Thai restarts daily Sydney-Bangkok flights, some with Phuket stopover
Thailand is tipped to add Australia to its list of quarantine-free countries in November.
By David Flynn, October 15 2021
Thai Airways is stepping up its Sydney-Bangkok flights from November 17 2021, and there's a unique twist in the timetable: from early December, some of the flights will make a stopover at Phuket , with travellers able to book just the Sydney-Phuket leg.
The move comes as Thailand begins removing all quarantine requirements for fully-vaccinated travellers from selected low-risk countries from November 1 – and while Australia hasn't yet appeared on the shortlist, there's a growing expectation it will soon be added.
All of the Bangkok-Sydney flights will feature Thai's Boeing 777-300ER, which 42 Royal Silk business class seats and 306 standard economy seats.
Here is how Thai's new Bangkok-Sydney schedule shapes up.
Beginning November 17, TG475 will depart Bangkok at 8am every Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, to reach Sydney at 9.20pm.
The Sydney-Bangkok flight TG476 leg is wheels-up from Sydney at 2.50pm every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, arriving into Bangkok at 8.15pm.
Thai's Boeing 777 jets feature Royal Silk business class.
From December 7, those four direct flights each week will be complemented by three flights which go via Phuket.
- Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, TG477 will depart Bangkok at 3.50pm, arrive at Phuket at 5.20pm and depart at 6.50pm, to finally reach Sydney at 7.30am the next morning
- On Wednesday, Friday and Sunday that's reversed: TG768 leaves Sydney at 9.30am to reach Phuket at 2.40pm; after 90 minutes on the ground it's back in the air at 4.10pm and into Bangkok at 5.40pm
The Phuket stopover was originally intended to take advantage of the country's plans for a 'Phuket sandbox', while is now less crucial as Thailand drops quarantine on a broader basis.
However, it'll prove a boon to Australians who will no longer need to back-track on a connecting flight from Bangkok to visit the popular resort province.
26 Mar 2020
Total posts 65
Great schedule hopefully they retain as a permanent one
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
31 Aug 2012
Total posts 214
Any word of reward availability?
17 Jun 2020
Total posts 242
Bangkok before Brisbane and Phuket before Perth.
Check mate, McGowan and Palaszczuk.
17 Jun 2020
Total posts 242
Bangkok before Brisbane and Phuket before Perth.
RIP Queensland and WA Tourism. Well Done McGowan and Anna.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
09 Nov 2018
Total posts 105
100% agree….. good luck to Qld and WA!
05 Oct 2017
Total posts 527
I checked the THAI timetable, and they're showing a return to Perth tentatively around mid-2022, but Brisbane isn't showing up at all. Of course that could change 1000 times between now and then.
05 Oct 2017
Total posts 527
Hopefully the return SYD-HKT flights will remain permanent. Several years ago, THAI did fly Sydney-Phuket, but it was a convoluted flight that operated to Phuket only in one direction as follows: SYD-MEL-HKT-BKK. On the way into Sydney it was always BKK-SYD. For passengers originating in Sydney, it was almost better to just book a SYD-BKK-HKT flight, which there are many options to choose from daily, compared with the stopover via MEL that was only operated 3 times a week.
The only return flight to/from Phuket that THAI flew was PER-HKT, 3 times a week.
I don't understand why more dedicated Australia-Phuket services weren't being operated by THAI in earlier days.
Post-Covid, I can totally see good demand for 3 weekly return services from each of Perth, Sydney and Melbourne. Brisbane might work for 2 weekly return services.
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