Paris Trip Bus in Oct - who's better Thai or Ethiad eeek

[hgwells01]

Looking to do a business class trip to Paris - Prague - Allicante Spain in early Oct after the season swap, cheapest business class flights I can fly and honestly consider travelling with are either Thai or Ethiad as far as Paris. Best prices I can find is under 6 grand for either, if you could pick, which one would you take? I've read about the recent problems with Ethiad, but the pickup and drop off is a nice touch, anyone experienced travel with them recently. And i'm hoping all the Thai 747's have been upgraded in business class now. Any hints, or other suggestions would be appreciated

 

[grey goose]

Thai airways for sure, from what i have read the only planes not upgraded to new 170degree j seats are the ones from bkk to lax.

 

[Keith009]

Thai airways for sure, from what i have read the only planes not upgraded to new 170degree j seats are the ones from bkk to lax.

I wouldn't be too sure about that. There are still some unrefurbished planes around - thankfully the nastiest configs (MD11s, 7441s etc) are now gone but you still run the risk of the regional and 7442 configs. They'd done the infamous switcheroos on me a few times MEL-BKK and even BKK-LHR. Heck even a friend who did the supposedly safest, switch-free route FRA-BKK got the 7442 last week. You'd not know what your seating is until you get on to the aircraft. So I do not trust Thai and would rather pay more to fly with someone else - SQ, QF or MH for instance. Unless you're flying routes like BKK-JFK of course - which only their 345s are capable of flying.

 

[stryker]

Do you really want to spend 6 grand on this? I wouldn't, but that's just me.

However, I'd pick Thai over Etihad any day (well you're not going to be put in a prison in the middle of the desert on Thai and they're not going to frown on you having a drink either). And the chances of getting a nice business class seat are pretty good on Thai. In fact I flew C class BKK-CPH-WAW-NCE (TG, SK, LO) a couple of years ago, and Thai were using the first class cabin of the 744 for C class PAX (it was sold as a 2-class flight).

Not sure where grey goose got his info on BKK-LAX, but I flew the nonstop in C last year on a 345, and the seats were just fine (also flew the return nonstop JFK-BKK, no probs either).

Anyway, if it were me and I really wanted to pay for a business class trip to Paris, I would probably fly to BKK Y class (TG approx AUD 920) and then fly BKK-CDG for approx AUD 3,000 (eg Emirates), thereby saving yourself a couple of grand (you can buy quite a lot of hotel accommodation with this).

For your intra-Europe travel, just jump onto a few EasyJet or Ryanair flights, will cost you only a few hundred AUD at most.

Well that's my 2-bob's worth.

 

[grey goose]

Good point,
If your travelling in the day time, the 8 hours or so to bkk is bearable in Y, however, y+ is also a good option. Most of the time BA does syd bkk for about 13-1500 return, so add a j class from bkk to France and your still ahead a fair bit.

 

[hgwells01]

could be a good idea, Y class during day, I think there is a Thai 10am flight, then I could overnight in BKK, always a pleasure have a massage and day at the spa then go J to paris next night and sleep onboard hopefully, further research I feel. Thanks guys

 

[clifford]

Here's another possibility.

China Airlines Quick Sale Business Class & Mixed Fares. From $3099 + "taxes".

Australian Travel Agent : Best Flights - discount travel - Travel Agent Australia

 

[straitman]

Here's another possibility.

China Airlines Quick Sale Business Class & Mixed Fares. From $3099 + "taxes".

Australian Travel Agent : Best Flights - discount travel - Travel Agent Australia

Sorry clifford,

They're not on my good guys list :!:

 

[clifford]

Sorry clifford,

They're not on my good guys list :!:

China Airlines or Best Flights?

 

[straitman]

China Airlines or Best Flights?

Oops :!:

China Airlines.

 

[Keith009]

The bestflights site is rather informative - but I didn't have such a good impression when I dealt with them. I rang up to ask about an MH/VS RTW and they didn;t know what I was talking about even though I found it on their website.

I usually do my research on their website, then ring up my TA or the airline to book the fare. Hey if it's publicly available why not use it right - at least I'm not tying people up for hours.

 

[stryker]

The bestflights site is rather informative - but I didn't have such a good impression when I dealt with them. I rang up to ask about an MH/VS RTW and they didn;t know what I was talking about even though I found it on their website.

I usually do my research on their website, then ring up my TA or the airline to book the fare. Hey if it's publicly available why not use it right - at least I'm not tying people up for hours.

I tend to agree with your assessment of Bestflights, QF009.

I think it's the proprietor who does all the spadework and knows what's going on. As for the troops, it's quite a diiferent matter...