Details of time/cost of new Utapao/Luang Prabang flight

[jvt22222]

I stopped in to my long-time favorite travel agent this morning, ALL SEASONS, across from Friendship Supermarket on South Pattaya Road, to check on the new Lao Airways flight between Utapao Airport south of Pattaya and Luang Prabang, Laos.

Currently there is one flight per week;

Fridays -- QV 421 -- UTP to LPQ depart 14:10 arrive 16:25

The one time per week return flight:

Sundays -- QV 416 -- LPQ to UTP depart 13:00 arrive 15:15

Cost of ticket from All Seasons:

one way -- 6,800 baht
round trip -- 12,300 baht.

Happy travels.

[Alaan]

one way -- 6,800 baht
round trip -- 12,300 baht.
Thanks for the info. Every second visit or so i make to Thailand, we(with bf) usually take a 4-5 day trip somewhere different. Last visit in Oct we just went down to Phuket which we enjoyed, my next visit we were thinking Laos or Cambodia. If the return fare had been Bt6800 we would have considered that but at Bt12,300 x 2= Bt24,600 for us both is steep just for the 'getting there' part of a visit.

Certainly from Utapao is handy after a visit to Pattaya and the advantage of air travel is the fact you can have more time in your actual destination if time is limited, but you miss out on the countryside and towns you go through overland, also you need to consider how much time you intend to stay in Thailand after your trip out, as by air you get a fresh 30 day entry stamp on return to Thailand but overland only 15 days.

But as we visit khon Kaen anyway at some point during a visit, overland from there seems the best option, and is not too far. At the border the advice is normally to go straight to the immigration/custom stop and avoid the many 'agents' who charge to process visas/passport etc, having crossed twice previously, i think the agents are best for our situation. For Bt100-Bt150 each, they sort out visa/passports but more importantly for us, is the fact i drive to the border but cannot take our vehicle into Laos, nor would i want to, and so the 'agent' will allow you to leave your vehicle at his premises on the Thai side, and look after it for you, while you simply rent van/car with driver in Laos for about Bt1500 per day. The other difference i noticed was with the agent you queue for nothing, my stamped passport comes back quick and no stopping at the Laos immigration booth, you just follow your 'agent' and straight through to your chosen driver.

Although i do use the budget airines when in Thailand, Air Asia particularly, it doesn't bother me to pay more for convenience, but i just consider Bt25,000 for us both a bit OTT, the money could certainly be put to better use.

However if anybody does use the service I would be interested to hear how they get on.