Thailand Bargain Cheap Flights

If you’re looking for the cheapest flight prices to Thailand and flying around South East Asia, there are currently a whole slew of special offers from airlines hungry for your cash

With the global downturn really starting to hurt Thailand’s tourism arrivals, a price war has broken out between three major airlines serving Thailand – Thai Airways, Bangkok Airways and Air Asia – with Malaysia Airlines also offering some excellent fares departing from Bangkok or Phuket to international destinations across Asia, Europe and Australia. More than ever, it pays to shop around – check the big three flight comparison sites for Asia – Kayak.com, Skyscanner and Wego.com – to get a full view of the different tickets on offer. No one comparison site manages to cover all tickets and airlines at the moment. It’s also definitely worth consulting a savvy travel agent too, as they often have access to deals that simply don’t appear online.

Thai Airways has numerous discounted fares, but I’ve personally found their advertising and website to be quite confusing and the offers to be full of exclusions and additions, to the point where I’m never quite sure what the price will be. In any case, even when discounted, their prices tend to be more expensive than other carriers.

Bangkok Airways, who have the monopoly on flights from Bangkok to Koh Samui and Bangkok to Angkor Wat (served by Siem Reap airport), have issued a Flyer Pass, letting customers buy a bundle of flights to specific destinations for a set price. This could be handy if you want to fly to several destinations on Bangkok Airways route map during the course of a visit.

Air Asia, however, still remain the cheapest option for flying to most destinations in Asia, and they regularly have sales that push their prices even lower. They have also recently started to display the all-in fare that you will pay (ie inclusive of taxes) so it’s much easier to work out if you are getting a bargain flight or not.

Malaysia Airlines are giving Air Asia a run for their money with some huge discounts on their fares, having introduced several tiers to the prices of each of their flights. If you buy the bargain bucket MHLow fare, you can’t change the dates or get a refund, but you get a flight at prices even cheaper than AirAsia, and with all the frills of travelling on a traditional carrier ie more luggage allowance and free meals. I just scored a flight to Bali in October with Malaysia Airlines that was cheaper than flying with AirAsia – the only downside is that with Malaysia Airlines you have to go via Kuala Lumpur for most flights.

In terms of getting to Thailand from international destinations, Qatar Airways have been introducing cheap flights from the UK and Europe to Thailand, while AirAsiaX provides the cheapest way of getting from London to Kuala Lumpur, which is only a short flight away from Bangkok. (Follow the link for summary of impressions from passengers of the AirAsiaX service).

There are a lot of options out there, and despite the advantages of the net for making it easier to find numerous fares, getting a real airfare bargain still involves a bit of time and effort.

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