate your thoughts. This is my first trip to Asia and my first award ticket booked since being a FT member! Thanks for your patience and valuable help!
Nov. 6th
Bos-SFO UA
SFO-ICN OZ
ICN-HKG OZ
Stay in HKG for a couple days.
Buy tix to Thailand (cnx or phuket) or use other airline miles
Nov. 20th
Fly from thailand (cnx or phuket)
HKG-BKK TG
BKK-IST TK
Stopver in IST for couple days
Nov. 23rd
IST-MUC TK
MUC-BOS LH
Aug 8, 2013, 3:46 pm
#207
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 42,048
Thanks again everyone. I have a USAirways booking on hold in Biz class and wondering if the itinerary seems too crazy. I don't have long layovers, just a lot of flights.
I decided to try for business class, but the availibility wasn't great. I did find some biz flights using United's search engine. I booked the following and now I am thinking maybe I should just transfer my UR miles to United and fly coach directly to CNX and do a open jaw on the return from Phuket! I would appreciate your thoughts. This is my first trip to Asia and my first award ticket booked since being a FT member! Thanks for your patience and valuable help!
I decided to try for business class, but the availibility wasn't great. I did find some biz flights using United's search engine. I booked the following and now I am thinking maybe I should just transfer my UR miles to United and fly coach directly to CNX and do a open jaw on the return from Phuket! I would appreciate your thoughts. This is my first trip to Asia and my first award ticket booked since being a FT member! Thanks for your patience and valuable help!
Aug 10, 2013, 4:11 pm
#209
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Bali, Indonesia
Programs: AA, DL, AK, UN, CN
Posts: 967
I've been booking reward tickets to Asia for 3-4 years now. United almost always has good availability. Delta almost never (tho I finally scored one last year, but it took forever to find and book it).
I'd go with United. United pairs w Thai airlines so you can get to Chaing Mai and open-jaw out of Phuket. They usually route me via Japan which isn't my fav spot for a layover, but you might be able to score a HKG layover. Bangkok is always a hard to book destination but it seems easy to score tickets flying thru it - so your strategy may work out well.
Let us know what you sort out.
I'd go with United. United pairs w Thai airlines so you can get to Chaing Mai and open-jaw out of Phuket. They usually route me via Japan which isn't my fav spot for a layover, but you might be able to score a HKG layover. Bangkok is always a hard to book destination but it seems easy to score tickets flying thru it - so your strategy may work out well.
Let us know what you sort out.
Aug 10, 2013, 10:15 pm
#210
Join Date: Aug 2012
Programs: SPG Platinum, AA Ex Plat
Posts: 262
I just got back 2 days ago from Phuket. I used UA for 120k miles in business with an 8 day stop over in Paris on the return and 23 hr layover in bankok on the outbound. You have various options but I would reconsider your choice for coach as this is a loong flight