Bangkok: Starting at €413 from French Airports with Emirates

Dubai based carrier Emirates offers a rare discount on its normally pricely flights. Roundtrips to Bangkok are available from French airports Nice, Lyon and Paris for less than €500. All flights include a checked bag up to 15kg (up to 25 kg for €20 more on emirates.com). Unsurprisingly, a layover in Dubai is necessary in both directions.

All flights are operated by Boeing 777 or Airbus A380-800 aircraft. Both planes feature a 3-4-3 seating pattern in economy, with Emirates’ marvelous inflight entertainment at your disposal.

Search & Book

According to fare rules, these low fares are available until September 17, 2019 – they are valid for travel before December 12, 2019. You have to stay a minimum of five days at your destination, but not longer than a month to score the cheapest ticket. A stopover in Dubai increases the price by €50.

Unfortunately, Google Flights’ calendar does not cache these flights correctly. To find suiting flight dates, we recommend using either the Airfare Matrix (instructions) or have a look at emirates.com, which gives a nice overview as well:

You can directly book on their website or enter your dates in our flight search to see what OTAs have to offer. Usually, prices drop up to €30.

Why is booking with an airline better than with an online travel agency?

More often than not, online travel agencies offer lower fares than airlines do. We still recommend booking with the airlines directly. There are two main reasons for that:

Better Customer Service
In case any problems like delays, cancellations or missed connections arise, you can communicate directly with the airline. The airline has to take care of you because you have a contract with them.

If a travel agency issues your ticket, you may have to reach out to them first. You also depend on your OTA to forward information like flight changes instead of receiving them directly from the airline. In many cases, you may get a prime exhibition of responsibility shifting rather than problem-solving.

This especially applies to premium tickets. You don’t want to spend more than €1,000 to wind up with some budget OTA’s telephone hotline in case anything goes wrong.

Baggage and Other Fees
Economy fares not including hold luggage are industry standard by now. In most cases, travel agencies charge much higher baggage fees than the airlines themselves. If bags are not included in your fare, airlines are often the cheaper alternative.

This also applies to other things like food services, insurances or priority treatment. In almost all cases, you pay less for additional amenities when booking on the airlines’ website.

Mileage

Emirates issues these tickets in booking class X. Only a few airlines affiliated with Emirates will grant you any awards miles at a very discounted rate. A upgrade to business class is not possible, as well.