Thai halves premium cabin fares
Published: 01/02/2010 - Filed under: News »
Passengers flying with Thai Airways from the UK and mainland Europe to Bangkok and beyond can book first and business class flights for half price.
The prices and booking rules vary for this special seat sale and may not be offered from every European country. London departures excepted, two passengers may be required to travel together.
The downside is that the premium cabins on board Thai’s B747 flights between Europe and Bangkok are one or two generations behind the world’s best (see our special report: Business class on Asian airlines). Still, some passengers may be prepared to overlook such shortcomings if the price is right.
Business Traveller has ascertained that Thai Airways is offering the half-price companion fares for flights departing London Heathrow, Frankfurt, Munich, Milan and Rome. Readers based in other European cities should check with Thai to see what offers, if any, are being made available from their local airport.
Out of London
London has some of the best fares and the most liberal rules which allow either couples or solo travellers to book the low fares. When two passengers travel together Thai Airways is charging £1,438 return for business and £2,257 return for first class out of Heathrow to Bangkok. In addition the airline is throwing in a free domestic flight (£36 extra in taxes and fees).
Individual passengers qualify for the special premium fares (including the free domestic flight) provided they pay a surcharge starting at £100.
Besides Bangkok, the offers from London cover Thai’s destinations in Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Tickets from London must be booked by March 31 for travel between now and June 30.
Out of Germany
The rules are more restrictive out of Frankfurt and Munich but the prices are equally attractive. From Germany (presumably because of local restrictions) Thai imposes a minimum five-day advance booking period with tickets being issued on a companion fare basis.
Lead-in return prices are: Bangkok €1,812 for business and €2,512 for first class; Saigon for €1,995 in business and €2,695 in first class; Singapore for €2,013 and €2,713; Sydney for €2,594 and €3,334.
Tickets must be booked by February 28 for departures between now and March 31.
Out of Italy
Validity is limited to selected departures from Milan Malpensa or Rome for flights departing in March. Companion fares are offered in first and business class. Thai suggests you contact one of its offices or a travel agent for more details.
In all cases, these special fares cannot be booked online. Contact the airline direct by telephone or your travel agent.
For more information visit:
- thaiairways.co.uk tel: 0844 5610911
- thaiairways.de tel: 069 92877444
- thaiairways.co.it tel: 06 47813304 (Rome); 02 8900351 (Milan)
Report by Alex McWhirter
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COMMENTS »
cityprofessional - 02/02/2010 00:20
Is this new(s)? Aren't these the same fares that have been available pretty much year round for at least the last year? I definitely booked one of these (c.£1500 C class) last September, and they was plenty of availability (at least in F) over Christmas for sub £2,400...
They are available to book online from various agents (several of which used to be prominently advertised on Thai's local websites...), just not from Thai direct online
Oh, and the business class seat may be last generation, but TG first is still pretty good, in my opinion - Dom, caviar, just 10 beds in the 747 nose, hour-long full body massage, buggy transfers to gate - not sure why you consider that to be one or two generations behind the best?
mussaman - 02/02/2010 07:17
Agree thai Biz have been 1500-1700 for the past 6 mths or so... sometimes the lower end fares get bought up but not always... so this is only a hundred or so less...
Also quite why you have an A380 in thai livery to advertise this when Thai binned the A380 ages ago.... touch misleading!
BusinessTraveller - 02/02/2010 08:42
Apologies for the misleading A380 picture - this was uploaded in error and has now been replaced.
BusinessTraveller - 02/02/2010 17:03
Hello Cityprofessional,
Thank you for your comments. In answer to your question on “why you consider [first class] to be one or two generations behind the best” note that I was referring to Thai’s premium cabins (ie first and business class) in general.
You may feel that Thai’s offers ex-London are not “news” but they are amongst the first of this year’s really good deals, a fact verified by our forum contributors. They also include a free domestic flight within Thailand.
We are an international website so I try, wherever possible, to provide helpful information for our readers elsewhere. That is why I took the trouble to investigate Thai’s offers out of mainland Europe.
Look at the savings a German traveller could make. For example, Thai’s prices ex-Germany to Sydney (with per person companion fares at Euros 3,334 rtn for first and Euros 2,594 rtn for business class) offer big savings based on travel in March compared with solo traveller fares displayed on ebookers.de
Alex McWhirter
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