Book your flights with a European carrier and you can visit two European cities for the price of one. Say you want to go to Paris; choose British Airways rather than an airline that flies direct and you’ll be getting a trip to London plus a connecting flight to Paris as a free bonus. KLM is another interesting one to pull this trick as they are partners with Air France. That allows you to stop in even more cities. For example, we flew Bangkok-Amsterdam, Amsterdam-Toulouse, Toulouse-Paris, Paris-Bangkok, stopping for a few days in all three cities, all for the price of one roundtrip ticket. You can also look into Lufthansa, which offers multiple stopovers for roughly B3,000 each and connects to just about everywhere in Europe.
Living in Thailand, people here tend to assume they need to stick with THAI and Star Alliance to aquire miles. Have a look at OneWorld, too. With members like Qantas, Malaysia Airlines, Cathay and British Airways, you'll be on a OneWorld route much more often than you think. It also includes underdog airlines, like Sri Lankan, which offer roundtrip business-class flights to Europe for some 56,000 baht—new planes, too.
Citi Prestige Tip: Picking a travel-friendly credit card that isn't tied to a particular airline is key to making the most of your spending. With the Citi Prestige card, every 2 Citi Rewards Points are worth 1 mile with 5 leading airline mileage programs: Thai Airways' Royal Orchid Plus, Singapore Airlines' KrisFlyer, Cathay Pacific's Asia Miles, Air Asia Big Loyalty Programme and Delta SkyMiles.
If you're flexible about adding a little hop over to a nearby capital, you can get serious about flying business and first for much less. For example, Vietnam Airlines has a new fleet. That means a little trip to Hanoi can reward you with dirt-cheap business-class flights to Europe. In fact, you'll even notice big price differences on American carriers: flying Hanoi to New York (via Bangkok, ironically) can be much cheaper than flying Bangkok-New York. The same can also apply to flights departing from Ho Chi Minh, in particular for Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines.
Citi Prestige Tip: On the way back, in case you're not flying business on the last leg to Bangkok, having lounge access in Ho Chi Minh is a great perk. The Citi Prestige Card grants access to over 800 lounges in the world in 120 countries, including Bali, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong and Macau. See the full list at www.prioritypass.com.
GateGuru is indispensable for any hardcore traveler. Compatible with iOS and Android, it provides airport maps, details of available services and amenities (such as restaurants and shops) as well as estimated security wait times for major airports worldwide. You'll also want to be using SeatGuru to pick that perfect seat—far from the row for people traveling with babies, and not too close to the toilets.
Citi Prestige Tip: You know what's even handier than GateGuru? Complimentary airport limousine transfers and Fast Track passes throughout Asia-Pacific. The Citi Prestige Card grants its primary card holders these services twice a year, and you can use them separately.
International airlines flying to Bangkok from outside of the region occasionally continue on to another Southeast Asian destination. For example, a flight from Europe might stop in Bangkok and then continue to Hong Kong, Hanoi or Kuala Lumpur. That second part of the flight is what’s called a last-leg flight and because some of the passengers will have gotten off in Bangkok, the airline is eager to pick up new passengers here for the second part of the trip. That’s why tickets on last-leg flights tend to be fairly cheap. More importantly, these are flights on regular carriers, meaning you get miles and service that low-costs simply can't compete with.
We've mentioned a few benefits of the Citi Prestige card. There's more. Citi Prestige grants unlimited complimentary 4th night stays at any hotel in the world with any 4-consecutive-night booking. It's also one of the fastest ways to earn miles while spending and traveling: You'll get 2 Citi Rewards Points for every THB 25 spent locally and 3 Citi Rewards Points for its equivalent spent in foreign currencies. Of course, it also comes with a host of perks like free rounds of golf at participating courses worldwide.
CORRECTION: We wrote that Vietnam Airlines "is said to be gearing up to join the aforementioned OneWorld alliance." Vietnam Airlines is currently a SkyTeam member. We cannot confirm whether it will join OneWorld in the future.
UPDATE: We wrote: "Some airline tickets can be cheaper depending on where you buy them—or where the airline thinks you bought them. It’s called point of sales, and it’s easy to make an online booking engine believe you’re not in Bangkok but rather in a country with preferential flight rates. All you need to do is install a free VPN plugin like Hola to your browser." Sadly, airlines have wizened up to this trick and you must now pay with a credit card from the same country as the one you're booking you flight from.
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