london / bankok

[the dean]

considering london to bankok in november...

any long distance travellers out there who might have views on choice of departure airport out of london for variety of choice.../ airlines...

any recommendation about airlines...

have bad neck and back which prevents all but painful sleeping so would consider business class if it was'nt too costly. i never minded doing 10 hours flying up front where i had the space but the thought of 14 in the back is daunting...

best to do it all in one hop or stop...??but i was considering 7/9 days only so not much time to stop...

while there i was going to stop in bankok only for a day or two at both ends and the rest at phuket or other beach area...any recommendations...??

any thoughts pease...and thanks in advance...:D

( sorry mod if this has been covered but on a search i cannot find...also feel free to move me if i'm in the wrong forum...)

the dean.

[The SSK]

All direct flights (BA, Thai, EVA Air, Qantas) leave from Heathrow. So would connections through Europe (Lufthansa, KLM etc). On Emirates via Dubai, you could use LHR or LGW.

[the dean]

thanks for that ssk...

any favourites..??

any ideas approx. cost...Y or business class..??

[Tolsti]

Etihad via Abu Dhabi... Pearl (Business Class) £1400 ish.... full flat bed, easy flight times. Great service

[Gouabafla]

Living in Hampshire, I chose AF out of Southampton. It was an aeroplane and it got me there safe and sound - hard to say any more than that about the trip really. However, avoiding Heathrow is always a positive!

[Dan Air 87]

How about Cathay out of LHR to HKG and then to BKK? Its a seamless connection too (tried it last September). There is also Virgin to HKG.
Check out LH as their fares are cheaper than most. What a great decision to be faced with though!

[BOFH]

That is a very short trip - you will need to plan well, as you will lose two days in the air/in transit/getting to the airport if you're not careful.

Take the morning flight (The really late flights (BA/QF to SYD) arrive in BKK late in the afternoon, so you kiss that day goodbye.) and make sure you are tired (not p1ssed) when you board. It's only 11 1/2 hours on the way there, add an hour for return. Try to plan to get to your furthest destination on the outbound leg (Krabi, for example), so you don't waste time on leaving the airport, checking in etc, then going back to the airport a second time.

TG holds the obvious advantage here.

If you have a good bladder a window seat will afford the use of one of those inflatable pillows.

It is extremely difficult to find a bad part of Thailand - how much do you want to spend? If you go to the wrong place on a shoestring it won't be much fun, though. I suggest you read up on the thorntree if you are trying to save.

Oh, and don't forget the 'g' in Bangkok!

BOFH

[spiney]

I agree with the previous post - arrive BKK earlier in the day rather than later - better options on connections or stopover. I've done both the early TG flight (morning arrival) and KL (lunchtime arrival) and they're both better than arriving later in the day. If non-stop is a bit daunting Emirates, stopping off for a couple of hours in Dubai is worth a look. They have very competitive prices on Business Class and breaking the journey half-way suits some people. Worst part of the journey? LHR of course...

[Crowe]

Qatar airways are around £1,200 in business class, and now have pretty good handling facilities in Doha for C pax (used to be awful which was the main reason to avoid them).

Not quite flat beds but very good service, and costs similar to BA WT+.

[the dean]

ok guys....


thanks for all that...i will look at the options....now that i have somewhere to start.

not having been there before i was'nt sure where to start.

is a traveller alone safe enough there..??

thanks again.:D

the dean.

[Tolsti]

Thailand is generally regarded as safe. Areas to definitely avoid is the far south but I doubt you'd be going there anyway.

I have lived there and now visit every year.. There is so much choice in everything that unless you say more about yourself it would be difficult to make recommendations... feel free to PM me. I'm off there in May and will be mainly in BKK but spending a long weekend on Koh Samet.

[Bangkokeasy]

Look at one of the "economy plus" deals on something like EVA Air, which goes direct. I wouldn't consider a stopover, unless to do so means you can afford business class. Otherwise, I recommend an aisle seat, as it helps the back to get up and stretch quite frequently (I also suffer...). Also, sort out the neck and the back when you arrive with a traditional massage.

Once you get here, it depends on what you want to do. I am not a fan of Phuket, which I think is generally overrated. If you want a relaxing resort or spas, then Hua Hin is better. If you want sleaze, then Pattaya is better. If you want to chill out somewhere unpretentious, then Koh Samet. Bear in mind that Bangkok and the rest of Thailand are two different things. Bangkok is a bustling and fascinating capital city, but not to everyone's taste.

Generally, Thailand is safe, friendly and a lot of fun.

[the dean]

ok once again...thank you guys for all the help...and tolstoi...you are right.i have no plan yet...but thank you for the offer...and i will pm you for a bit more help in due course...when i get some more thoughts on what time i have and where i would like to go....

and bangkoeasy...i have noted what you say and thats a good idea as i do'nt necessarily want to go to phuket..

i just thought.''.i do'nt want to stay all the time in a city...ok time to sleeze a while...but also to chill out at a beach would be nice without having to go too far for it''..and hopefully not another plane trip...

so...where are we talking about...a beach...with some bars/night life etc...etc...but not too far ...??

thanks again,:D

the dean.

[Dan Air 87]

Why not look at Malaysian's fares?They are still the cheapest out to Asia and their economy service is not bad at all. I would go to BKK via KL as I am sure it will save you plenty of money. You could also try SAS going via CPH on one of their shiny brand new Airbus's.
Finally, avoid KLM at all costs.

[Chh82]

"i just thought.''.i do'nt want to stay all the time in a city...ok time to sleeze a while...but also to chill out at a beach would be nice without having to go too far for it''..and hopefully not another plane trip..."


You want to go to Patong, or possibly Karon beach in Phuket. Lovely beach, lots of good restaurants, and very good nightlife area without being the completely seedy sh1th0le that pattaya is.

Domestic flights BKK-HKT are cheap and in abundance.... just hit any ticket desk at the airport. Air Asia cheapest, Thai dearest, the rest somewhere inbetween. only a 1hr flight.

[TG345]

Clearly you're going to get a lot of contrasting opinions on this one, but here's my ten cents for what it's worth.

If you choose business class, you could do a lot worse than KL. They are not in the same league as BA, SQ, CX etc, but the price is not in the same league either. If you simply want a comfortable nights' sleep and don't need gourmet dining, spa treatments and the like, KL is good value. They also offer a lot of departure options in the UK, and Schipol is a dream to connect through. I would only agree with Dan Air 87's advice to avoid them if you are going to go economy, in which case TG is a good bet due to their generous seat pitch.

I would choose an airline with night flights both ways. I hear what other posters say about losing a day, but an 11/12 hour daylight flight can get very boring and I find that it aggravates the jetlag. For similar reasons, I avoid EK, QR and the other middle-eastern carriers as the stopover is right in the middle of the journey and again this disrupts the chances of a decent sleep.

Once you get to LOS, if you are looking for a beach option which does not involve another flight, your choices are basically Pattaya or Hua Hin/Cha Am. Both involve a roughly two/three hour road trip from Bangkok. The former is brash, bright and some would say sleazy. Hua Hin is a quieter, family oriented place which has been going steadily more up-market in recent years, whilst nearby Cha Am is a Thai weekend escape venue for Bangkokians and is very quiet on weekdays.

One other thing if you are planning a November trip, Loy Krathong is on 23rd November this year - IMO Thailand's most beautiful festival.

[the dean]

bowled over by the amount of help...

and for all the contributions..i thank you...:D

not too familiar with the place names so i will need to google earth...to see..

also not familiar with some of the airport designators...nor airline identities so could i ask any others to spell out airline and airport names please i can guess at some of the postings but a bit unsure of some...:confused:

thanks again.:ok:

the dean.

[TG345]

Sorry! One forgets that the jargon might be a bit confusing to some. Here are the abreviations used in my post above:

KL - KLM
BA - BRITISH AIRWAYS
SQ - SINGAPORE AIRLINES
CX - CATHAY PACIFIC
TG - THAI AIRWAYS
EK - EMIRATES
QR - QATAR AIRWAYS

And finally LOS - Land of Smiles!

[GAF4139]

I have been to Thailand seven times so far since 2004; with three more visits planned/booked this year.
I always fly Thai Airways London (LHR) - Bangkok (BKK) for these reasons:
1) Seat pitch 34" in Economy – some other airlines offer less
2) Direct flight only 11 1/2 - 12 hours - compared to flights with stopover, which can take 16 - 18 hours
3) As soon as I step onto the aircraft I feel I am already in Thailand - being a ROP member (Thai's frequent flyer program) might help too
I bought an Economy ticket for May and paid about £490 (V/W class) and I think Business Class would have been around £1,500.
I got upgraded to Business Class once and enjoyed it very much and if I had the dosh I would always fly Thai Business Class.
Apart from Thai I have had no long haul experience on other airlines, so can't comment on the quality of other carriers.
So far I have booked my tickets with http://ebookers.com/, http://www.airline-network.co.uk/ or http://www.thaiairways.com/ depending on who offered the best price. I recently spoke to a Thai Airway agent and they recommended http://www.westeasttravel.com/user/default.asp as they would offer the best ticket price. I have checked this out myself several times and found it was true. So next time, I will book my ticket with WestEast Travel. I have also checked several other websites, but found they were always more expensive than the above.
For my first trip to Thailand I booked a lunchtime departure from LHR with arrival in Bangkok at 06:00AM and then flying on to Phuket. As soon as I arrived at the hotel I went straight to bed and spent the rest of the day sleeping. The return flight left Bangkok in the middle of the night with a 06:00 AM arrival at Heathrow and when I arrived home I spent the rest of the day in bed sleeping. Now I always take the evening flight TG917 on a Friday. I always go to the airport directly after work, so I am pretty tired and find it much easier to sleep on the plane. I also always book an aisle seat, which allows me to get up whenever I want it. I don’t mind having to get up if the passengers next to me want to go to the loo; it gives me an excuse to get up myself and to stretch my legs. The flight arrives around 03:00 PM in Bangkok and since I now usually spend the first 2 or 3 days in Pattaya, there is just enough time to check in at the hotel, going out for a meal and then having an early night after which I wake up refreshed the next morning without suffering too much from jetlag. Now I always fly back to London at lunchtime on TG916 with an evening arrival at Heathrow. I try to sleep a few hours on the plane and by the time I arrive home it is bedtime again and jetlag is not too much of a problem.
Since you only want to stay 7 or 9 days in total I would not recommend staying in Bangkok at the beginning and end of your trip. Much better to head to the beach first – either Phuket or Pattaya and then stay in Bangkok for 3 or 4 days at the end of your trip. If you go to Pattaya and then find you don’t like it there you could always go on to Koh Samet or Koh Chang (two islands about 2-3 hours drive from Pattaya). Just go to any of the many travel agencies in Pattaya to book a taxi or if in doubt ask the receptionist at your hotel.
About seedy Pattaya: Well, if you go to London you do not have to visit Soho, and in Hamburg you don’t have to camp out on Reeperbahn or Herbertstrasse. Same goes for Pattaya. You can have a good time there without going anywhere near the seedy parts of town. It is all down to you and what you want to do.
The Ebookers website is also a good start for booking a hotel. I have booked hotels in Thailand through them several times and have never had any problems. Obviously it depends on how much you want to spend on accommodation and it is always a good idea to shop around.
For much more information about Thailand I would recommend to have a look at http://www.thailandqa.com. Click on ENTER FORUMS and you will find a wealth of information and if you have still got any more questions you could register free of charge and ask what ever you might want to know.
There is only one problem with Thailand: No matter how long you stay there you will always find it is too short.
Enjoy your trip to The Land of Smile.
GAF4139

[surely not]

If you choose to use a flight that is 1 stop then you could find the Gulf Air fares competitive via Bahrain, and there is a thread on this page which details what you can get up to in Bahrain on the stop over!!