What do you do ?

[Halfhansum]

Hello all ..
Have flown direct, non stop, when i go to Thailand, but thinking next time to break the journey into two legs ..The connection times on some flights seem a bit tight, and was just wondering what happens if you should miss your connecting flight ..Do they make you pay again for the second leg ? Anyone ever had it happen ?

[joe552]

My understanding is that once you're travelling on one ticket, the airline will either hold the 2nd aircraft till the first arrives, or put you on the next available flight. If you're thinking of going via the Middle East, I've used Abu Dhabi (Etihad) and Doha (Qatar) and never had a problem. Not sure what Dubai (Emirates) is like.

[francois]

halfhansum, in 30 trips to/from Thailand I have never missed my connecting flights in another country. Airlines are good about connections with International flights. Of course if you go to the lounge and fall asleep then you might have a problem but even then the airline will page you.

[anonone]

Joe is correct. If you are traveling on one PNR (ticket), then you will not have to pay any additional money for any delays or missed connections. It is the responsibility of the airline that caused the delay to get your to your final destination.

As for tight connection times, airports are vastly different, so connections time vary quite a bit. Something easily doable in Munich, would be incredibly tight at someplace like Frankfurt.

Not knowing your personal situation (health, mobility, schedule flexibility) it is difficult to determine if a connection would make a better trip experience. I am always on a tight schedule, so I usually try to minimize connections and layovers. Someone retired may appreciate a more leisurely itinerary. In fact, it is possible to schedule a more extended layover to spend a bit of time at an interim location. I did this once to enjoy a night of Oktoberfest in Munich.

Traveling to Thailand from the USA, I have no choice for non-stop. A connection is always in the itinerary. It is nice to stretch the legs a bit after a 14 hour flight, before getting on the plane for another 6 to get to BKK. If you have lounge access, a shower and a beer due wonders to refresh. But if I had a choice, I would opt to get to Thailand quicker. No shower and beer can compare with the refreshing powers of my BF, who is waiting for my arrival. :D

My last trip on Singapore Airlines it was a tight 50 minute connection at Changi and in a different terminal arrived in T3 had to get to T2. No problemo and my bags were waiting for me at the other end. But if I had missed that connection thats Singapore Airlines problem. However one time before that I went to Singapore on Etihad and then travelled on a completely different airline and ticket to Bangkok. If I had missed that connection then travel insurance would have kicked in - that's what its there for.

[timmberty]

i wouldnt take the risk of a stop over again, and the worry is a pain, just say you take off an hour late, you then spend 14 hours inflight worrying if you will make the connection, and if you miss it ..
you might end up waiting another day for the next plane. and all that just so you can stretch your legs and have a beer.

[Halfhansum]

Many thanks for the info guys ..
Think i will split the journey, as there seems to be some really cheap flights if you go out of season, and leave midweek .( Will be retired next time i go,so plenty of time).
Dont think i fancy swapping planes in India thow ..lol

[timmberty]

ive changed planes in india before it was pretty easy. if you now have time a few days to relax in goa wouldnt be a bad idea, the calm before the storm, so to speak.

[Nirish guy]

Likewise with Tim, I've switched in India several times too and it was absolutely fine, actually lots of nice dark skinned eye candy milling about to pass your time waiting in your connection if that's your thing :-)

[timmberty]

and of course just because the bag men have a jacket with 'dont tip me' written on the back of it... in no ways means they wont hold out their hand for a tip.

[arsenal]

I found changing planes at Mumbai to be hell on earth. But at least I could have a quick cigarette.

[Nirish guy]

In what way Arsenal ? I know I had to go through from one terminal into another I think ( or at least into another area in the airport if not another terminal ) which meant I had to go through Indian security which was a bit haphazard and disorganised and I guess could have been stressful as there seemed to be a stressful "buzz" about then place as they separated the men and women etc but one of the pleasures of travelling alone I've found is the ability to zone out to all the chaos around me and sail through the likes of security in my own wee world whilst everyone else around me is flapping with kids, and wives and bags with water in them they are not allowed and laptops which should have been removed from their cases long ago, which I sail through all organised and serene :-).

As the airport itself looked a bit crap and I didn't fancy going for beer ( or coffee more likely) and couldn't be arsed dealing with the currency exchange issues of hoping they take visa etc I normally on a one or two hour turnaround just go on to the gate and sit and wait there and watch a movie on my iPad, the gate waiting area was a bit scruffy and again an overall sense of unnecessary hustle and bustle which just seems to be the way in general in India, but apart from that I found it all to be "ok" - although again I'm guessing the eye candy probably lowered my blood pressure somewhat and maybe THAT'S what made it all seem ok - I take it from your post that you had a very different experience then to mine ? :-(

[joe552]

I've read some really bad reviews of transit at Mumbai airport on Tripadvisor. Wouldn't encourage me to try it.

[francois]

i wouldnt take the risk of a stop over again, and the worry is a pain, just say you take off an hour late, you then spend 14 hours inflight worrying if you will make the connection, and if you miss it ..
you might end up waiting another day for the next plane. and all that just so you can stretch your legs and have a beer.

Tim; sometimes there just are not other choices; there are no non-stop flights from the Americas to Thailand that I know of. In the past Thai Air did fly non-stop but no longer. :((

[anonone]

You are correct Francois. There is no option for a non-stop flight from anywhere in the USA to Thailand anymore.

When Thai Airways grounded their A340-500's (due to their very poor fuel performance), the non-stop flights ended.

Last I looked, Thai marketed a "direct, one-stop" flight from LAX to BKK, with a 2 hour layover/connection in ICN. LAX is the only airport served by Thai Airways in the USA.

[timmberty]

i wouldnt take the risk of a stop over again, and the worry is a pain, just say you take off an hour late, you then spend 14 hours inflight worrying if you will make the connection, and if you miss it ..
you might end up waiting another day for the next plane. and all that just so you can stretch your legs and have a beer.

Tim; sometimes there just are not other choices; there are no non-stop flights from the Americas to Thailand that I know of. In the past Thai Air did fly non-stop but no longer. :((

im sure you are right francois, but the OP did state that he has taken non stop flights to thailand in the past, i also dont live in the good ole us of a so i can take direct flights with no problem.
my second trip to thailand was a stop over at one of the middle eastern airports, not sure of the name of it, the country with the big water tower things.
well once landed i went to the second stage of the flight and there were no signs anywhere, i didnt have a clue what was going on.
i decided to take a walk to see if i could find out any info, around a corner i found my airlines help desk, no signs for it or anything, there i am told the plane is late and i have to stay in a hotel for the night, which was for 2 hours as it was already well into the night. no announcements were made, it was just lucky i took a walk.
after 2 hours 'sleep' and a so called dinner, which was the left overs of what had been made for the day i was up and off again.
after that i decided 'never again'

[Jellybean]

Halfhansum I may have flown direct to Thailand only on 2 occasions over the last 8-9 years from the United Kingdom, and that was with Thai Airlines. I found myself feeling very uncomfortable and restless, canтАЩt quite put my finger on it and say why, with the length of time involved in direct flights. So the remainder of the time IтАЩve used Qatar Airlines and stopped over in Doha and that has suited me much better.

IтАЩve never missed an onward connection. But when I came out to Thailand, 5 weeks ago, I was expecting the usual 1 hour stop-over, but when I checked the Departure board on arrival at the transit terminal, my onward flight to Bangkok was showing as boarding. Crikey! I wasnтАЩt expecting that.

I confirmed with the check-in desk that it was indeed my flight that was boarding. I said IтАЩd just arrived and asked if there was enough time to go to the toilet. I was told there was time, when I returned they said I could just wait on a near-by row of seats and they would call me when I needed to leave. I didnтАЩt even get to go up to the Business Class lounge to relax and have a bite to eat or wander around the duty-free area to stretch my legs, something I normally enjoy doing.

I do however remember an incident back in the тАШ90s when I was travelling from San Francisco to New York then onward to London. Our flight was late arriving at JFK and I remember being desperately worried about missing my connection. I was told to run as fast as I could to the departure gate for the London flight. In those days I could run quite easily тАж couldnтАЩt do these days! :-)

When I boarded the plane I was extremely embarrassed to receive a round of applause from the other passengers as I walked through the door. I went as bright red as a tomato! Everyone else had boarded and they were all waiting on me, the last passenger, to board.

Oh тАж and sorry to hear about your bad experience timmberty.

[christianpfc]

I have flown Europe-Bangkok-Europe about 8 times with stopover in Arabia or India, all flights on time. Stopover was 2 to 4 hours.

I do this to save money, my preference would be a direct flight over night, you start in the evening, then sleep (or doze, I don't sleep well on airplanes) and the following morning you wake up in Bangkok!

Reminder: can you choose a title that has something to do with the subject?

[francois]

I do however remember an incident back in the тАШ90s when I was travelling from San Francisco to New York then onward to London. Our flight was late arriving at JFK and I remember being desperately worried about missing my connection. I was told to run as fast as I could to the departure gate for the London flight. In those days I could run quite easily тАж couldnтАЩt do these days! :-)

When I boarded the plane I was extremely embarrassed to receive a round of applause from the other passengers as I walked through the door. I went as bright red as a tomato! Everyone else had boarded and they were all waiting on me, the last passenger, to board. .

Jelly, I had a similar experience in USA making connecting flights but never in another country on international connections. On one flight leaving Seattle to Tokyo /BKK my flight was delayed but I was met by an airline rep who escorted me at a run to the gate and I was last on board. Yes, it was Biz Class so maybe that is why?

[Halfhansum]

Christian ....
(Reminder: can you choose a title that has something to do with the subject?)

^:)^

[arsenal]

NIrish: I think that transit passengers were herded in with new passengers and so we had to go through the same security procedures. It was, to say the least a scrum.

[Nirish guy]

Yes you're right, that did happen to me also and it
was all a bit hectic, plus as I mentioned above the Indian way seems to be a lot of unnecessary hustle and bustle and ordering around of the masses, which I guess in a country the size and scale of India is maybe needed to keep the place moving at all, but thankfully as I'd mentioned I has my trusty iPhone music playing when I could and was generally chilled out and spent most of the time watching others dreaming out round me as I sailed through everything on automatic pilot I'm glad to say.