thai_volunteer

i've never travelled the obscenely long times or distances from NYC to asia. do those who have done it recommend a loooooong-haul or shorter (but still long) flights with the opportunity for flight breaks to walk around between long flights, even if just in airports. it seems downright cruel to be in a seat for 18 hours! i can go RT on frequent flyer miles, but with 2 or 3 stops each way, OR i can pay and go direct. advice?

laurieco

I personally cannot do the 25-30 hours to BKK with stops anymore and this time have opted to pay more for the non-stop between JFK and BKK. Since you can go for free with miles, you'll have to figure out if the increase in time is worth the savings. I have enough miles to get me to BKK for free, in coach, but not enough for myself and husband. We could have gotten one free ticket and paid about $500 less (than we paid per ticket for the second ticket on Cathay Pacific) but that would mean routing through Vancouver and Hong Kong. We've done that a few times before and it's horrible. I chose to save my miles either for an upgrade or two free tickets to Japan.

mrwunrfl

I would take the nonstop. I would never choose a 2 or 3 stop trip. You can certainly get a 1-stop itinerary.

Obviously, since you are considering the Thai Airways nonstop you have Star Alliance FF miles (earned on United, USAir, Thai, ...).

You certainly can fly with one stop. You could fly ANA JFK-NRT-BKK. Assuming that Asiana has a JFK-ICN nonstop you could go JFK-ICN-BKK. Another one-stop that I can think of is no better than the Thai flight: Singapore Airlines JFK-SIN-BKK.

You might consider flying with one stop on your outbound trip, say JFK-NRT-BKK just to get an initiation with long-haul flying and then take the nonstop back. Or one-stop each way.

But nonstop would be best, IMO, since it is the shortest travel time and if your bags get on the plane that you leave NYC on then they will be on the plane that you arrive in BKK on. Can't say that about the one-stops.

You can make one enroute stopover with your award. That is, you can stop in Tokyo or Seoul and spend a night or two or twelve. You can make one stopover with your award.

Craig

Another option for you is to pay and upgrade to business class which is what I would do if I was in your situation. The upgrade is worth far more in terms of cost than the free economy ticket. I think the longer trip in business class is more tolerable than the 17-18 hour flight in coach. Laurie somehow manages to put up with economy but we have always had the miles to do the upgrade or purchase the business class ticket outright. The good news is that if United Mileage Plus is your ff program, some time this year you may be able to upgrade on Star Alliance airlines, including Thai which offers the direct JFK-BKK flight.

thai_volunteer

thanks, all. i should have clarified that my choice is actually to pay full-fare on any airline that flies direct OR to use my continental (!) FF miles, which seem to be virtually useless. i'd have to go to NY to san franciso to tokyo to bankok. (i think) i tried some other possibilities, like using continental FF miles to somepace they fly direct, like hong kong, tokyo, beijung or singapore and then paying for a RT from there to BKK. but it's hard to get everything coordinated. none of my options look epecially attractive - paying for business or first class isn't an option. long flights in coach just seems so punishing!

cruisinred

Apologies to thai_volunteer for butting in on your thread, but I am having a similar conundrum.
Shoud I do the non-stop on Thai from JFK?
Or, for $180 less per person fly executive economy/evergreen deluxe, which would also earn miles on Continental (our current ff program)?

Slightly shorter/non-stop flight vs.
less expensive and earn miles???
Any thoughts?

thai_volunteer

no problem, cruisinred. i feel your pain. curious: what's evergreen? bcz i have continental FF too, maybe it's something of interest to me.

Craig

Crusin - the Thai flight has a premium economy class as well, probably a bit pricier than Eva Evergreen Deluxe (and you wouldn't earn miles).

Thai volunteer, not clear exactly where you are traveling from but have you looked at the Newark to Delhi flight on Continental? From there you could take Thai or Air India - those flights are relatively inexpensive.

cruisinred

Thai_volunteer-
Yes, you could use your continental miles on EVA. Their evergreen deluxe class is a business class seat, but with economy type service. It gets good reviews from Fodorites as a nice "compromise" between the 2....

I think an EVA ticket in Evergreen Deluze class with Continental miles would be 110,000....you could also look into Korean Air, which is partnered with Continental...

laurieco

thai volunteer and cruisinred, remember that the Thai non-stop gives 4 inches more legroom in economy than any other airline so it shouldn't be very uncomfortable, unless you're 6'5" tall. My husband is 6 foot and always manages in regualr economy with 32". He gets up and walks around every couple of hours and never complains. Yes, business class would be wonderful but we can't afford it and never have enough miles for it. Saving $180 for a class that probably isn't much different than Thai's regular economy and adding on all those hours somehow doesn't seem worth it to me. and, as Craig said, you can get miles on United when flying Thai.

Craig

The Evergreen seat is not a true business class seat. It is wider than economy and the pitch is greater but it is more like a domestic business class seat than an international one. It would definitely be more comfortable than Thai economy though.

thai_volunteer

since i last posted, i visited EVA and learned about evergreen. looks good, and no more expensive than thai. can anyone tell me how, exactly, i go about using my continental FF miles on an EVA flight? i have @ 135,000 miles.

btw, yes, i did look into erw to delhi - thanks for the heads up. but couldn't get good arrival/departure time match-ups.

trying to coordinate this is a full-time job. my trip isn't until october 2006. what are the relative merits of booking now or waiting for a promo? (maybe that's a silly question - it's always a gamble, i suppose)

Craig

According to the Continental website, you need to call their international airline partner desk at 800-344-3333. 110,000 miles gets a rt to Asia in Evergreen Deluxe (econ is 100,000 miles and business is 160,000). I would do it immediately as with all airline programs, reward seats are capacity controlled.

thai_volunteer

wow, craig - thanks! i just called continental's partner line and tried to book for my dates. i need to call back tomorrow to see if it went through. i was told, however, that these seats are VERY hard to come by. perhaps trying to book 7 months in advance will help. my fingers are crossed.

changing gears here...

i've posted earlier about my thailand plans. will be volunteer teaching in BKK from 10/28 - 11/11 or 11/12, after which i can either come home or hang in thailand/cambodia for another week. i want to see chiang mai, chiang rai, a hill-tribe, elephant trek, etc. (possibly to ankgor wat if i can get a cheap flight from there to NT and the cambodia foray doesn't cut too much into a realistic trip throughout NT.

i've tried to book the EVA return flight for return 11/18. if i am confirmed tomorrow, that leaves me 7 or 8 nights after my volunteer gig to see northern thailand. suggestions for how best to allocate my time in NT with or without the zip over to cambodia? how plentiful (or expensive) are flights from siem reap to chiang mai/rai, assuming i go to siem reap immediately after my volunteer gig ends on 11/11 or 11/12.

JamesA

Others you could try are Emirates, twice daily NYC non stop to Dubai and from there around 3 flights per day, from Dubai to BKK is under 6 hrs, so a fast route.
Other options you have with daily flights are Scandinavian via Copenhagen, Turkish via Istanbul ( should be cheap ), AF via paris, all those have seatback TVs in Coach and reasonable service, there are lots of others like Lufthansa, Austrian etc. Kuwait Airways involves 2 stops but again should be cheap and seatback TVs.
I would try Emirates and see what kind of price they can offer. But Eva is also very good if you go in the premium Economy/Coach or whatever they call it now.

laurieco

With 7 or 8 nights, you could either do both CM and CR, or, Angkor and either CM or CR. you could do 3 and 4 or 4 and 4. It's a bit ambitious but doable. I could easily do that itinerary but remember, you will most likely lose most of the days you fly, unless you can find an early morning flight to Siem Reap from BKK. I would choose Chiang Rai over Chaing Mai but that's just me, I wasn't crazy about CM and loved CR. You could do hilltribes and elephants at either one. I just happen to prefer the smallness of CR better and the Golden Triangle area over CM.

thai_volunteer

thank you all very, very much for your helpful, timely replies and your generosity with your experience and time. -- janice

rkkwan

- 110,000 CO miles to fly EVA Evergreen Deluxe is a very expensive way to use your miles, in my opinion.

It is only 120,000 miles on BusinessFirst/WBC on a CO/NW itinerary. Which is all business class, and only one top in Tokyo. Of course, availability is limited, but not totally impossible if your dates are somewhat flexible.

It'd be WAY BETTER than flying Evergreen Deluxe.

Anyways, if you think you really hate long trips, I think I'll agree with others. Get the Thai non-stop, and they have a premium economy class on that flight.

rkkwan

BTW, you can also use Korean Airlines with your CO miles. Call the Onepass international partner desk and they'll help you. It should be also 60K miles coach, 120K miles business.

mrwunrfl

Ok, then I would try to use the "useless" miles for a business class trip. If you aren't going to use them for an upgraded 20,000 mile journey then when?