When best time to book Flight

[Pamela Pettitt]

Have been reading answers to different questions with great interest. Am returning to HH in November - would like to fly direct from Heathrow however prices at the moment horendous - anyone advise on best time to book?

[lomuamart]

I reckon November is likely to be more busy than now - it's traditionally the start of the high season.
Reckon you'll just have to keep checking the internet and go for it if you see a good deal.
I came back to the UK on Emirates last year. OK, it's not direct, but we only had a 2.5 hour touchdown in Dubai on way over and an hour on the way back (hardly enough time for a quick ciggie then).
Direct flights are always going to cost you more. Have you looked at Eva? They're normally priced very competitively in comparison to Thai International and other direct operators - maybe cheaper by about 100 + pounds a ticket.

[BaaBaa.]

I always use the price comparison sites like Kelkoo.

Ive got just 90 minutes stop in Dubai this evening.
Time for a very quick cigarette.

[BaaBaa.]

http://travel.kelkoo.co.uk/b/a/c_172201_flights.html

[Kraka's Dad]

Pamela
We always use EVA and find them very good. It is a direct flight from Heathrow and gets into Bangkok for about 15:30 so you wiill be in Hua Hin by about 19:30 to 20:00 depending on Customs and the taxi ride.
Book are early as possible as they do get booked up early. PM me if you would like to know who we book them through.

[big jimmy]

Try Oasis airlines to Hong Kong..140 pounds one way..book early...you can get emirates hk to bk for just over 130 pounds return..

[chelsea]

If you can get to Singapore on a cheap flight, at the moment Tiger Airways flights from Singapore to Bangkok or Phuket are very chaep at the moment

[STEVE G]

Pamela, don't look for a flight in November yet; more than 3-4 months in advance most airlines will just quote you the standard fare which is much more than you will pay later.
You should be able to find a good price on a quality airline about four weeks before or if you are prepared to fly via the middle east, up to a week before. If you see a good price on one of the Internet booking sites such as Ebookers, try the same flight direct from the airlines website, occasionally it will be the same price but less the agents profit margin!

[Mahalo]

Try Oasis airlines to Hong Kong..140 pounds one way..book early...you can get emirates hk to bk for just over 130 pounds return..

I've used Oasis 4 times - no problems really, but it is 12 hours (or more) and you still have to get maybe a hotel in Hong Kong or Macau and arrange your flight to Bangkok yourself. The Gatwick tax has gone up, cheapest I could find this time was £185 one way to Hong Kong.

For my trip next week I booked Eva air £410 return Heathrow direct to BKK.

I can recommend a specialist website for these cheap thai air fares, used them for a couple of years. I get the feeling you cannot post website names here though, send me a private message?

Air Asia fly from Macau to Bangkok. Macau is a short ferry from Hong Kong (turn left BEFORE HK passport control, book your ferry and they will get your bags off the luggage belt for you) - and this month it is just 499 Baht or so Macau to Bangkok - even with tax that must be less than £20 one way. But I usually get a Discovery Airpass from Bangkok Air who fly all over. HK-Siem Reap, Siem Reap-BKK, BKK-Samui, Samui-HK for about £250. Book that one early, UK telephone number on their website - as very limited seats HK-Samui.

[redzonerocker]

try this site, dealchecker.co.uk. they compare most of the major flight companies.
the prices vary from week to week & you can easily keep track of the price changes until your ready to book.

[Pamela Pettitt]

Hey you are all great with hints and advice,
Am beginning to think maybe I should wait a bit - have been trawling the web but unless willing to stop (which I would prefer not to) prices for straight through flights are still high.

Has anyone tried 'Albatross' flights -

Pam

[Big Boy]

Hi Pam,

I've kept out of this so far - as you know, I've already given my advice to Andy. However, there is one thing that nobody's mentioned - I think Andy has told me in the past that you have a 'pet' travel agent. If that's right, I've known several people in the past go in to their travel agent, tell them what they want to do, and have asked the travel agent to contact them as soon as the cheaper fares have been issued.

The last one who it worked for was Peter, Daeng's husband. He was being quoted >500 Pounds for EVA to Thailand. He tried the 'pet' travel agent bit, and they phoned when they received flights at 330 Pounds. If your travel agent is any good, it should also work for you.

Regarding Albatross flights, I've never heard of them. I Googled Albatross flights, and they didn't feature - any more information?

[STEVE G]

What BB is saying there is a good idea if you have a travel agent prepared to do that for you, it happens like that because some airlines trickle cheap seats on to the market using complicated formulas based around booking rates and availability.
You can achieve the same thing by doing endless internet searches, but you would have to waste hours doing it at work and who would be prepared to do that!

[Bushido]

u could try Qatar airlines they fly from Heathrow some are direct but even the non direct flights have v.quick stops. myqatar.co.uk i have booked to fly in Dec and paid £350 inc all taxes - not bad!

[Big Boy]

Bushido wrote:

try Qatar airlines they fly from Heathrow some are direct

Really? Can you give details please?