gulf air and qatar

[pattayaman 8]

has anyone flown with these airlines?

[bigmofo 0]

Hi pattayaman do a search on qatar plenty of recent info on here,they have very good stop over times in doha,and apparantly are one of the best airlines in the world.

Iam not sure about gulf air,but check the length of stopover you dont want to be stuck in an airport for a long time.My uncle and a few friends have just booked with qatar flying out october for seven months and paid 550 all in from manchester,which was a lot cheaper than emirates who they usually use, and emirates are probably not as good as qatar as all qatar planes are new and you get a bit more room in economy and according to reviews i have read there service is second to none.

If you are going to book with qatar take a look at www.southalltravel.co.uk iam thinking of using qatar for my next trip leaving end of november and staying for three months there price is 473 all in which is a bit cheaper than ebookers,travelmood,dial a flight etc.Also checkout .www.airlinequality.com for plenty of reviews on qatar and gulf air good luck.

[hillbilly 81]

flew with qatar boxing day 2 years ago, not a bad airline but i thought the legroom was a bit tight in ecomony. i asked for an upgrade in london and to my surprise i got it this was the first time ever i was upgraded by any airline and buissness class was good . would fly with this airline any time. my mate has done

gulf and he says there alright, i,ve booked gulf myself for boxing day on his word

[BongoBill9999 0]

Can't speak for Gulf but have travelled with Qatar (from Manchester) many times now. Good service and a good price. They have a good young fleet of aircraft and they try hard to make their mark. Only downside is that the current airport at Doha is pretty much the pits but you aint there for long. They also have a very good airmiles scheme which is well worth joining. Can't add more on the seat pitch - never bothered me but then I'm a bit stumpy!

 

Always pays to shop around for prices...agree Southall Travel is good but I have often gotten good price from Opodo and last year from e-bookers. Airline Network is often a good place to look. Never found one that is consistent with pricing.

 

Just as a postscript I'm looking at MAN-BKK at £465 with Opodo for travel in Sept.

Don't know if that will come down but for comparison I paid e-bookers £397 about this time last year also for travel in Sept and paid £369 to Airline Network to travel in November last year. Oil prices have gone through the roof of course, although Gulf and Qatar both have the obvious advantage of floating on the black stuff.

 

Bill

Edited July 14, 2005 by BongoBill9999

[spacebass 0]

I am flying to LHR from BKK with Gulf Air via Bahrain on 19th July will post experience, stopover about 4 hrs in each direction, better then Kuwait air which was cheaper, 6 hours stopover and no alcohol on plane or at airport. Paid GBP377 ex BKK for 6month ticket, no fees to change.

[hillbilly 81]

my mate cone back on sunday with gulf air, and he says they were alright.

i,m flying with them in august so it puts my mind at rest a bit

[pattayaman 8]

just had quote from the co-op travel

fly with qatar air in september

£510 plus £80 taxes

which i think is a bit steep

klm was quoted at £508 plus £110 taxes

where do these guys get prices of around £470

i wish i knew

 

pattayaman

[rkt 0]

I flew Gulf Air on my first trip, supposed to go London, Muscat, Bangkok.

 

It went London, Paris, DOA, Muscat.

 

Then a 7 hour stop over, change planes then Dhaka, Bangkok, it was the same coming back apart from not stopping at Dhaka.

 

Great service but a night mare journey.

 

[Guest Fatboyfat]

just had quote from the co-op travel

fly with qatar air in september

£510 plus £80 taxes

which i think is a bit steep

klm was quoted at £508 plus £110 taxes

where do these guys get prices of around £470

i wish i knew

 

pattayaman

Just avoid the "High Street" type travel agents, of which Co-Op can be lumped in with.

I think I just saw Gazelle and a couple of others offering KLM at about £408.

[BongoBill9999 0]

Pattayaman,

 

You can get MAN to BKK in Sept for £466 at Opodo

 

I am planning to fly Sept 21 and return 11 Oct on those prices.

 

Southall travel quotes £476 for the same flights but Opodo is the cheapest I

have found. Prices above include taxes but an extra couple of quide for postage

of tickets and about another tenner if you want to use a credit card.

 

If you want to save another £20 take the evening flight at 2100 which leaves MAN

on Monday and Thursday. The bummer is you arrive about 2000 at BKK so by

the time you get to Pattaya you might be a bit cream crackered!

 

I always take the am flight on Wed and return flight on a Tuesday.

 

Bill

 

ps sticking with Qatar for the timebeing because my next flight will be a freebie.

Edited July 19, 2005 by BongoBill9999

[CheshireTom 1,377]

BongoBill,

 

I always take the Qatar Thursday night flight and am normally in my Bangkok hotel by 20:30 and out on the town an hour later. I tend to spend the first two nights in BKK and make the drive to Pattaya on the Sunday afternoon at a more leisurely pace. Life's too short to join the Wacky Races trying to get to Pattaya through the Friday night traffic.

 

I think the quickest door-to-door service from MAN is on the Swiss/Thai codeshares through Zurich.

 

Tom

[BongoBill9999 0]

Tom,

 

Agree staying in BKK for a day or so is a good option. Getting a bit long in the tooth here so tend to stick with the Wed flight and spend half a day in the rack before attacking the bars.

 

Bill

 

nb the Swiss codeshare - will look into that when I've had my freebie!

Edited July 19, 2005 by BongoBill9999

[BongoBill9999 0]

Pattayaman

 

MAN to BKK with Qatar now down to £446 as at 5pm today (UK time).

Includes taxes! This for dates mentioned by me above (Sept).

 

Might drop more...yer pays yer money and yer takes yer chance!

 

Bill

[bigmofo 0]

just had quote from the co-op travel

fly with qatar air in september

£510 plus £80 taxes

which i think is a bit steep

klm was quoted at £508 plus £110 taxes

where do these guys get prices of around £470

i wish i knew

 

pattayaman

Hi pattayaman southall travel is the place i was qouted 473 all in from manchester with qatar.They were consistenly cheaper than everyone else but like bill says shop around, and just one day either way can make a difference in price.

I have checked dates for friends departing end of november and staying for six weeks and also booked for my uncle leaving october and staying for seven months southall was always cheaper for the many dates i checked anyway.

For my spacific dates(end nov for 3 months) opodo was the next cheapest at 483 all in, but airlinenetwork, ebookers, travelmood etc etc was up to 80 pound more. Your best bet is to just check as many companys as you know.I would say maybe if you flew out september you could get it even cheaper good luck.

[bigmofo 0]

Pattayaman

 

MAN to BKK with Qatar now down to ?446 as at 5pm today (UK time).

Includes taxes! This for dates mentioned by me above (Sept).

 

Might drop more...yer pays yer money and yer takes yer chance!

 

Bill

That is cheap bill but you must of punched the wrong date in when looking on southall or they dropped there price on the same morning lol.You are right m8 that they might go cheaper but i would book at that price as they might run out of seats.

[bigmofo 0]

BongoBill,

 

I always take the Qatar Thursday night flight and am normally in my Bangkok hotel by 20:30 and out on the town an hour later. I tend to spend the first two nights in BKK and make the drive to Pattaya on the Sunday afternoon at a more leisurely pace. Life's too short to join the Wacky Races trying to get to Pattaya through the Friday night traffic.

 

I think the quickest door-to-door service from MAN is on the Swiss/Thai codeshares through Zurich.

 

Tom

Hi Tom the swiss/thai codeshare i assume some of the flights out of zurich will be thai planes if so can you book a certain day to ensure that you are on a thai plane as there economy is the best i have flown comfort wise.many thanks.

[BongoBill9999 0]

Mofo,

 

Southall have also come down today, and Airline Network is also quoting

a similar price. The dates I am looking at are 21 Sep - 11 Oct. If I return

just a week later I pay much more. One thing is for sure and that prices

go up and down like the proverbial whores drawers as they release seats

and they are sold.

As you say, it just pays to shop around and I've yet to find any logic in the

pricing system (although I expect Tom will assure us that there is!).

 

Bill

[CheshireTom 1,377]

Hi Tom the swiss/thai codeshare i assume some of the flights out of zurich will be thai planes if so can you book a certain day to ensure that you are on a thai plane as there economy is the best i have flown comfort wise.many thanks.

bigmofo,

 

The option of the Thai operated aircraft is available daily. The Swiss flight numbers from/to Zurich are LX4300/4301 respectively. Booking the flight on the Swiss flight numbers is cheaper than trying to book the same aircraft through Thai. You can opt to mix the flight operators (fly out with Thai, back with Swiss or v.v.) to suit yourself.

 

Zurich should be getting the new Thai A340-600 with PTV etc in economy but Thai has a lot of issues with new aircraft arriving, the ongoing refurbishment, new routes being opened etc so it will be a bit hit and miss whether they put that aircraft or one of the 747s on the route on any given day. TIT.

 

Tom

Edited July 19, 2005 by CheshireTom

[BongoBill9999 0]

In order to ensure that Qatar MAN-BKK price for September reduces by

something like £50 in the next 24 hours I have just booked and paid for

my ticket! Sod's law will now kick in.

[pattayaman 8]

just tried search on southall travel

when i put in details from manchester to bangkok

it came up no fare available

cheapest was swiss air at £530

 

is qatar only from london

so mancs have to gat the shuttle down

[CheshireTom 1,377]

pattayaman,

 

Qatar flies from MAN 4 x weekly. Mo, We, Th, Su outbound and Mo, Tu, Th, Sa on the return.

 

You could try using the Pricerunner site to pull up prices. It will search concurrently on most of the major agents sites and saves a lot of legwork.

 

Pricerunner

 

Tom

Edited July 21, 2005 by CheshireTom

[bigmofo 0]

just tried search on southall travel

when i put in details from manchester to bangkok

it came up no fare available

cheapest was swiss air at £530

 

is qatar only from london

so mancs have to gat the shuttle down

Hi pattayaman i have just done a search on southall shuffle the dates a bit you might get it cheaper:OPTION:1 S

AirlineCarrier From To FlightNo FlightClass Depart Arrive

Qatar Airways Ringway International Airport,Manchester Doha 44 ECONOMY Nov 14 2005 08:15:00 PM Nov 15 2005 06:05:00 AM

Qatar Airways Doha Don Muang International Airport,Bangkok 610 ECONOMY Nov 15 2005 08:30:00 AM Nov 15 2005 06:50:00 PM

Qatar Airways Don Muang International Airport,Bangkok Doha 613 ECONOMY Dec 05 2005 07:50:00 AM Dec 05 2005 11:20:00 AM

Qatar Airways Doha Ringway International Airport,Manchester 43 ECONOMY Dec 05 2005 01:05:00 PM Dec 05 2005 06:00:00 PM

Price per Passenger excluding taxes : Adult - £423.00

Price for all passengers including taxes is £ 490.90

 

Make sure you check the itinery as some days you have to catch a shuttle to london then on to doha.Also check opodo as they are offering a 20 pound discount on all flights so you can depending on dates get qatar return 422 all in good luck.

[spacebass 0]

Just flown bkk/ lon with gulf air, not particularly good, not particularly bad, 4 hour layover in Bahrain makes life difficult, but overall good value.