wendySFO

I will be traveling to Thailand in late May. When exit Thailand, I'll be coming from Phuket the night before and take UA 838 leaving at 6:50AM. Don't want to go to Bangkok for a short overnight and back again in the early morning so would like to stay in the transit hotel.

I am looking to book award ticket for BKK-HKT with Thai Airway and have separate ticket from UA for SFO-BKK. Will TG issue the boarding pass for UA 838 flight when I check in at HKT? If not, will I be able to get access to the transit hotel for overnight?

GRB051111

I don't think TG agent at Phuket can do that. Last time I went there they were issuing BP's by hand.

GRB051111

Also, I don't think it's really worth your miles to redeem a HKT-BKK ticket since there are so many low cost airlines serving the route. You can probably get away with $20 round trip or so. Of course, unless you have a lot of miles to burn.

mahjongguy

What transit hotel?

wendySFO

I looked the air fare, the cheap ones are about $65 per person. If TG, it is about $180 per person. Have not booked the ticket yet until I figure out what to do with the last night at Bangkok. Was thinking to get TG flights may help to get the UA boarding pass. May just get the cheap tickets if it does not do what I thought it would.

wendySFO

The Louis Tavern Day Room I was referring to. I know there is a Novotel near by but heard it is not very easy to get to so it is my second choice right now.

ivoryboi

A word of warning, you cannot pre-book the Louis Tavern rooms. They are on a first come first serve basis - for blocks of 6 hours I believe. They are not cheap and not worth the money - if you can arrange an alternative I would recommend it.

wendySFO

Thanks. It does not sound good if can't pre-book. Seems can't really avoid in and out and back in again to the airport in short time duration.

ivoryboi

At least your BKK airport tax is already included in the ticket price now - so you will not have to pay 700 baht in cash to get back airside. The Novotel has a shuttle bus that runs frequently.

1kBill

A) Since you will be coming in on a domestic flight, if the TG HKT folks can't issue you a BP for the UA flight, I think you are stuck with staying at an outside hotel, since you will be unable to clear passport control and enter the international terminal. OTOH, if they can issue you a BP, make sure they check you bags all the way through. (OT, but if connecting internationally, you don't necessarily need a BP for your onward flight; just go to the transit desks on the level between arrivals and departures. If they are not open, just stay in the terminal areas until they do. I was even able to get into the TG lounge with my OZ ticket because the counter would not open for a few hours.)

B) The BKK Novotel is very easy to get to. There is supposed to be a tunnel connecting the terminal to the hotel. When I was there last fall, it was still under construction, so they were running a shuttle every 10-15 minutes max. Just ask someone for direction when you exit the arrivals area. It's a nice hotel and much more reasonably priced compared to the Don Muang Amari, which was an absolute rip off. One word of caution: Since the hotel was newly opened, the check-in/check-out process was slow and disorganized; I hope they have fixed this by now.

ajc1970

there is an air-side hotel at the new airport. don't remember the name or exact rates, but do remember it being expensive.

there's a thailand forum here on FT... check that out. one of the topics has the info on it.

ivoryboi

The airside hotel is the Louis Tavern 'dayrooms'

MKE-MR

You'll also be wanting to confirm whether you're coming into and out of the new BKK or old. Unless they've scrapped that plan recently, they are reopening Don Muang shortly due to the problems with Suvarn...Suwan...the new airport