I am starting to look at flights for our trip in August. We don't live in a city with an international airport, so figuring out connecting flights, desirable arrival and departure times, shortest flight duration and balancing that with cost and airline quality is tricky.
What airlines are worth paying extra for and which should we avoid at all cost?

Should we book now, or wait since a good deal may come closer to our travel date?

Which of these flights would you pick based on cost to value? All of them have travel times within 3 hours of each other. Asiana and ANA would have extremely long layovers so I eliminated them. China Air would be more than Korean or American so I did not list them.
Korean Air-$1441
American Airlines-$1451
Singapore Air(via Moscow) $1950
Thai Air-$2056
Cathay Pacific-$2252

Have you looked at EVA? They usually have really good deals, and the service is the equal of the better known airlines.

American does not fly to Bangkok. I don't know who/where they connect to, to get to Bangkok.

American flights go through Tokyo. The Tokyo -Bangkok portion is operated by Japan Air. For each one I listed the airline on the longest leg of the trip .

EVA times do not work for me-I would lose most of a day. The flights I've listed are the only ones with times that do work. I will be at work up until the night before we leave, and we are getting married while we are in Thailand and on a specific schedule.

A lot of people do not like American but I have flown them to Japan twice - in 2008 and 2009. None of the flights were "bad"; one in particular was actually outstanding. I would not rule them out.

Too bad ANA does not work for you! They are incredible (but seats in economy are quite small, if that is an issue for you). Maybe their schedule will change.

Others would know better than me, but I *thought* that Nov-Feb is high season for Thailand. I also *think* that August may be rainy season but again, ask someone who travels to Thailand more frequently (I have only been once).

Last August, we booked two economy two-stop tickets for January travel from Boston to Bangkok for $939 on ANA. No unreasonable layovers. The Xmas-New Year's week, which is peak peak season, was $1039. So, based on that experience, the flights you are looking at seem rather high to me.

The American flight to Bangkok is a code-share with Japan Airlines. Generally the Asian airlines provide better service but you'll have to fly a domestic airline to connect to one.

Korean air used to be one of the crashing-est lines in the world. I think they have changed a good deal and have not had a crash in five years. Singapore air is always the best, but a weather problem this time of year could cause a problem in Moscow. Thai air is also nice, but I can hardly believe it is worth $600 more than KAL. I have spoked with quite a few people who have flown KAL in the past 2 yrs and they were happy.

Prices must have gone up-the price for just LAX to BKK on China Air is $1150. I spent 4 hours looking at every scenario and didn't find any flight good or bad for less than $1450.

Would weather problems be an issue in Moscow in August?
I would love to fly Singapore Air, but is it worth the extra $1000 for the 2 of us?
I am low maintenance have flown China Air no problem, but my fiance is pickier-He wants to fly Thai Air premium economy-that would be $2300 including our connecting flight to LAX.

Where are you flying from? These prices seem quite high to me. I just bought tickets for Nov/Dec and paid under $1000 each for Seattle to Bangkok on United. I'll be paying an additional $900 per person more for the upgrade to Biz.

I'm guessing the Thai Air flight that is so expensive might be the non-stop from LA to Bangkok. For some people, no stop is worth the extra money.

I'm just re-reading what you wrote and I wonder if the prices are so high because they include a flight from your hometown to the international gateway? And are the flights out of different gateways? If so, you might want to just compare the international flight prices, as you can likely get a sale domestic ticket. closer to your dates.

KAL has had a good safety record for quite some time now. And a number of people here have reviewed their flights positively. I'd opt for Korean over American.

And are you a frequent flier on any airlines? That's worth thinking about for this many miles.

Hey, one more thought. Booking 8 months in advance can be risky if you are deadset on a certain schedule - look what happened to this guy.

http://www.fodors.com/community/air-...t-by-delta.cfm

Even booking four months in advance, my flight on ANA was changed twice, but only minor changes.

It's your wedding, though - maybe it's time to splurge a little for premium economy. It is a LONG flight.

I am flying from New Orleans. I checked prices both from New Orleans, and from gateway cities. The Singapore Air flight is out of Houston so the connecting flight is only around $100. New Orleans to LAX is almost always $400.
At this point I am not sure if waiting is smart or if I am risking paying even more!

Kathie , if I remember correctly, you are a fan of the Anantara Golden Triangle? That is where we are getting married, in an elephant ceremony.

tell us your home city...that can make all the difference on which one to pick...

air canada can be a good choice sometimes too

for some reason the flight costs for may to august always seem to be higher than in the prime season...

did you look at delta---they now fly the old northwest routes..

i find korean air to consistantly have the lower costs...

eva is a good choice as are some of the middle eastern carriers like: emerites, gulf air and others

british air, luftansa and air france might also work but generally are more expensive...

we recently flew singapore to bkk via jfk/frankfurt and i would rate it only a 7... i would never pay extra for sing air....

My home city is New Orleans.

I had always thought Singapore and Thai were incredible, until I started planning this trip and hearing bad feedback on both of them. Do any airlines live up to their hype?

Emirates has great flight times for the Houston-Dubai-BKK flight but It is $2000. Is it worth it?

British Air is pricey and Lufthansa is permanently off my list after flying them to Barcelona this summer.

If time is the most important factor, then the Thai non-stop from LA is your best choice. That is the only routing (MSY-LAX-BKK) where you have to change planes only once.

I am not a fan of United. However, if you're flying in economy, you should consider purchasing United's economy-plus option, which gives you a few inches more leg room (though not any more width nor any other perks). United has good connections to BKK via Tokyo. If you do this option, be sure to take the flight operated by United from Tokyo to Bangkok, and not the codeshare flight operated by ANA. The ANA-operated flight gets you into Bangkok a few minutes earlier, but you would not benefit from the economy-plus option.

seems to me you should look for flights from NO thru either houston or atlanta... that might mean continental, eva or delta and korean flies from atlanta i believe

Best wishes from another Anantara Golden Triangle fan. We had such a glorious time there and being with the elephants was magical. Congratulations!

EVA flies through LAX, SFO, and JFK-not anything closer to New Orleans. Korean flies through Dallas.
I would really hope to avoid any American based airline if possible. In my experience the worst Asian airline has better service than any American one.
For non American airlines, Korean wins out for price and schedule. But what I would like to know is are the premiere airlines worth it? Is the difference with Emirates or Thai or Singapore worth the price difference?

Oh, yes, I remember you - your wedding at the Anantara will be fabulous, I'm sure!

IMO, (and I know some will disagree with me) none of the Asian airlines is worth a huge premium in economy class. Where these airlines distinguish themselves is in premium classes. As I mentioned earlier, the non-stop on Thai out of LA might be worth extra to you. And sometimes you can get their premium economy seating for a reasonable premium.

As per Rizzuto's suggestion, check out the United prices with the Economy Plus option.

Otherwise, I'd tend to go with KAL.

EVA's premium economy is FAR cheaper than Thai's. For the 1-stop in Taipei (which maybe adds an hour or two onto your total travel time) I think it's worth it.

We flew their PE product from LAX to BKK on our honeymoon back in 06 and we really enjoyed it.

As others have said, if you're most interested in shortest possible trip, pay the extra bucks and fly Thai.

If comfort matters to you, definitely look at either Thai's or EVA's premium economy product. Sorry, but United's (while more spacious than economy) can't hold a candle to either of the above-mentioned carriers.

Seems like you're a bit all over the place with your ideas...flying east, flying west. Connections, no connections. Stick with one route and pick the carrier that matches your need best. Seems like, in your situation, it'd be flying west with either Thai or EVA.

BTW, EVA has flights out of LAX both for overnight flights (my preference) or daytime flights--so times/schedules should definitely not be an issue there.

As I in in the middle of the country, I don't really care if I go east or west-none of the search engines let you pick this anyway, so I come up with routes in both directions.
Thai isn't actually the shortest trip for me because of connections. I want a short trip but I am basically just looking for under 28 hours of travel time each way. I think that is a reasonable number to search and have some options.

About EVA-I have searched multiple times and I am only seeing flights out of LAX at 1:30am and 1:50 am. Also, I can't find their premium economy on the website, only economy and business class.