BOOK NOW: British Airways adds extra Bangkok flights for Easter 2025

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• James says:

  26 Jul26 July 10:01

  Have taken my parents with me on several different biz class longhaul carriers and after several flights with Emirates, Qatar, Etihad and even Iberia my mother made a completely honest & genuine comment while settling down on a BA flight to JNB.
  “James, Is this Econony Business Class ?”
  😆😆😆😆😆
  A few other passengers heard her genuine question and had a good laugh. The cabin crew took it well also, with one of them stating “We might not have the best seats but with BA you do get a better class of Sarcasm” 😆😆
  We were supposed to be on an Iberia flight IIRC correctly.

• BA Stards says:

  26 Jul26 July 10:06

  Even with a companion voucher, it’s arguably better value & definitely better product to go with Qatar.
  BA need to improve or readjust their Avios cost on routes like BKK.

  And while I’m here, the CAI, SSH, AMM flights being on a narrow body with CE seating for the price (both Avios & cash price) is outrageous for ~5hr flights.

  • Marcw says:

    26 Jul26 July 10:29

    Not everyone is a fan of connecting flights in the middle of the night. I believe many travellers value non-stop flights!

    • Gordon says:

      26 Jul26 July 10:36

      Ive only had one connecting flight in the US, in all my years of flying, i favour direct, be it day or night, but could be tempted if a fare was available at a can’t say no price.

    • Mark says:

      26 Jul26 July 11:42

      Agreed in principle, though there’s something to be said for breaking the journey on the longest flights especially where it is close to the fastest available route and roughly around the half way point as Doha is for flights to/from SE Asia. Qatar also offers some really good stopover hotel deals for longer stop-overs (we deliberately chose an 18 hour stopover last year for that reason, and spent a pleasant morning exploring Souq Waqif).

  • Talay says:

    30 Jul30 July 02:15

    30 years ago, when flying economy in the “flying pub” as my Japanese ex used to call it, out of London overnight into Tokyo on a 747 with angle flat business (occasional upgrade) and almost unlimited drinks to subdue the passengers into a stupor for the 12/13 hour flight, I’d have agreed that direct was the way to go.

    Heck, JAL even had temporary smoking and boozing seats at the back of economy !

    Roll onto a couple of decades flying in business and first and frankly, I’m sitting here today with an unexpected need to fly to Bangkok next week and I’m pondering over the 7+7 (as I call it) routine flight on Etihad (usual carrier) versus a far better price on Swiss which has tight connections (only time I ever had a delayed bag was because of one of their connections) but they have (what I call) the 2+10 and the 10+2.

    Outbound, all is good. Eat, drink, do your connection and fly into sleep through the air but coming home, they dump you in Zurich and rather than LHR where you simply get a cab, you need to connect to another flight and fanny around for a couple of hours after around 16 hours travelling already.

    I prefer the 7+7 and a shower half way but as I’m buying 2 tickets, a grand or more saving might make me go to the land of cuckoo clocks once again.

• BJ says:

  26 Jul26 July 16:15

  @Mark Smart money would have been on 1. Finnair avios redemption, 2. redemption on Finnair via Alaska MP following amex MR – Bonvoy -A.aska MP transfer or miles purchase in 60% sale, or 3. miles-earning revenue fare for about £2300 rtn from UK or £110 ow back from Thailand if available for your dates. Finnair gets you the best bed by a mile, and it provides UK/EC261 protection that your current plan returning on Qatar doesn’t.

  • BJ says:

    26 Jul26 July 16:17

    If only lol, *£1100.

  • Mark says:

    26 Jul26 July 17:18

    We did consider returning with Finnair, but whilst there was some limited redemption availability it wasn’t on the same day and the timings didn’t work so well. I have to say I’m not convinced by the idea of a seat that doesn’t recline, though I’d be intrigued to try it at some point… Redemption costs including Avios at a value of 1p each and nominal value for the voucher are about £1800 return, and we’re relatively Avios rich at the moment so wanted to do a redemption.

    • BJ says:

      26 Jul26 July 21:05

      The momrrcliming seat isvan issue for some. Given yoyr avios-rich you might wantvto trybitbon a short break to Finland, Estonia etc. O’m guessing your notional £1800pp is based on BA rtn with a voucher from/to London with no connections. O thpught copaymrnts from London were a bit higher than £600pp but a wholr since I looked and I start from EFI sobcopayment would be a bit higher. Anyeay that’s not what you’re doing so your overall vost is more than £1800pp. Of you had the time and the interest you could also vonsider a short break on HK and return from there as we often do. Bot sire if you actually want to go yo KL. If not and if as it seems you want to try Qatar thrn you’d be better doing Qatar put and BA back from BKK or HK to avaol of full 361vprotevtion if there’s award availability. Personally I would not pass on that protection if I didn’t have to, and I’d then be kicking myself if I found myself needing it. Just one final word on that nonreclining Finnair seat – they do provide bavkrest, cushions and pilliwsvon request as needed to make it work for you. IME it can therefore become much more comfortable than than reclining seats on other airlines because the latter sacrifice ergonomics to an extent so that the seat works better as a bed. Not really trying to sell you anything here, just sharing thoughts that may or not be of use. Enjoy your trip however it ends up.

      • Mark says:

        26 Jul26 July 22:06

        Also worth noting that (issues of availability aside) QR out, BA back wouldn’t work in the same way. The outbound would be more expensive with QR due to UK APD, and cabin upgrade vouchers can only be used on bookings originating in the UK (granted I could have used the Amex voucher instead but that has more value elsewhere).

• Mark says:

  26 Jul26 July 21:58

  Thanks BJ.

  Outbound for two in BA CW direct from LHR to KUL was £625 plus 110k Avios plus a cabin upgrade voucher (nominal value £100). At 1p/Avios, total £1825.

  Inbound for two with QR HKT-DOH-LGW was £306 plus 150k Avios. At 1p/Avios, total £1806.

  So a little over £1800 each for the return, on off-peak dates for BA and QR respectively.

  Aware we don’t get UK261/EC261 cover on the return, so that would have been one in Finnair’s favour – assuming they do meet their EC261 obligations and/or are part of an ADR scheme.

• Mr Anthony Hywood says:

  27 Jul27 July 07:10

  can you use BA avios points to fly on Qatar? how do you transfer them?

  • Rob says:

    27 Jul27 July 09:15

    Link in the article but you can also book them via BA.com, no transfer needed.

• Sara says:

  15 Aug15 August 13:27

  Do you think they will continue flying direct to BKK into summer 25? When would you think these flights would be released?

  • Rob says:

    15 Aug15 August 13:33

    May well do, but it will just happen randomly at some point. Even we don’t get official BA notifications of stuff like seasonal extensions – first we hear is usually an email from a reader who got a SeatSpy notification of reward seats opening. Highly likely we’d do an article when it happens though.

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