Business & First Class Flights to Bangkok

From the West Coast, the best routings run through Northeast Asia. ANA and Japan Airlines fly Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle to Tokyo with First Class, then Thai Airways or the Japanese carriers continue six hours to Bangkok in a lie-flat cabin; EVA Air's Royal Laurel and Starlux via Taipei, Korean Air via Seoul and Cathay Pacific via Hong Kong are all strong, and United and Delta connect to partners at the same hubs. From the East Coast and the middle of the country, the Gulf is often faster and the cabin is better: Qatar Airways in Qsuite via Doha, Emirates in First or Business via Dubai, Etihad via Abu Dhabi, Turkish Airlines via Istanbul. Singapore Airlines via Changi is the other classic. We build all of these on a single ticket so the connection is protected.

Thai Airways matters on the final leg. Its 787-9 and A350 Royal Silk cabin is a lie-flat 1-2-1; its older A330s and 777-200ERs are 2-2-2, so we route onto the newer aircraft where the schedule allows. Suvarnabhumi's Royal Orchid lounges offer a short Thai massage to business passengers and a full one in First, and the domestic terminal connects to Phuket, Krabi, Chiang Mai and — on Bangkok Airways — Koh Samui in about an hour. If the beach is the goal, we book the domestic sector on the same ticket.

Thailand's high season is November through February, when Bangkok is at its coolest and the Andaman coast (Phuket, Krabi) is dry; Christmas–New Year is the peak for both fares and hotels, and Songkran, the Thai New Year in mid-April, fills the country. March through May is the hot season. June through October is the monsoon on the Andaman side (the Gulf coast — Koh Samui — is drier then), and premium fares drop to their lowest, often well below our $3,500 starting price from Los Angeles.