Hi everyone,

Trying to arrange some air tickets for the family from Singapore to Luang Prabang in Nov.

There is no direct flight from here....the best way I can figure to do it is to get to Bangkok and then take a Bangkok Air flight from there into LP. But the fares are really high....nearly $400US each. I can get everyone to BKK and back on FF points on SQ. Does anyone know if the Bangkok Air tickets would be cheaper if purchased from an agent in Thailand instead of Singapore?
Or is there another routing I should consider? I've looked all over and have not seen another way to do this without adding an extra stop.
Thanks for any and all advice!

I think your best bet will be Bangkok. I checked a couple of agents and cheapest was 11,800 Baht (which is around 300$ US.)

how about a flight from sin to vientien and then on to LP

Bob, I did check that and surprisingly the Thai Air flight to Vientien was more than Bangkok Air flight to LP. So nothing to be gained there, but an extra leg. Based on your experience with them, I'm going to contact Eddie at Seatours in BKK and see what he can do. This is basically just a long weekend (Thanksgiving) trip so I am trying to keep the cost down.

Lindsey, what about Silk Air? I haven't checked recently, but about a year ago they started flying from Singapore to LP a couple of days a week. Sometimes there is a stop at Vientianne. While the price of the ticket was high when I checked, i noted that they have periodic specials for Singapore residents.

Lindsey,
I don't know which airline/group you are using for the FF tickets to Bangkok (Star Alliance or One World etc) - however I just wondered if you know you can generally do a stop over or an open jaw on a FF ticket.


Depending on the airline partners this might allow you to fly to Luang Prabang or Vientiane and stop in Bangkok on the way there or back.

I always try to do an more complex routing on FF tickets because this is one of the best ways to wrestle the greatest value from your miles!

Hope this helps!

Magicalroutes, you were spot on....Eddie got back to me right away and the ticket price is about $300US from BKK. So a savings of $100 per ticket over buying them here.

Kathie, Silk no longer flies to LP or Vientien. Not sure when they eliminated that route, but I am sure, as you said, that they used to fly it.

I have discovered that Lao Air flies from Chiang Mai to LP. I could get from Singapore to CM and back on SilkAir using Star Alliance points. The problem is the SG-CM flights don't go daily and either do the CM-LP flights. So the schedules don't mesh at all. So much for that idea.

Welltraveled, I love open jaw tickets....I am using them to fly into HCM and back out of Danang on a trip later this month to Viet Nam. In this case though, there doesn't seem to be a way to make it work.

Lindsey, I'm glad Eddie was able to help (I've used him too!). I'm sorry to hear that Silk Air has discontinued those routes...

Lindsey,
As SQ and Thai are partners what about flying to Vientiane on your FF miles with a stopover in either Singapore or Bangkok on the way there or back - in terms of miles this will cost you exactly the same as a flight into Singapore 60,000 in economy from the US, 90,000 for business etc.

Just in case others don't know one of the real advantages of FF tickets is that you can combine any number of airlines (and generally two destinations in adition to your home departure point) without any additional cost.