Flights to U.K.

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douglas
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Flights to U.K.

Post by douglas » June 29, 2010, 6:45 pm

Hi,
Been looking at flights to U.K. on a few web sites. Got a shock when the prices appeared, so what I did was put a return flight from the U.K. to BKK, I know I can't use these tickets to travel from BKK to U.K. return. I was shocked at the difference in prices. Min, diff. travelling from LOS to UK return was at least 200GBP, or approx 10,000B extra than buying your tickets in U.K. for U.K. to BKK return. I however found one flight from Etihad airlines for 28,000B as opposed to Thai at 47,000B and Qatar at 36,000B. Etihad and Qatar were to Manchester which suits me better but I have never flown with Etihad so if anyone can let me know about them I would be grateful for any input about them.
Cheers Doug.



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Re: Flights to U.K.

Post by Tafia » June 29, 2010, 6:56 pm

Used a number of times, stop-over Abu Dhabi, bit of a no-no airport but ok for short stopover. Airline as good as any I have used, excellent service, I have a mate from manchester who wont use anyone else!!

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stattointhailand
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Re: Flights to U.K.

Post by stattointhailand » June 29, 2010, 7:05 pm

Pretty sure Johnty uses Ethiad regularly, never heard him complain (any more than usual!!), I'm sure he will give you a "heads up" on them as soon as he reads this.

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EssexGaz
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Re: Flights to U.K.

Post by EssexGaz » June 29, 2010, 7:36 pm

douglas wrote: I know I can't use these tickets to travel from BKK to U.K. return.Cheers Doug.
Why cant you use a return ticket from bangkok to the UK?

I did last year with Qatar

As long as you have a valid visa you are okay to do this

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Re: Flights to U.K.

Post by simpsonp » June 29, 2010, 7:41 pm

My mate also loves using Ethihad...

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arjay
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Re: Flights to U.K.

Post by arjay » June 29, 2010, 7:54 pm


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MALC
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Re: Flights to U.K.

Post by MALC » June 29, 2010, 10:06 pm

i fly with etihad normally. i find them good.in sept they always have a cheap price to manchester somthing to do with ramadan starting. no im not a packi

mally
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Re: Flights to U.K.

Post by mally » June 30, 2010, 5:20 am

I've flown Ethiad 4 times, 3 times OK, once (the last time) it was a brand new Airbus, and the seats were as hard as park benches, dunno if that was because it was the aircrafts first commercial flight (according to the captain) and the seats hadn't been broken in so to speak, otherwise all ok.
The only "down" side of these middle eastern carriers is that you do get a lot of Arabs/Paki's/Indians on the flights, and heigene isn't too high on their list of priorities, sofar I havn't been sat next to a "hummer", but I always worry about it whilst boarding. [-o<
This next trip will be with Quatar, my first flight with them.

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johnty.
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Re: Flights to U.K.

Post by johnty. » June 30, 2010, 9:37 am

Cheers for that statto :D we'll see who is complaining on the 15th August(it won't be me =; )....Hi Guys,i fly Etihad 10 times a year,sometimes they are a little bit dearer than the other airlines but the loyalty programme they run is better than the rest, it takes about 3 flights to get to silver standard(gives you 1.25 miles for every mile flown ) and about 6 flights to get a gold card(giving 1.5 miles for every mile flown),with a gold card it only takes me 3.5 return flights to get a free 1. The best time to check prices is on a Tuesday or wednesday as that is when they put all the special offers on their website(learnt this from supervisor in Manchester).In the 4 years that i have been flying with them i had 1 delay of 17hours on my return home(after complaining they gave me $400 off my next booking) and this year with the ash cloud they got me back to the UK before any other airline could,albeit to Heathrow,but, then they laid on Mercedes limousines for all M/cr bound passengers and drove us up to M/cr(no charge),the driver stated that he had never known another company do this and Etihad were the only airline in Heathrow doing it now.I don't have any real complaints,i leave M/cr,fly 6.5hrs to Abu Dhabi,1 hour in lounge(just enough time for 2g&t's,nice hot food and 20 fags ;) ) then time to board for swampy,5.5hours later i am here. Keep saying i will try another airline but never do,they do the business for me and when the flights get busy again the upgrades are brilliant. Any more info needed just pm me,chok dee,cheers,johnty.

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Re: Flights to U.K.

Post by douglas » June 30, 2010, 11:53 am

Hi,
Thanks a lot everyone for your prompt and helpful replies. Think i'll give Etihad a try.
Essex. Talked to the airline and they said if you purchase a cut price, (cheap) ticket in the U.K. the U.K. to BKK part must by used first. You can not use the BKK to UK. first and the U.K. BKK part, which is the first ticket in your book, second. This is what the airlines said and I don't want to risk it. Not worth it. Don't know why they have this policy, Maybe to stop people doing the above and saving the traveller 200 GBP. and the airline losing out on this money.
Plus the dates you put on the tickets, if you could do it this way, will have the U.K. to BKK at a earlier date than the BKK to U.K.. Tried to book online from U.K. with the BKK, to U.K. leg first and the U.K. to BKK second. The form said return date must be after the outward date. As i am going from LOS to U.K. return, this could not be done so no joy going down this road. You are welcome to try.
Thanks you all for your help. Will write a report when I get back to LOS about flight.
Cheers Doug.

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wazza
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Re: Flights to U.K.

Post by wazza » June 30, 2010, 1:28 pm

Douglas

Ur correct in that the ticket u buy must be used in the booking request that it is booked in,

U cant bypass the ticketing profile or sequence , to use another leg first.

Even when u buy cheap tickets, or company based bookings u might also find that tickets cant be reissued or rebooked without having first have the booking party approve the change.

If i get to BKK early from Kazakhstan, ( thats a big if !) i cant use the next mornings ticket to udon, that same night without having my companies agency approve it first, Thai cant change the ticket no matter what u try, gold card or not.

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Re: Flights to U.K.

Post by Nick@AUA » June 30, 2010, 4:00 pm

That's right wazza.

What a lot of people don't realise is that the issuing of international airline tickets is very very strictly controlled by international law. It's nothing like buying bus or train tickets.

You can't use a return part of an airline ticket, unless you use the outbound ticket first. What happens is this. Once you don't turn up for the first part of the ticket - the outbound part - the whole ticket is cancelled. So if you were to turn up at the other end trying to use the return part - it would show up as cancelled, and they would not let you check in.

The other point is that a LON-BKK-LON ticket is much cheaper than a BKK-LON-BKK ticket for various reasons:

Firstly, it's a different route, LON-BKK-LON is not the same as BKK-LON-BKK. It's essentially a different product.

Secondly, more people originate and fly from the UK to Thailand than from Thailand to the UK, so therefore demand is higher which equates to prices lower.

Thirdly, in the UK there are numerous large and powerful travel agents who negotiate with the airlines to get lower fares. (Thailand does not have the same number or size of agents that the UK does)

Fourthly, there are many many more travel agents in the UK competing with each other (not to mention on-line booking) for customers, and so the prices get trimmed further.

People used to ask me all the time "why is it cheaper to fly from London to South Africa, than London to Kenya?" (which is half the distance). My answer was always the same 'It's got very little to do with distance, It's a completely different destination, therefore it's a different 'product'.

Hope this helps

Nick

udonuk1
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Re: Flights to U.K.

Post by udonuk1 » July 3, 2010, 2:35 pm

Kuala Lumpur to London is always cheaper though, it is ONLY flying FROM Thailand that is expensive

I always fly from Thailand via Germany with Air Berlin, and then a Ryanair or easyjet to London, cheap cheap, especially now that EUR has dropped 20% ! Normally 260 - 320 EUR from Thailand to Germany (one way)

davidzzr
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Re: Flights to U.K.

Post by davidzzr » July 4, 2010, 4:02 am

Etihad is very good and cheap airline excellent service, used to fly with Emirates but a bit more expensive.

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