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By *ait88Man
over a year ago
Plymouth |
Use internet “cheap flight search” websites to find the cheapest tickets. But book and pay for the flights on the airline’s website. The ticket costs will be the same, but you will avoid the extortionate agent’s fees for phone calls, changes, enhancements, cancellations, etc. The costs of scheduled flights vary according to the days of the week. Mondays and Tuesdays are cheapest.
In September, I used Opodo to discover that Air China was currently the cheapest for scheduled flights out of Heathrow in December. I booked and paid for my flight on the Air China website. My December flight to Bkk cost me £637 return.
The cheapest flights will usually be very inconvenient. Mine has a stop in Beijing, so the total travel time will be over 17 hours, instead of the 13-hour direct flight time.
The earlier you book, the wider the range of seats available – the cheapest flights are usually fully booked. Costs change with the price of oil, so there’s no guarantee that your tickets will be the cheapest in the long run.
Charter flights and package tours may be cheaper. I don’t use them because I want to fly out of LHR, I know where I’ll be staying, and I won’t be doing any tours or site-seeing.
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"Use internet “cheap flight search” websites to find the cheapest tickets. But book and pay for the flights on the airline’s website. The ticket costs will be the same, but you will avoid the extortionate agent’s fees for phone calls, changes, enhancements, cancellations, etc. The costs of scheduled flights vary according to the days of the week. Mondays and Tuesdays are cheapest.
In September, I used Opodo to discover that Air China was currently the cheapest for scheduled flights out of Heathrow in December. I booked and paid for my flight on the Air China website. My December flight to Bkk cost me £637 return.
The cheapest flights will usually be very inconvenient. Mine has a stop in Beijing, so the total travel time will be over 17 hours, instead of the 13-hour direct flight time.
The earlier you book, the wider the range of seats available – the cheapest flights are usually fully booked. Costs change with the price of oil, so there’s no guarantee that your tickets will be the cheapest in the long run.
Charter flights and package tours may be cheaper. I don’t use them because I want to fly out of LHR, I know where I’ll be staying, and I won’t be doing any tours or site-seeing.
"
Our options are pretty limited flying from Scotland but so far I've found a tickets on Netflights travelling with Qatar airways. The cost has jumped up about £40 in the past couple of weeks as I was still undecided about dates. Now I keep seeing ads for Qatar Airways black friday deals...is it worth waiting to check these out or am I best just booking now for £555 |
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By *ait88Man
over a year ago
Plymouth |
It’s hard to say. If the flight was out of LHR, I would buy now because the tickets would sell-out at £555 without any need for Black Friday reductions. But maybe the airline has increased the price recently in order to be able to reduce it again for the sale.
A possible solution is to check the airline’s website for seat availability. If all the “extra charge” seats have already been sold, the flights are popular, so buy now. If there are still premium seats available, be quick off the mark on Black Friday.
Good luck!
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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Qatar are really good for flights. If its in your price range, do it.
I just booked to go to krabi with Thai Airways (lhr - kbv). Leaving in a few weeks. I could have got the flight for 510, but I chose a later flight and got it for 531. This was direct,tvrough Thai Airways.
If you use kayak to search, they have a price alert tool at the top, telling you to wait or to buy.
Enjoy Thailand everyone |
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The queue is not bad at all now because the Chinese and Japanese just have their own terminal to go through...remember in April it is songkran a water festival and it is hectic...about the 12th to 19th in pattaya so make sure you get their before it starts |
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"Use internet “cheap flight search” websites to find the cheapest tickets. But book and pay for the flights on the airline’s website. The ticket costs will be the same, but you will avoid the extortionate agent’s fees for phone calls, changes, enhancements, cancellations, etc. The costs of scheduled flights vary according to the days of the week. Mondays and Tuesdays are cheapest.
In September, I used Opodo to discover that Air China was currently the cheapest for scheduled flights out of Heathrow in December. I booked and paid for my flight on the Air China website. My December flight to Bkk cost me £637 return.
The cheapest flights will usually be very inconvenient. Mine has a stop in Beijing, so the total travel time will be over 17 hours, instead of the 13-hour direct flight time.
The earlier you book, the wider the range of seats available – the cheapest flights are usually fully booked. Costs change with the price of oil, so there’s no guarantee that your tickets will be the cheapest in the long run.
Charter flights and package tours may be cheaper. I don’t use them because I want to fly out of LHR, I know where I’ll be staying, and I won’t be doing any tours or site-seeing.
Our options are pretty limited flying from Scotland but so far I've found a tickets on Netflights travelling with Qatar airways. The cost has jumped up about £40 in the past couple of weeks as I was still undecided about dates. Now I keep seeing ads for Qatar Airways black friday deals...is it worth waiting to check these out or am I best just booking now for £555"
480 from edinburgh leaving 8th April back 29th |
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By *ait88Man
over a year ago
Plymouth |
"Be prepared for a long line when you get off the plane at Bangkok. Queue through passport control is nuts"
But nothing like the two-to-three hours for aliens at Heathrow. Buy a seat as close to the front door of the aircraft as possible, and don’t dawdle on the way to Immigration Control. Walk along the slide-ways. Fast!
There may also be queues for taxis to Bangkok. You can avoid these by going up to “Departures”. Just walk straight out of any door and get in one after the passengers have got out.
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"Use internet “cheap flight search” websites to find the cheapest tickets. But book and pay for the flights on the airline’s website. The ticket costs will be the same, but you will avoid the extortionate agent’s fees for phone calls, changes, enhancements, cancellations, etc. The costs of scheduled flights vary according to the days of the week. Mondays and Tuesdays are cheapest.
In September, I used Opodo to discover that Air China was currently the cheapest for scheduled flights out of Heathrow in December. I booked and paid for my flight on the Air China website. My December flight to Bkk cost me £637 return.
The cheapest flights will usually be very inconvenient. Mine has a stop in Beijing, so the total travel time will be over 17 hours, instead of the 13-hour direct flight time.
The earlier you book, the wider the range of seats available – the cheapest flights are usually fully booked. Costs change with the price of oil, so there’s no guarantee that your tickets will be the cheapest in the long run.
Charter flights and package tours may be cheaper. I don’t use them because I want to fly out of LHR, I know where I’ll be staying, and I won’t be doing any tours or site-seeing.
Our options are pretty limited flying from Scotland but so far I've found a tickets on Netflights travelling with Qatar airways. The cost has jumped up about £40 in the past couple of weeks as I was still undecided about dates. Now I keep seeing ads for Qatar Airways black friday deals...is it worth waiting to check these out or am I best just booking now for £555480 from edinburgh leaving 8th April back 29th"
That's pretty good! Where did you find that? Downside is those dates mean more days off school than our preferred dates  |
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"The queue is not bad at all now because the Chinese and Japanese just have their own terminal to go through...remember in April it is songkran a water festival and it is hectic...about the 12th to 19th in pattaya so make sure you get their before it starts"
We were in Bangkok and Pattaya last year and the word on the street was the Chinese tourists weren’t welcome at all because they spent very little. They would fly in on Chinese airline charter flights ,take Chinese owned coaches to Chinese owned Hotels where they ate Chinese food on their all inclusive packages.
All they ever did was go to Historical sites ( usually Buddhist temples ) where they would take lots of photos and we never saw one of them relaxing in a Bar or a Restaurant . It’s got to be a cultural difference .
In summary the Chinese are taking over the world and good luck to them as they are the origional capitalists unlike us Johnny come lately ones. |
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Honestly if you know where to look you can pick flights up for sub £420 return with 4 or 5 star airlines (if you don’t mind a 1-2 hr changeover) and customs can be negotiated in 20-30 mins. We’ve been over 20 times in the last 6-7 years and it’s nowhere near as expensive or difficult as ppl think |
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By *ait88Man
over a year ago
Plymouth |
"Honestly if you know where to look you can pick flights up for sub £420 return with 4 or 5 star airlines (if you don’t mind a 1-2 hr changeover) and customs can be negotiated in 20-30 mins. We’ve been over 20 times in the last 6-7 years and it’s nowhere near as expensive or difficult as ppl think"
So exactly where do we look? Please.
Airlines don’t have star ratings.
For the last four years the cheapest high season scheduled flights from LHR were by Royal Jordanian. The connection delays in Amman were 2 hours 25 minutes on the way out, and 6 hours on the way back.
There are no queues for Customs in Suvarnabhumi. The delays are in Immigration Control. And waiting for a taxi.
Prices depend on the day of the week, the week of the year, and the international price of oil. I’m travelling on 17th December – absolute peak holiday time. Limited 3Edition are travelling in April – the end of the high season. Hence the £100 price difference. Prices during our summer – Thailand low season – will be lower again because airlines struggle to fill seats.
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By *JWMan
over a year ago
caerphilly |
For airline ratings look here
https://www.airlinequality.com/
For general prices and options I use Sky scanner
For 17th December flight return early new year is about 1000 pounds. I try to leave UK before 7th or 8th December
Bangkok immigration delays are hit and miss at any time. Last experience was 5 mins but have done 1 hr |
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I'm going April 7th - 4th May, booked flights £452 return jet airways, Manchester - Mumbai - Bangkok. Finn air also do pretty good deals. Songkran in Pattaya should be good, then off to some of the islands and either Vietnam or Cambodia. |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
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"Honestly if you know where to look you can pick flights up for sub £420 return with 4 or 5 star airlines (if you don’t mind a 1-2 hr changeover) and customs can be negotiated in 20-30 mins. We’ve been over 20 times in the last 6-7 years and it’s nowhere near as expensive or difficult as ppl think"
As a U.K. citizen I’m I right in saying I don’t need a holiday visa if I’m there less than 30days? |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
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"Thanks for all the tips everyone, really appreciate it. Haven't been to the far east in 17 yrs so looking forward to it!
Apologies to the OP for hijacking their thread  "
The Hijack seems to have useful information at least lol |
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By *ait88Man
over a year ago
Plymouth |
"As a U.K. citizen I’m I right in saying I don’t need a holiday visa if I’m there less than 30days?"
When you arrival at the airport, Immigration will put a 30-day visa stamp in your passport. If you stay longer, you will have to pay a B500 per day fine to Emigration at the airport. But if you are caught with an expired visa by a police random check on the street, you will go to jail, and it will cost you a LOT of time and money to get out. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"Planning to go in April... Any tips on getting good flight deals? "
Join emirates sky wards if flight is empty they will offer you business class for £320 I fly business 5 times a year never not been offered |
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By *ait88Man
over a year ago
Plymouth |
"Join emirates sky wards if flight is empty they will offer you business class for £320 I fly business 5 times a year never not been offered "
That’s fantastic. Is the £320 the total cost, or the cost of an up-grade from economy? Also, do you fly to Bkk in December?
To the uninitiated, business class passengers disembark first, so they arrive at Immigration first. The queue length is planned to be zero, but if an earlier flight is late, you will be stuck behind stragglers. The domino effect. I’ve only been first in a queue once since 1984.
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"Planning to go in April... Any tips on getting good flight deals?
Join emirates sky wards if flight is empty they will offer you business class for £320 I fly business 5 times a year never not been offered "
How is this offered? |
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We were aiming for 3 weeks in Thailand in April with the kids missing about 6 days of school. Thought we would stay in Bangkok a few days on arrival and pre-departure. Spend a week in pattaya where we have friends and a week visiting other places. Flights coming in around £2300.
But I've just looked at the winter TUI flights and found 4 tickets for £1100 if we fly to phuket from Manchester around the 12th Dec for 2 weeks. Question is are we better off forgoing a third week and April to go for this instead? And is it easy enough to go up to pattaya from there or a bit of a hassle? |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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It's a reason distance. You are probably better off flying from Phuket to Bangkok (not sure on return but one way is around £35 each) and then a few hours drive/bus to Pattaya. |
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"It's a reason distance. You are probably better off flying from Phuket to Bangkok (not sure on return but one way is around £35 each) and then a few hours drive/bus to Pattaya."
Thanks Lib. We decided to stick with April. I think I had my mind set on 3 weeks so 2 weeks might have been a disappointment. Its so far away, might as well get the most out of the trip!
Just booked 28th March to 20th April...hope the country doesn't go down the pan with Brexit before then! |
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By *rSteve6Man
over a year ago
Bolton and Pattaya,Thailand |
"We were aiming for 3 weeks in Thailand in April with the kids missing about 6 days of school. Thought we would stay in Bangkok a few days on arrival and pre-departure. Spend a week in pattaya where we have friends and a week visiting other places. Flights coming in around £2300.
But I've just looked at the winter TUI flights and found 4 tickets for £1100 if we fly to phuket from Manchester around the 12th Dec for 2 weeks. Question is are we better off forgoing a third week and April to go for this instead? And is it easy enough to go up to pattaya from there or a bit of a hassle? "
You can fly with local airlines to U-Tappau,which they're now saying is the local airport for Pattaya(It's about 40 mins drive away) |
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