How much taxes u paid? I heard Thai taxes are also pretty high and some of the economy flights are cheaper than the taxes charged by Thai😅.
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Redeeming miles on Thai Airways - Royal Orchid Plus
Did you try calling their support number and see if they could help you book starting from India? (I couldn't even get the proper support number for miles redemption tbh maybe try your luck)
They have a pretty decent star alliance redemption chart. SIN - IND at 35k miles for Business. That's pretty decent value.
Your miles won't go waste if you travel to south-east Asian countries.
For Business class, the redemption is pretty good as they fly A350s (select routes and dates only) with lie-flat seats. Food, drinks and service were also very good.
Priority check-in, security and immigration. In 5 mins I was in the lounge. They have a really HUGE lounge at BKK with shower facilities. I have never seen a lounge that big before. You won't get access to that unless you travel Business or first. Or maybe star alliance gold.
For the economy, I feel the tax is too much (almost half of the revenue ticket) so not really worth it.
Even priority pass lists royal orchid lounge. Is it not accessible using that?
Can you suggest some best lounges for Indian vegetarian food in Bangkok and phuket both domestic and international side?
In international? Are you sure? It doesn't list in the PP app. Just checked.
Actually, I visited 5 lounges on my last trip.
In BKK International - Thai Royal orchid lounge, Oman Airways lounge, Air France lounge.
The other 2 lounges are very far from the Royal orchid lounge. Almost 20-25 mins walk.
None of the lounges had any indian food.
Oman Airways lounge was quite small. Like Max occupancy of 20-30. It's the smallest I have been to. Mostly Mediterranean food, less veg options.
Air France lounge is pretty decently sized - Mostly European cuisine.
Royal orchid had multi-cusine - Still no Indian food.
In Domestic Ternminal - Bangkok Air lounge
You need to fly their flight to get access to it. There is a separate business class lounge which you can access with Priority Pass which has shower facilities and good food. (less veg options)
With Priority Pass you can visit any number of lounges so you can explore. Most of the airline lounges are close by, if you don't like one, you can go to another. Only Royal orchid lounge is far.
Didn't visit Phuket so no idea.
My bad, I saw royal orchid in phuket domestic area.
Unlimited visits is there, but don't want to make bills on 20k to bank for one trip. They might consider it as misuse and block my card.
Seems like there is none with vegetarian items. U didn't go miracle lounge though, I found few videos of that online. Can I ask them the menu before swiping 😅?
What are these concourse mentioned in priority pass? Is it like different terminal and only one of them will be accessible?
I swiped PP 3 times on the same day.
Vegetarian options are there, but no Indian food. Yes you can ask them that you'll take a look at the food section before swiping.
Sections in airport. All are connected. All are accessible
Lol too many choices then😂. There are 7-8 sections with 2-3 lounges each.
I will carry all my pp from all banks to distribute the bill a little.
LATEST UPDATE
Finally, I called Thai Reservation Center in Bangkok, with a tiny hope of getting help. They helped me instantly with the award ticket reservation and emailed me a payment link, and the payment was successful in one go. I made the payment immediately while I was speaking with the executive and he confirmed that the payment was approved.
Ticket has already been issued.
The only problem is I had to pay INR 3,000 tax more than what it was showing during online redemption. It didn't matter to me as I intend to travel only this route and Thai Airlines and did not want to waste any more time.
Final Observations:
1. For flight originating from India (multi-city), call Thai Airways Reservation Center +6623561111 to redeem award tickets if you are not able to make the payment online. Don't try to do the payment multiple times as it won't work.
2. For flight originating from Thailand, online payment will not be an issue (as per my experience).
3. I think you will be able to redeem round trip award ticket (originating from India) India-Thailand-India if you call the reservation center. Online it's not possible. I didn't ask them but will be always helpful to check if you are planning.
Miles and Tax (Economy per person):
India-BKK-Phuket (multi-city): 21150 miles. Tax THB 4,090
BKK-India: 17500 miles. Tax THB 3,095
Redemption Rate - INR 0.50 per miles.
I know the redemption rate is not great but I am traveling with my family and child and I need only non-stop flights for this trip.
Hey, thanks for sharing your experience. Did you consider the direct flights from Vistara to BKK?
Hey...
Could you please share, if moving our miles/points to any other airlines(Star alliance partner) where the miles usage is lower ? or we can save tax/charges ?
kindly revert what is the best way to redeem... in Thai airlines, as it has the direct flight from BLR to BKK.
Thanks in advance.
xombiedp
TF Buzz
Found a way to redeem Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus points at @ 0.8p conversion ratio.
I followed this thread and was frustrated with the restrictions on booking your travel from India. They charge higher charges for booking via their customer care.
I then called their India customer care @ 18001021225. They told me that there was a better way to redeem ROP points. The process is given below:
Go to thaiairways.com -> click on book -> choose your flights and go ahead -> when you reach payment page, you will see Cash+Miles. I figured that you can pay upto 40% of your ticket using ROP at 0.80p. Also, you will be able to pay for flights originating from India as well using Indian credit cards. One would get 5X points on Axis atlas (confirmed).
I paid the same amount in cash as I would have paid if I went for award tickets. However, I burned 40-50% lesser ROP points.
I'm traveling from Blr - Bkk, so vistara isn't an option.
I followed this thread and was frustrated with the restrictions on booking your travel from India. They charge higher charges for booking via their customer care.
I then called their India customer care @ 18001021225. They told me that there was a better way to redeem ROP points. The process is given below:
Go to thaiairways.com -> click on book -> choose your flights and go ahead -> when you reach payment page, you will see Cash+Miles. I figured that you can pay upto 40% of your ticket using ROP at 0.80p. Also, you will be able to pay for flights originating from India as well using Indian credit cards. One would get 5X points on Axis atlas (confirmed).
I paid the same amount in cash as I would have paid if I went for award tickets. However, I burned 40-50% lesser ROP points.
I'm traveling from Blr - Bkk, so vistara isn't an option.
In net how many miles and cash for one way blr-bkk?
Also, what is least revenue fare for that route on that day across any airlines?
xombiedp
TF Buzz
Route:
Onward: BLR - CNX (via BKK)
Return: BKK - BLR
When I booked, Thai Airways revenue ticket was around 34K per pax. Not considering Indigo as I was not keen as one needs to spend for seat, food and alcoholic beverages etc. It also didn't have CNX connectivity.
Award ticket was:
BLR - CNX (via BKK): 21250 ROP + 4790 TBH (~ Rs. 11250)
BKK - BLR: 17500 ROP + 3195 TBH (~Rs. 7500)
Total: 38750 ROP + Rs. 18750
Conv rate of: Rs 0.40 per ROP
Cash+Miles ticket:
Whole itinerary for 1 pax was for: 17555 ROP + Rs. 19850
Conversion rate of 0.8p per ROP
Only Rs1100 more in cash but 21200 ROP lower. Also, this payment qualifies for 5x on axis atlas (confirmed with axis).
Hope this helps.
Onward: BLR - CNX (via BKK)
Return: BKK - BLR
When I booked, Thai Airways revenue ticket was around 34K per pax. Not considering Indigo as I was not keen as one needs to spend for seat, food and alcoholic beverages etc. It also didn't have CNX connectivity.
Award ticket was:
BLR - CNX (via BKK): 21250 ROP + 4790 TBH (~ Rs. 11250)
BKK - BLR: 17500 ROP + 3195 TBH (~Rs. 7500)
Total: 38750 ROP + Rs. 18750
Conv rate of: Rs 0.40 per ROP
Cash+Miles ticket:
Whole itinerary for 1 pax was for: 17555 ROP + Rs. 19850
Conversion rate of 0.8p per ROP
Only Rs1100 more in cash but 21200 ROP lower. Also, this payment qualifies for 5x on axis atlas (confirmed with axis).
Hope this helps.
Ohk, better use than usual method, but still not lucrative at all compared to JAL.
BLR-(CMB)-BKK-(CMB)-BLR Round Trip via Srilankan Airlines at 23K miles and 4-5K taxes.
xombiedp
TF Buzz
I had earlier transferred my magnus points to JAL. Planning for my 2nd trip to Japan next year (blr - bkk - blr).
I transferred all my 52.5k+ edge miles ( 105k ROP) to Thai after calculating 17.5k x 2 x 3 pax for blr to bkk. After all the frustration with award flights, and the discovery of cash+miles, I'm left with 55k ROP. Don't know when I'll use them though.
I transferred all my 52.5k+ edge miles ( 105k ROP) to Thai after calculating 17.5k x 2 x 3 pax for blr to bkk. After all the frustration with award flights, and the discovery of cash+miles, I'm left with 55k ROP. Don't know when I'll use them though.
Might be late in adding to this,
A valid PP guarantees you access, so any / every valid lounge serviced by them.
Therefore, at the reception, inform the staff that you wish to have a quick look at the food options (due to dietary preferences, in this case).
They are more than happy to comply, just give them the assurance that you are a valid PP holder.
A little confidence goes a long way guys, even while travelling economy, I have had Spicejet Airlines staff call the lounge to remind me to board (Oman Air - BKK Suvarnabhumi).
It's one of my favourites. The Food and Alcohol is worth the visit.
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