Aston100

Hi guys.
Been waiting a while for a decent price to BKK and HKT from the UK in the summer holidays.
Keeping an eye on ex EU departures but most departure airports are not convenient for me given my nearest airport is actually BHX and I'd have to travel to London.
The notable exception is CDG.

Anyway so I'm on the verge of booking CDG > BKK // HKT > CDG.
Price is currently approx £1550pp for the 4 sectors including a stop in DOH on the outbound.
Would cost me around £150pp (return) for BHX > CDG on AF, and I presume it will be cheaper when FlyBe publish their summer prices later.

My question is, am I genuinely likely to find a price anywhere near that (circa £1700pp) from LHR during summer?
The availability from/to CDG on my preferred dates is diminishing for the promo rates and will likely be gone soon, hence I would like to get this done now.
However, I'm getting cold feet and telling myself to wait for a UK sale, but what if that either doesn't come, or the prices are not great? (currently looking at near double from LHR for the same dates).
I'm also mindful of the need to possibly get a hotel in London and leaving my car for more than 2 weeks, plus the time/fuel to drive there.

Would really appreciate some input from anyone who has experience of ex UK pricing please.
Literally everything right now is telling me to book from CDG, but just looking for reassurance that I haven't overlooked something or somewhere else or the certainty of a decent sale from the UK etc

Many thanks in advance.

mikeyfly

Which cabin are you looking at? If you're going to CDG for £1,550 I'd definitely hold back and wait for an excellent deal from ARN / OSL / MXP

Aston100

I'm looking at business class promo (R) tickets.
Thanks but none of those airports you've cited are reachable directly from BHX and would involve a trip down to London, leaving the car somewhere, possibly a hotel overnight, and none of them have a decent lounge compared to the Qatar CDG lounge.
Incidentally, a multi city to BKK and back from HKT is actually more expensive from all of those too. I don't want to waste time with additional positioning flights to/from HKT on separate tickets - this trip is already complex enough (also visiting Siem Reap in the middle).
Hence why I'm almost ready to buy these flights, barring any last minute options or observations from anyone.

mikeyfly

Having what sounds like a very similar itinerary this Easter; I arrived into KUL night there before straight to REP next day for a few days - then direct flight to HKT and over to Phi Phi before travelling to KBV and flying back from SIN. I don't think with Qatar i'd be desperate to nail the long hauls this far away as their sales come and go - however if you're happy at that price point and itinerary just book it. I wouldn't yet however. I also wouldn't ever make a decision based on airline lounge !

Having kept an eye on exLON for a few years, can't remember QR getting under £2k

Aston100

Thanks.
The lounge is just one of many factors in favour of CDG over the other ex EU departure airports - for me anyway. I'll likely be in there to kill off a 4 hr gap between landing and taking off on separate tickets.
There is the ability to get a direct flight there from BHX, which I think only CDG and AMS can manage (AMS lounges being a bit inferior from what I can tell).
And if I have to stay overnight, I have a bunch of IHG points I can use to stay at one of several hotels for no cash (which again I think only AMS can compete with versus other ex EU departure points).

Sounds like I've talked myself into going ahead now.
I do note your point about ex UK prices never being below £2k. I've only been watching since last 8 months and not seen anything for under £2.2k myself. Perhaps there will be a sale between now and January? Don't think I can take the risk.
I mean I don't know if these flights ever sell out, but some of the Qatar business class review videos I've watched seem to show completely full J cabins from LHR.

mikeyfly

Would you consider taking Swiss return to BKK for only £1,000 per person? Huge saving for a bit of faff

https://www.google.co.uk/flights/#fl...4*2.GBP.409954

I2sky

I did LHR - DOH - HKG last year for £1500 return in J, originally the booking was LHR -DOH on BA with the DOH - HKG on QR but thanks to BA having issues with the 787s we got QR metal on all legs. It was booked on BA.com and part of one of their sales. Year before I did what OP is planning and flew BHX to CDG and QR from there, great lounge at CDG.

If lounge and flying QR are the priority I’d be tempted to book the £1550 fare from CDG to be honest. I know deals from AMS to BKK around £1100 aren’t unusual, I’ve seen them pop up a fair bit over past few years but if I remember correctly they tend to be BA during a sale or Finnair.

Knodde

I would consider that CDG is utterly useless airport to transfer through and build in quite a bit of margin both ways. Good call on the lounge, I really like that one!

kt74

So, I watch SE Asia like a hawk as I do QR to the region a couple of times a year, and alas, no, BKK/HKT don't get below £2k ex-LHR these days. This year there were a sales that briefly included CGK and HKG around the 1.6/1.7 mark, but nothing to Thailand

tbh, 1.5k is a reasonable fare ex-EU. As others have said, ex-Scandi sometimes gets lower, but a PITA to get to from BHX. OTOH, CDG is a right pain of an airport to transfer in (from 1 to 2E... good luck!), and who knows if Flybe (*cough* Virgin Connect) will be flying this route tomorrow, never mind next year, or indeed if it will run on time, or if they will take your cabin bags without an excess charge that will void your QR savings...

impeymac

Flew with Swiss Business class LHR-ZRH-BKK rtn in May/June for £1250 pp. Definately not as good as QR, but at around £800 pp cheaper they were extremely good value & I'd happily fly with them again.

brunos

From CDG, there are few J sales. And what they call sale is often just a bit lower than regular price and significantly higher than what you can get on BA (from CDG) or AY if you stick to OW. Hence, don't expect you to find much cheaper from CDG.

I don't know about sales from LHR.

Aston100

Hi, I saw this deal when it was on previously.
Amazing price.
However, I would really like to stick to One World carriers, and QR in particular for a variety of reasons.

Given the rest of the responses in this thread, it sounds to me that the current pricing to BKK and returning from HKT is best ex CDG.
As this also has a decent lounge, an above average chance of a Qusite on two of the sectors, is reachable with a direct flight from BHX, and gives me the opportunity to spend a few hours in Paris (no offence to the other EU departures), I am about 90% convinced to go ahead and book this.

Does anyone have any good reasons why I shouldn't book this (this week) please? I'm open to all criticism and cons, as I do have some rather cold feet at present!

Thanks for the patience people, I don't fly longhaul often and have never flown longhaul business class, so this is all a new experience for me!

impeymac

If you've done your homework & are happy with the price then book it & don't look back. Just make sure you leave enough time between flights for delays or cancellations etc.

Most importantly, enjoy QR onboard. They are currently the best business class in the air.

mikeyfly

You know what - go ahead and book it and never look back on pricing

I love it once the longhaul is booked then you can start arranging all the transfer / hotels and other fun stuff. Do it !

PS - I'd pay a premium like you for QR too

Have a great trip !

LondonElite

Regardless of how important the lounge is for you, I'd build in a lot more room between these flights than four hours. If you are late for checkin and don't present yourself on time at the gate, your entire QR flight will auto-cancel. This would not be good. I expect you'll have luggage, so you'll need to wait for this, exit, possibly change terminal, and the check in and go through security again. If your flight from BHX is cancelled you're completely screwed. On a long haul departure like this I would almost always arrive the night before (which may wipe out any savings made.)