Cheap flights to Thailand...

Conanius

Conanius

Conanius

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Joined
18 Oct 2002
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As topic.

Looking at going in September this year for 10-14 nights. Specifically to Koh Samui. We can fly any day after and including the 15th of September, but could fly a day or so earlier if it makes collossal price savings. Happy to fly from any airport back here (London/Birmingham/Manchester... doubt any others do direct to Bangkok?)

As I understand it the major route is LHR->Bangkok-> Koh Samui, and this would be the ideal (don't really fancy another change on the way in Dubai/wherever) but I'm at a loss for where I should be searching and calling for cheap flights.

Wondering which airlines to consider and what sites I should be checking and numbers I should be calling....

Cheers in advance :)

(also, anyone here been to Koh Samui? what did you think? Where are must go places? )
 
Of all the websites, for whatever reason Expedia seems to always give me te cheapest deals. However, it requires a fair bit of work because it always insists on giving you tardy options with 36 hours stopovers in the Antarctic.
 
Hated koh Samui while i was there. Found Koh Phangan a lot better, though you may want to avoid it if its around full moon time unless you want 24/7 partying. Koh Tao is also nice but not much to do apart from diving.

Try, Royal Brunie and Qatar Airlines, they always come up cheapest for me
 
Conanius said:
Cheers, any airline recommendations for this route fox?
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Singapore airlines would be my number one choice.
I haven't flown with Thai in about 10 years but I think they're going downhill, but the majority of Star Alliance airlines are good enough.

Check out www.seatguru.com and www.airlinequality.com for seat and airline tips/reviews.
Even flying with a mediocre airline such as BA can be made much more bearable with a decent seat (even in the back!).

Also look at flying to SIN, HK, KL and then using Air Asia to fly onwards to Thailand. They can be VERY cheap.

Don't discount looking at the airline web sites directly. They sometimes have special offers that don't appear on comparison web sites.
 
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I recently flew with Singapore airlines and I don't think I'd ever chose to fly with anyone else. Unlimited free decent food and drink and hundreds of films to pick from... Awesome!
 
Conanius said:
As topic.

Looking at going in September this year for 10-14 nights. Specifically to Koh Samui. We can fly any day after and including the 15th of September, but could fly a day or so earlier if it makes collossal price savings. Happy to fly from any airport back here (London/Birmingham/Manchester... doubt any others do direct to Bangkok?)

As I understand it the major route is LHR->Bangkok-> Koh Samui, and this would be the ideal (don't really fancy another change on the way in Dubai/wherever) but I'm at a loss for where I should be searching and calling for cheap flights.

Wondering which airlines to consider and what sites I should be checking and numbers I should be calling....

Cheers in advance :)

(also, anyone here been to Koh Samui? what did you think? Where are must go places? )
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Haven't been for seven years but stayed at the Amari Palm near the top of Chaweng for Honeymoon. That used to be the side to go to over Lamai. The Amari was superb (try to book into the Thai Village across the road from the beach not the main hotel) That being said, Samui was getting pretty built up when we went there for the second time (on our third trip).

Not sure of the new hotels etc but take some flippers and snorkels with you. There is the Big Buddha on north of the island, the man/woman rocks among the east coast, some waterfalls and a butterfly sanctuary inland.

I am not sure I would spend that entire time in Samui. Bangkok is great for a few days. You can do a few day trips out to the crocodile farm, a massive "mini thailand" park you need a bike to get around and lots of other stuff in Bangkok. We stayed at the Bayioke Sky which was very convenient for the clothing district but other locations may suit you better.

We spent a couple of nights on the River Kwai on a river boat. I think three place was called Frank something or other. Chiang Mia is also great and lots of things to do there including visiting the temple that reminds me of the Jade Palace in Kung Fu Panda, elephant riding (wear long shorts or your thighs will chafe badly, elephant training centre (awesome), Orchid nursery, night market etc.

Stay away from Pattaya. Always wanted to go to Koh Chang but never did. Koh Tao is great to relax but as mentioned mostly diving related. And you haven't even touched the Andaman coast.

The airport at Samui is one of the prettiest in the world. My advice though is not to spend the entire honeymoon in Samui. Enjoy and congratulations.
 
Thanks for all the replies.

I think if we can save 2-300 quid per person flying 2 stops instead of one as the sites suggest we might give it a go. My in laws swear by the flight centre. Asked on some amazing prices they have had in the past do I'll check out what they have to say later.

I'd be tempted if it is 2 stops to have a day or two in the stop over location, I'll see what comes back.

Noughtboy - we had our honeymoon last year in Bali, this is just for a holiday :-) .... Although I spy a chance to avoid anniversary present purchase by giving my wife a plane ticket as her gift .... :D
 
Ok, quick update.

Been offered £602 per person return using Ethiad Airways and Bangkok Airways connection from Bangkok to Koh Samui.

The connection flight is only an hour, so don't really care how terrible that flight might end up being (even sat on a 4 seater cargo plane next to a goat would be ok), but curious how good Ethiad are.

General reviews appear ok, but interested in any ocuk personal experiences :)
 
That feels quite expensive to me.

Edit: It is. 30 seconds on skyscanner turns up a bunch of KLM flights with short transfer times for £460 per person. Surely it can't cost 140 quid each for an internal flight on top of that?
 
[TW]Fox;22554864 said:
That feels quite expensive to me.

Edit: It is. 30 seconds on skyscanner turns up a bunch of KLM flights with short transfer times for £460 per person. Surely it can't cost 140 quid each for an internal flight on top of that?
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Looks like it is ! Agree £460 is about right to Bangkok, but the connection on to Koh Samui is pricey it seems. I don't fancy swimming to the island !

Out of interest, if I book the flights and hotel through the same company, but they decide to use different airlines for the connections, whats the situation with regards to a connecting flight being missed due to delays further back? Is there any protection, or is it 'unlucky sunshine' and probably some sort of admin charge to get on the next flight ?
 
connection flights are about £100

also wouldnt stay on samui, and would hop on a boat to either phangan or better still koh tao
 
Repta said:
Hated koh Samui while i was there. Found Koh Phangan a lot better, though you may want to avoid it if its around full moon time unless you want 24/7 partying. Koh Tao is also nice but not much to do apart from diving.

Try, Royal Brunie and Qatar Airlines, they always come up cheapest for me
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I echo this, honestly Samui is not nice. I liked all of Thailand then I got there and just felt URGH wow this is the bad side of it. Literally hassled every 10 steps by people trying to sell you a suit/shoes/dvds and god knows what else. It looks like the rough end of town where all the bars/clubs are. Typical tourists wandering around no tops on, drunk, shouting, a lot of western influence overall.
I didn't get to see much of Phangan as I stayed Haad salad but was beautiful that end of the island, so peaceful and the water was gorgeous (was also known for its sunset).
I guess it depends what you want! You are going in almost peak time though isn't it? I looked at going in December and flights were around £800, went on 3rd of January and same flights £500.
And yeah connection flights around £100 from BK to Chiang Mai and from BK down to the southern islands. Even thought the flight takes just a few hours literally 2 or 3 you still get food :D
 
both samui and phangan have their busy spots (and quiet ones)

if you must stay on samui get out of chewang

and if you go to phangan and want peace and quiet, get out of haad rin and head up north (unless of course you want to party, in which case haad rin is the place to be)
 
I'd just book your internal flight when you get to Bangkok just in case of any delays. You can literally walk up to the desk and book a flight in minutes. We did Bangkok > Krabi > Koh Samui / Phanga / Tao > Bangkok. I'd recommend Krabi for a bit too, two weeks in Samui is far too long, move around a bit.

We went with Emirates via Dubai, was a good flight but they're all the same really. I'd avoid KLM from what I've heard.
 
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