Flying Thai Air JFK-BKK arriving 17:00 hours (5:00 p.m., Bob). We're considering a 19:45 Thai Air flight to Phuket the same night. Has anyone made this connection? Do you think it's too tight? There is a later Thai Air flight, but the layover is more than 4 hours and we would not arrive in Phuket until 11:45. Just seeking opinions.

Andy:

Seems tight but you would know by the time you leave(17 hrs ahead) if you were going to be late or not as this is a direct flight with no stopovers.

I would book the earlier flight and I'm sure Thai would make arraingments for the next flight for you if you can't make the first.

Aloha!

My bet is that your flight will arrive early. International flights that take off on time usually land ahead of schedule. When they take of late, they usually land on time. That has been my experience. I think you'll be fine.

Thanks. Brad, unless I'm mistaken, it's very early morning or very late at night.

Andy, our JFK-BKK flight in February arrived about an hour late but even with that you would probably make your connection. Being that both flights are on Thai, I am sure they would accomodate you if there was a problem.

how do you make seat reservation for the domestic flight?? i think you can't make seat reservations after 4:49PM (that 1649 andy)

Andy, Interested to see that you are reversing "the usual" & starting your trip with beach time. We always like some time at the beach, usually at the end of the trip, but have thought about doing it the other way around too. We'll be interested to see how you like it. Where are you staying in Phuket?

Carole (with an "e&quot- We're reversing the usual pattern because somehow Beth has committed us to be in BKK at the same time as Bob. For some unknown reason, she thinks that observing him in hois unnatural habitat will be amusing. That's at the end of our trip. We had thought of Myanmar for the early portion, but budgetary constraints have postponed that adventure. We sort of settled on Phuket as a diversion.

One thing about going to the beach early is that it will provide an easy transition to Thai time.

Where we are staying is in flux. Beth has read JamesA's recommendation of the Old Phuket Hotel and it does look interesting. Also considering the Katathani and the Meridien Beach Resort (with points). Our normal hotel choice is to use Starwood points, but these were depleted when I "wasted" them on my son and his wife last year. If past practice is any guide, we'll probably make some random choice when the mood strikes us. Who knows.

We are very open to all suggestions about what beach to visit in late November and what hotel to stay at. If anyone, but Bob, wants to chime in please feel free.

stay home

You'd never guess it from these posts, but Bob is really a nice guy! (Andy too)

andy less so!!

Bob would be venal, if he knew what it meant. He is a fountain of information, but the water is polluted.

Andy, if you aren't committed to Phuket, I have a couple of places I really like in Hua Hin: the Anantara (Lagoon Rooms) and the Hyatt (Regency Club). The Chiva Som is right next door, so you can take a five minute walk on the beach to what many consider to be the best destination spa in the world. It's heaven!

Kathie-thanks. We went to Hua Hin in 2003 and stayed at the Sofitel. We really liked it, but feel as if we "did" HH. We're probably going to stay in a different part of Phuket for a change. Maybe Karon Beach. We've stayed at Pansea and Nai Harn before.