[esselle]

Sparkflyer, I remember BA operating 774s on this route for many years. BKK was a stopover on a route LHR-SYD which I flew regularly between 2003-2010.

[esselle]

744s I meant.

[sparkyflier]

David – Interesting points re Thai & Eva. Interestingly I looked at the Thai website the other day on behalf of a friend. I had thought that TG and BR now codeshare – so you have the choice of both airlines. But when searching the Thai website for LHR-BKK flights only the Thai operated flights came up. Unlike for example searching UK-USA on ba.com when both BA and AA flights will be offered.

Is this a case of the IT department for bookings not updating the website it simply did not get the memo about codesharing?

Re KL, I happened to have a short conversation with a BA pilot the other week, who worked on 787. We discussed routes briefly and he said KUL had been a solid cargo performer, and perhaps “politics” was a reason why it was not back yet. I did not get the chance to probe him on this. He also said future 787-10 deliveries would get crew rest facilities and blamed the previous regime for not having them on the current fleet.

I think for the foreseeable Osaka and Seoul have no chance of coming back but KUL and BKK do, perhaps in that order.

Esselle – indeed re 744s. I wonder if a LHR-BKK-MEL could be a way back to the MEL and BKK markets, but simply not an option until BA get more staff.

[superchris]

Of course competition and yield all play a part here. TG would definite up their game if BA came back on the route to counter home market loyalty.

I also think that BA are more likely to take on a star alliance dominate route such as LHR BKK than LHR KUL where they already have strong OneWorld coverage through MH.

I last took LHR BKK on BA in 2018 (premium out business return) and it was shockingly bad as others have reported. Back then at least, they saw this as a leisure route. I switched my subsequent travel on this route to Etihad and the difference was night and day.

Interestingly, am I alone in that when Im on holiday I want to fly on the overseas carrier (extend the overseas experience), but when on business I want to be on a British carrier as I want to be at home!

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sparkyflier

[AMcWhirter]

As Eselle notes above this was in the days when Don Muang was the capital’s sole airport.

Both BA and QF routed their SYD flights via BKK at that time.

The reason ?

It’s because Bangkok is roughly equidistant when flying from London to either of the above cities so better for fuel consumption.

Today both use Singapore as a stopover point and I suppose it’s because the yield is higher for both sectors (London-Singapore and Singapore-Sydney).

sparkyflier – I doubt if Eva and Thai would ever code-share on this route. I say that because Eva has fifth-freedom rights so more of a competitor.

Eva Air specialises in routing some of its Europe-Taiwan flights via BKK so that it avoids overflying China.

During the first Gulf war Eva suspended its European flights altogether for months. It wasn’t able to secure rights to overfly Russia and the alternative route via the Gulf was heavily congested as airspace was limited.

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cwoodward, esselle

[David]

Sparkyflier: As I said, Thai are very badly run. It’s all corruption and kickbacks to get jobs with them and they refuse to get rid of lots of freebies for ‘important’ people. It’s unsurprising that their website tends not to be very good.

The EVA website does show Thai flights when you search, as well as one stop flights using other airlines to connect with Eva or Thai flights from European cities.

I actually find it a pain as I generally want to find the cheapest day to fly direct with Eva within a certain timeframe but even if you filter out other flights by departure time etc the price comparison at the top still shows those fares. The only way to find the cheapest day to fly Eva is to check each day individually.

One other point re. Eva, unfortunately they are now using the Lufthansa lounge at LHR which is not only a long way from the B gates but also pretty dreadful.

They’ve stopped using Air Canada lounge, which now closes earlier as a result, and will only allow high level FF members to access the Singapore lounge. The United lounge isn’t open in the evenings. I sent a message to them complaining in the strongest possible terms about this. The check-in staff told me Eva have signed a contract with Lufthansa so want to send everyone there.

[esselle]

It may be it came along later, but didn’t the QF/EK link which put traffic through DXB have an impact on the previous BA/QF routing through BKK?

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cwoodward

[sparkyflier]

Alex – re TG and BR codesharing, I get the OAG flight guides occasionally and according to that the evening flights from LHR also have each other’s code. That is where I got that idea.

Interestingly the 12:30 flight from Heathrow by TG does not have the Eva/BR code on it, but the evening does and vice versa. Maybe they realise it is better to cooperate in the face of ME3 competition.

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AMcWhirter

[AMcWhirter]

Yes. When QF and EK decided to operate a JV it meant that DXB became the stopover point.

Not so good for optimum fuel consumption.

I suppose that’s when BA opted to route through Singapore. The S$ is a strong strongest currency right now so BA gets a good yield and it has fifth-freedom rights for SIN-SYD. *

At that time there was also VS routing LHR-HKG-SYD.

(* As an aside note that BA passengers flying the SYD-SIN sector, and making a stopover in the City State, are not covered by EU261. When I was compiling Ask Alex one reader’s SYD-SIN BA flight was badly delayed which shortened his stopover time. BA would not pay EU261 compensation because although the flight’s final destination was London but the reader had disembarked in Singapore)

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esselle

[TimFitzgeraldTC]

The TG/BR codeshare is a weird one:

1 . TG 6383 Y 15MAR LHRBKK HS1 2120 #1545 O E FR/SA
OPERATED BY EVA AIRWAYS
2 . TG 6382 Y 22MAR BKKLHR HS1 1300 1920 O E FR
OPERATED BY EVA AIRWAYS

However in the UK market at least it won’t price a fare for you.

>FQBB
NO VALID FARE FOR INPUT CRITERIA

On the part of the alliances I don’t think a carrier being part of the same alliance has a huge impact (unless there is a revenue sharing agreement). So I’d have thought BA as likely to take on MH into KUL as they are to take on BR/TG into BKK or KE/OZ into ICN. Ultimately if they think they can get the yield on a route they’ll take it on.

As everyone points out even if BA can command a better yield now to BKK than they did pre 2020 – issue is that there any many other routes they can command an even better yield (TATL for example). Also the old times to BKK were quite poor – if they could get similar to SIN times and overnight out and back they might command better yields if slots there and then use the partnership with PG to feed from that part of the world. But don’t see it happening.

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DerekVH

[BPP]

BA web site will accept bookings for flights to BKK but with one-world partners Qatar but indirect via DOHA

[Author]

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