United SFO to BK via Tokyo worked well for us.

On United, the flight from Chicago to Tokyo to Bangkok is a great connection. It will likely have the shortest travel time, as the polar route is very efficient. So you could meet your friend in Chicago and the two of you head out across the Pacific. You would have a couple of hours at Narita before flying on to Bangkok. You have the option of a premium economy seat, which has more leg room.

There are many choices from the NYC area, most go over Europe.

UA's ORD-NRT is on a 747-400. Even with E+, there's still no IFE, with only big projector up front. I'd seriously avoid it. A much better choice for usually the same price is flying NH (ANA) ORD-NRT-BKK. Not only are the planes more comfortable with better entertainment, food is also better and you arrive BKK slightly earlier. Fares are often the same as UA and NH run a joint-venture across the Pacific.

UA's 777-200 on EWR-NRT are from it's Continental unit, and have AVOD in coach. But legroom is pretty limited in coach unless one is in E+.

Japan Airlines and Cathay Pacific also provide better comfort than UA's 747-400.

As for layover, yes it's extremely easy to get from HKG to the city for a quick stroll and some good food. Frankfurt itself has little to offer, but there are other cities near FRA that are more interesting to visit - like Mainz.

I also do UA to get to Bangkok from Chicago, 4-5 times a year. I usually go ORD to NRT (Tokyo/Narita) 3 hour layover, then NRT-BKK, arriving around 11pm.

I prefer to fly ORD-HKG (a longer flight, yes) and then have a 2 hour layover before taking Thai on to Bangkok, arriving a little bit earlier than from NRT. I like getting that long haul flight DONE and then it's a much shorter 'hop' to BKK from Hong Kong.

Rkkwan is right about the UA 747 and no video screen in the seat back in front of you, only the bigger screens throughout the econonmy cabin for viewing same movie all at one time. I am not a movie person, preferring my own reading material, puzzles, SLEEP instead. But, I am nearly 6' tall so I do not want to risk taking ANA and not having the leg room. Asian people, in general, are smaller frame and shorter!! I could be wrong, but risking 13 hours without room for my knees is not a pleasant thought. I am a very frequent flier with UA and usually have an upgraded seat to business class (not always though) but I take an exit row seat in economy and have plenty of room to stretch out.

I hAve taken Thaoi Air since they changed their zseats from JFK/ It izs a 1 stop via Franfurt with total delspded time of 20 hours. I paid $1450 last month in coach.

I would look at ANA if you can get a good fare.

Thai Air flies from JFK? Do you mean Singapore Air?

two---korean just brought us to asia---fantastic..

finn air is excellent to..

united would be at the bottom of my list..

ANA, EVA, Thai, Malay, Singapore all come to mind.

Check Emirates, my first choice. JFK to Dubai to BKK. Airbus 380 JFK to DXB. Good leg-room, superb food and free drinks in economy, convenient connection times. Or you can stop over in Dubai for up to 36 hours with a complimentary visa, meet and greet at airport and transfers, hotel accommodation for not much more than $100.

Check Delta. JFK, Minneapolis or Detroit to Narita to BKK. Sometimes you can snag good fares for EconomyComfort with more recline and more legroom.

Check Korean. Chicago to Seoul to BKK.

I'm flying to Bangkok in January myself, also in April. Both times British Airways to London. January, on to Hong Kong for a few days on BA, then HKG to BKK on Emirates. April, nonstop London to BKK.

Upgrading to flat-bed business class with points makes BA my favorite way to go. It takes a little longer to get to Bangkok but, with friends in London and Hong Kong, I often stop for a few days enroute.

Last trip (September) return flights from BKK overbooked so I was shuffled up into First!

Thanks for the responses. I'll do some more searching of fares, routes, etc., and I may be back with more questions before booking.

One for now...what would you expect to pay for this RT flight? I'm seeing fares from $1300-$1800 for economy (with some much higher of course), does this seem about the norm?

Only but a few years ago, fares used to be around $800-1200...but lately with fuel prices being what they are $1100 up to $1800 is about par for the course in economy.

A few days ago, I just bought a plane ticket to Bangkok for January. I prefer Singapore Air and since I live in L.A., I take the L.A.-Tokyo-Singapore-Bangkok route. My ticket was $1425.47 in economy class. I bought the ticket off of Singapore Air's website and bought the one that's refundable with a $100. cancelation fee. The non-refundable ticket is about $100. less.

When I fly the above route which I have very often, then I have an hour in Tokyo before changing planes. It's nice to walk around. Then it's on to Singapore and the plane arrives into Singapore around 2:30AM, I think it is. Perfect, as I book a 6-hour block at the Transit Hotel inside of Changi Airport. It takes less than 30 minutes to get to the hotel after getting off the plane. It's very easy.

I then shower, sleep, get up, have breakfast, walk around the airport, and sometimes watch a movie at the airport. There's even a swimming pool at the airport.

I then stress-freely walk over to the gate and board the 2.5 hour flight to Bangkok. When I arrive Bangkok, I'm feeling pretty refreshed. Then on the way back home, I take some days in Singapore as a stopover is included.

I would not want to fly by way of Europe, in January, as bad as weather can be in some parts of the U.S. and in Europe. When I leave L.A., I leave in good weather and I try to fly in the direction of good weather to cut down on delays. On my way to Buenos Aires one December, I had to fly to N.Y. and change planes. I was stuck for over 6 hours in LAX due to a snow storm on the East Coast so of course the plane wasn't even allowed to take off from LAX. Then when I finally got to N.Y., there were even more delays.

Happy Travels!

So we got robbed. We are going at holiday time, so it was nearly double your cost. (we will work for 2 yrs to pay it off) Cathay Pacific.

actually, reading this makes me think we'll be chintzey for the hotel. We've already paid too much. gasp.

Hey, 12345, nobody 'robbed' you. you made a choice. Perhaps now in retrospect you may say a foolish or ignorant choice. CathyPac is high priced for everyone.

Cathay Pac offered the best price for a friend of mine who was flying over to join me last April (from ORD).

I would never say you made an ignorant or foolish choice. Those are pretty harsh words IMO. You ARE travelling during peak season for S E Asia, and both airline tickets and hotel rooms are priced higher due to such demand.

You are travelling during a lovely time of the year, weatherwise. It's always hot in Bangkok, but the humidity will be lower, and evening temps are perfect for outside dining. You may get a shower or two, but don't let that stop your enjoyment!!

I, for one, look forward to your first impression(s) of my favorite city and people.

Agree that Cathay is almost always bar-none THE most expensive carrier from the US to Asia in economy. But also agree, that if you're saying you paid $2800/per person for economy...then, yes, you didn't do your homework well.

Sorry for the typos. Yes it was Thai Air from JFK. The seats are 19" wide vs. 18" on most other economy.
Filmwill your rate was high if it was within 30 days of departure on Cathay. Our tickets to Bali on Cathay in Sept. for Dec. f;ight had a rate of $1196 but now up to $1400 because it is within the 30 days window and Bali is always more costly than BK.

Thai Air hasn't flown from JFK since July 2008. And it was a direct flight (not a connection through Frankfurt.) Singapore does still fly from JFK and through Frankfurt.

And it wasn't my rate on Cathay. I was simply pointing out that--as a rule of thumb--Cathay is one of THE most expensive carriers from North America to Asia in economy class.

We're flying Cathay Pacific first from NYC to HK with a 2:20 minute layover there and then business to BKK. Our total in fees is $187.00. Originally we had been going to do what Julia1 did, using our miles to fly BA to HK--but the fees were going to be about $3000 for the two of us to fly First--and maybe for Business, also. That stopped that!

It'll be a long flight, but not that much longer than when we flew to Sydny from LA--and that had the additional 5 hours from NY to LA and a three hour layover there.

Cathay from NY definitely was the best bet for us--but don't know how the fares compare to other airlines.

Here JAL(Japan Airlines),ANA and Korean Air
Cheers!

Honestly, these are long flights regardless of the carrier and if you can bump up classes (even using loyalty miles), I would do it. You can check seat dimensions and legroom choices at seatguru.com and other sites. Personally, I prefer the 747 to the 777 but I recognize I might be in the minority. I also think the Middle East and Asian carriers do a better job than United and Delta, even though I usually end up on United because of points. Singapore Air and ANA would be my top choices, Thai has scaled back considerably during the past five years and fly fairly old planes. Enjoy, Bangkok is an amazing city, especially during our winter!

Etihad Airways flights via Abu Dhabi from New York to Bangkok for $511 that also earn you redeemable miles in the American AAdvantage program: http://boardingarea.com/blogs/viewfromthewing/2012/11/08/amazing-international-fare-sales-from-new-york/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boardingarea%2Fviewfromthewing+%28View+from+the+Wing%29

Wow, Kalbozey, that would have been a great deal...looks like it's already gone.

For various reasons, including the logistics involved in travelers flying out of two different cities, we ended up on AA/JAL from JFK to BKK (layover Tokyo-Haneda). First leg is AA, the remaining three are JAL. I assumed I would at least earn AA miles on JAL so was bummed when I found out that wasn't the case (no experience flying global partners), though I think I'll still get 50% if I understood the chart correctly. Oh, the price...that's the good part, $1202. And I used miles to "buy" my friend's ticket from Indy to JFK.

I at first was really focused on finding an airline with better amenities since I'll be stuck in economy (not enough $$ or miles to upgrade even to PE), but in the end the shortest overall travel time combined with price won out. Though JAL does seem to have the individual screens in seat backs, so that's a nice perk. And I think they serve free booze (AA doesn't), and I love free drinks (even if it only saves me $20, there's something about it being free)!

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions, I did look into most of them and we almost ended up on Emirates but the total travel time was significantly longer one way and neither one of us had a burning desire for dinner in Hong Kong, or where ever the layover was. I knew on the way home we'd just be eager to be home. I'll try to remember to update on the economy flight experience for anyone interested. Sounds like a lot of you haven't spent much time in the back of the bus!

many of us have and are back there all the time..

please let us know about AA and JAL comforts...

First bump in the road to report...my friend and I booked our tickets separately (though at virtually the same time as we were talking on the phone) on AA.com and as mentioned above 3 of the legs are actually operated by JAL. At the time of booking we were only able to pick seats for the first leg operated by AA so I called JAL today to get seat assignments for other legs. I was told that based on the type of tickets we bought we're not able to get seat assignments until 24 hours before the flight (72 hours prior on the return flights). So...I'm guessing there's little chance my friend and I will get seats next to each other and/or will be stuck in middle seats. There was no warning of this on the AA website, I would have appreciated it if they'd made us aware of this issue prior to ticket purchase. Anyway, who knows, maybe we'll get lucky. I'll report back...

this is standard... do it 23 hrs and 58 min before your flt...

if not you will not probably have trouble at the airport or on the plane itself....

next time to make things easier call AA to make your res and they will handle most of it easily..

in the meantime call AA and have them link your two reservations which will show you as companions on this trip..