| Page Views: 1,074 Last Visit to Bangkok: May, 2007 | Round the World via Bangkok by tiabunna - last update: Jul 17, 2007 |
A passing visit! | Corridor in the new Bangkok terminal |
VT has over 600 pages on Bangkok. This addition will be among the more minimal efforts, if only because of our short stay! So why am I bothering to write a VT page for what was only a transit stop involving a change of flights? Mainly to give some continuity to my coverage of our trip, partly as an appropriate place for some background on “Round the World” airfares, and finally to include one tip on the new Bangkok Airport, which opened in mid-2007; another on planning air travel with the Star Alliance group; and a third on how different travel can be with different airlines, even using the same type of aircraft. Starting from Canberra, we transitted through Brisbane (airport tips now updated) on our way to Bangkok, before travelling on to Vienna as our destination. In all, from the front door of our daughter’s house to our hotel in Vienna, the trip took 32 hours. |
“Round the World” air tickets In recent years, many airlines have joined international groupings. The best known are the “Star Alliance” (with which we travelled) and the “One World” group – there may be others. These groupings allow airlines to broaden their offerings to passengers; often provide “codeshare” flights, so for example Singapore Airlines may operate an aircraft which also is identified by a Lufthansa flight number; and in the process provide commercial benefits to the member airlines by retaining passengers within their group. For the passenger, the benefits are having seamlessly linked flights and some travel discounts.
Maybe the best known of these discounts are the “Round the World” air tickets. The ‘offer price’ looks (and is) very attractive for what is provided, but if you are contemplating one, you should be aware that many conditions are attached. The extent to which these apply varies on the price of the ticket, if you are prepared to pay more you will have fewer constraints. Obviously it pays to talk about this with your travel agent early in your trip planning!
Expect that:
- in addition to the quoted price, surcharges and airport fees will add about 20% to the overall cost. These will vary depending on your airlines and routes.
- there is a restriction on the total kilometres flown – greater distances will put you into a higher seat price category. Our original plan was deemed to be 15km above the threshold for a price change! A few simple flight revisions (eg changes to more direct flights) brought us back under the limit.
- there will be restrictions on the number of stopovers. This did not prove problematical for what we intended doing. The good news is that “open jaws” stops are permitted (this is travel business jargon for landing at one place and leaving from another, allowing you to use other means of travel between).
- In general, your air travel must be in one direction, either east or west.
- there may be limits to stopovers in certain areas: and this is where this page leads. To our amazement, we could stop as often as we wished in Europe and North America, but our ticket permitted only one stop in Asia! That left us with a choice of Bangkok, Singapore and Hong Kong, as we were transitting through all three. Singapore won, so Bangkok and Hong Kong became only transit stops. Of course, that leaves an opening for the great travel line “Next Time”! :)) |
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| Pros: | "Shiny new terminal" | | Cons: | "Maybe still at the "settling in" stage" | | In A Nutshell: | "Will have to revisit some day" |
tiabunna's Bangkok Travel Tips
| Overview | Things to Do | | | | Restaurants | Hotels & Accommodations | | | | Nightlife | Off The Beaten Path | | | | Tourist Traps | Warnings Or Dangers | | | Transportation
Tips: 3 - Photos: 2 | Local Customs | | | | Packing Lists | Shopping | | | | Sports Travel | General Tips |
 Comments for tiabunna about Bangkok | | | | |
junecorlett Wed Apr 15, 2009 12:51 UTC
We have travelled with THAI Air 4 times. Its a great airline. | Pawtuxet Sun Aug 12, 2007 12:41 UTC
Tons of info for all the travel junkies. I'm exhausted just reading about it! You are to be commended for all your work to plan it...never mind fly it!!! | deecat Thu Jul 26, 2007 13:46 UTC
What a fabulous introduction to your incredible recent journey. Thanks for this comprehension explanation. Such an opportunity to travel to so many destinations. Really enjoyed reading about the planning, airlines, and terminal. | Nemorino Tue Jul 24, 2007 07:37 UTC
Hi George, thanks for your very useful planning information on round-the-world flights. Interesting that Thai Airlines had such comfortable seats but Austrian did not. |
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