victorious

Hello,
im planning a trip to bangkok from miami, fl. I wanted to know if any one knows of the best way to get there and perhaps the cheapest airline. Im planning to go in August. Thanks for the help.
Victorious

miizzles

Cross-posting is not allowed at FlyerTalk.

quitecontrary

That's not a very nice welcome to a new member of Flyertalk.
Sorry I can't answer your query victorious but welcome to Flyertalk and I hope someone will come up with some suggestions for you.

sadiqhassan

welcome to FT. How long will you be going for?

Prices are around 1700USD return

Cheers

sadiqhassan

I just looked up some consolidators and Asiana Airlines is the cheapest @ USD 1029 + tax 380

Korean, Northwest, Air Canada and American also offer good fares.

Cheers

jpdx

Thaifly.com is a consolidator with good prices and a website with decent functionality. You may be able to save some money by buying a ticket to the West Coast, and then flying to Thailand on a seperate ticket from LAX/SEA etc. Good luck, and welcome to FT!

moondog

august is pretty much the most expensive time of year to go there because it is a vacation month in many places, including korea and japan (where you'd likely end up transiting).

that said, i still don't like the sournd of the $1600 stuff. i have never bought a ticket between the us and thailand, but i fly between the us and china very often and almost never pay more than $1000 (even in august from florida).

mcgahat

Not famililar with Thaifly but the purchasing of a ticket from the west coast and a seperate ticket from MIA to the west coast is a good suggestion. I would think that China, Eva or Korean can be pretty cheap from the west coast especially if you can find an agent that deals in either of those airlines.

To the original poster, play around with some city pairs (SFO, SEA, LAX, ATL etc) and dates on expedia etc and then try to a low price to BKK from those and see if you can get a seperate cheap ticket from Miami to those cities.

That does have its risk though as you are not on one ticket so not much protection in the event of delays so those are the risks you take to save money.

jpdx

When going through a consolidator, the Taiwanese airlines should not be more expensive than $650+ from the West Coast. KE/DL and NW should price out at about $900. NW can be tricky with availability, but a good consolidator will usually allow 2 stopovers, including one in Japan (on the return). DL (operated by KE) can be routed with stopovers in Seoul.

JTPictureman

Going through the west coast will add quite a bit of time to your trip, maybe look at Chicago-Tokyo or Korea instead. I've had good luck with Travelocity for fares in the past as well as directly with the NW and UA websites but I see it doesn't look very promising right now. I've also had good luck with Vantage travel in Chicago: http://www.asiaairfare.com/.

thebobmc

Slightly off topic, but I am wondering if you really can buy a NW ticket to SE Asia that allows a stopover in Japan. I was of the understanding that stopovers at Narita were NOT allowed on NW paid tickets to SIN, BKK, etc.

Can you suggest a consolidator that would be able to book such a ticket ?

Thanks in advance.

MrAOK

Ok first you have to be careful how you ask that "cheaper" question.

You can pay less money and not get miles, or pay more and get enough miles for a free U.S. trip and put yourself well on the way to a free second trip back. Miami to lax to nrt to bkk is about 10,660 miles each way. So the question of a "cheap" ticket, can depend on other things than how much you pay initially.

Personally, I'd define spending $900 to get to thailand, but getting miles as better than spending $700 to get there without miles.

And if you watch the promos, you can often get more than the 21,320 a round trip would bring and that can also add miles. (By the way, the 21,320 doesn't including booking online bonus or check in on line bonuses.

Finally you get into issues of what's included in the ticket. Some thai air tickets, for instance include flights without thailand. Some cathay pacific and malaysia air specials cost more, but let you fly around asia for nothing--some with miles some without.

jpdx

Stopovers on the outbound are usually not allowed, but Thaifly.com had no problem booking a stopover on the return, i.e., PDX-NRT-BKK//BKK-NRT//NRT-HNL//HNL-PDX for under $900. Check the fare rules; some fares will allow amazing things.

Mr. Vker

Checkout Malaysia airlines. They run specials (one is on their website now) for $699 rt from EWR.

The specials are advertised on the website, but the best way to see all options is to call their US reservation nummber and discuss with an agent.

They can probably give you add on airfare from Miami.

On the return from BKK, you have to stopover in KUL. They will cover the hotel if you ask them.

victorious

I might actually be flying to thailand towards the end of november. I was not aware of the "cross posting". thanks everyone for the help.I'll post any good deals when i find them!
vic