MightyTravels

- 787 for BA, A330 to PEN on QR

- books into R and I

https://www.wego.com/flights/searches/cLGW-cPEN/2019-03-02:2019-03-16/business/1a:0c:0i?sort=price&order=asc

groovyfly

For anybody who like me did not know: PEN is Penang in Malaysia about 350 km north-west of KUL.

MightyTravels

Somewhat better prices for alternative dates as low as $2,259 RT

https://www.google.com/flights/#flt=...56*.USD.225856

Phil the Flyer

jiaogulan

At first I was like, Langkawi to Penang flights sure have gone up.

GGLwannabe

In the context of the current dearth of sale prices on QR from anywhere in Europe, this is good value (and Penang is a great place to visit, with easy links to e.g. KUL, BKK, SIN, etc.)

However although I can see this pricing shown as available on Google flights for a number of dates next year, when one clicks through to book on Qatar, the combination of flights selected is not available at anything like the price shown on Google flights, (about £2000, rather than £1738) and the cheapest options shown on the QR site, which involves a long layover outbound is £1870)

Is Google assuming the use of a promo code that I don't have? Or is there a problem being able to buy QR tickets at the prices shown on Google flights?

IAN-UK

I think Penang is one of those destinations QR is convinced it should be able to charge a premium for a direct service. And for Penangites it's a blessing to be able to travel without going through KL

I did Manchester Penang recently, with QR. Pleased i did it in economy class, as the DOH PEN and PEN DOH sectors had rows free for sleeping. On the PEN DOH flight, the business cabin was empty. It was only a snapshot, but I think QR might be having problems getting high fares to stick.

Unless you really value the direct option, KL is often much cheaper. BKK is clunkier, needing an airport switch to get cheap Air Asia flights at Don Meaung, otherwise there's an evening Thai Smiles from Suvarnabhumi. SIN has more connecting flights, more carriers.

GGLwannabe

Penang has a lot of tourists from the Gulf and this route was clearly planned before the Gulf embargo came into force. The Gulf embargo is probably the reason why most Qatar planes to Penang are flying half empty, and that would explain why Qatar is now trying to fill seats by offering attractive prices.

At the moment this is (or would be if it could be booked at the Google flights price), as far as I can see, the cheapest Qatar routing to South East Asia from London.

Does anyone know why the flight combinations Google flights comes up with cannot be bought on Qatar for the prices indicated by Google?

quinzinho

Living in Malaysia and being oneworld FF, I've frequently checked PEN business fares. Consistently these are priced too high though, so I'm not surprised to read the comment here that business class was empty!

Also this fare... Well you can get better prices for similar distances, so to me it's not a good deal. However, of course I appreciate this post! Sharing is always good!

MightyTravels

True only QR is listed. Maybe an odd codeshare since it always comes up as BA that segment.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatwick_Airport

IAN-UK

I had no idea Penang was a particular Gulf hot-spot. Certainly none of the other Gulf carriers offer it.

I have moved on from QR. I'm an opportunist and fly whatever carrier offers value - I'm a OneWorld and Star Alliance tart, but I'd happily give up the miles for a few hundred quid. And I see Gulf from Heathrow to Bangkok at under £1100

https://www.flysharp.com/BookFlightSK.aspx?DestinationFrom=LON&StartDate=13 &StartMonth=0918&DestinationTo=BKK&DestTo=BKK&EndD ate=26&EndMonth=0918&AdultCnt=1&Childcnt=0&InfantC nt=0&AirLineCode=&Cabin=C&triptype=ROUNDTRIP&trkid =SK&DFLT=False&Fname=FLS777532414282018-767978-6675759-4&itmid=1&FareIdentifier=FLS777532414282018-767978-6675759-4*1*4&skyscanner_redirectid=3GOVkJZfEeiUAAJCrBEACw &DFLT=false&request_id=3GOVkJZfEeiUAAJCrBEACw&ipAd dress=83.166.209.226

NJSwamplands

i get the bloody spinning nothingness when clicking on the link.

Also miss you on the QR threads.

GGLwannabe

Yes, Gulf Air from London to Bangkok for around £1100 is a steal. However I have several people - me included - with a vested interest in me retaining GGL status, so I'm tied to One World for the foreseeable.

I couldn't find any QR deals for my April or July trips to the Far East so ended up flying Finnair in April, which is fine, and the hard product, although not as good a QR is way better than BA. However as both my February trip and upcoming October trip had been booked with Qatar ex Helsinki, I was looking not to go via HEL in July, and in the end bought a AMS-LHR-SIN-BKK-HKG-LHR-AMS which I was able to upgrade to F using a GUF1 on the 2 long-haul legs for a total price of around £1450.

I have all my forthcoming flights booked up to end-March and hopefully between now and end January some kind of QR sale should happen!

IAN-UK

Posting links is at the very limit of my technical ability!

You coukd look up LON BKK on Flysharp.com for 13-26 September. No idea if it shows on Google, but i think probably not... .

swingaling

Interesting. That fare must be an unpublished (consolidator/bulk) fare because I can't price anything close to that on GF or EF. However, pricing it on FlySharp was trivial.

Any idea what other carriers they offer these discounted fares for?