Sweetness

Planning our trip to Thailand for March 2014. In our mid thirties, this will be a delayed honeymoon, we are pretty experienced travelers, total time in Thailand 10-12 days. Need some suggestions.
1. What airline and route do you suggest? We are coming from Columbus Ohio, so can go through new york, chicago, LA or Seattle. My hubby is 6'2 so leg room would be nice and he is pretty particular about a nice airplane….help…..

2. Itinerary help: My hubby is skeptical about Bangkok, so he wants to fly into a beach airport. I'd like to see Bangkok for a day or two at some point. though. The focus of our trip will be beach-Phukett, Kao Sami, Krabi, others??? If we go to BKK for 2 days, that leaves 8-10 days in a beach area, so I figure we do two resorts , 4-5 days each?? Where should we stay? I'd like to do at least 2-3 days trips, the rest beach.

3. Once we pick the beach areas, please suggest resorts on the beach.

Thanks!!!

Hanuman

1. If you and your husband like nice planes then I suggest you fly with Emirates from JFK via Dubai to Bangkok. Choose the flights using A380s super jumbo and I just checked the price and it's only around $1,300 for a return ticket. Dubai airport is like one big shopping mall and the A380s is very nice.

Sample booking:

JFK - DXB (Dubai) on EK 0204 using the A380 plane.
Transit in Dubai = 1.50 hours.
DXB - BKK (Bangkok) on EK 0372 using the A380 plane.

BKK - DXB on EK 0373 on the A380.
Transit in Dubai = 2.25 hours.
DBX - JFK on EK 0203 on the A380.

2. The protest or the Bangkok Shutdown is still ongoing. Protesters are peaceful but violence could happen. If you want to avoid Bangkok altogether then you can fly, again with Emirates, from Dubai directly to Phuket non stop but on the Boeing 777 instead of the A380.

With 10 - 12 days that's a lot of beach time so I suggest you can visit 3 different beaches in different area of the country. Phuket and then Krabi and then Koh Samui would be ideal.

3. What is your budget?

rhkkmk

good suggestions above.. I also like Korean air thru jfk... there must be options thru Chicago (ugh) as well.

personally I would stick to 2 beaches... we love the jw Marriott at khao lak which is 1 hour north of Phuket airport.

I love having a car at the beach resorts. in Phuket I favor Pure car rentals.

I think you miss a lot if you avoid Bangkok. there is so much to do there. I prefer riverside hotels: anantara riverside, Hilton, Sheraton, Shangri-La and especially the peninsula.

Kathie

I, too, can't imagine going to Thailand and not spending time in Bangkok. But I understand your hesitation. Hopefully, things will get sorted out soon.

Hanuman, that's a good price!

Sweetness

thanks for input. MORE questions:

Which is better, Emirate air, Korean air or Cathay Pacific??? What are the main differences besides the layover locations??

We like a hotel/resort with a BEAUTIFUL beach-where do you recommend ?

So if we do 2 days in BKK, and 4 days in two beach areas, what do you suggest? Seems like there are 4 main beach areas everyone talks about-Phukett, Khao Lak, Krabi, Koh Samui. Are there two beach areas you suggest we stay at with possible day trips to the other areas.

I'm also thinking about day trip to Phi Phi and to ride elephants or see Tigers….opinions???

Kathie

Don't do a day trip to PhiPhi - it is the worst way to see it - crowded with daytrippers.

Choose two beach areas, I'd forget the day trips and enjoy the places you choose. I'd suggest two places on the Andaman Sea side of Thailand (all the ones you mention except Koh Samui).

Don't do daytrips to see elephants or tigers if you are an animal lover. The places in Thailnad that have tigers, frankly, should not. And the only truly humane places to visit and interact with elephants are in the north.

Hanuman

If you are only considering economy seats then research the seat pitch for these airlines. You can also use youtube and watch flight reviews as well. Apart from that the price, travel time, connection point should be consider.

progol

I really liked Korean Air -- we flew NYC-BKK, and just returned. The outbound flight (14+ hours) is on an A380 (I think), and definitely had more legroom and pitch than most other economy flights.

I also liked Seoul airport -- they had great WiFi (JFK is ages behind here!), and we discovered sleeping lounges, which are available to all, not just those in business/first class. We took advantage of this on the way back.

I can't compare to other airlines or airports, but we were very pleased with Korean Air.
The only criticism I have of the airline is that there is a poor movie selection, but we managed to find enough to keep us busy.

rhkkmk

the 3 airlines you list are all excellent choices--of them Korean is a favorite and emerites gets high ratings.

I just booked Qatar from jfk to bkk for a friend at a very good price for September.

give bkk 5 days min. if you can...

WWanderer

We're flying Cathay from Tampa-Chicago-Hong Kong-Bangkok tomorrow. We're doing Premium Economy, which gives you more leg room and a wider seat.

The fare was pretty decent considering. It was about $2500 per person. Worth it. I haven't flown Cathay in this class yet, but my husband has, and he liked it. We both have flown this class on BA a couple of times and liked it.

WWanderer

P.S. just to say that the PE seats are just for the Chicago - Hong Kong leg of the trip.