Flights to/from Thailand status, news, and updates

[Dannie Boy]

To answer your question I have absolutely no idea, but they’d have been laid off in their tens of thousands during Covid and no doubt many will have secured reasonable jobs, so why take the risk of coming back into a sector that was never renown for paying top dollar?


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[B6PTW]

Hi
Just arrived back on an early flight Saturday, sailed through the airport, virtually empty.
As for flight costs it would appear to be the pricing algorithm some use. The airline we flew with now only operates one flight per day as opposed to the 3 pre covid. The flights have been consistently full which they never were previously. This means the longer you wait to book the higher the prices as well as a higher starting price.

[STEVE G]

Now this staff shortage issue seems to be the excuse all over the world so my question is just where are all these very specialised people hanging out now?

This problem has been brewing for years and the fact is that the aviation industry has relied on the same people for decades and now they're all retiring.
I've been in aircraft maintenance for over forty years and we don't have many young people coming in and now it's getting almost impossible to get any more.
Round the clock shift work and no chance for flexible hours or working from home has zero attraction for the present generation and to be honest, if I was young today I would probably be of a similar opinion.

[caller]

A friend of mine who recently sold his Hua Hin House, was an aircraft engineer, that morphed into a trainer of aircraft engineers. Early covid he finally 'retired' as all such training stopped. A few months back he was lured from his new USA home to answer a desperate call for trainers. He is now back in his old job and complex in Dubai training the new engineers. But this is clearly just a start of the process.

[Dannie Boy]

It’s quite amazing that three years ago everything seemed “tickety-boo” and now the industry is on its knees!!

[STEVE G]

It may not be the only reason but there’s little doubt in my mind that the very high airfares to Thailand are putting a lot of international travellers off.

I just managed to book a flight from Europe to Bangkok for June/July for 722GBP which is the best price I've had since the pandemic and much more in line with what I was paying before so hopefully things are improving.

[Dannie Boy]

It may not be the only reason but there’s little doubt in my mind that the very high airfares to Thailand are putting a lot of international travellers off.

I just managed to book a flight from Europe to Bangkok for June/July for 722GBP which is the best price I've had since the pandemic and much more in line with what I was paying before so hopefully things are improving.

Well I’ve just booked BKK to LHR in June and it cost me 44,000 Baht, so over £1k.

[STEVE G]

^Yes, I was expecting to pay around that much and was surprised when I started seeing cheaper prices coming up a couple of days ago.

[Dannie Boy]

^Yes, I was expecting to pay around that much and was surprised when I started seeing cheaper prices coming up a couple of days ago.

My flight is direct with Thai, Etihad via Abu Dhabi was 40,000 B - is yours with a stopover Steve?

[lomuamart]

A good price. I booked a return in mid March, departing early May to Stansted with Emirates and got 36,000 THB which I was happy with.

[STEVE G]

^Yes, I was expecting to pay around that much and was surprised when I started seeing cheaper prices coming up a couple of days ago.

My flight is direct with Thai, Etihad via Abu Dhabi was 40,000 B - is yours with a stopover Steve?

Yes, but I'm flying from Luxembourg and there isn't a direct flight, it's through Zurich with Swiss.

[buksida]

Got a question about self-transfer flights.

We want to fly somewhere via Ho Chi Minh City and have found decent flights with a two-hour stopover and morning arrival time since going direct from BKK costs triple.

I've never done a self-transfer so does this mean we have to get a visa, queue at immigration to get out, collect the bags, check in again, and queue at immigration and security again to get back in? I'm thinking two hours won't be enough, especially with Vietnam immigration.

[STEVE G]

^Yes, I've never flown through Ho Chi Minh but that would be what you would have to do at most airports if you're not flying on one ticket.
Also, if you've booked two separate tickets, the second airline won't care if you miss the flight due to the first flight being delayed, you'll have to pay again.

[buksida]

Cheers, figured as much. Will get an earlier flight to give us more time to transit the airport. UK passports now get a visa waiver in Vietnam so no worries there. Can't see flight prices coming back down to normal this year so want to book earliy before they surge even higher!

[Big Boy]

Yes, I've had friends using those cheap Vietnamese flights - they don't stay long.