[seafox]

They are paying a different fare for the following reasons.

1) They booked before or after you did and the price was based on seats remaining on the aircraft. Most of the times, but not all, the sooner you book the better. Prices usually go up as the plane fills up.

2) They have a fully refundable ticket, which will cost them more but allow them to cancel their flight and get their money back anytime until they travel.

3) They are on a bulk fare, where the ticket prices are usually locked in on a contracted fare with the airlines and do not have to be ticketed immediately. These are usually pretty good deals and the benefit is that they did not have to pay for their ticket in full when they made their reservation. The only problem with this fare is that most airlines are now adding fuel surcharges and those will kick up the ticket price. This is probably what is happening to Mark H.

4) They were lucky enough to get a seat on a promotional fare.

For Mark H. When you book a bulk fare ticket with someone, in your case UAE, they will have add ons with other airlines to get you either from where you live to your main international airport, or from your primary international arrival airport(BKK) to your secondary destination(Phuket). The addon contract that UAE has with Thai Air has to be in a certain class of service for them to use the Thai Air flight and then get their add-on fare, which is probably better than the published fare BKK to Phuket. In your home country, the benefit is that they have luggage agreements between the carriers and will check your bags through from one airline to the other.

Hope this helps a little. The airline industry is still in turmoil due to 9/11, the tsunami, fluctuating gas prices, and lots of other things. In the US I can actually fly to Bankok or Manila from LA for less than I can go from LA to parts of the Caribbean at times.

Lots of international carriers like THAI Air and UAE are subsidised or owned by that countries government and try to keep down fares to increase tourism. With UAE you stop in Dubai, which has a great duty free market from what I understand, so you might buy something and spend money to support UAE economy on way back from Thailand.