Guenmai

Bangkok is a great choice. From what I'm speed reading, you have a week. Not a problem. Go for it.

I have flown L.A.-Bangkok for a week many times and then get home on a Sunday evening and am back at work at 7:30AM, Monday morning. And I don't sleep on planes.

What I do when there for only a week is try to get a flight on Singapore Air and then I fly L.A.-Tokyo-Singapore and then have some hours before flying on to Bangkok. Then on the way back, I fly Bangkok to Singapore and take a day there and then fly out of Singapore the next day, headed back to L.A.

I like having time in Singapore and Singapore Air has some really nice stopover plans with reduced hotel rates and other offers included. Plus, it's really easy to do Singapore if you have one full day. However, I have stayed in Singapore as long as 2 weeks. But, by doing the Singapore Air plan, then I get two places for the price of one airfare.

www.singaporeair.com

Happy Travels!

ditto97

I looked on Singapore Air, but they don't have any seats available! I might try again at a later date.

Kathie

From Chicago, the best connections are on United.

ditto97

Yes, right now I'm looking at United. My dad has some FF miles from his trip to HK a few years ago, but I don't think that those miles will get me anywhere.

Guenmai

"ditto97 on Aug 13, 12 at 10:00am
I looked on Singapore Air, but they don't have any seats available! I might try again at a later date"

There are probably no flights because you're leaving out of ORD. Then one must get creative and reroute oneself. If you come via Los Angeles, there are flights. I just checked. There's a March 21st flight, on Singapore Air, from L.A. to BKK arriving into BKK on March 23. Then if you left BKK on March 29, for Singapore, you could do a day in Singapore and fly out of Singapore on the 30th, back to L.A. and then on to ORD.

The airfares fluctuate all the time. I'm looking for a flight on Singapore Air for January/February and there have been fares that have fluctuated from the $1,200 range to the $1,400 range. I've been checking regularly. I'm in L.A.

In 2009, I flew the same route and paid a base price of $323. rd.trip. The total was around $808. I did 6 nights in Bangkok, on that trip, and one in Singapore before I had to fly home and be back to work the following day. I check airfares regularly and then jump on them when they're good.

I prefer Singapore Air as they're so good. They've been voted number 1 a lot. And as long as I have been flying them, they have been on time. Plus, I really like Chiangi Airport, in Singapore, as it's totally hassle free which is one reason I like to route myself through it.

Happy Travels!

ditto97

The only reason I didn't do that was because that's just more money. I hear some great things about Singapore Air and would love to fly them, but I'm not sure it's possible with our budget. I may check later though and see if I can get a flight out of LAX for cheaper!

Guenmai

What type of flight budget are you talking about to Asia? I was just on Singapore Air, a few minutes ago, checking again for a flight for me and the one that popped up this time was nearly $200. less than what popped up some hours ago. Happy Travels!

ditto97

Well, we can spend, possibly, up to $1100 per.
It's probably gonna be lower than that though.

StanKase

Why not go on Kayak.com and put in a price alert at $100 more than you would really like to spend and see if you get lucky by checking a few times a day and maybe Singapore Air with comes in with the best fare by chance. Do the same on farempare adding 1 day to the trip as well.

Guenmai

As for my situation, the advantage of going on Singapore Air's website is that there are three different airfares posted for Economy class. I need the second type of airfare posted, where if I have to cancel, then I will get a refund, minus the cancellation fee.

I use Expedia a lot for booking flights to mostly other places. But, the discount websites list non-refundable airfares as they are giving the lowest fare. There's less than $100. difference in airfare between the first type of airfare (non-refundable) and the second type, (refundable with a fee) on Singapore Air's website. Happy Travels!

ditto97

Ok, thanks for the info Guenmai!

Guenmai

You're welcome. And remember to read the conditions of the airline tickets. A lot of them are non-refundable. So, if something happens and there needs to be a cancelation, then either you need to have a ticket where you can cancel, but will possibly pay a $100-$200 cancellation fee or you need to look into travel insurance that has a cancelation policy. But, read the fine print of the travel insurance policy.

www.insuremytrip.com is a very good website to go on to read up on a variety of policies. On my last (attempted) trip to Paris ( a few months ago), I had bought the cancel-for-any reason insurance which is not easy to find. But, there was a company on insuremytrip.com that offered it. So, I paid the extra $40., on top of my policy. I ended up having to cancel and at least got 75% of the airfare back, I think it was, and they were quite fast to refund the money. I only insured the airfare as I don't usually prepay for accommodations, but if I do prepay the accommodations, they are ones where I know that I'll get my money back; like my apartment rental in Paris.

The difference that I've seen, over the decades, as far as airfares is that I have a lot easier time getting money back from Asian airlines, on trips to Asia, than I do from airlines when I fly to Europe. When I fly to Europe, I always know that I'd better insure the airfare in case of a cancelation.

It's great that you're doing all of this research. It will serve you well in the future! I've been planning all of my trips, around the world, since I was 16 and I'm now mid-50s. So, hats off to you for being interested enough to do the research.

Happy Travels!

Guenmai

Global Alert was the company that I used. I just looked it up on the www.insuremytrip.com
website. Happy Travels!