pollybenedict

Hi
I'm thinking of traveling from Yangon to Siem Reap to Chiang Mai. The flights involve BKK layovers and take a chunk out of the day. I looked at booking separate flights in and out of Bangkok. I can take Air Asia 9:30PM into Bangkok and spend the night at the airport -- I'm looking at a BA flight to SR early the next morning so I'd take shuttle or cab from DMK to BKK and spend night in an airport hotel. I think that means I'll have to go through immigration and check/uncheck bag more often, but the alternative is spend night in Yangon and my flight wouldn't arrive in SR until the afternoon. Similarly, I can fly late out of SR into BKK - then book a separate flight to CM. Does this make sense or is this unreasonable and too complicated? .
Thanks.

sartoric

I recently booked MDL - REP with Air Asia.

Bangkok Airawys have a flight depart MDL 14.15, arrive REP 18.20, but it's not cheap.

With AA we depart MDL 12.50, arrive REP 21.00, with about 3 hours to kill at DMK.
The difference in cost for two people was about $435.

Hope this helps.

pollybenedict

Thanks, Sartoric

Although I want to go RGN-REP, I'm considering buying separate tix so I can leave at more favorable times - e.g., RGN-DMK. DMK-REP. REP-BKK. BKK-CNX. (rather than flights that include layover RGN-DMK-REP). I'll use a mix of AA and BA. It's not as convenient, but flight options are better. Have others done this? Thanks.

needmorevacation

The only issue I see if that if one flight is delayed/cancelled you'll miss your second flight and will have to buy an additional ticket. If the flights are cheaper and you want to risk it- sure go ahead, but if you're more conservative (like me!) I'd go for the layover.

sartoric

Oops, sorry I misread.

As NMV says, the issue will be if you have a delayed flight.

My travel insurance will cover costs for delays longer than 12 hours. It doesn't get me there on time, but at least I'm not out of pocket.

pollybenedict

Thanks so much, good point about delays! I am planning to overnight at the airport so I hope that gives me time, but not for a cancellation. I'm going to try to fly AA - BA seems much more expensive. Is that because the use the smaller airport? Maybe there are more options on BA, but I'm completely confused by the fare rules and information about allowed stopovers, transfers, and combos - and find it hard to understand difference between the three web fares. I looked into the Discovery pass, but can't get through on the US number.

When flying REP-CNX, are bags checked through and do I clear customs in CNX? I notice there are three flights leaving REP at the exact same time, but with varying layovers in BKK (from 2 - 5 hours). I'm assuming if I have to go through immigrations the airline would plan the layover accordingly, but maybe I'm wrong about that. thanks.

sartoric

I think BA and AA both use DMK. It's become the low cost carrier airport.

The Amari hotel at DMK is pretty awful. The only saving grace is a footbridge to it, so you don't have to cross the road.