Thai Airways - Is this reasonable?

We are flying 1 way from Bangkok to Singapore on Dec 28th to board RCI Mariner of the Seas on Dec 29th.

The price per person is $201 including all taxes.

Is this a reasonable price for 1 way ticket or is it high?

I know that TigerAir and Jetstar are much less, but we prefer Thai Airways.

Thank you.

Danny

Thats cheap and good value for an International flight, and Thai is a very good and safe airline. Go for it .

Seems on the high side to me. Tigerair has one way flights that day for 2960 baht pp (approx $91) including taxes and 25kg baggage.

Danny is already aware of tiger and jetstar being cheaper but prefers thai.

I am a big fan of jetstar and shock horror dare i say it i really like tiger too.

Havent flown any other airline in many years other than international.

Tiger and Jetstar are budget airlines who provide just a seat and everything else is extra . Food, big bags, etc all extra.

No comparison with mainstream airlines like Thai and Cathay Pacific . By the time you pay all the extras with Tiger & Jetstar there isnt that much difference .

Danny is already aware of tiger and jetstar being cheaper but prefers thai.

I am a big fan of jetstar and shock horror dare i say it i really like tiger too.

Havent flown any other airline in many years other than international.

Oops, sorry -it's a rare affliction I have called notreadingtotheendofthepostitis!

I agree with you, I quite like Tigerair and as I said in my post, the price includes tax and 25kg baggage - so quite a bit cheaper than Thai.

Hello Danny,

We live in Thailand and use Thai Air all the time. We are going to Singapore from Bangkok one way on Tuesday April 14th to board the Diamond Princess. We checked what we paid and it is the same as you. You got a good deal I feel because your flight is right in the middle of high season!

Thai Air is the better choice. The others are "Iffy" at best.

Have a good time!

The last few times we flew to BKK from SIN, we used low-cost carriers, including Thai AirAsia and FlyScoot.

Cheap flights. Short flight of 2 hours, we figured no point spending the extra money.

However, if you want a full service carrier, then Thai Airways would probably be the best choice.

Bangkok-Singapore one way with Air Asia (with one hand luggage and one big 20 kg luggage) only 100$!!

That price is high. Although I do like Thai airways, I just went from Singapore to Bali and return on Singapore Air for far less than $200. return and you are only flying one way. It is such a short flight, I don't think you need to worry about comfort or amenities. Trying clearing out your history, cache and cookies and do private browsing, and then search again as sometimes the online internet sites increase their prices because they monitor your cookies and history and up the price when you return to the site. And the airline sites themselves do not always have the lowest prices - search around.

Marilyn

Trying clearing out your history, cache and cookies and do private browsing, and then search again as sometimes the online internet sites increase their prices because they monitor your cookies and history and up the price when you return to the site.

Apart from anything else, it is directly contrary to a website's interest to do this to you. If a website deliberately and artificially increases the price that it shows you, which is what this urban legend suggests, all that achieves is to drive you away so that you buy from another site that is still offering the genuine lower price.

Why would any website do that? It would be stupid.

Sometimes people do see something like this if they don't buy straight away, but that's because someone else has bought the lower-priced seats that were genuinely available, and now they are no longer available from any source. Cookies have nothing to do with this; it's all to do with what the airline still has available to sell or not. If you buy enough airline tickets, you'll see that happen from time to time.

Sorry, but many articles have been written about how the websites increase the prices if you return to their site. I have tested this theory many times and it is for a fact, true. It is not a coincidence that once I have cleared out my history and cache and then gone back in, the prices are lower. It is not the airline that does it, it is the website. And most of the websites are now owned by the same company, so they do not worry about you going to another website to book. Research articles on this on the internet and you will see that it is true.

http://www.johnnyjet.com/2013/02/why-you-should-delete-your-cookies-when-booking-travel/

http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/16581/does-browsing-ticket-sites-in-incognito-mode-and-or-from-different-ips-result-i

http://www.theguardian.com/money/blog/2010/aug/07/computer-cookies-booking-online

And most of the websites are now owned by the same company ...

A few blog posts do not debunk a persistent urban legend, particularly when it would be so easy to evade any website's attempt to do this by going directly to the airline's site instead, or leaving the airline's site and going to a booking agent's site.

You need to become aware of what is happening in the real world and stop arguing with people just so you can be right. I am sure that I likely book ten times the number of flights in any given year that you do, and have had many travel agents confirm that this practice occurs. You are hypothesizing on what you imagine might be true, and are not basing your views on FACTS. You are incorrect about hypothesizing that people will go to the airlines' sights, because the airlines sights do not usually offer the lower prices that other booking websites initially do. I think it odd that you have not bothered to try it out for yourself before insisting/hypothesizing that you are right. Top travel writers and even 60 minutes had a program on this. Guess you know more than they do, also.

I am sure that I likely book ten times the number of flights in any given year that you do ...

You need to become aware of what is happening in the real world and stop arguing with people just so you can be right. I am sure that I likely book ten times the number of flights in any given year that you do, and have had many travel agents confirm that this practice occurs. You are hypothesizing on what you imagine might be true, and are not basing your views on FACTS. You are incorrect about hypothesizing that people will go to the airlines' sights, because the airlines sights do not usually offer the lower prices that other booking websites initially do. I think it odd that you have not bothered to try it out for yourself before insisting/hypothesizing that you are right. Top travel writers and even 60 minutes had a program on this. Guess you know more than they do, also.

You really don't know what you are talking about. Everything you are spouting off about is sheer urban legend. You bring up the tracking thing, then you jump to "airlines sites do not usually offer the lower prices that other booking websites initially do". Those lower prices are very, very often NOT the same tickets. Same flight, same time, same arrival and destination airports, but NOT THE SAME TICKET. The FARE RULES are generally much more restrictive on a lot of those heavily discounted tickets. You really need to learn the differences. It is NOT just a discounted ticket.

Globaliser makes a good point-why would any website do this????? People are looking for the CHEAPEST ticket most of the time. If you looked for a ticket on Day 1, found a price at XXX website, then looked around for a couple of days and went back to XXX website only to find the price HIGHER merely based on the fact they were tracking you via history or cookies, what incentive would you have to book??? ABSOLUTELY NONE The thoughts about tracking a customer have just driven the customer AWAY. What company would do that???

In reality, what normally happens is the cheaper tickets have been sold. Or the unbelievably complicated yield management system has decided that the flight will bear higher priced tickets and has raised prices across the board (happens very often around holidays and high profile events). Now you see a higher priced ticket. But so does everyone else, even those that have never been to XXX website before.

As for booking a high number of tickets, we booked right at 600 in 2014 and will probably book almost 700 this year. I do know what I am speaking about. Globaliser does too. He books a lot of travel and posts very logical explanations on the Cruise Air board. Take your rant there and you will be shut down in a very short time based on FACTS which you do not possess.

So many people have proven that this is happening. What you fail to mention is why the prices are LOWER once someone goes back in and deletes the cookies and history and cache. Not a coincidence. What you also fail to mention/realize is that a lot of the sites are connected to each other, so when one sight raises its price when you go back in, all sights have increased prices.

Obviously you are a travel agent and shouldn't even be commenting on here.

I spoke with an agent who was leaving cheapoair and he admitted that cheapoair does this, and he was tired of customers phoning in and being angry about it, so he decided to leave the company. So guess he was lying, too, right? As are all of the professionals on the internet that have studied this and wrote reviews and reports on it. Please call up 60 Minutes and tell them they are liars too.

I will leave it up to the readers - do you want to pay hundreds more for a certain flight, or clear your cache and cookies and history and go back to the originally low price that you saw? Look on Singapore Air's website and see that the flights for next Jan. and Feb. from JFK to Bali are consistently $1600. and I just booked it for $900. I don't need people on here trying to deny what I, and every experienced traveller, know to be true especially when I am not a travel agent but have people from all over the world, including the U.K., emailing me to ask me to help them find cheaper flights, given they have never seen anyone book the low priced flights I have.

Marilyn

What you also fail to mention/realize is that a lot of the sites are connected to each other, so when one sight raises its price when you go back in, all sights have increased prices.

Or, more accurately, the site that's just raised its price has just shot itself in the foot.

Obviously you are a travel agent and shouldn't even be commenting on here.

In any event, there is no CC rule against travel agents participating in discussions, as you will see if you read the CC guidelines.

Look on Singapore Air's website and see that the flights for next Jan. and Feb. from JFK to Bali are consistently $1600. and I just booked it for $900.

You may be able to get a ticket from a consol for less than the published fare, but 'twas ever thus. You won't be buying a published fare ticket from the consol, though, so you're getting a consol's apple as opposed to SQ's published fare orange. And as we all know, apples and oranges don't directly compare. None of that has anything to do with any manipulation of cookies or website visits by either SQ or the consol.

Hopefully you understand what I'm talking about in that paragraph.

I think you have no idea what you are talking about. It is unbelievable that you would book that many flights at a higher cost than you need to, just because you refuse to accept the fact that this practice exists.

Your previous post contradicts itself. You say on the one hand that no website would do this, as people would not book the flight at an increased cost and would go elsewhere. But then you contradict yourself and then say that the reason the flights have increased in cost when someone returns to a site is because they have started to sell out, etc. So obviously you are falling prey to the tricks of the trade: you believe that the seats are selling out and therefore you, like others, panic and jump in and book at the higher price. This is what the websites count on - you believing that the flights are going to keep going up in price and are selling out, so you book it. BUT AGAIN, WHAT YOU AREN'T ADDRESSING, IS THE FACT THAT ONCE YOU GO BACK IN WITH COOKIES AND HISTORY AND CACHE CLEARED, THE PRICES ARE LOWER AND BACK TO THE ORIGINAL PRICE.

I do not appreciate you jumping on this post and badgering me when I was posting the information for someone else. Keep paying more for all of your flights, if you want to be stubborn and uneducated, but please stop posting comments that aren't even understandable due to your improper phrasing and use of grammar, when the majority of savvy travellers know what I am saying to be true. Your insistence that something does not exist when I, and others, including reputable news sources and reviewers, have proven it does, is actually making you look very foolish.

I know you will keep arguing on here, and it is odd that you are saying you know another poster and are speaking on his behalf, but I trust that most readers have tested this for themselves and know that websites do this. I have no idea what your comments on my Singapore flights mean, as again, your comments are incoherent. All I know is that I booked a flight for $900. to Bali and return, that was listed at a price of $1600. and my flights were identical to those I met on the plane that did pay the $1600. So although you are rambling on about irrelevant "apples and oranges" not being equal, the fact is, the flights were identical. I just got a lower price. I have now booked another $900. return flight but the airline's site is still charging $1600. Not sure why anyone would pay $700. more for identical flights, unless, like yourself, they are not knowledgeable about how websites that track your cookies, work.

Marilyn

I know you will keep arguing on here, and it is odd that you are saying you know another poster and are speaking on his behalf, but I trust that most readers have tested this for themselves and know that websites do this. I have no idea what your comments on my Singapore flights mean, as again, your comments are incoherent. All I know is that I booked a flight for $900. to Bali and return, that was listed at a price of $1600. and my flights were identical to those I met on the plane that did pay the $1600. So although you are rambling on about irrelevant "apples and oranges" not being equal, the fact is, the flights were identical. I just got a lower price. I have now booked another $900. return flight but the airline's site is still charging $1600. Not sure why anyone would pay $700. more for identical flights, unless, like yourself, they are not knowledgeable about how websites that track your cookies, work.

If you're happy with your $900 tickets, fine. But the mere fact that you think that you have got an identical product to that of the $1,600 ticket shows how little you know about the industry and how it works. This is underlined by the fact that you clearly have no idea what a consol is, as well as your comments about not understanding "why anyone would pay $700 more for identical flights" or "irrelevant apples and oranges not being equal". Do you know how airlines distribute product? Do you know what a consolidator is? Do you know what a published fare is? Do you know what a net fare is? Do you understand how people qualify for and get discounts, and how they're calculated? Do you understand any of the differences between them, or the implications of buying one type of fare as opposed to another?

It would be fine if you simply do not care that your $900 ticket is a different product from the $1,600 ticket sold by the airline. But it's unacceptable if you don't even understand that there is a difference, yet personally attack others for being "stubborn" or "uneducated". Others will be able to judge who it is who doesn't know what they're talking about.

Your previous post contradicts itself. You say on the one hand that no website would do this, as people would not book the flight at an increased cost and would go elsewhere. But then you contradict yourself and then say that the reason the flights have increased in cost when someone returns to a site is because they have started to sell out, etc. So obviously you are falling prey to the tricks of the trade: you believe that the seats are selling out and therefore you, like others, panic and jump in and book at the higher price.

A flight might be $100 today. I can look up availability information, just like a travel agent can. The display might show me W9 S9 T9 L2 KC.

Tomorrow, the flight may be quoted at $110. I can look up the availability again, and it might say W9 S9 T9 LC KC. That explains why the flight has gone up in price. It's there in clear text, with no cookie nonsense involved.

Similarly, I might get a $100 quote today, yet when I try again by starting a booking for two people, I get a quote of $110 per person. Again, the reason is in clear text in the availability display, which might say W9 S9 T9 L1 KC. That explains why it's $100 for one ticket and $110 for each of two tickets.

Do you work with GDS availability displays like that when you book? Did you have any idea that other people do? Do you even understand what those availability displays are showing? Do you understand how the availability display links to the underlying fare basis or bases used to price the ticket? Do you know the benefits of booking in certain specific booking classes, or of getting your ticket fared within a particular family of fare bases rather than cheaper ones, and select your booking classes that way?

Or are you one of the leisure travellers who just sees a price of $900 and thinks that it's cheaper than a $1,600 ticket for the same flights and therefore must be a better buy? If you buy ten times the amount of tickets that I buy, I find it hard to believe that you're in that category.

It is hard to believe that you think buying the same flights for $900. instead of $1600. isn't a good idea. Dah?

There is no sense in arguing with you. You are just another know it all with too much time on his hands that has no idea what he is talking about but loves bashing people for no reason and will never admit they are wrong.

As if anyone believes you are not a travel agent but book 800 flights a year? From your posts, it seems that you seldom even travel. For someone who books that many flights, you sure do have a lot of time on your hands to stalk people's posts and try to bash them.

I stand by everything that I have said as it has been proven many times over by many professional T.V. shows, reviewers and even travel agents. I have provided concrete proof through professional studies and you have provided NOTHING to prove your point. Why don't YOU find me a $900. flight with Singapore Airlines, to prove your point? BECAUSE YOU CAN'T. Your hypothesizing without providing anything concrete is very suspect.

Like I said before, I was addressing a certain person on here and now that you have made your very dubious opinion known, please don't bother to keep intervening in my posts. Let people decide for themselves.

It is hard to believe that you think buying the same flights for $900. instead of $1600. isn't a good idea. Dah?

 

...

 

Why don't YOU find me a $900. flight with Singapore Airlines, to prove your point? BECAUSE YOU CAN'T.

But what are you getting for that price? What's different between that ticket and the one you get directly from SQ? You don't seem to have the faintest understanding, given that you seem to think that a low price is the holy grail of buying airline tickets.

Why might it not be a good idea? At the moment, it seems that you don't even know what you don't know about that question - just as you don't understand any of the technical details of how airline tickets are priced or sold, or how yield and revenue are controlled, as demonstrated by that fact that you don't understand a word of my recent posts.

There is no sense in arguing with you. You are just another know it all with too much time on his hands that has no idea what he is talking about but loves bashing people for no reason and will never admit they are wrong.

 

As if anyone believes you are not a travel agent but book 800 flights a year? From your posts, it seems that you seldom even travel. For someone who books that many flights, you sure do have a lot of time on your hands to stalk people's posts and try to bash them.

It's greatam's business which booked 600 tickets last year and which will probably book almost 700 this year.

I haven't claimed and don't claim to buy that many. But I buy plenty of them for purely personal travel.

And if you think that a business that books 600-800 flights a year must be a travel agent, you obviously have no idea what business travel involves, either for the companies that send people on business or those people themselves. People, for example, who are doing two or three long-haul round-trips a week, every working week of the year.

Like I said before, I was addressing a certain person on here and now that you have made your very dubious opinion known, please don't bother to keep intervening in my posts.

Everyone is entitled to contribute. But nobody is entitled to indulge in personal attacks.

It is hard to believe that you think buying the same flights for $900. instead of $1600. isn't a good idea. Dah?

May be the same flight, same plane, same arrival and destination airports. But what you feel is the SAME ticket is very often NOT THE SAME ticket when purchased at a huge discount. The FARE RULES are different and could leave an unsuspecting traveler in a world of hurt when the ticket is NON ENDORSABLE or NON REROUTABLE. Do you even know what those words mean and how they affect a ticket? Have you ever read the fare rules for an airline ticket? I doubt it. You probably don't care but that makes you a very uneducated consumer.

As if anyone believes you are not a travel agent but book 800 flights a year?

You are addressing the WRONG person. I'm the one who books 600+ tickets per year. I own an international logistics company that moves people and freight around the world, primarily refrigerated freight that encompasses almost any exotic food product you could imagine. AND we do a lot of trade shows which encompasses moving the freight to the venue AND moving the people who own the freight to the trade show.

For a show like the Fancy Food Show in NYC or San Francisco, there are usually about 10-20 people PER VENDOR. And when you move 15-20 vendors per trade show, it adds up to a lot of airline tickets. The European and Asian Trade shows even encounter more people and more airline tickets because EVERYONE wants a "free vacation".

Why don't YOU find me a $900. flight with Singapore Airlines, to prove your point? BECAUSE YOU CAN'T. Your hypothesizing without providing anything concrete is very suspect.

You are correct. BUT you are NOT GETTING THE SAME ticket most of the time with your heavily discounted tickets. They are consolidator/bulk buy/ contract purchase tickets. And some have some VERY stringent rules-ie,flight is scheduled to leave at noon. Flight changes to 10:45AM and you are still in transit to the airport. So sad, too bad-you just missed your flight and will now buy a walk up ticket at a very high dollar price to get where you need to go. Or your flights glitch out because of weather and you are STUCK at an airport. You missed your connection and the FARE RULES of your ticket state you MUST take the ORIGINATING airline (or partner) on the ORIGINAL routing. There are no seats available until the next day and you miss whatever you were going to do. This is all in the ENTIRE FARE RULES which for a lot of discount sites, you can't even read. You truly have no idea what you are buying.

Like I said before, I was addressing a certain person on here and now that you have made your very dubious opinion known, please don't bother to keep intervening in my posts. Let people decide for themselves.

You are steering people in the wrong direction. Education is needed and you are very uneducated in all things airline. PRICE, PRICE, PRICE is NOT the only thing you need to purchase an airline ticket. You think it is but you are sooooo wrong.

Again, you keep hypothesizing instead of dealing with the facts. Although you are trying desperately to come off as knowledgeable and professional, the fact is that most readers can see through your posts, especially given the fact that you have quoted me very selectively while leaving out the most important fact of my post: "I booked a flight for $900. to Bali and return, that was listed at a price of $1600. and my flights were identical to those I met on the plane that did pay the $1600". You have ignored that fact and rambled on incessantly that the flights I booked aren't the same as the $1600. flights, which is totally false. Quit dreaming up false scenarios to try to back up your false statements. You are trying to portray all travellers who book online flights themselves, as idiots who don't even pay attention to what flights they are booking, or the routing. Give me a break. I carefully compared the $900. flights to the $1600. flights and they were identical in every way, shape and form. So to mislead readers into thinking they were different, is not acceptable to me and shows your lack of credibility. And for your information, I do have access to consolidators database, and I can assure you that their prices are never lower.

Obviously, if you book 800 flights a year for others, you are somehow connected to the travel industry or a consolidator business for profit. Obviously you are trying desperately to defend the outdated concept of using travel agents and consolidators. Travel agents and consolidators NEVER offer lower prices than what can be found on the internet. Consolidators have very limited options as far as flights and the airlines they can use, resulting in their prices always being higher. Do you not know that the reason everyone books online themselves is because consolidators offer terrible connection times and high prices and limited options? I have attempted to use travel agents and consolidators many times, but the fact is, their prices are always 50% higher and usually have really bad connection times, like a 6 or 8 hour stopovers in the airports. I am sure if travel agents and consolidators gave better flights and prices, more people would be using them, but unfortunately less and less people use travel agents for that very reason. And travel agents do not take the time to look at all of the various options because they make very little money on flights, and I can't blame them for that. Many travel agents don't even want to be bothered finding flights for people. I have many friends that are travel agents and they admit they can't beat the prices of the online websites and don't have the options for co-sharing that online sites have. One friend confided that she spends all day giving out quotes but nobody ever books with her because the prices she has to give them are all so much higher than they can find online. Fine if you are not computer savvy and don't want to do it yourself - but don't try to tell people that online travel sites do not offer lower prices FOR EXACTLY THE SAME FLIGHTS, SEATS, AND ROUTING.

Please stop misquoting me and twisting around what I am saying by trying to post here that my $900. flights were not the same as the $1600. ones on the airline's website, because they were. That is why I am going back to Bali and booking the same flights again. You don't know what flights I had taken before, or will take in future, so for you to write a long rambling post trying to convince the readers that cheaper flights are no good and not the same routing or type as the more expensive flights, is very unethical. I am sure any intelligent reader can ascertain whether the flights they book online are the same as other higher priced flights. It is not rocket science to compare flights on an airline's website with flights on an internet booking site, and know if they are the same or not.

You are entitled to your opinion but do not twist my words around by deliberately quoting me out of context to try to make your point, or make false statements and hypothetical assumptions about my flights.

post: "I booked a flight for $900. to Bali and return, that was listed at a price of $1600. and my flights were identical to those I met on the plane that did pay the $1600". You have ignored that fact and rambled on incessantly that the flights I booked aren't the same as the $1600. flights, which is totally false. Quit dreaming up false scenarios to try to back up your false statements.

POST the ENTIRE FARE RULES and I will show you the difference. Also post the T & C's of the company you booked with.

Obviously, if you book 800 flights a year for others, you are somehow connected to the travel industry or a consolidator business for profit.

I have absolutely NOTHING to do with the travel industry or a consolidator. We are basically a US based trucking company that does a large international refrigerated food business. And we cater to the food trade show business by moving their product to the trade show, making sure they have the refrigeration capacity at the trade show to keep the product and expediting product into the trade show. In addition, we book airline tickets for vendors that are actually manning the booths at trade shows. A lot of times, this includes spouses. And sometimes we even get asked to book hotels.

We present our best prices for the entire package-move product to trade show, keep an eye on refrigeration capacities, expedite entry of product into trade show and airline tickets/hotels if needed. Airline tickets are primarily done on an individual basis because it is mostly sales reps that man the booths and they come from all over the world, so different departure airports for most.

Please stop misquoting me and twisting around what I am saying by trying to post here that my $900. flights were not the same as the $1600. ones on the airline's website, because they were. That is why I am going back to Bali and booking the same flights again. You don't know what flights I had taken before, or will take in future, so for you to write a long rambling post trying to convince the readers that cheaper flights are no good and not the same routing or type as the more expensive flights, is very unethical. I am sure any intelligent reader can ascertain whether the flights they book online are the same as other higher priced flights. It is not rocket science to compare flights on an airline's website with flights on an internet booking site, and know if they are the same or not.

 

You are entitled to your opinion but do not twist my words around by deliberately quoting me out of context to try to make your point, or make false statements and hypothetical assumptions about my flights.

No one misquoted you. It was your words via cut and paste or the quote feature on CC.

AGAIN, POST YOUR ENTIRE FARE RULES for the flight you booked. And the T & C's from whomever you booked with. That will show the differences.