Quote Originally Posted by poshglasgow View Post
It appears that the figure of £1,000 is now being charged for a return economy direct flight from London to Bangkok, late November: e.g. Emirates, Thai, Eva.

The cheapest flights (around £670+) currently involve Gulf air and a stop-over on both parts of the trip. Reviews of Gulf Air are not brilliant!

Would you book a direct flight now or wait a little longer to see if prices will fall back? Delay in purchasing now may prove even more costly, of course. On the other hand, fuel prices have stabilised and are dropping slowly.
If it is any consolation, fares from the States are just as high. The old days of bargain fares seems to be a fond memory. Demand for "revenge" travel is likely to continue for some time until all the wanderlust is wrung out of demand.

As for Gulf Air, I've traveled them several times and they were perfectly adequate, not quite up to "Middle East" standards, but reasonable. If you can get a bargain on them, I would have no hesitation to fly them. As I am sure you know, Bahrain is a modern Arab state which also happens to be somewhat liberal, assuming you are not Shia.