Training in Thailand
Aug 11, 2012 | 10:03 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 3
Training in Thailand
1st- How far in advance should we buy our tickets to Phuket over Christmas and New Years Eve?
2nd- Were flying from Anchorage, Alaska to Phuket, Thailand, is 2,400 Usd what we are likely to pay or will they drop? We have been watching for 2 weeks and it went from 2000 to 2400?
2nd- Were flying from Anchorage, Alaska to Phuket, Thailand, is 2,400 Usd what we are likely to pay or will they drop? We have been watching for 2 weeks and it went from 2000 to 2400?
Aug 11, 2012 | 6:22 pm
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: WLG/BKK
Programs: NZ Koru Plat, TG*G, QF G, Accor Plat
Posts: 12,922
Welcome to FT swright121 !!
Your questions are kinda open, so it will be hard for members here to give definitive advice. For what it is worth, Dec-Feb is the 'high season' in Phuket, and there are almost always heavy bookings for Xmas and NY well in advance for accommodation and flights. For the latter, it'll depend a lot on your preferred carrier.
We have all wrestled with this 'calculus' of when is best to book, and if there was a silver bullet answer, be sure the airlines would move to adjust!
Best advice will come from someone who has experience over a couple of seasons of similar travel from your origin (Nth America?). For me, I like to get in early and strike as soon as I see a decent fare, and I have a good idea of what that means to me from my origin. I recently purchased a QANTAS 'sale' fare from New Zealand to Bangkok return in Y late Feb for under $NZ 1200 ($US 900-ish) - this is a great fare. The sale was advertised for Aug-Nov, but the fares were loaded until Feb 13.
Hopefully someone can provide advice - and perhaps you can send a Private Message (PM) to FTer seanthepilot who lives in Phuket and travels between Nth America and Thailand.
Cheers, TK
Your questions are kinda open, so it will be hard for members here to give definitive advice. For what it is worth, Dec-Feb is the 'high season' in Phuket, and there are almost always heavy bookings for Xmas and NY well in advance for accommodation and flights. For the latter, it'll depend a lot on your preferred carrier.
We have all wrestled with this 'calculus' of when is best to book, and if there was a silver bullet answer, be sure the airlines would move to adjust!
Best advice will come from someone who has experience over a couple of seasons of similar travel from your origin (Nth America?). For me, I like to get in early and strike as soon as I see a decent fare, and I have a good idea of what that means to me from my origin. I recently purchased a QANTAS 'sale' fare from New Zealand to Bangkok return in Y late Feb for under $NZ 1200 ($US 900-ish) - this is a great fare. The sale was advertised for Aug-Nov, but the fares were loaded until Feb 13.
Hopefully someone can provide advice - and perhaps you can send a Private Message (PM) to FTer seanthepilot who lives in Phuket and travels between Nth America and Thailand.
Cheers, TK
Aug 11, 2012 | 10:56 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 3
Thank you for the reply..
I apologize for the open ended questions. Thank you for your insight and the contact. Iam coming over to train Muay thai for 3 weeks and well... I'am like a kid in a candy store.
Thank you for the insight..
best regard,
S.wright
I apologize for the open ended questions. Thank you for your insight and the contact. Iam coming over to train Muay thai for 3 weeks and well... I'am like a kid in a candy store.
Thank you for the insight..
best regard,
S.wright
Aug 20, 2012 | 4:15 pm
#4
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 100
You picked the highest time of the year to travel to Thailand and the most expensive city in Thailand too!
Many years ago I would fly from Boston via New York to Anchorage on China Airlines and Korean Airlines. Sometimes the prices passengers paid getting on at Anchorage was not much different than what I was paying starting in Boston - same destination Bangkok!
If you choose that time of year to travel and you are flying out of Anchorage you don't have a lot of options. You could price tickets from LAX or SFO or another airport in the lower 48 as an option. It may be cheaper for you to get to one of those airports for your flight. Even if you want to use miles for a free flight often you pay extra miles over this time period too!
If you haven't paid for your training camp yet flights will be cheaper after February or before November. If you want to fly during the holidays, and from Alaska too, you don't have a lot of options.
I never had to book from Alaska but I have had many flights to Asia from New England area. Hotels in Thailand over the Christmas/New Years holidays book pretty quick! When it is cold in N. America and Canada it is high season in Thailand!
Good luck.
Many years ago I would fly from Boston via New York to Anchorage on China Airlines and Korean Airlines. Sometimes the prices passengers paid getting on at Anchorage was not much different than what I was paying starting in Boston - same destination Bangkok!
If you choose that time of year to travel and you are flying out of Anchorage you don't have a lot of options. You could price tickets from LAX or SFO or another airport in the lower 48 as an option. It may be cheaper for you to get to one of those airports for your flight. Even if you want to use miles for a free flight often you pay extra miles over this time period too!
If you haven't paid for your training camp yet flights will be cheaper after February or before November. If you want to fly during the holidays, and from Alaska too, you don't have a lot of options.
I never had to book from Alaska but I have had many flights to Asia from New England area. Hotels in Thailand over the Christmas/New Years holidays book pretty quick! When it is cold in N. America and Canada it is high season in Thailand!
Good luck.
Aug 20, 2012 | 5:51 pm
#5
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: DCA/IAD
Programs: most of them
Posts: 3,284
Wow. Fares really are crazy. Even from DC it is almost $2K that time of year. But as noted, you are going at the most popular time of the year. And I am guessing that there are probably fewer flight options out of ANC. My guess is that prices aren't likely to go down by much if at all. You can play with dates and see if different days of the week make a difference. You might also want to see if it is cheaper to get to BKK or elsewhere in the region and tack on a low cost carrier flight to HKT to get you to your final destination.