Flights & Stuff

Okay, I was just checking a few web prices (you gotta do something right?) for flights from Bangkok to London (one way). A couple of questions cropped up.

Eva Air - In the Evergreen Club, do you actually get a better seat on the aircraft or is it just a club where you accumulate air miles for use on other trips?

Are there reputable and disreputable airlines, the ones you swear off never travelling with again?

After just a matter of ten minutes or so I saw the following fare prices (inclusive of taxes) quoted on the airways webiste:
British Airways non stop BKK to LHR, economy - 26,270 baht - $700 (372 pounds sterling)
Eva Air non stop BKK to LHR, economy - 23,380 baht - $623 (331 pounds sterling)
Gulf Air one stop (Bahrain) BKK to LHR, economy - 21,292 baht - $567 (302 pounds sterling)

This one is on a bucket shop website:
Gulf Air one stop (Muscat) BKK to LHR, economy - 19,302 baht - $514 (272 pounds sterling)

Any thoughts on which is best - for price is obviously Gulf Air but it does have one stop where the others are direct. What about for service, comfort etc whatdya think?

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Originally Posted by Fatman41

Okay, I was just checking a few web prices (you gotta do something right?) for flights from Bangkok to London (one way). A couple of questions cropped up.

Eva Air - In the Evergreen Club, do you actually get a better seat on the aircraft or is it just a club where you accumulate air miles for use on other trips?

Are there reputable and disreputable airlines, the ones you swear off never travelling with again?

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Evergreen Club has changed a great deal over the past few years but basically being a club member does give you various privileges/discounts on promotions over non-club members.

Also depending on which card you hold the benefits differ. I fly Bk/LHR about 11 times a year and am a Diamond Card member. This gives a lot more benefits over the lower Gold, Silver and Basic (Green) cards.

You are looking at the Basic Green Card (the joining level) and this gives you the chance to accumulate miles for upgrades or free flights, plus hotel discounts in Bangkok and Taipei. It also gives you from memory an extra 5k on the standard luggage allowance whereas the higher cards give you more base allowance plus more extra allowance. Also when you have reached the required flying miles you get upgraded to the Silver Card.

Both LHR and BK have dedicated check-ins for Evergreen members although now that the 777's are being used on this routing the benefits of a separate check-in are not really that apparent.

Business class travelers do have their own check in and you can also use this if you have a Silver Card or above but are not traveling Business Class on the flight. I am not sure if Green Card members are able to use the airport lounges but to the best of my knowledge they are not unless they purchase a lounge pass.

All classes can request a seat allocation 100 days prior to the flight but it is only Silver & above that will have their seat guaranteed once the allocation is logged. Green Card members will have the seat allocated on check-in subject to nobody else before them having taken it.

The worst airline? Without doubt British Airways Bloody Awful airline, the staff are surly and unhelpful and on the ground and the cabin crew are amongst the most offensive that I have met in all of my years of flying.

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Originally Posted by Fatman41

Okay, I was just checking a few web prices (you gotta do something right?) for flights from Bangkok to London (one way).
This one is on a bucket shop website:
Gulf Air one stop (Muscat) BKK to LHR, economy - 19,302 baht - $514 (272 pounds sterling)

Any thoughts on which is best - for price is obviously Gulf Air but it does have one stop where the others are direct. What about for service, comfort etc whatdya think?

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Gulf Air (or Emirates for that matter) are both tiresome journeys with long waits (usually in the middle of the night when nothing in the airport is open) in Muscat (or Dubai) for connecting flights, particularly on the return leg BKK-LHR.

I also agree with Naughty but Nice ... British Airways are the pits. Their customer service is atrocious and their check-in staff and cabin crews are the worst of any airline I have ever travelled with... "The World's Favourite Airline" they are certainly not!!!

Also I have had two unfortunate experiences with bucket shops where I lost money in both cases because of overbooking. The best travel agency is Trailfinders (who have several shops in London) and it is easy to book over the phone as well (and they don't charge a fee for credit card use).

In summary EVA Air is the best of those you quote but their new Boeing 777 planes are not nearly as comfortable as the old 747s. If you are travelling economy and cost is not the number one priority why not consider THAI. My last trip in July cost ┬г620 return (including all airport and security taxes).

You will probably need to add ┬г100 to all of those fares - taxes.

Try checking the fare on Etihad. I recently flew them from Bangkok to LHR (they also fly into Gatwick) and found them 5-star in all ways. The business class fare from Bangkok was very reasonable (around 70,000 baht), and the lay-over in each way (in Abu Dhabi) was less than an hour.

Also try Qatar Airways, about which I have hard good things.