BKK -- Phnom Penh: Good God, that's expensive!
 

Just was searching airfares for from BKK to Phnom Penh R/T. Thai lists their fare at $491 and Bangkok Air at $465.

Is it me or is that insane???

Looks like the rest of our flights will be using the Discover Thailand pass from Thai Air, but obviously PP isn't available on that pass.

We could consider using the Discovery Pass from Bangkok Air, but their flight times for the rest of the flights we need to take are not ideal (and they don't have that coveted Chiang Mai to Phuket direct flight we need.)

If it's really $400 to go to PP, I may be dropping that portion of our trip. That's just nuts to me.

Have you tried Air Asia? (airasia.com), a budget airline. Don't know when your dates are but I tried a sample r/t BKK-PNH in November and got back a price of 3718 baht (US $117) for the full trip, with taxes and fees.

We flew them to Chiang Rai and back from Chiang Mai and they're not bad at all.

Funny you should mention--I also was looking at that since I made the original post. And, yes, it's significantly cheaper--just over $100 R/T.

Sounds great! Problem is, I keep reading on previous posts about Air Asia's horrible on-time performance. That might create a problem, as we'd have a 2 hr window to connect to Chiang Mai in BKK (on our return) ... and if we were delayed, we'd kinda be screwed.

That really does seem high, Bill. You might lay out your itinerary and email Eddie about what he can get for you. Specify exactly what you want (lowest fare). Note that Eddie cannot book the budget airlines for you, but I would think he could get a better price for you on the PP roundtrip. Also, there may be a way to make all of your intra-asia flights qualify for a lower package fare.

[email protected]

That is a good point (as is any connection involving different tickets).

We had good luck and both of our flights were on time. Which was good, as we flew in from Chiang Mai and did a dash to a Bangkok Air flight to Siem Reap in about 75 mins that we should have had better sense than to book. So, our experience was good but statistics probably know better.

Air Asia has improved quite a bit over the last few years and is no better/worse than other airlines for being on time.

Since the two fights from PP to BKK are either early morning and late afternoon I assume you would take the 8.40am getting into BKK at 9.50. If you are then using Thai, their flight is at 12.40 giving you almost 3 hrs leaway. For the difference in cost I would use Air Asia.

all of our flights this year will be on air asia--6 in #

Thanks for the advice, guys.

Looks like we'll be using Air Asia for that leg. As Scott noted, there's an early flight which gives us plenty of time (even in the event of a delay.)

We had 3 flights on Air Asia, and they were fine. A bit of delay, but what airline doesn't have delays. Just don't plan on same day connections without a huge time gap.

Just got back to TKY today & did the RT BKK- CMX using Air Asia. Both flights were on time - had lay overs on both ends of the trip so no problem.

Bob, the Xpress Boarding "investment" proved worth it since we were always first or second in line for boarding. We got to chose the first 2nd or 3rd rows. KT & I shared a row- a seat in between us so I was able to nap during the flight. Kids were very close to us both times. They love to sit with each other & keep each other busy.

It only cost us around $400 for the 5 of us including Xpress Boarding.

thanks bmt...i have early boarding on all flts...is there a seperate line, or how does that work...do they call it seperately??

Usually at the Air Asia flight gate they create twp lines - one for Xpress boarding and one for everyone else - but I also saw them just call people a few times. I think it depends on the airport and how much space there is!
In Jan-Feb this year we took 5 Air Asia flights and all were fine. We did not have Xpress boarding and had no problems at all - if there are just two of you its easy to get seated - I guess for a family to be sure you can be sat near each other Xpress boarding is good - but we just got in line each time and were ready to go as soon as the gate opened.

We had the same experience as janev. First they give you a sticker identifying you as Xpress Boarder upon checking in. On our flight out to CM, a monk was escorted into the plane way before the rest of us were. There were very few people in the waiting area- about 40 of us max. This was at 10 AM. Agent called for XB'ers so we got in line behind a couple. We were in row 3 , kids were in front of us. Monk on the first row.

On our way back to BKK, the whole lot waiting area was already full & there were no more seats close to the gate so decided to stand close by the counter. This time, agent did not call us but just put the Boarding sign on the counter- was first in line since we were right there. Got the second row this time, kids behind us.

I agree that we could do with out the Xpress Boarding but I did not mind getting in there & out of there first !!!

Too bad Bob, you could have just donned your Monk's outfit to get in first except that you already prepaid your XPress Boarding fee :)

Sorry Bob, I meant you can plan on donning your monk suit...............

my monk suit is at the cleaners

Haha! The visual of that is just too good for words!
Only thing that I could possibly imagine being any better is the visual of speedos and monk robes. Think of the shock they'd get in Needham!

Hopefully Bob's speedos will be covered by those monk suits

Aloha!