General Reports

[Syzygies]

If I was 6'4 which I'm not I might have been the first Asian in the NBA, before Jeremy Lin 555? But since I'm not, I have no problems sitting in coach, in fact with Eva, I feel more comfortable sitting in coach.

I had the misfortune to choose Ryanair recently (not for flight to Thailand of course). Very few tall people on board and I could see why. The seats were appallingly bad causing torture. Minimal leg room reminded me of Malaysia Air Domestic many years ago, but curvature forward on both left and right side edges of the seat back pushed right on the shoulder blades, and seats could not be reclined. I am not quite 6'4 either. I can see why the term "cattle class" seats. Perhaps my shoulders are a bit broader than average as well. I don't have this extreme problem in any other airline to date. Seat design is just shocking (for some of us).

I warn all tall persons not to think of taking Ryan Air except in extreme desperation and very short flights only.

[Syzygies]

I am not aware of China Air having a midnight flight out of Honolulu, they only show a flight leaving at 13:10 and the fight makes a number of stops. Also not aware they offer a direct flight from Hon-BKK.

My search found this (flying Sun and Wed):

23:25 Honolulu (HNL) - Terminal M.
10:05 Bangkok (BKK).
Duration: 17:40 - 1 stop in Taipei.
Aircraft Airbus Industrie A340-300.
China Airlines (CI 001).
Aircraft Aircraft varies.
China Airlines (CI 833).

Times may change a bit at different times of year. However I suspect Honolulu (HNL) has no daylight saving (just a guess).

Hope you did not search for HON (Hong Kong).

Around 10 April was different (flying Mon and Thurs) confirming variation in times:
01:15 Honolulu (HNL) - Terminal M.
10:00 Bangkok (BKK).
Duration: 15:45 - 1 stop in Taipei.

[LittleBigMan]

I have used China Airlines for years and I am a gold level customer. They are also a Taiwanese airline. Great service and never delayed. I leave Honolulu at midnight and I am in Bkk the following day at 8:30 am. Take the MRT and switch to the BTS and get off at Asoke. Take a taxi to my hotel from 21. All told is 100 baht from the airport to my hotel. A taxi with tolls is 400 baht. And you have traffic jams with a taxi.

RL.

I am not aware of China Air having a midnight flight out of Honolulu, they only show a flight leaving at 13:10 and the fight makes a number of stops. Also not aware they offer a direct flight from Hon-BKK.

[Robert Long]

One reason EVA costs less is that for the bargain basement fares, THEY DON'T GIVE MILES.

I have used China Airlines for years and I am a gold level customer. They are also a Taiwanese airline. Great service and never delayed. I leave Honolulu at midnight and I am in Bkk the following day at 8:30 am. Take the MRT and switch to the BTS and get off at Asoke. Take a taxi to my hotel from 21. All told is 100 baht from the airport to my hotel. A taxi with tolls is 400 baht. And you have traffic jams with a taxi.

RL.

[LittleBigMan]

If I was 6'4 which I'm not I might have been the first Asian in the NBA, before Jeremy Lin 555? But since I'm not, I have no problems sitting in coach, in fact with Eva, I feel more comfortable sitting in coach. I've upgrade to deluxe slightly bigger seat design a number of times and the seat make me uncomfortable and after a few hours my hamstrings gets tight from the too much pressure on them from the design of the seat cushion. But based on aircraft seat design for coach I doubt anyone being 6'4 is going to be comfortable in coach with any airline. The aircraft they use are B777-300 ER, and aircraft configuration are different for shorter trip like from TPE / BKK. Their long segment of SFO / TPE the aircraft all have been upgraded decor, bathroom are tops providing toothbrush / paste and earplugs. The screen are now 10 inches and have USB connections. WiFi is available for a charge.

It should be noted in regards to Eva, they mix up their prices a lot, especially out of Bangkok to the SFO, many of their low fares at times try to move you to a long layover in Taipei, this can happen also when booking from SFO / LAX, so once you move forward double check your the length of the flight or trip that is going to be a clear giveaway. Also be flexible in your travel dates, you can move a date before and after and the flights cost can drop a lot? Their lowest fare reading the fine print normally don't include any mileage or just for their short segment Tpe / Bkk. If mileage is important to you if you choose the next higher fare it would include full or 80%. When it comes to fares, for example I checked a fare for Sept 11th, this year in Jan every date for the month was 56,000 baht BKK / SFO, that is very high for Eva, when that happens I wait, just last week I checked again and the fare dropped to 26,500 baht for the same date. It seems if you research too far ahead they got the fares up so be patient. As the flights start to fill up the prices start to drop, and after booking if you can't select a seat or not what you want like aisle keep checking everyday. As you get closer to the travel date travel agents start to turn in their unsold allotment and seat become more available. There are ways to double check to know whether a flight is selling out? In the end, if you can't get a aisle seat call reservation and let them list you for a aisle or emergency exit row instead of just asking when checking in. I've done this every time and when I check in they already have honor my request for all segments. I'm one of those guys that like to be the first to check in so get my request every time. Sitting in the aisle emergency row also allows you to board right after first class.

Some mention minimum cost for changes, for example if you purchased your original ticket at 28,000 baht, on April 1st, and after purchase you need to travel on another date, if that date there are seats still being sold at 28.000 then there is no higher charge but if the lowest fare for your original date is 35,000 baht now you will have to pay the difference to make the change. Their normal cancellation and change is 2000 baht?

[PinkPearl]

Total newbie, and actually my first post. After years of wanting to visit Thailand I finally am able to make it happen. I did a great deal of research here as well and thought I had all my bases covered. And then I find out that it just so happens that my trip is scheduled during the Songkran. I did not even know this existed and had apparently not seen anything of it in my research.

I can deal with the getting wet part, but I am concerned that some of the bars may be closed or very short staffed. Is this something I should be concerned with? Or is this a blessing and something that may be fun and end up being a positive?..

Personally I always try to land in Bangkok after Songkran or leave well before it starts.

If you can arrive a week or two later I'd suggest it, or even in May.

That being said, I've been there during Songkran more than once & still had good fun with the street ladies outside Nana hotel across from the NEP gogos.

[Eszpresszo]

This is impressive. I need to look into Eva Air for sure now. I always notice Eva about 25% cheaper than Cathay. Can anyone else compare Eva Air with Cathay? I find the seats at Cathay to be fairly comfortable even if the person in front of you reclines his seat all the way back.

Well, I can attest to the poor amount of legroom on EVA. I'm 6'4" and in coach it was a bit tight on the way over, and needed a Thai massage upon arrival to get myself back in shape. Luckily I was in the right place. However, they are very generous in regards to changes with a relatively benign fee, which was $100. KAL on the other hand, hit me with a $300 penalty after I had to get a refund. I had to postpone my trip and while there was a modest fee for a change of dates (around $100), all available dates in the near future had a much more expensive fare. Even the agent I spoke to (who had an Indian accent) flat out told me it was going to cost well over $1000 to get my reservation changed to a later date. I ended up taking the $300 hit and rebooked with EVA for a ticket that was about $200 less to BKK and back, so it wasn't a bad loss. Yes, I like EVA but coach is crammed with a lot of short Asian people with too much carry on baggage. Customer service in English is pretty dismal at KAL, which I can see on their website seems oriented towards Koreans.

[Banana Boi]

For my return flight I needed to move the date up by 1 month. I did so with no extra charge.

This is impressive. I need to look into Eva Air for sure now. I always notice Eva about 25% cheaper than Cathay. Can anyone else compare Eva Air with Cathay? I find the seats at Cathay to be fairly comfortable even if the person in front of you reclines his seat all the way back.

[HornDog 3]

Hey Guys, thanks for all of your info on airlines. I was flying CP for a few years. I did not like the long layovers in HG. Now that Eva is flying out of Chicago. I thought I would try it. They were about $1200 cheaper than CP for premium economy. Plus they fly out at midnight so I get in to Manila by noon. I can get to Bangkok by 6:00 pm. With CP I always ended up in Bkk at midnight.

The flight was nice. The service was good.

In Pattaya now until Tuesday. Then off to Angeles City for a week.

[Crazy4Thai]

I flew RT Eva last year. They had the best price and there were no issues. For my return flight I needed to move the date up by 1 month. I did so with no extra charge. The overall experience sure beat the hell out of Delta the previous 2 years. I plan to fly Eva again in the next 2 months or so.

[LittleBigMan]

To Horndog.

I fly EVA once never again bad service it is one of the cheapest from the US, most Taiwanese that fly this airline are low class people I only fly Cathay pacific or Singapore now from SFO stop in HKG there are more connection to Bangkok or Manila it is more expensive but not by much.

Fast Eddie 48.

Funny, I have been using Eva for over ten years out of SFO, guess I'm low class? As a standby and paying passenger, consider them to be one of the best airline in the world and they were voted 5 class airline just this last year. Never had a bad experience going standby as a airline staff. Although you feel the passengers are low class I've never seen a flight attendant upset or a unusual dirty airplane after 12 plus hours. Their aircraft are top notch and the connection and staff in Taipei is also top notch.

I've also used Cathay a number of times throughout the years and I know it is consider one of the best. But everyone has their opinion as we know but I try to stay away from Cathay, for several reasons. One the connection I used BKK / HK / SFO, not bashing just generalizing like you is full of Indians, talking about low class.

A number of years ago, I got on a flight from BKK, connecting out of HK to SFO, the flight was late from a City in India, when I boarded to the back it was already packed with Indians, pretty much the one's that you see on Walking Street that walk around in packs and aren't allow in clubs (again generalizing) I was unable to find a spot for my small check-in lucky was able to put it under the seat in front after locating the owner a few rolls back who happen to use the spot. After seated, sat for a long period which worry me due to my connection. Everyone was still roaming around standing so I got up went to the back to talk to the flight attendant. I saw everyone standing around drinking beer, when I walk by the bathroom I saw [CodeWord109] all over the floor with guys standing inside and outside bare feet.

I ask the F / A when we were leaving? Told her about the connection, they all seem disinterested and beaten down and indicated basically to me don't worry. Never seen this in a Asian owned airline although CP is owned by the Hong Kong government. I go back to my seat and after a while the plane was on the runaway taking off but the passenger were still standing around especially in the back drinking. Being in the airline industry for over 25 plus years and years of flying back and forth Asia have never seen this ever happen. That was one of the toughest 11 hours flight thereafter I avoid CP for years. Last year, due to a emergency I had to used CP, as a non-revenue passenger and treated like shit. I decided to return out of SFO, using Eva.

Shit happens on any airline but you might have gotten Eva mix up with China Airline now that is a bad one.

[Fast Eddie 48]

Has anyone flown with this company? I have a flight coming up from ORD to Manila.

To Horndog.

I fly EVA once never again bad service it is one of the cheapest from the US, most Taiwanese that fly this airline are low class people I only fly Cathay pacific or Singapore now from SFO stop in HKG there are more connection to Bangkok or Manila it is more expensive but not by much.

Fast Eddie 48.

[TylerDurden01]

Total newbie, and actually my first post. After years of wanting to visit Thailand I finally am able to make it happen. I did a great deal of research here as well and thought I had all my bases covered. And then I find out that it just so happens that my trip is scheduled during the Songkran. I did not even know this existed and had apparently not seen anything of it in my research.

I can deal with the getting wet part, but I am concerned that some of the bars may be closed or very short staffed. Is this something I should be concerned with? Or is this a blessing and something that may be fun and end up being a positive?

My days are April 9 to 13 in Phuket and April 13 to 17 in Bangkok.

I could also flex my days if it is better to avoid one place vs the other.

Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated!

[Dinghy]

Thanks for the advice. Google translate seems to be working for me so long as I keep things very simple. Not so much to chat, but just basic communication outside of the general scene questions (where from, how long stay, how old, etc.).

In Bangkok I had no problem communicating with girls in English, in Pattaya it can be a different story. Maybe not necessarily just due to age as I have met girls (21) with decent English, but some have almost none outside of the standard questions I mention above.

This may not be worth the bother for many, but I find that even a little back and forth can lead to a more fun session with the girl. Certainly not a guarantee of great service, but at least something to do while we are finishing drinks.

It takes some time, but learning basic Thai is quite helpful. Reading is, of course, another story entirely. But at least it is better than the pictograph based languages (like Chinese or Japanese).

[Dinghy]

Yes. Good "Asian" airline, which means you won't have surly linebacker-type stewardesses or haughty sensitive stewards like the US carriers. Have flown long haul in economy class. Service is good. In-flight entertainment is good. I prefer ANA for the ORD flights, but it generally costs more. Enjoy, AsianRain.

One reason EVA costs less is that for the bargain basement fares, THEY DON'T GIVE MILES.