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The relative benefits of buying air tickets en route (as opposed to buying a round-the-world ticket in advance) is often debated on travel message forums. Obviously, buy-as-you-go offers you more flexibility than a RTW ticket, but I want to illustrate how it is also very cheap, should you keep aware of air ticket prices overseas. What follows is a list (taken from last week’s Bangkok Post classifieds) of round-trip prices from Bangkok to various Asian destinations, plus a few in Australia, Europe, South Africa and North America. Keep in mind that a one-way ticket would be roughly 40% cheaper than these already cheap round-trip fares. For airport and other taxes, add about $20. All prices are U.S. dollars. (And note that this isn’t even necessarily a list of the cheapest fares, just a “menu” of onward options once you get out on the road.)
Singapore — $107
Brunei — $150
Rangoon — $158
Manila — $185
Saigon — $195
Calcutta — $190
Jakarta — $210
Seoul — $242
Shanghai — $245
Tokyo — $268
Maldives — $268
Perth — $313
Sydney — $368
Dubai — $380
Brussels — $440
Paris/London — $522
Cape Town — $527
Los Angeles — $557
New York — $617
May 19th, 2003 at 1:56 pm
Wow, perfect timing with this post Rolf. I’m with some travelers right now who were talking about it just last night. They want to go to Asia first via Bangkok and then on to Perth. And they were saying that they wanted to buy their tickets from Bangkok once they got there to give themselves more flexibility as well as saving some money.
Good one. I’m also shocked that the prices are RT. They’re so low you’d think they’d be one way.
July 15th, 2003 at 11:48 pm
Can I buy return ticket PAR-BKK-PAR?
July 16th, 2003 at 7:00 am
Hey Trung. Unfortunately, I’m not aware of PAR-BKK-PAR tickets being available in Bangkok. All flights presume that BKK will be your initial departure city.
In Paris, you might check fares with Vietnam Air (who offered me the best Paris-bound flight out of BKK; perhaps it’s also cheap the other way). If you don’t mind departing from Brussels, Biman Bangladesh Air is very cheap to BKK (though their service is not always that great).
August 21st, 2003 at 4:23 pm
i was wondering if anyone knows how much a ticket to kathmandu from bangkok is. i’m planning on going there in feb. and i can’t find a cheap ticket from new york so i was going to fly to bangkok and then buy my ticket there. thanks
August 21st, 2003 at 8:37 pm
A Kathmandu ticket will run you about $300 from Bangkok; $170 one-way. Prices will vary, so shop around BKK travel agents for the best deal.
August 21st, 2003 at 11:24 pm
Also: When shopping for tickets to Kathmandu, ask the Bangkok travel agent about prices for Biman Bangladesh Air, which has a classic Bangkok-Dhaka-Nepal backpacker flight that may be cheaper than what I quoted above. Not all agents sell Biman tickets (because Biman’s support service sucks), so you might have to shop around a bit.
August 29th, 2003 at 2:07 pm
In January 2004 3 weeks- two senior fares return from Regina.
October 12th, 2003 at 1:27 pm
Hey folks,
Thanks for all the inquiries, but keep in mind here that I am not a travel agent. In fact, what I am doing is recommeding the counterintuitive practice of NOT planning air tickets in advance. My point here is that these prices are representative of typical airfare prices from Bangkok travel agents. That is, these are tickets you would buy on the go while vagabonding through Thailand — not from afar.
If you want to keep tabs on the most current prices for airfares out of Bangkok, check in with BKK travel agent websites such as Charlie Connection or Olavi Tours.