My husband and I would like to go to the Maldives in Nov/Dec of this year. We will be in Phuket for 1 week. Are there any budget airlines flying into Male from Bangkok or Phuket? I know that Bangkok Air does...any others? Jet Star, Tiger???

No budget airlines, Bangkok Airways does the route from Bangkok a few times a week. Singapore Airlines has a daily service ( Silk Air between Phuket and Singapore ).

My suggestion: Which airline are you using/plan to use to get to Phuket and 'where' are you flying from?
Probably the best deal is to work a routing from your home 'via' somewhere to destinations Maldives.

e.g: If you were flying from say Australia you would probably be bettwe off using Singapore Airlines AU-SIN-MLE (Maldives) allowing a stopover in SIN, from where you could get a cheapie to/from Phuket.

travelmom, I think you are USA based, what you could look at, if on the East Coast or down Texas way, use Emirates JFK-Dubai-Maldives ( or from IAH later in the year ), now these airlines often let you fly into one place and return from another ( I think it's called 'open-jaw' ), you could then do Maldives use Bangkok Airways Maldives-BKK-Phuket-BKK and fly back on Emirates BKK-Dubai-JFK/IAH.

Or, use Emirates to Maldives, and then use Singapore Airlines/Silk Air to Phuket, or Malaysia via KL to Phuket and then fly back from either KL, Singapore or BKK.

If JFK or IAH suit you then that's a good flight option if they will let you fly into one location and then fly back from another SEAsia location. It is certainly worth looking at. Emirates years back did maldives-SIN but that seems to have gone.
OR - Singapore Airlines non-stop to Singapore and add on Maldives return and then just get a cheap budget fare SIN-Phuket return.

As always...great information James! We would be flying from either SFO or LAX. We have one week in Phuket (timeshare) and that is the only hard and fast thing we have on the agenda. I have heard amazing things about Dubai. How would you work that with the flights? Go to Dubai first?

Thanks!!

From SFO you could take normal Singapore Airlines(SQ) and ticket SFO-SIN-MLE ( Maldives ) as one fare, that allows a stopover in at least one direction in SIN, then take a budget flight SIN-HKT ( Phuket ).

I would though call a good West Coast agent ( I believe others have some good tips in the LAX area ) OR call Singapore Airlines SFO, see what deal they can do on MLE via SIN, and if Singapore Airlines ask what they would charge for an add-on SIN-HKT ( Phuket ), often Singapore Airlines doe 'deals' on those short hops from Simngapore ( it is Silk Air but 100% owned by Singapore Airlines and the Phuket flights also have SQ flight number.

So they could do you a SFO-Maldives return plus an add on SIN-Phuket. If the add on is high go for Jeststar/Tiger ( Tiger uses the Budget terminal at Singapore ).

At moment as West Coast I don't think Emirates via Dubai would be much help, I think they have LAX in their plans but nothing planned yet, only from IAH later in the year.

I think Singapore Airlines either with a deal from them or using an agent in on the West Coast your best idea, but I think the via SIN suits with that daily flight to Maldives (777) plus easy to get to/from Phuket from SIN, multiple choice of airlines/flights=competative fares.

If you arrive from SFO on that flight that gets into Singapore I 'think' just after midnight you can take an early around 7 am flight to Phuket, perhaps Jetstar and that would work.

Someone did that recently arriving around midnight, they collected bags and went over to the other terminal (T1/2 but it's the other one from SQ ) and I think they said they could check-in by 3 am or whatever. I think it worked out fine, I'll browse and see if I can find it.

The Maldives is VERY expensive as just about everything has to be imported. If you are looking for a budget flight, maybe not the best place to go unless you can get all inclusive?

James--The traveler who arrived in SIN late and checked in at 3am was me! It did work ok. Not the best...but do-able.

I think using a travel agent for the airfare portion is the way to go. I will research that.

As for using a budget airline to go to a $$$ place...I am willing to spend the money in the Maldives, but don't mind using budget airlines to use the extra money on extra spa treatments.

Does Singapore stop anywhere else? We have been to SIN twice and would love to try somewhere else.

Bangkok Airways does have promotional fares from Bangkok to Male. Right now there are 2 simultaneous promotional fares - use an American Express card and you can buy 1(full fare ticket) and get 1 free which work out to about $1,000 for 2($500 each) including all taxes and fees. Another promotional at the moment is the "Delight" fare which is a little less than the Amex's, about $450 per pax. For Nov/Dec high season I don't know if they will have any promotions but it never hurt to check on their website around that time.

Forgot to add that if you do choose Bangkok Airways ask for row 11, emergency exit row - insane leg-room!

Sri Lankan airlines has almost daily flights and it takes only an hour from Colombo. Sri Lanka also has a lot to offer, culture, history, mountains and tea country, wildlife, beaches too and makes for a great stop enroute to the Maldives.