London - Phuket

[Meridianman]

Can anybody recommend an airline who provies direct flights from London to Phuket?

[mushroom25]

although several european airlines show flight numbers to or from bangkok/phuket, these appear to be "codeshare" flights. meaning that you'll need to change planes at bangkok.

[lumination]

im in thailand right now and i dont know of many direct flight to Phuket. As mushroom said you can get a connecting flight from bangkok to phuket airport, or for the cheaper option. fly air asia to bangkok, stay there for 1 night along Kho San Road (big backpackers place) here you will find so many travel agensies, all of them do buses to Phuket. pick your bus, get picked up the next day, a bus would be about 8 hours maybe?

ill be in Phuket in a couple of weeks actually, maybe next week im not sure, but when im there if i remember ill have a look around at bus/coach prices?

p.s or another way is fly into Kuala Lumpar and get a coach up, but you would have to cross the thai boarder in which case you would only get 15day free visa. if you fly in you get 30days.

anyway, happy planninga holiday!!

p.s ive heard fellow backpackers say Phuket is very touristy, you could grab a ferry to some nearby islands, Koh Lanta is suppossed to be quite beautiful.

[237SJ]

There are quite a few direct flights to Phuket but I`d be surprised if you`d find a non-stop flight to phuket from London. I doubt whether their runway is long enough to cope with a non-stop flight on the return flight either. You`d have to go via somewhere else

[Buenchico]

As others have indicated, there are no direct flights from London (or anywhere else in the UK) to Phuket.

Start your search for suitable connecting points here:
http://en.wikipedia.o...International_Airport

Chris

[mushroom25]

The only european airlines offering direct flights to Phuket are Transaero (from Moscow), Air Berlin (from Munich) and Edelweiss (from Zurich), and none offer easy transfer off flights from the UK. So the only credible route from the UK to Phuket is via Bangkok.

A bus from Bangkok can cost as little as 500baht if you don't mind being cramped, and will take 12-13 hours. It takes the same time to go by train/bus combination but the cost is around £35, although this is all in air conditioned comfort.

With the proliferation of budget airlines in Thailand, the air fare from Bangkok to Phuket is very competitive and often cheaper than the train/bus combination.

[Meridianman]

Thanks for all your responses guys. I only really want to fly (as opposed to bus) when I get into Thailand as I'm taking the wife and our 5 year old so the bus really isn't an option.

We have friends in Bangkok who moved out there last year who we are desperate to see (and we can only really go during school holidays). We've also only got about 7-9 days.

Phuket was the suggestion from our friends but if anybody has any recommendations/experience for other locations in this part of Asia which limits the amount of changing required I'd love to hear them.

Thanks for all the answers so far - very much appreciated.

[jaydah]

Phuket is too small for transatlantic planes.

http://maps.google.co....163253,19.753418&z=6

[lumination]

there are 2 islands near bangkok which are about 4-5 hour bus ride away. they are called koh chang and koh something. could go there?
they arnt as beautiful looking as phuket are but they are islands none the less!
my friend is there right now actually and she said sun, sea and sand. so cant be that bad there hahaha. hope this helps.