scfphoto

Thai added flights on some days but eliminated the direct nonstop flight on Tuesday the day we were to fly. I wish I could have booked the flight to LAX on an affliated airline so they would have had to help us out but it just was not possible, AA was our only reasonable choice. Enough of this, I just wanted to get advice and warn other people who might be in the same situation and were not notified. We helped one couple that I know of so far. So as others have said be vigilant about confirming your reservations.

rkkwan

The problem is that the OP booked on a product (Thai's premium economy) that is only available on 3 planes in their current fleet (with 4th on order) spread over two ultra-long routes (BKK-LAX and BKK-JFK). Making things worse is that these two routes are probably unprofitable for them.

It is therefore by definition an unreliable product.

As for terryr - take Continental. They have non-stops from Newark to Beijing (daily) and Hong Kong (6/week). Unless you're flying business class or above; and even that CO is not too bad.

travelduo

Almost everyday I chat with the guys/gals over on flyertalk.com and this same situation comes up very often. the response that is most often given to that question is if you dont like the first answer the airlines gives you, try gain, and again, and again, until you get the answer you want. I hope Th didnt charge you the re-book fee, and if you were persistent enough then maybe they would of payed the AA re-book fee for you.
Has anyone here ever used expertflyer.com? Might be a good idea for people booking different flights that are not on partner airlines. The fee they charge is nominal compared to the benefit you receive if something like this happens.

bsp8181

SCFPhoto,

I definitely feel your pain. I received a voicemail from Thai Air two weeks back informing me that my honeymoon flight (LAX-BKK) scheduled for Tuesday 10/31 was cancelled - we had booked directly through Thai's site. They offered us no compensation. We re-booked for 10/30. I asked the rep whether she could upgrade us to PE because of what they put us through - no luck.

We are hoping that everything will work out with our new flight, but our confidence in Thai Airways was certainly shaken a bit.

rhkkmk

what a shame...they ssem to be shooting themselves in their feet....both feet....two years in a row...

i guess i would think very carefully before booking with them if i had time constraints...?????

terryr

Thanks, rkkwan, for your suggestion of Continental to Beijing from Newark and back again from HK...rhkkmk has recommended the same to us. Yes, taking an airlines that have daily flights to your destination will certainly reduce the risk of cancelled flights. I don't want to go through the hassles that we had last year with Thai Airways again on our next overseas trip...but we were well compensated once we were on the flight, which was experienced favorably: great comfort, roomy seats and leg room, wonderful service and food.

Terry