Air Carrier of Choice ?

[too_mutt 10]

I have been reading the posts for the different carriers from various places to LOS over the past year or so, and I think there may be a consensus emerging as to the most desirable one of the bunch. Here is my ranking (from LAX or SFO):

 

1 Singapore -- if you don't mind the extra leg from Singapore to LOS

 

(LAX to Taipei, Taipei to Singapore, Singapore to LOS)

(LAX to Singapore, Singapore to LOS)

(SFO to Hong Kong, Hong Kong to LOS) I think ...

 

2 Cathay Pacific -- not the cheapest of the bunch, but reasonable quality

 

(LAX to Hong Kong, Hong Kong to LOS)

(SFO to Hong Kong, Hong Kong to LOS)

 

3 EVA Air -- evergreen deluxe is the way to go on this one

 

(LAX to Taipei, Taipei to LOS)

(not sure about the other flights)

 

4 Thai -- I haven't heard enough about Thai to make a judgement

5 JAL -- reasonable quality, probably a toss-up with Thai

 

This is presented merely for purposes of discussion, and is just the list of carriers that I would consider. Feel free to present your opinion.

 

Regards

[Soi7 1]

SocalGuy,

 

I have flown Cathay, JAL, China , Korean , ANA , NW , Eva , all in the cheap seats and IMO of course there are only 2 I would not use again and they are JAL & NW .

 

 

I really like Korean very much and China as well Korean is now my airline of choice due to there Visa very easy to collect mileage Shit I pay everything including my mortgage with it. 1 mile for every 1 dollar spent.

[Emil 0]

I agree with SoCal if your only flying once a year, but if your flying 2 or more times a year to LOS or to other destinations that will allow you to accumulate 25K miles then I prefer United. At the 25K level or Premier status you earn miles at the rate of 125% plus 4, 500 mile upgrade bonus for every 10K flown. At the 50K mile level or Premier executive, you earn 200% of the flown miles. At Premier status you are allowed to check in with the business class travelers and are also seated in the "economy plus" seats which have the same ass width as economy but provide an additional 5" of legroom and when available they will place you in a row that doesn't have a person next to you.

 

Emil

[rockinjerry 2]

SoCalGuy:

 

Have flown a lot of different airlines and all have been doable for me in Economy. I would have to say that Singapore was my favorite but the additional stop was a bummer. Especially on the return trip. Seem to recall it was a 3-1/2 layover in Singapore for the plane change to Tapei and then another change to LAX. Same going to BKK but a somewhat shorter layover in Singapore. LAX, Tapei, Singapore, BKK, going and coming.

 

Made for a very long, full day of airports and flying. Too much for me to do again.

 

I flew Japan Airline on my summer trip this year. First time with them and OK. But, what was good was that a Thai cabin crew had the leg of the flight from Osaka to BKK. Guess that is the norm. I got friendly with an Attendant and she was a real doll. Gave me her business card and wrote her personal hotmail address on it. Unfortunately, I had no plans to spend any time in BKK on this trip. But, This led me to believe that this was ordinary. Makes sense to me that these ladies would love to have a relationship with a farang. I know I'm good but refuse to believe that I am that good to get this"special treatment." Actually, not that much effort was involved in getting her personal address. But, for my personal reasons, I am not looking to date a "good lady." Not looking for a committed realtionship and have not even bothered to e-mail her. But, WOW! She was a doll. On second thought, maybe I will email her. LOL!

 

I have done Thai, Cathay, China as well as the above. I look for the best deal and book accordingly. Some have better food and in seat TV but damn if I can remember which is which. So far, all has gone smooth.

 

Rockin' Jerry

 

Rockin' Jerry

[too_mutt 10]

Rockinjerry,

 

I have to agree with you about the extra leg from Singapore to LOS. Even though I really like Singapore Air, the extra leg from Singapore to LOS will probably push me toward Cathay for the journey.

 

Regards

[echster 1]

Well, I must admit that I prefer to fly EVA. Having said that, I will probably find myself with Thai Airlines when they decide to go LAX-BKK-LAX as non-stops. Face it, 15 hours on 1 flight non-stop is way better than 15 hours with a 2-3 hour layover and a chance for misplaced luggage.

[Onebadindan 0]

I have only two trips under my belt first trip I used NW air from LAX to BKK But problem was there flight leaves at wierd hour from BKK at 4:00 AM. so my last trip I gave them miss and booked on China Air. Food was not that good but than agian yet to see good airline food. I was satisfied with there service,....

[livermore 0]

I really like the Delux economy from EVA, especially if you are getting it for less $1000 from either SFO or LAX. Just made my 4th trip with them and I have done SNG, UAL, and Cathay. I also liked Cathay but the seats are more compact compared to Economy Delux. So, as always it comes down to money. But for the extra $'s, I prefer the extra leg room on EVA.

[DaveT_FL 0]

Right now I'm researching to book my first trip. From my home in Florida Delta is the most cost effective. However they want me to connect on the share partner Korean Air from Atlanta to Souel then connecting on another Korean Air to BKK. I've heard and read very good reviews of Korean Air. It has a 0010 arrival time though. Through some research I found a Delta Flight that I can connect with out of Atlanta to Tokyo, then connect with a Thai International Airways flight to BKK arriving around 2215. Flight times from Atlanta about the same, uhghhh 15 + hrs. Any feedback or recommendation would be appreciated.

[BigDUSA 71]

I would think when you use Thai instead of KA the price would jump up. I like the service on Thai.

[Greg_B 306]

Thai is the way to go....

[cowboy 0]

I just flew back from bkk. thai to HKG then sin to SFO. I was flying using my united miles. the sin service was great but then the gave me priority service a window seat up front with a empty center seat. All becuase i am a united premier exec.

 

Using United miles I have flown in biz class, coach, and upgraded a coach ticket to biz. I have never had any problem getting a milage ticket to BKK using the star alliance. Can anyone out there say the same for the other airlines.

 

I have not flown EVA but 5 of my firends that have all say eva delux is great. but it takes a long time to earn a free trip on EVA.

 

 

From west coast I would rate United best for coach if you are a premier. If you are not then Sinapore is better. Each seat has movies on demand 40+ movies, 40+ tv shows and games. Thai is okay but not as nice.

 

If you fly Biz class then Sinapore is the way to go. Head and shoulders above the rest. Sin biz class is as good or better than United First. Thai's biz class is a joke.

[exwannabe 1]

Dave from Fl,

 

I have made the run from Atlanta 6 (soon 7) times, and have never been able to price the trip well through Delta. The best I can do is fly Delta to LA (about $300) then take the carrier of choice. Look for flights leaving LA around midnight and the timing works well.

 

I personally go EVA Delux from LA through Tapei for about $900US (coach is out for me, so it's an econ+ or biz). If you ever see a Delta Biz fare for under $2000 I would be surprised.

[randolpho2 0]

Right now I'm researching to book my first trip. From my home in Florida Delta is the most cost effective. However they want me to connect on the share partner Korean Air from Atlanta to Souel then connecting on another Korean Air to BKK. I've heard and read very good reviews of Korean Air. It has a 0010 arrival time though. Through some research I found a Delta Flight that I can connect with out of Atlanta to Tokyo, then connect with a Thai International Airways flight to BKK arriving around 2215. Flight times from Atlanta about the same, uhghhh 15 + hrs. Any feedback or recommendation would be appreciated.

On my last trip I did the flight from Atlanta to Tokyo in cattle class on Delta, and it would be really difficult for me to recommend it, but again that was on Delta, not Korean Air and more than anything it was simply the length of the flight that did it for me, as service was typical for US airlines... nothing special, but certainly not bad.

 

As far as Korean goes, the one major disadvantage if you plan on staying awake on the plane a bit, which I do, they do not have personal video screens, and a very limited entertainment selection. One plus is, they always close with a video of a Korean variety song & dance show (in Korean) towards the end of the flight, which can be entertaining.

 

Another thing to consider is what I did on my first trip. You are probably flying from TPA, MCO, or MIA all of which are more than likely going to take you an intermediate stop to get to the west coast. See if you can arrange a flight to the west coast (SFO-LAX) for one price ($200-$300 r/t @ 5-6 hours), get a room at an airport hotel for $40 with priceline.com, wake up refreshed the next day and do the long haul with one of the deals on China Airlines for $600-$675 r/t or so. Your total cost ends up being around the same $1000 the ticket from Florida usually costs, and you break up the trip going out there so you are not totally zombified.

 

It is really up to you though... from experience, the ATL-ICN-BKK route is pretty rough as you can end up with a nasty layover in Seoul if you aren't careful, but it is liveable, and once you get to BKK and you walk off that plane you won't care at all about the time you just spent.

 

Oh, and if you do end up having to choose, Thai Air is awesome from Seoul to Bangkok!

 

Just my two baht...

[Supersoes 0]

I guess I could add a few points. My experiences are similar to what cowboy posted above, although I have never flown anything but economy class for international flights. I also never use miles for a class upgrade.

 

I tend to have more FF miles in my United account than any other because United usually works for me when I fly domestically (in the U.S.). I tend to pay for domestic flights and use FF miles for international flying. Using 25,000 miles for a domestic flight is generally not as big a savings as using 60,000 miles for an Asia flight.

 

When dealing with an international itinerary that includes multiple legs it’s important to remember that when you are paying for a flight your options are not as good as when you are using FF miles. This is because most airlines have FF partners. When using miles they will put you on different carriers for different legs of the trip. This can be very helpful and is another real good reason to use the FF miles for International flights. Thai Airways and Singapore Airlines are partners with United. So my United miles gives me options on these other carriers.

 

For the long flight over the Pacific I have flown United, Northwest, Thai Airways, and Singapore Airlines. Quality-wise, United is better than NW, Thai is better than United, and Singapore is better than Thai.

 

Since Thai, Sing Air and United are partners - if using United FF miles you have the option of the Singapore Air flight to HK that leaves out of SFO at midnight, and then taking Thai Air from HK to BKK. I don’t think you have that option if you are buying the ticket unless you buy each leg separately (which would be foolish). I like that option because I am more apt to sleep on that redeye flight, and I arrive at BKK in the morning instead of late at night. I also get to fly Singapore Air which is nice.

 

If buying the ticket I go primarily by price but will pay up a little to fly Thai Air. I have never found a good price for Singapore Air, but maybe that’s just been my bad luck. I also have never flown Cathey because, again, I have never found a good price.

 

Thai has a “direct†fight between BKK and LAX. I think United also has this (at least they did a few years ago). This is misleading because there is still a stop (Thai stops in Japan and United stopped in HK), and at that stop you must deplane and pass through another customs check. As far as I am concerned this is just no different than having to make a standard stop and change planes.

 

My experience has also been that, as of the past few years, the online travel agencies (Orbitz, Travelocity, etc.) NEVER have better prices than you can get by going directly to the website of the airlines. For all tickets, domestic or international, I go to Travelocity and do a search just to find out which airlines travel to my destination. Then I go to the airline’s website for prices (being sure to check all their promotions). Perhaps others have a different opinion on this because I see people recommending online travel agencies – but this just never works for me. I always check the travel agencies and have not bought from any of them in over four years.

 

At the risk of rambling, Priceline and Hotwire never work for me for airline tickets, period. Priceline DOES work for U.S. hotels (never tried for out of the country) – however you must know exactly how to bid and that’s another long story.

 

Hope any of the above was helpful to someone.

[turk56 0]

Heres my 2 Baht's worth:

 

I have flown on the following airlines to BKK:

 

China Airlines

Thai Airlines

Northwestern Airlines

United Airlines

Cathay Pacific

Korean Airlines

Lufthansa Airlines

 

 

Overall quality- Lufthansa

Food Quality- Cathay Pacific

Value- Korean Airlines

 

Thats my take.

 

 

p.s. Just 3 years ago i came across the "Deal of a Lifetime".

 

I paid $184.00 round trip from LAX to BKK and i have not seen a deal like that since then. I hope this year i find that price again.

[BigDUSA 71]

Heres my 2 Baht's worth:

 

p.s. Just 3 years ago i came across the "Deal of a Lifetime".

 

I paid $184.00 round trip from LAX to BKK and i have not seen a deal like that since then. I hope this year i find that price again.

I paid $88USD+ taxes from JFK to BKK on Cathay Pacific in May 2003. Cheapest airfare I ever flew on.

[Trvlr 50]

Like many who posted, I too have flown several airlines to BKK. And I agree with those who have singled out United as the carrier of choice.

KOREAN: I used to fly Korean, but stopped when they stopped preassigning seats from LAX. I will not fly if I cannot get a decent aisle seat. Also, Korean has changed its mileage plan rules a number of times, which to me seems dishonest. The last time I flew they did NOT give me mile-for-mile.

CATHAY: This is supposed to be a great airline. I flew it recently to Bali. Everything was fine, but maybe it is my imagination that the seats are narrower than others? Has anyone noticed that?

So, now I stick to Star Alliance carriers, especially United, unless the price difference is huge - the Cathay flight to Bali was about $400 less than anyone else, and it would have been foolish not to take it. If you are premier executive on United they really try to take care of you. There are so many benefits. Christmas Eve I was flying to England, and there were some 200 people waiting at the secutiry check. But I sneaked in through the premier line, with no wait!

The one bad thing about United is that they often change planes at Chicago, which must be the worst airport I have experienced, and one with the most missed connections.

I would rate Thai above United in service, but stick to United because of the other perks.

[LBJ 533]

Right now I'm researching to book my first trip. From my home in Florida Delta is the most cost effective. However they want me to connect on the share partner Korean Air from Atlanta to Souel then connecting on another Korean Air to BKK. I've heard and read very good reviews of Korean Air. It has a 0010 arrival time though. Through some research I found a Delta Flight that I can connect with out of Atlanta to Tokyo, then connect with a Thai International Airways flight to BKK arriving around 2215. Flight times from Atlanta about the same, uhghhh 15 + hrs. Any feedback or recommendation would be appreciated.

I have been flying Delta out of Fort Myers on my last two trips and will the next one in Feb.

 

The last two went through Tokyo and and connected with JAL and got me into BKK at 2015. Thats early enough to save the night.

 

Since the time change back to standard time, I can't catch that JAL flight next month and will be connecting to Thai and arriving at 2215. Still not too bad.

 

The returns have either gone through Inchon or Tokyo with either Korean or Untited out of Bangkok and then switching back to Delta either in Tokyo or Atlanta depending on the connecting city.

 

I used Travelocity to book the two previous trips and found the Feb trip on Orbitz but had to book it with Delta on the phone. The two trips last year were about $850 each and next month's increased to $960.

[JohnnyK 28]

I like Eva Evergreen Deluxe.

I'm just 5'10" so the seat lets me sleep.

Food is average airline stuff.

I book through a Taiwanese travel agent who gets me $100 off the website price.

What I really like is that it goes out of Vancouver at 1:50am so I pop 2 gravol, put on the eyeshade and wake up an hour out of Taipei.

Taipei airport at 5:30am is quiet and the connector gets me to BKK at 11:30am.

I'm knocking on the door at Eden right at opening time.

Then I'm on to PTY, arriving around 6:30pm just in time to be hauled in by a cutie (or 2).

[bigsmile 0]

I've flown several airlines many times between LAX and SE Asia (not just BKK), and my personal preference is Singapore Airlines nonstop direct to Singapore, then either Singapore or Thai from Singapore to BKK. Thai Airways has also been excellent, and if they start flying nonstop direct flights LAX to BKK, I'll take that instead. I must admit that my preference is also prejudiced toward the Star Alliance partner airlines, because one can accumulate frequent flier miles into a single account from all of the Star Alliance carriers, including Thai Airways, Singapore Airlines, ANA, Lufthansa, United and several others.

 

Having said that, my worst experiences in air travel have occurred at the hands of United, and although they offer some relatively cheap fares, I still avoid them. They literally stranded me (and over 350 other passengers) at Narita in Tokyo once and did very little to help and effectively nothing to compensate.

[BigDUSA 71]

Having said that, my worst experiences in air travel have occurred at the hands of United, and although they offer some relatively cheap fares, I still avoid them. They literally stranded me (and over 350 other passengers) at Narita in Tokyo once and did very little to help and effectively nothing to compensate.

Unless the problem was weather related or crew problem how did UA strand you in Narita. UA has a hub there and should have replacement planes if it's a equipment problem.

 

I've been flying UA for 12 years and have flown over 750,000 miles with them. I've had few problems with them.

[bigsmile 0]

Unless the problem was weather related or crew problem how did UA strand you in Narita. UA has a hub there and should have replacement planes if it's a equipment problem.

 

I've been flying UA for 12 years and have flown over 750,000 miles with them. I've had few problems with them.

BigD,

 

Yes, it was definitely an equipment problem, and no, they didn't have any replacement flights that day.

 

Happy to hear that you have had better experiences. Mine may have been the exception, but I don't want to be the exception again, just the same.

[DaveT_FL 0]

Well since I delayed in booking my flights, the lower priced fares for the weekend I planned on going were gone . The flights I wanted would be an extra $350 if I wanted them. So now leaving JAX early on a Monday (0530 ) to ATL. There was a 7 am to connect with the same flight in ATL but from my experience, leaving in the AM this time of year, tells me to take the earlier flight with the 7 am as backup. Gives me the time to make the 10 am flight ATL-NRT non-stop (Delta, both legs). After booking I discovered I have enough FF miles for a class upgrade for this long leg. Waiting for Delta to get back to me. Connecting with a Thai flight NRT - BKK arriving 2215. All in for $969 round trip . Coming back starting with a 0125 departure from BKK - ICN on Korean connecting with another Korean flight to JFK, then final connections JFK-JAX. The Korean policy of not pre assigning seats for coach sucks . However, I was given a pre assigned aisle seat on the Korean flight from ICN to JFK anyway once the Delta reservation went through. Just have to get an assigned seat at the airport for the BKK - ICN leg. Delta tells me that I have to wait for the paper ticket to be processed so Thai can see my reservations and I can asked for a preassigned seating there for the NRT - BKK arrival leg. Oh well,

 

Choose Delta because of 1) price, 2) available flights 3) earliest possible arrival time in BKK and returning to JAX 4) have 33K FF miles with them. A United flight pairing was a close second. Looked at pricing out flights via west coast. Price was about a wash but the other factors made the difference. Besides I rather just take the pain all in one big slug rather than breaking it up. After this first time experience I will probably re-evaluate that decision. But for now 10 weeks and counting

 

DaveT_FL

[LBJ 533]

So now leaving JAX early on a Monday (0530 ) to ATL. There was a 7 am to connect with the same flight in ATL but from my experience, leaving in the AM this time of year, tells me to take the earlier flight with the 7 am as backup. Gives me the time to make the 10 am flight ATL-NRT non-stop (Delta, both legs). After booking I discovered I have enough FF miles for a class upgrade for this long leg. Waiting for Delta to get back to me. Connecting with a Thai flight NRT - BKK arriving 2215. All in for $969 round trip .

Dave, that looks like my exact reservation for my Feb 13th flight except I'm leaving out of Fort Myers at 0520.