Flights: USA to Thailand

[flassitor 0]

I have been going to Thailand yearly since 1999. I have flown USA-Korea-Bangkok; USA-Japan-Bangkok; USA-Hongkong-Bangkok; USA-Manila-Bangkok; USA-Singapore-Bangkok. Long ago, I discovered EVA Air and they have been my regular airline since 2007 and I LOVE them. However, with all of the "saber rattling" over Taiwan, I am actually afraid to fly any airline that goes down thru or near Taiwan. I am about ready to begin planning my next trip from the east coast of USA to BKK and I am considering flying to Europe and on to BKK. I would like to hear from anyone with the same concern that I have and if you go east out of the USA, which airline do you fly and what route (with stops) do you take. Thanks.   

[Long John 1,155]

10 hours ago, flassitor said:

I have been going to Thailand yearly since 1999. I have flown USA-Korea-Bangkok; USA-Japan-Bangkok; USA-Hongkong-Bangkok; USA-Manila-Bangkok; USA-Singapore-Bangkok. Long ago, I discovered EVA Air and they have been my regular airline since 2007 and I LOVE them. However, with all of the "saber rattling" over Taiwan, I am actually afraid to fly any airline that goes down thru or near Taiwan. I am about ready to begin planning my next trip from the east coast of USA to BKK and I am considering flying to Europe and on to BKK. I would like to hear from anyone with the same concern that I have and if you go east out of the USA, which airline do you fly and what route (with stops) do you take. Thanks.   

I think you should be more scared of the trip to the airport by car than any plane trip you might take.

[CanadaVisitor 417]

Tough question to answer...so many options.  There will be many choices for you from the eastern seaboard of the US with connections in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Geneva, Istanbul, etc.  I liked connecting in Frankfurt the one time I flew through there as the Germans are very efficient in processing you through and the lounge I found was pretty good.  

Almost every major city in Europe has flights to BKK.  Just look at stopover times and flight durations to pick what's right for you. (Do you want one longer flight and one shorter?  Or do you want two flights of approximately the same length?  Do you want a quick stopover or do you want a few hours so you can take a stretch and have a shower and a meal and those kinds of things?)  As far as airlines go, I do not like Thai Airways and will not use them again if I have a choice. 

[oliver17 10,607]

If you want to connect in Europe, try to do so in Amsterdam because business fares AMS-BKK are usually lower than from Frankfurt or London or elsewhere. Many airlines fly from Amsterdam to Bangkok. Twice before, I have flown from Philadelphia - AMS on American (using reward miles for that leg) and then flown on a separate ticket AMS-BKK on Cathy Pacific. That may sound like a lot of stops and hassle, but it actually only took 1-2 hours longer than flying through Tokyo or Incheon, which are generally the fastest ways from US to Thailand. And yes, I know Cathay is off the table because they connect in Hong Kong and no westerner should set foot in China these days unless they have to - I just cited them as an example of what is possible. 

One option might be Finnair. They fly out of several US cities and connect in Helsinki. I have never flown them, but I know they are aiming to be a conduit between North America / Europe and Asia and they offer some pretty good fares. 

You can also try the Arab carriers like Emirates or Qatar, but neither of them seem to be the business class bargains they used to be. If you fly one of them, I would go for Emirates because they generally offer more bang for the buck than Qatar and offer more flights per day to/from BKK. Qatar's lounge in Doha is quite opulent, but it's sometimes very hard to get a drink and their food selection isn't very substantial.  Emirates Dubai lounge serves alcohol around the clock, a good selection of food, plenty of showers available and lots of quiet corners where you can snooze between flights. Their BKK lounge is pretty solid also. Qatar does have superior in-flight service, better than just about any other airline anywhere but their lounge service kills the vibe. 

The very best way to go to Bangkok from the US is connecting in Asia, particularly Japan. I have traveled through the Middle East and Europe several times on LB trips and that works fine, but flying Japan Airlines or ANA is your best bet for the combination of fares, flight schedules and quality of service. 

 

[vuko 180]

I was in in Taiwan two days ago. If people were concerned, they did not show it.

I flew from YUL to AMS and then to Bangkok. The only thing about that flight is that the layover in Amsterdam was 8 hours.

 

Afteward nice flight to BKK. Then I flew China Airlines to Taipei then Korean to ICN. 

Tomorrow I'm going back ICN -> CDG -> YUL with AF

I would not worry too much about the situation in China. Like in Ukraine, if it explodes we hear about it weeks in advance.

[MrAnimeLover 160]

My last trip to BKK was in Feb/Mar and I flew through TPE in Taiwan for the first time. I'm hoping to go to either BKK or MNL again by the end of the year and I'm not worried about flying through TPE again. In fact it's probably guaranteed if I do go it'll be flying via China Airlines which is based out of Taiwan and uses TPE as their man hub. So I'd be going through LAX--TPE->BKK or MNL depending on which one I go on.