Well I thought I had it all figured out and now I'm finding I don't. We want to fly roundtrip bkk to siem riep, then roundtrip bkk to chiang rai. We were planning on using bangkok airways but now realize that they don't fly to CR from bkk. My question is what is the most economical yet safe way(airlines) to go? We'll be traveling late Feb 06' into mid March. All sugestions apprediated.
Aloha!

that's appreciated

thai air is how i got to CR....as an alternative you could fly to CM and rent a car and drive up to CR...long way -- 3 hours...
you do save quite a bit using the coupon plan...how about this...

fly CR using thai air...

make reservations to SR on bkk air using the coupon system and make a later one way flight to any place in thailand---cost $50 (but just throw it away...that would give you your 3 segments and providing you saved $100 on the SR flt, total, you would be ahead of the game...capish??

At the moment, One-Two-Go (Orient Thai airline, www.orient-thai.com) is probably your safest 'budget' bet. Air Asia also flies to Chiang Rai, and is probably cheaper, but traveling with them can be a bit of a free-for-all.

For flights from Bangkok to Chiang Rai:

Thai Airways: http://www.thaiairways.com/

Air Asia: http://www.airasia.com/general.php?p=thmain&l=th

Orient Thai: http://www.orient-thai.com/web/home.html

I've flown all three airlines and the safety standard are acceptable IMO.

As you know, your only option from BKK to Siem Reap and return is Bangkok Air. And the best way to fly Bangkok Air is the Discovery Pass. RT Bkk- SR is close to US$300 per person as opposed to the Discovery Pass which is US$80 per international leg and US$50 per domestic leg. Bob is right, it would make sense to book the Discovery pass, and make the third leg a throw-away domestic flight.

For your flight to CR, any of the domestic airlines seem to be fine. Remember that with most budget airlines it's a free for all (no assigned seats, etc). I find the Thai domestic tickets so cheap, I don't bother with the budget airlines. Indeed, for a few dollars more you can fly first class (or do they call it business?) on Thai - more space and more importantly for the shopper, a larger baggage allowance. (Good for carrying all that jewelry...)

unfortunatly for some of us the diffrencre between $45 and $190 is huge especieally for a 1hr and 5 minitute flight.

$45 (airasia, RT base price)

$130 (TG econ, base price
$190 (TG. business class, base price

jeez, how hard can it be to get a seat on a budget airline does no one use public buses on fodors. lol

RHK's option is probably the best deal and bangkok air offers many flights durring the day.. which is not the case for many budget airlines.

wow, thanks for all the suggestions....I'll let you know how it turns out...I think we'll try bob's idea if we can get the discov-pass flights we need and then thai air bus-class to CR. Linda like the idea of more space
Aloha!

HI---don't tell them you are doing a throw away....