I flew R/T from Chicago to Bangkok more times than I can count - spent 15 consecutive Christmas holidays here - and never paid more than $1.200 for economy seating. I just looked on-line now (Cheap Flights.com) and found a roundtrip flight from Chicago to Bangkok , departing Oct 12 and returning Jan 12 for 35,000 baht (U.S. $1,100) ANA/United.
I'm not sure where you found that $6,500 flight you mentioned, but if it's not for first class seating look elsewhere.
arsenal (October 3rd, 2021)
Another blow. I had a look at the website of Thai embassy in Germany, there is no more walk-in, visa applications only by appointment, and the waiting time is 6-8 weeks!
Flight prices from London are very reasonable.
However, of course there are no direct flights, probably as demand is curtailed by the combination of Thailand being on the UK red list plus Thai restrictions.
The timing of flights is also less convenient, but it's a small price to pay for a tropical holiday in winter.
DISREGARD. ....I REPEAT DISREGARD.
Those robbing bastards have been selling tickets to Thailand ever since this started and haven’t operated a flight there for 18 MONTHS.
They then try and keep your money and offer you vouchers etc.
There is no chance they can do flights by Xmas.
christianpfc (October 5th, 2021), Dodger (October 4th, 2021), goji (October 3rd, 2021)
Agreed.
Over the last year, there have been several airlines who I have seen offering flights on booking sites, yet when it comes to checking what actually operates on Flightradar24, those flights get cancelled.
So it's a good idea to confirm which airlines actually operate flights on that site, before booking.
Having spent time and money to get a PCR test under 72 hours before travelling, a COE, hotel bookings etc, finding an airline that runs most of it's flights is even more important than normal.
The red list is about to be trimmed.
Maybe this will result in some direct flights. https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...st-9-countries
This is misleading. BA announced towards the end of last year that they were suspending ALL flights to 15 destinations, including Bangkok. This was widely reported so it's not news now that they haven't been flying to Bangkok! They also stated then that they would consider resuming flights in November.
Looking at their website they are not making direct flights to Bangkok available to book until early December. Prior to that they offer only indirect flights that are usually on Qatar, via Doha, and clearly labelled as such.
Although BA are no angels my recent experience is that although they cancelled a European flight that I was booked on during the summer(more than a month in advance), I was refunded in full within 30 days even though I had booked with a voucher that they had given me when I had to cancel a fixed date flight previously!
BA wouldn't be my first choice on long haul flights, but I was advising of the possibility of direct flights, London to Bangkok, come December.
In any case there are already direct flights London to Bangkok running currently, actually there is a Thai Airways LHR-BKK flight over India as I write this! Information provided by FlightRadar 24. Thai Airways have also added a weekly direct flight between London and Phuket. So there are already direct flights for those who want them, and it sounds likely that Thailand will be removed from the UK's "Red List" on Thursday.
"Chances of Thailand coming off of U.K.'s red list on Thursday"
If not, this looks like the last edit of the Red List before it's abolished entirely - the news that's being trailed is that the number of countries will be reduced by 80% this week, Thailand being described as 'marginal'.
So unless the wee beastie throws a new spanner in the works - which it hasn't done since last year now - it's likely the red list will be no more by the time you return from any planned trip.
The bigger issue now, is getting the LoS to bin its remaining restrictions..