Hi everyone,

We're planning to go to either Bali or Thailand next year (can't seem to choose - they both sound amazing) but my boyfriend has started grumbling about the long flight and is suggesting we find something closer.

What should we expect to pay for premium economy to either destination? We live in Toronto (Canada) but fares from LA and NY would also be appreciated. If we go to Bali it will be in September and if we go to Thailand it will be end of November.

Thanks for your help!

Jana

The price could vary massively depending on route taken, carrier, day of the week, month, ticket class, fare class (i.e. full flex or no refund etc), how many tickets they have already sold in a particular fare class.

You may be surprised just how much the price gets hiked up between 2 seats on the same flight.

For example:- I had a full flex ticket from LHR - JNB cost me about $4000 USD in Virgin's Premium Economy. There were people in Upper Class who had paid less (I know I met em)! Like wise, there were people in Economy who had probabaly paid as little as $900 for their ticket

No way is Virgin's Premium Economoy product worth that much over Economy

I would suggest looking at a couple of the airline sites and getting prices from them, also check outsites like Expedia and try to be flexible with your dates. Sometimes a travel agent can find better fares for you.

It is early to price a trip that is 12 or 14 months away. However, a good starting point for you would be to look at Thai Airways' direct flights to Bangkok from Los Angeles and New York. There is Premium Economy on these flights. If you are doing Bali, it would be best to fly there via LA and home via NYC to keep the connection times short - total flying time each way about 24 - 25 hours. If you are only flying to Bangkok, flying times are 17 hours from NYC and slightly less from LA. Other options for flying to Bali on are Singapore Air (via Singapore) and Cathay Pacific (via Hong Kong). Note that there is no premium economy on the flights to and from Bali but business class might not cost you that much extra.

I'm from L.A.County and fly the Bangkok route once or twice a year. From L.A., the, what I call, walk-into Thai Air's office and just buy a ticket price and for high season is around $1500. in economy.But, tickets can be had for half of that price. Contact Star Tours/Star Travel in Hollwood at 5112 Hollywood Blvd. This is one of the places that folks regularly use here for cheap airfares. It's in the Thai part of Hollywood Blvd. Also, contact Escapes Unlimited down in Orange County...south of L.A.County...as they are the U.S.specialist on Bali...800.243.7227. Ask to speak to Roe who's very nice and highly knowledgeable. My best friend has only used them for over a decade now. They can also hook you up with the best airfares to Bangkok. There are lots of flexible L.A. to Bangkok fares as a lot of people fly that route due to the fact that largest population of Thai people living outside of Thailand,live in Los Angeles. My Thai friends are always finding cheap airfares to Bangkok. Hope this has helped. Happy Travels!

Oh, I just noticed that you want Premium Economy. Well, last December when I got to the airport in L.A.,and Thai Air was throwing a special to upgrade to Premium Economy for an extra $398. round trip. You could buy a one-way or round-trip upgrade if you wanted to. At times these specials are offered at the airport. So, it's good to buy a cheap economy ticket and then take a chance on an upgrade. That's what I did and ended up in Premium Economy...or whatever they call it on Thai Air...and it was great. I was on the non-stop 17hr.10 minute L.A.-Bangkok flight that arrives into Bangkok two days after departure from L.A. and at around 6:20AM. Happy Travels!

We flew from Boston to BKK on Air Canada through Toronto last year. We paid $1100 for regular economy. You might check the AC website for current prices. The flight was on an airbus 345, a very good plane.

Have a look at Cathay Pacific all asia pass at http://www.cathaypacific.ca/offers/A...Pass/offer.asp

The cost is $1599 (cdn)and you can fly out of Toronto. Also you could break up the long trip with a stop in Hong Kong for a few days.

May be more expensive than flying out of NY or LA but saves the troble of getting there and making connections.

In terms of flight time, going through JFK on the outbound will be significantly shorter. Problem is that there are few YYZ-JFK flights, so you'll need to switch airports from LGA to JFK.

Other airlines that offer premium economy to SE Asia include EVA of Taiwan (flights from LAX, SFO & EWR/SEA), and ANA of Japan (which doesn't fly to YYZ either).

I don't think Air Canada has premium economy on the Hong Kong flight but the A345 is a good plane - it is the same plane that Thai uses on its JFK-BKK and LAX-BKK flights.

eva air is a good one to look at from newark....

northwest from detroit too....no premium however

thai from nyc or la

ana

air canada

i can only speak to economy and that will be about $850-1200 from a usa gateway, eva maybe being the least expensive... premium on maybe $250+ more

Thanks a lot for your feedback - it is very helpful. I know prices will vary but I just wanted to get a ballpark and I had trouble getting fares that far in advance (Cathay and Thai don't accept dates past August '07 on their web sites).

Craig and Gpanda - thanks for the Air Canada comments. Perhaps economy on a long-haul plane is better than the economy we're used to when flying to Europe. I'll do some research on that as well.

Thanks again!

Jana

you can fly "Executive Economy" on Singapore Airlines from Newark to Singapore non-stop and then change planes for the short flight to Bali. The premium economy doesn't really exist on the short flight, but it's not needed....

We did the Exec. Economy from Newark-SIN and it was fantastic - seats were very comfortable, service was amazing - and there are literally orchids everywhere on the plane... that plane only has Exec. Econ. and Business class. We paid about $1100 round trip from EWR-SIN... you might want to call Sing. Airlines - sometimes they can put a good deal together - and they can string it together using any Star Alliance airline...

I'm 6 feet tall and weigh 215 pounds. The economy on the Air Canada airbus 345 was sufficient. This included a 15 3/4 hours leg from Toronto to Hong Kong. I won't say it was comfy, but I was not miserable.