chicago999

For those of you who make the trip from the US to Thailand (or nearby) regularly, do you have any suggestions on the best way to minimize the pain of that LOOONG flight? Do you prefer to fly through Narita, fly through Frankfurt and spend a day or two, go non-stop? The flying time from Chicago to BKK looks like it might be as much as 20 hours on a non stop?

glorialf

First, I don't think there is a non stop flight from Chicago. If there is, it's new.

I live in Chicago and have done the flight often. First thing to do to ease the pain is to avoid U.S. carriers.
The Japan Air flight works well but there can be a long transfer time in Narita coming home (like 6 hrs). That's ok if you're in business or first but could be unpleasant if you're in economy and don't have access to a lounge.

You can also fly out of LA or SF but transferring to a domestic flight for another 4-5 hour flight can be lousy.

This next trip I am flying to NY and will take Thai air non-stop to Bangkok which is 17 plus hours going and 16 coming back. You have to get to NY the day before but that's no problem. I can stay with friends but even if you can't staying at the airport can be done fairly reasonably. Coming home I'll have to switch to LaGuardia but that's not a big deal and I love the idea of taking a short domestic flight to get home.

I have never gone through Europe. I try to use ff miles and they require more if you fly that way. Also, if I was going to spend a day or two someplace it would NOT be in Frankfurt!

Kathie

The best way to ease the pain of a long flight is to upgrade to Business Class. In which airline alliance do you have miles?

Certainly the easiest flight (one stop) for you will be United's non-stop to Narita connecting to Bangkok. If you are a Premier or above, you can qualify for Economy Plus seats if you can't upgrade to business. Getting busniess class upgrade usually requires booking 11 months in advance.

glorialf

Maybe United is decent in business class but it is horrible in economy. I would definitely fly Japan Air instead.

rkkwan

Chicago isn't as well-served by the Asian airlines as LA/SF or even New York. Other than JAL, you may want to consider Korean, via Seoul.

Fastest connection will be on United. Their Tokyo operation is set up for passengers connecting to various Asian cities, so you will never have a long layover there.

Too bad the new Thai non-stop leaves from JFK, which has extremely poor connection for Chicago.

glorialf

It only takes about 35 minutes to get from JFK to laguradia and there are shuttles that leave every 15 minutes so it isn't so terrible. And once you're there they have hourly flights and 1 1/2 hour later you'll be home. When I;ve connected on the west coast or in asia I often have very long lay overs which here can be avoided.

Kathie

Gloria, in my experience, economy class is economy class and I think it's all awful. My suggestion for Economy Plus in United is a section with approx 4" extra legroom available only to Premier or above Mileage Plus members. I'm spoiled by always flying Business (and yes, the service on United in Business is very good in my experience).

rhkkmk

northwest is the fastest i believe from usa...easy connect from chicago through either detroit or menneapolis...

look at their world vacations with minimum 3 days hotels and save about $250---that's what i just did....800-800-1504 is the phone...$1212 from boston w/3 nites hotel

rkkwan

Northwest means one more flight, and that's necessarily longer than UA's one-stop.

2nd, NW leaves BKK at 6am, extremely early. UA leaves just past 7am, so at least a little bit better.

Also, NW's uses 744 for DTW/MSP-NRT, so no personal video screen. They do have a good AVOD system on their A330 NRT-BKK. UA uses 777 for ORD-NRT, so you can personal screen on the longest leg; NRT-BKK is on 747, so no personal screen.

Jim0884

just a note to Kathie, I got a biz class upgrade on United with only 2 months advance notice....

Kathie

Jim, an upgrade to BKK? It's the Narita to BKK leg that's the hardest to get. I've gotten business class upgrades with just a couple months notice to Hong Kong or to Europe...

Tell us when you are flying!

simpsonc510

My upgrades on United came through the day before, in each direction. But I GOT THEM, that's the main thing. I literally just got off the flight coming home from BKK/NRT/ORD on UAL in business class. I bought my ticket for the trip in January and paid the extra price for upgradeable tickets, and thankfully, I got my upper deck seats going over and coming back. I am a premier exec FF w/Ual.

Kathie

Carol, that's great that the upgrades came through for you!

Jim0884

Kathie:
i booked for second week of April...Songkran week. Just did so 2 weeks ago...usually i have to go ORD-Osaka and then go Thai in order to get upgrades, but lucked out

Kathie

Wow - you did luck out! Good for you!

I usually go to Thailand in Nov - Dec which is high season, so getting upgraded seats can be a challenge.

lskohn

I got back from BKK this afternoon (!) on UA via NRT to ORD. We got our upgrade using miles 3 months ago, and we're only Premiers (perhaps because it was a Tuesday? There were even a few empty seats in business class today, while there were none on the outbound on Sunday 2/13)

Strongly recommend getting upper deck -- that main floor business class is 2-3-2 and that doesn't feel like business class at all! The Japanese food offerings were better than UA's usual fare.

There's a 2 1/2 hour layover in NRT, which is why the flight looks so long -- but the Red Carpet Club was a godsend (free wireless internet, lousy snacks except fresh fruit). Remember that NRT to ORD is sort of like ORD to Frankfurt -- you want to eat dinner and then get to sleep for as much of that segment as you can. I am about to hit the sack here at home in Chicago at 10 pm CST, and did okay this afternoon.

I am confused over the plane models - I thought we had 744s also, but we certainly had individual screens in business class at least.

One more tip if you are looking at the UA flight, from one who doesn't fly in 747's or 744's often -- in the upper deck, the best storage is rather narrow bins under the windows, and the overhead bins are on the small side, so it is more convenient to take two 12-inch thick backpacks or modest-size cylindrical gym bag, rather than the normal wheeled carryons, which have to be stored in the closet. (UA wasn't very picky about "one carryon and one personal item" at any point on our trip.)

Gee, I just missed meeting Carol by one day!

simpsonc510

Lisa, I just posted on another thread asking if we were on the same flights! But we were one day apart. We'll just have to plan better the next time! LOL Glad we both got our upgrades and made it home safe and sound.

I'm in small town Illinois, three hours from ORD.

Carol

chicago999

Thanks everybody. I am going to try to use United miles to upgrade for our February '06 trip -- maybe I'll get lucky booking this far in advance. Sounds like that's the best way to go.