Alert for those flying Thai Air
 

Just read that they are reducing their NY to Bangkok schedule and changing the LA to Bangkok. I'm, of course, in a panic since I have a ff ticket on the NY route departing 12/31. Am about to call to see if either of my flights have been cancelled and if so what I can do.

This is supposed to start in Dec or Jan so anyone flying them from either LA or NY might be wise to call. And then we can all panic and comiserate together.

The JFK- Bangkok flight will now only operate Mon, Wed, Thursday and Saturday.
Same days each direction.

By a major miracle, my flights are ok!

I am not so lucky - my return flight has disappeared - now I need to decide: do we return to JFK via Tokyo or spend an extra day in Bangkok and return directly?

Craig-- that's easy. Spend the extra day in Bangkok. I am 100 % sure you can find something to amuse you there. When are you flying?

Gloria - We are going in mid-February and returning early March. Our original plan was to do just over two weeks - Thursday to Friday. Although we are looking forward to spending lots of time in Bangkok, we had hoped to return on a Friday so that we would have the entire weekend to reacclimate ourselves before returning to work on Monday

craig arn't ya from Avon or someplace in CT.. if so what about the non stop too LAX then catch a united flight too bdl. Im not sure if it woiuld work. but it's something I've been pondering. I just cant see myself going the bkk- JFK non stop, not even in premium econ.

if your not from CT then your a lucky person.

Orgy-- from what I've read the difference in the flying time from LAX vs JFK is going to be miniscule. So by connecting in LA you'll actually be adding hours 5 hours plus connection time to the flight.

JFK->BKK and LAX->BKK have about the same flight time; but

BKK->LAX will be at least a couple of hours shorter than BKK->JFK.

Gloria. hmm if thats the case then it sounds good too me.
I live next to hartford, ct. so after ariving in JFK I'd have too hop on a bus that takes about 3 hours to get to home base

A 2 hours wait in Lax seems OK. it would give me time to walk around and stretch out a bit.

just something too think about. I don't plan too retrun too USA any year soon. God willing.

Orgy - yes I am still in Avon - don't know that living in CT is the reason for my bad luck. We got the tickets with United miles - they are business class so I think it is worth it flying from JFK, especially compared to our usual BDL-ORD-NRT-BKK route. I looked at the connection at LAX at one time but it didn't work. Right now, Thai has us confirmed on the Saturday BKK - JFK flight. If I decide to change, I have to rebook through United, a prospect I do not look forward to.

RKwan, jfk and lax to bkk takes the same time. how does that work??

ohh ya I just figuered it out. JFK flight tend too go past alaska.

craig...stay an extra day...i have tons of things you can do...places you can eat...you will have the rest of your life to get used to CT again and with orgy as your housekeeper...

orgy7 - JFK->BKK flights fly NE over the northern Atlantic and Russia. With a tailwind.

LAX->BKK have to fly over the northern Pacific, against headwind.

BKK->LAX/JFK both fly over the Northern Pacific with a tailwind. LAX is faster because of the shorter distance.

Is it worth driving down to Hua Hin for a couple of nights? How's the weather in late February - early March?

Ok, I have spoken with my spouse Jeane and we have decided that since we get into JFK early AM Saturday we have ALMOST 2 days to adjust. Besides, if we stay in Bangkok for that extra day, we will probably have time to do BOTH of the restaurants at the Face!

Craig-- you're doing the right thing. Glad it could work out. I almost had a nervous breakdown when I was checking!

Gloria, I almost went into cardiac arrest after reading your post!! Ran to check what day I am flying JFK-BKK on Jan 4th, also on FF as you recall, and fortunately it's a Wednesday (I thought it might be Thursday!) Whew! Still hope to connect with you in Chaing Mai.

kathryn-- we absolutely should connect.

I have not talked to three different persons at thai air and they have all assured me that this is the schedule and my flights are fine. However, I think I will call every week just to confirm in case there is another change. Can you tell I
neurotic?

if they dropped their price a bit they would be full up....strange...plus they started in may and have not had the big tourist season yet...short sighted...

they would have too drop it a lot bit. the domestic market (thais) are totaly priced out of this flight. At first I was kind of excited too here that thai airways would offer a non stop to jfk. after seing the flight time and knowing that thai tends too price it's routs above most airlines (even cathey) i started thinking this JFK-bkk non stop may not work out. After seeing the price on fodors and watching a tv show that showed the econ pemium seats, which were good but not that good (espeically for the looooong haul). I am not surpised the airline is cuting back..

According to a Bangkok Post article the NY flight has done well -- 70 to 80% capacity. But I think they see an opportunity in LA and they only have a certain number of planes that can fly the route. Also fuel cost is very high for the flight. They will now have a total of 8 non stop flights (4 from NY and 4 from LA) instead of 6 so they are actually increasing the service from the US.

But glorialf - Thai's three weekly BKK-KIX-LAX flights are on 747-400 (375 to 405 seats). The four new BKK-LAX non-stops are on 215-seat 340-500, so that's a significant decrease of seat for sale to the US West Coast.

The problem is of course high fuel cost. I'd argue that with this kind of fuel price, the 340-500 really cannot make a profit on most routes. 4 engines taking ~200 passengers on 20-hour flight has a very high cost.

didn't realise the difference in size. But, yes -- fuel is the big problem.

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Craig - if coming home well-rested at the end of your trip is the goal, you could spend the unexpected extra day in Bangkok just relaxing at one of the superb hotels. Don't know where you are staying, but we love the Peninsula (staying on the "other" side of the river is lovely).

The Peninsula is a wonderful place to enjoy a day of R&R -- you could eat the fabulous breakfast buffet, relax by the pool (looking out on the river), dine at the hotel's wonderful outdoor Thai restaurant and even pop next door to the Oriental's spa for massage/treatments if you really want pampering.

Wintertravel - we did end up adding an additional night in Bangkok. We will be staying at the Penn for our first 4 nights but not at the end of our trip. We are doing an excursion to Luang Prabang in the middle of our stay. When we return from LP, we will spend 4 nights at the Plaza Athenee (Club Floor). The Athenee is better situated for shopping and dining and less expensive than the Penn. From what I have heard, the Athenee has a terrific pool so we can take advantage on our last day if we choose to go easy.

Speaking of high fuel costs...well...remember I had thought of surprising my mom and taking her to Singapore/Bangkok...in the spring... and giving her my Delta frequent flyer miles(on Singapore Air) and then buying myself a ticket. Well, that didn't work out so well due to the difficulty of Singapore Air only assigning 6PM flights...to award holders...between Singapore and Bangkok(We needed to arrive into BK earlier). So I called up Delta Friday before last and told them to cancel the whole thing. I was tired of the headache of having to check back. So, instead, I've decided to take her to Paris, where she'e wanted to go anyhow. She hasn't been in 27 years. Well, I called United and all of the cheap seats...for purchase.... were sold out...for April 2006 and on Delta...no award seats are available...from now until May 2006.I prefer my miles to go into the United account because they only require 60,000 frequent flyer miles for a free ticket to BK/Singapore as opposed to Delta's 70,000 mile requirement. So,I called Delta and they had a few cheap seats left(on Air France) for the dates I needed...but at $220.MORE per ticket than I paid to go to Paris just this past spring. This past spring's ticket was bought in September for the following spring. So about the same number of months in advance as I've bought these two tickets for spring 2006. I go to Paris annually so I know what the prices usually are and this year prices are being quoted as high as $1300...although I didn't pay that. I went on and paid the extra $220. per ticket since it's my mom's birthday soon and I'd like to enclose her ticket in her birthday card. Plus, she'll need to know months in advance since she has other travel plans in the works...throughout the year... with some friends of hers.So, I don't want any conflicts of scheduling. I decided to use the Delta miles to book Singapore/Bangkok for Aug 2006 and my ticket came over the weekend. And again Singapore Air would only issue a seat on the 6PM flight up to Bangkok. I called the first day that one is allowed to book for a ticket...which is...10 months in advance. Happy Travels!

Orgy 7, it was good to meet you at "The Brunswick" last week. CJ is a great tour guide.

Once again this board has proved invaluable. Were it not for this posting, I would never have known that the JFK-BKK flight on which I have 6 FF seats no longer exists (can't be too surprised that there weren't any phone calls alerting us to this). It appears that they have rebooked us a day later cutting our trip short by a day, so it's not the end of the world but the lesson is clearly to confirm, confirm again, and then keep on checking.

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