kimberlyb

We have booked our trans-pacific flight to Thailand for April, 2008! First trip and very excited!

Taking fellow Fodorites advice and looking into a Discover pass for our domestic flights. Have three legs total: BKK-CM, CM-Phuket and Phuket-BKK.

2 questions:
1) Thai Air offers best schedule for our itinerary, but their website says the Discover Pass is a 2007 promotion (ending Dec. 31). Does anyone know if this will continue in 2008? If not, what do you recommend?

2) Should we book our domestic flights now or wait? Want the best rates, if possible.

Thanks in advance!

rhkkmk

i would call thai....they have a CA office.....i would not wait any longer than i had to...

rhkkmk

you could also contact eddie at amex in bkk and see what he could do for you

[email protected]

kimberlyb

Thank you rhkkmk! I will call them this week.

StanKase

I found on some hotels and intra-country air fares they wait for some reason until year-end. I agree I would not wait since you are going in April, the very end of the high season.I would contact Thai. I have found best time to call is 10 AM EST or 10 PM EST.It really is hard to get through tothem. The AMEX contact may work. But, if no luck by Dec. 10-15th on Thai contact or website I would go for Discovery Pass.

smartcookie

that pass is not such a great deal for internal flights. you can probably get the same or better price by booking those legs on Air Asia and Nok Air. Check their sites.

Your other option is to book via Bangkok Airways Discovery Pass. See their site.

Scotters

I wouldn't worry about the pass as the saving on the 3 flights that you want to take (providing you can get the lowest regular fare) is only around $25. The pass for 3 segments is $169 plus 50 in takes totaling 219. The cheapest fare on Thai is BK/CM 1835 baht, CM/Phuket (direct) 3220 and Phuket/BK 2975 totaling 8030 baht or around $244

kimberlyb

Thank you everyone! I will check out Air Asia and Nok Air.

Unfortunately Bangkok Air does not fly daily from CM to BKK or Phuket (according to their website) and seems to require longer travel - we only have 3-4 days in each place and want to make the most of our time.

Scotters- thanks for the info. According to Thai Air website and availability on the days we need, it would cost us 12,595 Baht each (approx. $400 US each incl. of taxes) for 3 legs if we booked on our own.

The pass seems to be a much better savings (approximately $150 less per person) Unless I am missing something...

Another option is to buy individual legs on different airlines, but haven't tried that yet.

Scotters

Yes it all depends on the day you are travelling to get Thai cheapest rates. I was checking on April 10 just for an example but going back, the weekends seem mostly to be all sold out. Also mid month (13-15) is the Thai new year so most of the cheap flights are already booked.

Air asia can be cheap as long as you book well in advance. Somewhat the same with Nok. With both these you will have to change planes in BK for the trip to Phuket. Air Asia flies out of the new airport while Nok out of the old. Also watch you baggage allowance especially with Air Asia.

kimberlyb

Thanks Scotters. I will call Thai Air first since they offer a direct CM-Phuket flight. If not, then I will definitely see about Air Asia, etc. Heard that they are a little unreliable with flights (delays, etc.) Have you ever flown with them?

Appreciate the headsup about Songkran-that would exlain a lot about availability.

KimJapan

http://www.thaiair.com/Promotions/Sp...azing_fare.htm

2008 is now posted.

Scotters

See that it has gone up from $169 to 199. No real savings now except for the direct Chiang Mai/Phuket flight.

kimberlyb

Thank you KimJapan! This must have recently been posted, since it wasn't there this morning.

Many thanks to everyone.

Happy Travels.