Wow! Flights to BKK from the US at $900...!?!?

[TheCorinthian]

Just did my bi-weekly search on flights to LOS from my state (NC) in the US and got a ton of them at $844!!! I figure with vat it would be over $900 but much less than $1k!

 

I was stunned!

[shygye]

Just make sure it is not on a NW/DL 757!

[Roger_Baby]

High season or low season?

[Central Scrutinizer]

It's about time the rates started dropping now oil is so low. Deals should be plentiful in the next few months as the economy slows further. The airlines need full planes to make money. Hopefully they don't all start just running smaller aircraft with less seats.

 

Good news. Back to the states in July. No more winter visits!! :thumbup:

[dean]

I wouldn't expect any great fare discounts for this summer but I've been wrong before. I just bought a r/t ticket, LAX-BKK on china air yesterday, that leaves March 3 and returns March 12. I paid $801 total. I decided not to fly NWA, even though I have enough miles for their "miles and cash" promotion. I don't like the switch to the 757 and I've had correspondence with them for the last 3 months over their pet transport program. I really didn't expect any compensation but wanted them to admit, contrary to what they say on their website, they only allow hard plastic containers, that have to be rigged/drilled out for international flights. They stuck to their position that the agents at checkin have the final say. The agent, in my case, told me my container conformed to the requirments outlined on NWA's website but they only allow hard plastic containers. So, they lost me as a customer.

[USVirgin]

I wouldn't expect any great fare discounts for this summer but I've been wrong before.

 

My advice would be to hang around and wait until at least April or May. I don't think anyone expects a miraculous economic turnaround by then and, at this time, some Asian airlines haven't cut back on capacity (Korean, for example, has increased capacity, banking on more traffic from Korea to the US due to a new visa waiver agreement, enabling Koreans to travel here easier). Unless airlines do cut capacity, and maybe even if they do, look for some deals when they see poor advance bookings nearer to the summer high season.

 

I wouldn't be shopping for any 'earlybird' specials right now.

 

 

[Central Scrutinizer]

Came over in early April last year on China Air from SFO. No complaints really except a long wait at the transfer destination before getting the BKK flight out. My fault though, as I just grabbed the first/earliest flight out and could have taken a later one to cut that layover time. Good price from SFO even back then. But West coast is always a cheaper fare than from the east coast (Boston). I used to get RT $800/900 a few years back on UA from Boston (RT/coach). Hoping to see the same prices again this year due to the econ slowdown and airlines promoting their flights more aggressively to fill the planes.

 

I'll be watching China Air for my trip this coming July. They do have flights into BOS (Logan Intl), so it shouldn't be too hard getting there from BKK at a discounted fare... I hope.

 

Cent

 

(p.s. Worked for NWA for over 20 years. The merger (buyout) with Delta will likely screw them up worse than usual and last a couple years while they try to smooth things out from the joiner. Also I can foresee some future labor problems - Delta fiercely non-union, NWA all union (IAM) strongly and likely to fight like hell to unionize the new Delta/NWA combo.)

[shygye]

NW and DL, combining the worst of two companies.

[Central Scrutinizer]

NW and DL, combining the worst of two companies.

 

 

 

 

 

I personally do not think this is a good match to begin with. I think they may be in bankruptcy again within the next 2 or 3 years. The labor differences and the employee 'culture' of the two are seriously at odds. Also as they may now be the largest airline in the world I think unless they quickly merge the workforces and do it in a way as to make everyone fairly happy any labor strife will be enormous and have a disasterous effect on a large customer base that has less choice now in many of the larger markets. I feel there will be many problems. I worked at NWA for a long time. I know how they operate, I know how the workers think and feel, and I know scads of them are very unhappy about this 'merger' and there are a lot of hardcore union members there that will fight tooth and nail if they think they will lose their union and have to work without union protection. It is a foolish matchup really and bound to have serious problems, especially since the Delta management has already tried to pull a fast one in regards to a vote by all the employees for union representation.

 

I foresee big problems with this merger. It certainly isn't a match made in heaven. The routes and hubs and such may be a good match, but the 2 workforces are at extreme opposites that will be very hard to synch up. (NW's Memphis hub will likely be dropped, too close to Atlanta, and Delta has a couple smaller stations that will likely be closed as well being too close to NW's massive DTW and MSP hubs. All those people will 'bump' with their seniority to other stations, once the seniority lists are done, and there will be many employees with hard feelings. We saw this when NWA bought out (merged) with Republic Airlines. Years later there were still hard feelings from both sides and lots of animosity.) An unhappy work force is not good for the customers.

 

JMHO.

 

 

[USVirgin]

I'm hard pressed to think of any airline merger in this country that has benefited either the employees or consumers.

 

Western, PSA and AirCal merging with Delta, USAir and American, respectively, cost California a lot of airline jobs. Then USAir and American bailed out of the west coast corridor, leaving United practically a monopoly (if not for the emergence of Southwest). USAir ruined a pretty good airline in Piedmont, too. And PanAm's merger with National was the beginning of the end for them.