Thai Airways Opens New Routes and Increases Numbers of International Flights

[Gaybutton]

The following appears in THE NATION:

_____

 

Thai Airways to Open New Route to India, Increase Flights for Holiday Season

 

Flag carrier Thai Airways International said Thursday it would open a new route to India and increase the number of flights to meet rising demand for winter holiday travel.

 

The airline said it will launch three flights per week from Bangkok to Hyderabad, a popular tourist destination in central India, later this month. Hyderabad will become its sixth Indian destination.

 

The airline would also increase the frequency of flights on 18 international routes, including from Bangkok to New York and Europe, by 36 per cent more than normal to meet upcoming holiday demand.

 

"We have to increase the number of our flights because lots of Americans and Europeans are coming to Thailand for Christmas holidays," said an airline official.

 

The company said the winter flight schedule, which also boosts the number of flights from Bangkok to Asian cities such as Yangon and Saigon, would be effective from later this month to March 2007.

 

Thai Airways would also increase the number of domestic flights from Bangkok to the kingdom's popular tourist destinations such as Phuket and Chiang Mai.

[Guest fountainhall]

With tourists coming in to Thailand in greater numbers (and with air travel in general becoming more popular again), has anyone else noticed how impossible it is becoming to redeem frequent flyer miles for business class out of Bangkok? If you are with One World (like me), you are stuck with BA (which only fly to London or Sydney and is hopeless as this is one of BA's busiest routes), JL (only good for round-trips on JL, not in combination with other carriers), Finnair (OK for Europe but almost hopeless for North America) or CX. The real problem seems to be that many long haul visitors use their miles to get to Bangkok via the hubs at Narita and Hong Kong, and so mileage redemption seats between the hubs and Bangkok are much more scarce now. In January, I tried to get one seat Bangkok/Tokyo/Bangkok for mid-June. No availability for more than 10 days either side of my preferred dates. I could get Hong Kong/Tokyo/Hong Kong on CX no problem, but nothing from/to Bangkok. And for 3 months now, I have been trying to get JL or CX to Vancouver in May. June or July next year. Impossible out of Bangkok!