Qatar Airways Launches New Doha to Pattaya, Chiang Mai Flights

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Qatar Airways Launches New Flights to Thai Holiday Destination Pattaya

 

Award-winning airline continues expansion with launch of flights to its fifth Thai destination

 

Qatar Airways will also launch services to Thailand's Chiang Mai in December

 

DOHA, Qatar – Qatar Airways has responded to increased customer demand for services to Thailand by launching direct flights to Pattaya, the airline’s fifth route to the country. The new four-times-a-week service, which starts on 28 January 2018, is in addition to the airline’s existing flights to Bangkok, Krabi, Phuket and soon to be launched, Chiang Mai. The launch of the service to historic Chiang Mai is scheduled to start on 12 December, 2017.

 

Located on the popular southeast coast of Thailand, Pattaya and nearby Rayong are major destinations for sun-seekers looking to soak up the local culture or relax and bask on one of the areas extensive beaches. Holiday-makers on the route are expected to come from Qatar Airways’ extensive network of destinations across Europe and the Middle East.

 

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said: “We are delighted to announce the launch of our newest route to Pattaya in Thailand, our fifth route to one of Southeast Asia’s most popular destinations. Thailand is continuing to grow in popularity with our passengers, who love travelling to this beautiful country to enjoy its incredible culture, cuisine and natural scenery.

 

"Qatar Airways is committed to responding to customer demand by flying our passengers where they want to go and providing them with our unrivalled five-star service to destinations around the world.”

 

Qatar Airways will operate a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, with 22 seats in Business Class and 232 seats in Economy Class on flights between Doha and U-Tapao Rayong Pattaya International Airport, on its winter schedule. It will be the first five-star Middle East airline to offer flights to and from Pattaya.

 

Qatar Airways’ new service to Pattaya will help to reinforce the strong ties between Qatar and Thailand. Qatar Airways currently operates flights to three destinations in Thailand, with services 35 times a week to Bangkok, 14 times a week to Phuket and daily to Krabi commencing 1 December 2017. From 12 December 2017, Qatar Airways will also fly four times a week to Chiang Mai, which will take the airline’s weekly frequency to 60 flights a week.

 

Qatar Airways currently holds the title of ‘Airline of The Year’ as awarded by the prestigious 2017 Skytrax World Airline Awards. In addition to being voted Best Airline by travellers from around the world, Qatar’s national carrier also won a raft of other major awards at the ceremony, including ‘Best Airline in the Middle East,’ ‘World’s Best Business Class’ and ‘World’s Best First Class Airline Lounge.’

 

Qatar Airways operates a modern fleet of more than 200 aircraft to a network of more than 150 key business and leisure destinations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, North America and South America. The airline is launching a host of exciting new destinations planned for the remainder of this year and 2018, including Canberra, Australia; St Petersburg, Russia and Cardiff, U.K, to name just a few.

 

Flight Schedules

Doha (DOH) to Pattaya (UTP) QR828 departs 20:05 arrives 06:30 (next day) - Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday

Pattaya (UTP) to Doha (DOH) QR829 departs 07:50 arrives 11:40 - Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday

 

 

[baboon]

No use to me personally, but a good initiative from Qatar. It helps ease the strain at the hubs and makes things more convenient for the traveller.

[steve187]

good for the eastern seaboard, as long as the connections in Doha are shortish

[Deli]

Not keen on seeing even more Arabs roaming through Sin City

 

[lordblackader]

Is anyone keeping count on the Chiang Mai side? I'm guessing that's the 5th or 6th time they've announced that now. 

[NanLaew]

45 minutes ago, Deli said:

Not keen on seeing even more Arabs roaming through Sin City

 

Qatar, like the airlines of their mid-east neighbors of Etihad and Emirates, shift a whole lot more races and nationalities than just Qataris.

 

Time to get out a bit.

[SpeakeasyThai]

6 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

Qatar, like the airlines of their mid-east neighbors of Etihad and Emirates, shift a whole lot more races and nationalities than just Qataris.

 

Time to get out a bit.

Maybe so but these middle eastern kind are bad news and make problems for working ladies.

[KhunBENQ]

42 minutes ago, lordblackader said:

Is anyone keeping count on the Chiang Mai side? I'm guessing that's the 5th or 6th time they've announced that now. 

First nonstop flight Doha - Chiang Mai is on Dec 12, 2017.

 

Before you get too excited:

No daily but four flights weekly.

Winter season only, last flight sometime end of March.

No useful connections to the US (35 hour total and such, missing connection).

 

 

[NanLaew]

Good news for my buddies from the US, some of whom are already fans of Qatar airlines. They can do deep their diving in Pattaya first rather than in Bangkok and 'decompressing' in Pattaya later.

[KhunBENQ]

9 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

Good news for my buddies from the US, some of whom are already fans of Qatar airlines. They can do deep their diving in Pattaya first rather than in Bangkok and 'decompressing' in Pattaya later.

Example

Connection from JFK is good (about 21 hours), but the opposite direction is miserable (3x hours).

BUT Qatar seems to offer good price on "multi city" so one can fly from JFK to UTP and back from BKK (which is good/short) connection.

(saw 831 USD trip in February, JFK - UTP, BKK - JFK)

And as Qatar has a Phuket flight anyway there are some nice combinations possible.

 

[Borzandy]

Good and it is hookah flights.

[Cadbury]

Incoming passengers to Pattaya should keep in mind that Qatar sometimes forgets that Thailand requires Arrival/Departure cards. Often as not they will not carry them on the plane for you to fill out during the flight. 

They are too busy basking in the glory and big-noting themselves for being Skytrak's ‘Airline of The Year’ to be bothered about mundane matters like carrying a supply of these cards for the convenience of their passengers. 

If they can't manage a simple thing like that then how on earth do they manage to remember something more important like re-fuelling the plane. Discount airlines seem to manage it but not Qatar. 

[NanLaew]

12 minutes ago, Cadbury said:

Incoming passengers to Pattaya should keep in mind that Qatar sometimes forgets that Thailand requires Arrival/Departure cards. Often as not they will not carry them on the plane for you to fill out during the flight. 

They are too busy basking in the glory and big-noting themselves for being Skytrak's ‘Airline of The Year’ to be bothered about mundane matters like carrying a supply of these cards for the convenience of their passengers. 

If they can't manage a simple thing like that then how on earth do they manage to remember something more important like re-fuelling the plane. Discount airlines seem to manage it but not Qatar. 

I always ask for an extra TM7 regardless of what airline is graced by my custom. That way I always have a spare one for such eventualities.

[Morch]

14 minutes ago, Cadbury said:

Incoming passengers to Pattaya should keep in mind that Qatar sometimes forgets that Thailand requires Arrival/Departure cards. Often as not they will not carry them on the plane for you to fill out during the flight. 

They are too busy basking in the glory and big-noting themselves for being Skytrak's ‘Airline of The Year’ to be bothered about mundane matters like carrying a supply of these cards for the convenience of their passengers. 

If they can't manage a simple thing like that then how on earth do they manage to remember something more important like re-fuelling the plane. Discount airlines seem to manage it but not Qatar. 

 

Never ever had this problem with them.

[NanLaew]

33 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

Example

Connection from JFK is good (about 21 hours), but the opposite direction is miserable (3x hours).

BUT Qatar seems to offer good price on "multi city" so one can fly from JFK to UTP and back from BKK (which is good/short) connection.

(saw 831 USD trip in February, JFK - UTP, BKK - JFK)

And as Qatar has a Phuket flight anyway there are some nice combinations possible.

 

Nice!

 

Need to check if their IAH connections are better.

[Cadbury]

Just now, Morch said:

 

Never ever had this problem with them.

I have a number of times and it is a big inconvenience and causes delays when it comes time to exit the plane and get to where you want to go, particularly if there is some urgency in connecting to another flight. That is why I mentioned it as a warning. Perhaps it is the luck of the draw on the on the brain power (or lack thereof) of the Senior Flight Attendant to remember to make sure there are some on board before departure to Thailand.

[Juan B Tong]

Oy Veh!

[KhunBENQ]

17 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

Need to check if their IAH connections are better.

Similar and worse.

About 23 hours from IAH to UTP.

No worth mentioning 44 hours UTP to IAH.

 

(BKK to IAH, 27 hours, 2:40h connection time)

[NanLaew]

49 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

Example

Connection from JFK is good (about 21 hours), but the opposite direction is miserable (3x hours).

BUT Qatar seems to offer good price on "multi city" so one can fly from JFK to UTP and back from BKK (which is good/short) connection.

(saw 831 USD trip in February, JFK - UTP, BKK - JFK)

And as Qatar has a Phuket flight anyway there are some nice combinations possible.

 

The IAH - UTP r/t similarly looks great outbound but the back-haul requires a day in Doha. Cheapest I could see was US$1,142.43 r/t in late January but about 60 bucks cheaper in February.

[KhunBENQ]

Again you have to fall back to BKK.

This ultra long haul DOH - IAH would kill me, 16:30h in the tin can.

One of the longest worldwide.

[NanLaew]

21 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

Again you have to fall back to BKK.

This ultra long haul DOH - IAH would kill me, 16:30h in the tin can.

One of the longest worldwide.

Yes, that would be a b!tch but hitting the tequila in the President's Lounge at Bush helps the trip go by quicker apparently. Some of the guys are already converts to EVA Air so with that seriously long Doha return layover, I reckon only a serious break on the Qatar fares to Bangkok will get them to change.

 

Good to see a non-LC, non-charter carrier stepping in though. It can only attract others and that will help improve and regulate the currently sparse and/or expensive ground transportation rates.

[steve187]

1 hour ago, Cadbury said:

Incoming passengers to Pattaya should keep in mind that Qatar sometimes forgets that Thailand requires Arrival/Departure cards. Often as not they will not carry them on the plane for you to fill out during the flight. 

They are too busy basking in the glory and big-noting themselves for being Skytrak's ‘Airline of The Year’ to be bothered about mundane matters like carrying a supply of these cards for the convenience of their passengers. 

If they can't manage a simple thing like that then how on earth do they manage to remember something more important like re-fuelling the plane. Discount airlines seem to manage it but not Qatar. 

how can you compere no tm6's with no fuel, something deep in your head, how can a passenger that knows he requires a tm6. not carry spares

[Nemises]

Last year I flew business class with Qatar Airlines from the UK to Phuket via Doha. 

 

It was during Ramadan. Upon landing at Doha with the plane still hurtling down the runway, three young Middle Eastern guys travelling together (about 18 yo obviously with rich daddies at home) defied remain seat belted signs, left their seats, knelt down behind the flight deck door, faced Mecca and FANATICALLY prayed until the plane arrived at the air bridge. 

 

Was myself and the other passengers concerned?

A: yes, noticeably. 

 

What did the cabin crew do?

A: nothing, they looked the other way. Upon arriving at the air bridge, the cabin crew simply smiled and bid the three of them farewell. 

 

Will I ever fly with Qatar again?

A: never. 

 

What action would another, non Middle Eastern airline (& airport security) had taken if the same incident happened upon landing at a non Middle Eastern country?

 

A: I don’t know, but have often wondered...

 

[cryo]

The problem is that the air staff are frightened to address these issues as they are subservient to the quatari passengers. Although on in couple of instances on landing with KLM I've felt like kneeling down and praying :-)

[hourlay]

Nice to land to UTP but what about the connection to Pattaya ? Taxi are more expensive to do 20km from UTP than to do 125km from Suvarnabhumi.

 

[dabhand]

12 minutes ago, hourlay said:

Nice to land to UTP but what about the connection to Pattaya ? Taxi are more expensive to do 20km from UTP than to do 125km from Suvarnabhumi.

 

There is a current topic in the Pattaya Forum on this very subject.

 

Apparently there is a minibus service at Bt250/passenger or a taxi for about 3x that price. Distance is about 40km but that will obviously vary depending on actual destination.

[lordblackader]

8 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

First nonstop flight Doha - Chiang Mai is on Dec 12, 2017.

 

Before you get too excited:

No daily but four flights weekly.

Winter season only, last flight sometime end of March.

No useful connections to the US (35 hour total and such, missing connection).

 

 

Why the you know what would anyone want to fly to the U.S. via the Middle East? it's in the wrong direction, would you like me to show you a world map? 

[balo]

I'm surprised if they will succeed , not sure if it will be enough passengers for them to Pattaya. But for me personally it means I can catch a connecting flight to Europe in Doha and no need to travel to Bangkok anymore.   

[jacko45k]

Is the road from UTP to Pattaya improved......?

My recollection is either a very slow and busy Sukhumvit, with many traffic lights and quite a rush hour problem, or 331/Hwy 36, death alley! Or is this just for people trying to avoid the soon to be increased Hwy 7 tolls?

[NanLaew]

1 hour ago, balo said:

I'm surprised if they will succeed , not sure if it will be enough passengers for them to Pattaya. But for me personally it means I can catch a connecting flight to Europe in Doha and no need to travel to Bangkok anymore.   

Just priced a mid-March 2018 UTP-MAN r/t at £570. The Doha layovers are less than 3 hours so with an early morning departure from UTP, one arrives in MAN the same evening. The return trip departs MAN early morning, arriving UTP early the following morning. No rush-hour traffic to beat at either end.

 

1 hour ago, jacko45k said:

Is the road from UTP to Pattaya improved......?

My recollection is either a very slow and busy Sukhumvit, with many traffic lights and quite a rush hour problem, or 331/Hwy 36, death alley! Or is this just for people trying to avoid the soon to be increased Hwy 7 tolls?

Sukhumvit route can be slower during peak times but the U-Tapao flight departure/arrival times are early morning so not a big issue. Think about getting to UTP for check in between 5.30 and 6.30 AM when headed for Europe. Think about departing UTP around 7.30 or 8.30 AM after arriving.

 

The inland route via 36/331 is much easier since they made 331 a dual-carriageway that meets Highway 3 (Sukhumvit) right at the airport junction. With the Highway 7 extensions opening late 2018, heavier east-bound traffic will be on that route. Currently, I can do Pattaya dark side to U-Tapao in under 25 minutes. Even if one has to use Sukhumvit, it would be 35 minutes tops at that time of the day.