[sydramySweame]

Ok I finally bought my tickets from www.thaifly.com, and they were alot less then the last two times I few to Thailand. Total charge is USD $820.00 (Tax$65 & shipping $10 are included). The best part is that the travel time is less than I expected so when I get home I will still have 3 days left of vacation time before I have to go back to work. The last two times I didn't even have a chance to unpack before I went back to work. Just in case anyone is intrested here is my flight summary:

Departing flight:


1 AA1403 04NOV TH BWIORD 836A 945A

2 AA 153 04NOV TH ORDNRT 1100A 320P#1

3 TG 677 05NOV FR NRTBKK 515P 1015P



Returning flight:


4 TG 676 18NOV TH BKKNRT 820A 400P

5 AA 154 18NOV TH NRTORD 715P 340P

6 AA1344 18NOV TH ORDBWI 740P 1030P

ONLY 57 DAYS TILL VACATION!!!!

[Britfunclubs]

hm...NW to Thailand is the cheapeast.
anyway, for domestic, you can use low cost airline to Hat Yai like www.airasia.com, www.nokair.com or orient thai.
cheaper than TG and u can book on-line.

[sydramySweame]

Ok guys I'm trying to fly from BWI to HDY sometime between October and December 2004. Last Year I was able to make this trip twice for the price of $1000 per 1 round trip ticket. I've scoured obitz, expedia, travelocity and it appears that air fare has dramaticlly increased. The same trips I took last year are now $4,000+ Way out of my price range. I'm Willing to pay $1500 at the max.

Another thing that makes this more difficult for me is that the fact that air fare can change in less than a moments notice. I have to schedule PTO with my employer and thus wait a few weeks for the PTO to become approved by the nesscary people. Within that time the fare I wanted could have drastically increased. It's important to buy that cheap ticket when you find it, but this could be risky because you never know when you bosses could denie you PTO request after you already bought your tickets. Luckly I got away with doing this the last two times, and my time was approved.

I've checked out www.fly2thailand.com but it seems the only information this site has is hotel prices and bookings. So far www.thaifly.com is my best canidate. Thaifly.com offers the best prices I've seen so far, but the only destination to fly to is to Bankok. The prices on thaifly were about $750 (before taxes and all that fun stuff) for the trip I want to take, but once I get to BKK I would have to buy another ticket to Hat Yai (and buy another ticket from Hat Yai to BKK) which I just might do.

I do have a United Airlines Mileage Plus card with enough miles to probably get this trip free or upgrade to business class on the flight over or the flight back. The problem is that United has apparently droped some of the routes I used to take so I may have to use another airline. Also I have recently received the Mileage Plus card and am not very familar on how to use it for award travel. Any one here belong to frequent flyer program? Any tips or tricks?

I've read that you can get cheap air fare by purchasing tickets shortly before depature but I'm not very sure of this system. Sounds a little risky when you only have so much time untill you have to be back in the states to show up at your job again. Has anybody used this method? Can it be done at a resonable price with a two week time frame?

Another option I haven't explored is a travel agent. I've never used one, because I've always bought my own plane tickes on the internet. Anyone have experice with travel agents?

Are there any other options? Other web sites that could be of help? Any really cheap airlines? Is there something I'm overlooking? Someone Please tell me that there is some magical web site out there that has incrediably cheap international air fare.

[sydramySweame]

Awww. I'm slightly sad that no one has replied to my post. Maybe this is the wrong forum to be posting in? I dunno.

I think I will probably purchase my ticket from BWI to BKK from www.thaifly.com and then purchase another my ticket from BKK to HDY from Expedia.com. UNLESS ANY ONE KNOWS OF A PLACE WHERE I CAN FIND BETTER PRICES??!!

[Abraham]

Thanks for the tips Del.

(1) The bus/train from Bangkok to Hat Yai; can this be booked in advance somewhere on the internet? Should I aquire this service from a vendor at BKK, such as the tour guide desk next to the public telephones below the 7-11 near the walk-way to the domestic terminal?

(2) I've noticed that the United award travel booking is completly lacking right now for flights towards Thailand. I have had luck with them in the past though. The last two times I purchased tickets from them I was lucky. I paid about $1,000 and was flown from BWI to SFO, SFO to BKK (connecting through NRT), and BKK to HDY. Recently I've noticed that this route is no longer avaible though UA, which is a shame because I have become very familar with these specific airports.

Last night I made further inquires at thaifly.com and I have received a most satifactory response. I found out that I can purchase a ticket for a flight from BWI to BKK (not sure of the connecting airports just yet) with American Airlines for anytime between now and the end of november for a total price of $840 (tax and fees included). As for my trip from BKK to the south, I think I may be able to get a Royal Thai Airways ticket to HDY for free (thanks to UA's and RTA's Star Aliance) if I try to use my Milage Plus miles, but I have not researched this yet.

I still need to converse with my girlfriend to make sure these times and dates are good for her. I know she will be very busy around these months. She is graduating from Hat Yai University in September. Soon after graduation she will be seeking new employment in another part of the country (possibly in Phuket or Bangkok). So I may not be traveling to Hat Yai after all. Even though she will be busy, I know she is very eager to see me.

This will be my third trip to Thailand this year. Wow I can't believe I pulled this off. International travel can be addictive!!

[Susanleech]

Hi, I completely forgot about this website, did you check www.airasia.com it has a bunch of good offers to travel SEA... Have a good and fun trip.

[esconsise]

I guess it'll be cheaper for u to buy a round trip ticket to BKK and then fly on www.airasia.com to HDY.

Or fly to SGP and then round trip to HDY for S$130 minus taxes.

Or Fly to KUL and then by AirAsia.

Cheers !

[sydramySweame]

Thanks for the tip. Actually I bought my BKK to HDY ticket 3 days ago through expedia.com. the ticket cost me $174.91 after taxes, shipping, and booking fees.

[sydramySweame]

Quote[/b] ]I think the best way to travel is to stay flexible and leave some slack in your schedule so you can take advantage of whatever comes up.

This is true, Although when you are on a two week time limit it's not always easy to stay flexable. I want to get in as much quality time with my girl friend as possible before I have to go home and back to work.

Even though this currently does not work for me (the whole being flexable thing) I still agree with you. I wish I had no deadline to follow so I could really cash in on some more intresting travelling experiences. One day I'm sure I will be able to have a little more fun in my travels, but only after I get all this hard work out of the way, win the lottery, or have a much more flexable job.