Good LAX -- BKK fare

[Zeus 56]

I got a great deal on a LAX - BKK flight on China Southern for September flights. US $568 RT. I love the morning arrival time too. It gives me a chance to rest a bit before heading out in the evening.

 

 

I think there are competititve fares on Air China, but the connection times are not as good.

 

Grab them while you can if you are thinking of traveling in that time frame.

 

Zeus

[BigusDicus 9,878]

Excellent price! I too prefer arriving early. Have you flown China Southern Air?

[Zeus 56]

This will be my first time on China Southern. I really like the schedule (and price).

 

Last year I flew Air China around the same time in September - Better price($447) then, but with huge layovers(8.5hrs & 5.5hrs). This China Southern trip has connection times of 3 hrs outbound and 2 hrs return. Just about right for an international flight. Air China had bad reviews but I had a pretty good experience on my trip last year (except for the expected layovers). My post & review from that trip: http://www.pattayatalk.com/forums/topic/66246-lax-bkk-with-ca-447-all-in/

 

During that trip I actually saw the China Southern A380 in LAX - It looked new and left on time (pic below). This time I will be on it!

 

 

China Southern has better reviews than Air China, but I will see how things go. I won't really know till I try it. At the end of the day I will be in Pattaya with extra $$ in my pocket, and I know I will find a use for it!

 

One year is too long to stay away. Fares like this will keep me coming back. Count on a China Southern review when I return.

 

Zeus

[Goldpanner 399]

From reports Ive had, it isnt the airline, its the clowns and security etc in the Airport.

I can actually put up with some crap airlines as I just drop a sleeping pill and sleep. But I realy dont like being sodded about by jumped up self important Security guards or information desk people who dont speak English when transitting airports..

For a real frightener try Jetair, the change of aircraft in their airport needs to be experieced as you just couldnt write about how bad it is as people wouldnt believe you.

Ah well off to work

[cbrib 354]

Let us know how your flights were. I have been thinking about using them for a while but they always seemed like China's budget carrier along with China Eastern. I use EVA, they are not great but like an old shoe i know what i am getting. EVA had basically the same schedule but quite a bit more expensive so interested to hear what you thought of them

[valentinoxxx 4]

For anyone up for a twin centre trip, this might work;

 

 

[BigusDicus 9,878]

For anyone up for a twin centre trip, this might work;

 

 

 

United/ANA has some incredible deals on open jaw trips throughout that area at the moment. Downside is most of the flights arrive between midnight and 2 am.

 

I have been tracking the same trip for Feb. Have seen prices as low as $511.00 to $618 for the dates I would prefer. I have no real desire to go to Kuala Lumpur myself. But my wife saw an Anthony Bourdain show where he visited. So "we are going"!

 

Can fly Air Asia/Tiger KUL to Krabi or Phukett for $50 or so...

Edited July 23, 2017 by BigusDicus

[valentinoxxx 4]

 

United/ANA has some incredible deals on open jaw trips throughout that area at the moment. Downside is most of the flights arrive between midnight and 2 am.

 

I have been tracking the same trip for Feb. Have seen prices as low as $511.00 to $618 for the dates I would prefer. I have no real desire to go to Kuala Lumpur myself. But my wife saw an Anthony Bourdain show where he visited. So "we are going"!

 

Can fly Air Asia/Tiger KUL to Krabi or Phukett for $50 or so...

 

 

You can always engineer a longer stopover in Japan and pop out for sushi, if no visa is necessary.

[4wheels 119]

This will be my first time on China Southern. I really like the schedule (and price).

 

Last year I flew Air China around the same time in September - Better price($447) then, but with huge layovers(8.5hrs & 5.5hrs). This China Southern trip has connection times of 3 hrs outbound and 2 hrs return. Just about right for an international flight. Air China had bad reviews but I had a pretty good experience on my trip last year (except for the expected layovers). My post & review from that trip: http://www.pattayatalk.com/forums/topic/66246-lax-bkk-with-ca-447-all-in/

 

During that trip I actually saw the China Southern A380 in LAX - It looked new and left on time (pic below). This time I will be on it!

 

CS_sm.jpg

 

China Southern has better reviews than Air China, but I will see how things go. I won't really know till I try it. At the end of the day I will be in Pattaya with extra $$ in my pocket, and I know I will find a use for it!

 

One year is too long to stay away. Fares like this will keep me coming back. Count on a China Southern review when I return.

 

Zeus

 

1 positive for Air China is they have a liberal cancellation policy without penalty . I had an absurdly cheap fare on them from EWR to DEL. They had a schedule change of just 30 minutes which didn't affect anything but offered a full refund without question as an option or also rebook. They refunded my fare within 5 days,even though their e-mail said 6 business days. I decided on a 2nd trip to Pattaya within 6 weeks instead.

EDIT-EWR-DEL fare was USD561.

Edited July 30, 2017 by 4wheels

[js007 795]

United/ANA has some incredible deals on open jaw trips throughout that area at the moment. Downside is most of the flights arrive between midnight and 2 am.

 

I have been tracking the same trip for Feb. Have seen prices as low as $511.00 to $618 for the dates I would prefer. I have no real desire to go to Kuala Lumpur myself. But my wife saw an Anthony Bourdain show where he visited. So "we are going"!

 

Can fly Air Asia/Tiger KUL to Krabi or Phukett for $50 or so...

I went to Kuala Lumpur on a visa run a couple of times. I think it's worth a visit. I was surprised at how clean and modern it was.

[4wheels 119]

~$415 from JFK.Other departure cities also. Including LAX

http://www.theflightdeal.com/2017/08/01/china-eastern-about-400-los-angeles-chicago-new-york-asia-roundtrip-including-all-taxes/

[BigusDicus 9,878]

When surfing I got a $342 r/t LAX/BKK. 12 hour layover in Shanghai was the downside. Added a few days in Shanghai and fare went up to $420.

 

This was for November...

[BigusDicus 9,878]

This is the time of the year when travel bargains are plentiful. And the price of oil has been down for a while. A major part of why we are seeing incredible airfares.

 

My wife booked us for August, LAX/Zurich for under $1,000 for two tickets. In August! She booked LAX/London in October for just over $900/2 tickets, non-stop!

(I keep trying to explain to her that regardless of our saving on airfare we still spend a small fortune when we get there. Granted the dollar is still strong which helps, but.

 

Price of oil has begun to rise. It would seem that the rise will continue and perhaps maintain at higher levels which will eventually cause airfares to rise.....

 

Now is the time to book your airfares IMO.

[Zeus 56]

OK so now that I have taken the trip, I figured I would do a quick review of my experience and China Southern (CZ).

 

Most importantly, all four flights (LAX-CAN, CAN-BKK, BKK-CAN, CAN-LAX) were on time or even departed a bit early. This was a pleasant surprise as when I spot checked the flights before I left, the CAN-LAX leg was always running late in August. Perhaps the jet stream lined up better with the flight path better, as we got in to LAX 40 minutes early. Having on time flights is the number one pro that I could ask for. All airlines have late flights, however I was fortunate enough not to have one on this trip.

 

Another nice thing was that in Guangzhou (CAN) for the transit between flights, there was no security re-inspection of the items I was carrying. Just a check to see that you had an onward boarding pass. On previous trips there was a re-inspection in both Tokyo and Beijing, sometimes the lines made you wait 30-60 minutes. To not have to go through this step was a bonus.

 

Other Pros:

-Great price. At $568 RT, that about $17/hr for flight times. You can't beat that much.

- Great schedule leaving LAX in the evening (11:50pm) and arriving in BKK in the morning (10:50 am) with minimal layovers worked perfect for me. I could not ask for a better schedule.

- The flight attendants were good looking, thin, and spoke pretty good English. They even wore a badge that said "English". I did not see any one without the badge, so most spoke the language.

- The IFE was great, with approx 100 English movies, most recently released. Good to pass a long flight.

- 2 hot meals on the long flight and even one on the 2.5 hr flights between CAN-BKK. The food was nothing special,but OK for economy airline food. I ate most of what they gave me.

 

 

Cons:

- I was not impressed with the A380 economy section. It was similar to any other wide body plane economy section, however the aisles felt narrower than normal. On the outbound flight I got my seat reassigned to an Exit row. The extra legroom was great. However the exit rows have the IFE monitors and trays in the arm rest, reducing the seat width by about 4". So while I fit, there was no room for side-to-side movement (and I am thin). I would still take the legroom with the narrow seat, but others would hate this seat. Standard seats were about what i expected. One item to note is that the economy window seats have a 4" gap between the seat and the side of the plane so you cant sleep with a pillow on the side of the plane like most other planes.

- Also the increased number of passengers in the A380 always made the immigration lines longer, as economy is always off last. I think it took 30 min just to get off of the plane, as I was usually in the middle of the economy section.

- The drink glasses are tiny. Any drink is always gone before the food arrives, leaving you eating without a drink. I would recommend getting a beer - then they give you a can.

- Service outside of the scheduled meals at the beginning and end of the flight, is non existent. If you want water or anything to drink, you had to press your call button or walk up to the galley. At a minimum ( as other airlines do) they should serve water 2-3 times in between the meals. Most people got up to get extra drinks.

- You cannot use your cellphone in any mode (even airplane). This wasn't a big deal for me, but others around me did not like being told not to use their phones.

 

 

So while the flights were nothing special, it got me there, on time, at a great price. I would take this flight again for the great fare and the great schedule times.

 

Zeus

Edited September 19, 2017 by Zeus

[BigusDicus 9,878]

Appreciate the followup!