Have you flown UA/ANA to Bangkok?
 

I admit it, I'm one of the gang of complainers who howled when UA cancelled its NRT-BKK route. I'm in DC so by far, choice routing for me was IAD-NRT-BKK. Now, i can do the same thing, but the second leg has to be ANA (right?). When I make this trip, I do it via upgrade to business. If ANA, I can't get this ahead of time, so the request, it seems, would never pan out on a popular route like this. Which means, most likely, regular coach for several hours after 14 hours IAD-NRT.

Wanting/needing as many miles as possible, and guaranteed front of the bus, my most recent choice was DCA-ORD-HKG, then non-A* to BKK. it worked, but not ideal.

Any regular/recent experiences among all you FTers ANA NRT-BKK, in coach? any luck with upgrade requests? What portion of the dollars/miles did UA credit you with? etc etc. thanks for your thoughts.

The NRT-BKK segment on NH is not upgradeable.

.......... I guess the other A* connection is via TG. which, every time i look at it, is MUCH more expensive.

Yikes, I didn't know that. thanks.

Several? You're looking at 7+ hours butt-in-seat in the kneecrusher.

Why isn't it eligible for *A upgrades?

That's not what OP was asking about.

But yes, if you purchase a Y or B fare, you could upgrade it for 10,000 UA miles.

Since we're talking about a single ticket IAD-BKK, the total ticket price would likely be in the range of a P or Z fare.

I have seen UA revenue tickets offered on dot.bomb with EWR-HKG on UA and HKG-BKK on CX. With this scenario you get max distance (with E+ or UG) on UA and a short 2.5 hour hop to BKK.


SunLover

geofflaredo - You may wish to consider reviewing:

UA To Eliminate NRT-BKK

There are no good options to BKK, in my opinion. Personally I have chosen SFO-NRT on UA and NRT-BKK on NH. This optimizes UA upgrade chances (using GPU) and RQM and PQM. Of course one can fly through HKG, which has its own set of pluses and minuses, mainly minuses, I feel. :)

Except it's a Y or B fare on CX and the total ticket costs nearly 2x the NRT connection on NH.

That's why BKK has become such a dilemma for UA flyers. There are no good options anymore.

Kacee and the entire FT UA community agree:

:)

I take this leg all the time.

UA/LAX to NRT. Then ANA to BKK.

Coach for 7 more hours sucks after you have already been sitting.

It is pretty typical coach. They do have a decent entertainment system.
The food is pretty poor.

My last flight this year I changed the route. LAX to SFO then to Hong Kong.

Form HK it is only 3 hours to BKK. I use Thai air(star alli member) with miles or just pay.
It is about $300 RT HK to BKK.

I am booking this route thru HK for just about all my trips in 2015.

I live in DC, too and I've taken the flight to HKG. You don't have to go on a non *A carrier from HKG to BKK. Take Ethiopian. The connection is good, the airline is inexpensive and it is only a 2.5 hour flight instead of the 7 hours. What I've done is flown up to EWR and then taken the flight from their to HKG. It is a much better configuration than the IAD to NRT route and well worth the extra stop.

I have done the ANA segment a couple times, and it was meh even compared to UA business class.

I am actually doing the IAD-PEK-BKK via Thai Airways from PEK-BKK in February to see if that is better.

I just flew TG last night to BKK from NRT on the A380 - wow what a ride and I highly recommend TG - and NH is good in business - but not so much in Economy... I'm with those that go through HKG - the 7 hour flight from NRT to BKK in Economy, and then landing at midnight, is just brutal...

i recently did SFO-TPE on UA and TPE-BKK on BR. i booked the BR flight in full Y and tried to upgrade with miles but it never opened for availability. even 3.5 hours in Y after 14 hours in UA J was fairly punishing, though this was mostly on account of the jackalope next to me using my side as his elbow punching bag. on the plus side the flight was configured 2-4-2 in the A330 and the 2 side wasn't bad other than my seatmate, recline was better than typical Y.

I have seen ua.com offer the HKG routing at the very lowest fare buckets, but the routing disappears when specify W or higher buckets.

I agree with the majority that indicates no good BKk options anymore with United. I am leaning toward a status match with AA for their new HKG routes and further travel onto BKK on CX.

8 SWUs and mileage-based RDMs (at least for now) plays into the decision as well. On the down side, I have been reading that AAs new HKG route is a tough upgrade.