The title of this blog entry is a bit misleading, because I’m not really going to necessarily tell you how to get the cheapest flight, but rather the best flight for your money to Thailand.
From LAX (Los Angeles) to BKK (Bangkok), you have several options. On my first trip I flew Cathay Pacific, which is a Hong Kong based airlines. The service was good, food was excellent for airline food, and the plane was new with above average leg room in the economy section. However, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend them if you are travelling on a budget as they are usually quite pricey. Sometimes their tickets are $2 to $3 thousand dollars – more than triple the price of other carriers. But they do have specials sometimes and you can find tickets to BKK in the $1,000 – $1,500 range. On the downside, Cathay Pacific does not at this time offer a direct flight to BKK, so you have to change planes in Hong Kong.
EVA Airways is based out of Taiwan, and is more of a long-distance budget carrier. The planes are so-so, the airline food is so-so to pretty good, and the in-flight service is very good. They also have individual monitors and on-demand movies for every seat in the economy section. And a decent selection of movies, usually 4 or 5 new release titles. My ticket price range with them has been about $750 – $900. If you are looking to save some money, EVA is a nice choice and much better than any American based airline.
EVA used to have a good frequent flier program a few years back, but with recent budget cuts in the industry in an effort to make more money they have discontinued use of the LAX VIP lounge for Silver card carriers. EVA also does not offer a direct flight to BKK, so you will need to change planes in Tai Pei, Taiwan – but this is probably the most efficient airport I’ve ever been to for connecting flights. It’s about a 3-hour flight from Tai Pei onto BKK.
The last time I flew EVA was about 2 years ago – I had a bad customer service experience with them in the VIP lounge at the Tai Pei Airport, and have not flown them since. But overall, I would still recommend them as a nice choice if you are on a budget.
I think your best flight option to BKK is Thai Airways. They DO offer a direct flight from LAX to BKK, and if you book far enough in advance and aren’t travelling at a holiday time, you can usually get the ticket for $1,300 – $1,500. Thai Airways is a nice airline, but the service, food, and seating is all average in my opinion – nothing really special and above EVA other than the option of the direct flight from LAX. So you may prefer to save the extra $500 and go with EVA Airways. However, you should always do a price comparison and see what you can find. If I could get the Thai Airways flight for only a couple of hundred above the EVA price, I’d jump on it! Also Thai Airways offers some pretty good hotel voucher deals for stays in top hotels throughout Thailand. So after only one trip internationally you are likely to accrue enough airline miles to quality for a hotel voucher worth about $100 for your next trip. So keep that in mind too when price comparison shopping.
A lot of people like to use those cheap ticket sites, but sometimes you can find even better deals directly on the airline’s website. Plus, I like to accrue the airline mileage and if you fly the same airlines you can move up in their frequent flier program and get to use the VIP lounge.
*last updated July, 2010
