Been reading threads on airliners.net about Thai Air having finally (after much speculation) stop booking tix from JFK-BKK from July 1 onwards.

Seemed like a rumor at first, but now multiple reports coming out that fuel costs have cut this route indefinitely, with the idea that TG will now route passangers through LAX for its regularly scheduled LAX-BKK flight.

It's yet to be decided (from what I gather) if they will even keep their nonstop from LAX-BKK or if that will now involve a mandatory stop at Kansai (KIX) with a different aircraft (perhaps the A346 as opposed to the A345.)

I'm starting to worry about the future of our nonstop in December...but I feel even worse for those that have JFK-BKK tix already booked.

What a complete bummer...gotta love the fact that the fuel crisis has affected almost every operational airline in the world.

Depressing...

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=829494

thanks for the correction, kim...i actually meant ftalk.com.

Oh...it wasn't a correction, it was an addition. I thought that maybe you hadn't seen the discussion on flyertalk.com.

Well that stinks.
I was on the Singapore Air non stop from Newark to SIN for August travel and that got canceled (converted to all biziness) a couple months ago. I was then "accommodated" on the one stop via Frankfurt. My other option was the TG non stop, and I then regretted not having booked that flight. Now that flight is gone too?

Apparently, at $130 or more per barrel of oil the airlines cannot make money without raising fares substantially. And, its these long haul flights which are now being cut the most.
: (

I'm told that they, TG, need to increase the fair by 50% to keep flying this route and make it profitable.

My fondest flying memory was flying on Pan Am flight 001 that stop at every city possible from London to Bangkok. Looks like we're going backward in time!

Ugh...we have our ff tix for our Oct/Nov trip on that flight (through US Air). I assume it is best to wait until the flight is officially cancelled to contact USAir to see how they will accomodate us? I remember about a year about ago there was talk about this flight "definitely" being cancelled and it never happened. Well at least we have some flexibilty on the dates.

That is really too bad. We will be on that flight this Wednesday. It is so ( now maybe was) nice to fly to Asis from the east coast non-stop.

Spelling...ASIA

Does any one have any idea what happens if you already had tix booked (have mine booked for late Aug.?)? What do they do? Insist on/try to accomodate you on another flight, or just reimburse you?

Don't worry. If you have missed your chance to fly the A345 ultra-longhaul in coach on Emirates, Singapore and now Thai, you still have opportunites. Kingfisher will start non-stops from Bangalore to San Francisco to New York on 8/27 and 9/1 respectively.

I called Thai Air last year about the talk of the non-stop LAX-Bangkok flight possibly being cancelled and the reservationist went off on me...got furious...for me asking a simple question.
She asked where I had heard this and that it wasn't true and if they didn't have that flight then what would they have....and on and on and on. I told her that there had been talk about it and as to what they would have if it the non-stop- were cancelled...then I would suspect that they would have the same thing they had before the non-stops started....a stopover in Japan. Happy Travels!

It must be a universal airline script: deny, deny and then hang up.

Months ago, when I called Singapore Air, questioning them about the news reports that they were going to switch their non stop to all business, I was confronted with a nearly identical response: "where did you hear that?; that won't happen; don't worry about it; we have no plans to do so........."

Yeah, right.

I spoke with a Thai Air agent this morning. She said that the flight was "under review", they hope to have a decision next week, that lots of people are calling but nothing will be done about rebooking until a decision is made.

robert---they only hang up on new yorkers

The news in Toronto yesterday said that it costs Air Canada $68,948. to fill up the tank on its 777 for a one-way flight to Heathrow. I suspect the cost is even greater at Heathrow to fill up for the return trip. That is $198. per seat for the 349 seats onboard. Probably that Thai NY flight is twice as long and against the prevailing wind as well. I wonder how the A380s will deal with this?

CASM (cost per available seat-mile) and fuel burn per seat for the A380 is about the same as the 777-300ER that AC is using. Basically the most efficient ones out there are for longhauls.

The issue with the A380 is its size. You need to be able to fill more seats per flight to get its efficiency.

Over on Flyer Talk the word seems to be that the TG JFK-BKK non stop is kaput after July 1. That really is a bit of bad news. One question: if TG suspends that flight from JFK, does that mean it will have no flights to the NYC area?

I've been eating my way through some outstanding Thai restaurants in Queens for the past few months and there is actually a huge Thai community there. I guess they too will have to seek out other air carriers.
: )

And Bob, yes SIA hung up on me likely because I was a New Yorker. I started mumbling something about a lawsuit and the next thing I knew the line went dead. Go figure.

The cancellation of JFK-BKK is now official, according to the Wall Street Journal:

"BANGKOK -- Thai Airways International PCL said it will scale down its fleet expansion plans, cut flights to the U.S. and sell long-haul planes to cope with soaring jet fuel costs.

"President Apinan Sumanaseni said Friday that the number of aircraft to be procured over the next 10 years will be cut from the 65 planned. A revised proposal will be put to the airline's board next month.

"The spiraling jet fuel cost is also forcing the airline to terminate its direct Bangkok-New York flights from July 1 and to cut flights to Los Angeles to five a week from seven, he told reporters.

...

Although I've never taken the JFK flight on Thai, I agree that this is sad news. I do plan to try the LAX non-stop in December, if not before. Does anyone happen to know which days of the week the LAX to BKK flight is NOT going to be flying???

Carol