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#1
29-05-2005, 07:43
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phuket in december...
I am getting to hit Thailand with my girlfriend in December, we are projecting the dates of Dec 16th through like 31st or Jan 2nd. And my only concern is the weather. I know I will enjoy everything else. Unlike others, I love when the weather is HOT and extremely HUMID. Will I get this type of weather in December? I know its peak season too, but I am hoping that it will be hot and I do not want the temp to be around 70s. I want it in the lower to upper 90s? Or am I asking too much for December?
I took a look around and it gave an average of like upper 60s to lower 80s? Anyways, regardless. I will be making the bookings soon. Any chance I can get the DIRECT flight from NY to Thailand for under 1g during that time? Take care guys, Counting down the days again!! Yearly trips to LOS is awesome! Relieves soo much tension, relaxation HERE I ***! 
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#2
29-05-2005, 16:08
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December is the "hot" season. It lasts till about March and then follows the "bloody hot" season. In May you get the "rainy hot" season which ends end October/early November in North Thailand, and end November in Phuket.
December is a good month to visit Thailand.
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#3
29-05-2005, 16:14
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Phuket is pretty stable, usually between 27-34 degrees all year round with April/May being the hottest time of the year.
Is is more variations in north Thailand. If would recommend you to stay during New year's Eve, it is great to celebrate here.
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#4
30-05-2005, 05:10
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Oh yeah december weather will be hot. i dont think you get cold days down in phuket. you will come home with a sun tan ok
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#5
30-05-2005, 10:17
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okay great. Now I just need to book some tickets.
 My girlfriend is dying to go there since she is THAI. And I cannot wait to take her there. So yes, this will be my thirs year in a row. I guess I am kind of stuck on thailand as a get away spot. No one has been able to convince me to go other places. I have gone as far as learning the language and just freshening it up before December.I have to scour the net for tickets out to thailand. I know december is peak season. I want to be able to go there w/o breaking the bank. I remember the past two years I have gone, it was in August, I have spent on average about $780 USD on the tickets. This year, I have looked around since February and looks like the tickets are going for like over $1200?! ! What gives!?!? I know I am going in December, yes I do understand its PEAK SEASON as well.  I guess I will be getting raped with tickets and hotels as well. But I know the experience is well worth it! Okay now to bite the bullet and just purchase the tickets already. So I can start counting down like the rest of you on this board! Drop me a line if you have any suggestions for tickets, I will be leaving from NY to BKK, dates ranging from December 20th to January 5th, I am trying to find flights starting on Tuesday to avoid the price difference.
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#6
30-05-2005, 14:11
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Quote:
If you are leaving on Dec 20 and returning on Jan 5, then you have picked the worst possible dates. Orbitz and Cheaptickets.com still have flights for those date listed at $1110 and $1104 respectively. If you need those dates, buy right now. Buying tickets for December flights is like pouring water in a bowl, the level of the prices rises as more people buying tickets are poured into the market. In other words, as the cheapest available seats are bought up, the price just keeps getting higher. Flights coming back in the week following New Yrs are extremely hard to get, also, because most people who left in the two weeks prior to Christmas all want to return in the week following New Years. I found one flight leaving on Dec 18 and returning on Jan 1 for $722 and that won't be available for long. If you were staying til the middle of the month, maybe you could also get that flight going out. Good luck!! Buy soon. The prices will continue to rise. The longer you wait, the more the prices go up. But don't worry, you could always fly JAL for $7,000 or Austrian Airline for $8,000.  Seriously, I saw those prices listed. Don't imagine those flights will fill up too quick. I think they are just for people who like to fly in empty planes.JayBee P.S. I just went back to the Travelocity site where I found the flight for $722, leaving on the 18th, returning on the 1st. The $722 seats are now all booked, but you can still get the $842 seats. Same seats, same airline, different price. It's called first come, first served! The airline is Aeroflot Russian Airlines. There are still $722 seats left on the flight that leaves on Dec 10th, returning on Jan 1st.
__________________
LOS is warm, soft, smooth, and brown. 
Last edited by JayBee : 30-05-2005 at 14:36.
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#7
30-05-2005, 14:46
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Hey Wildone, I checked the airlines published fares out of New York to Bangkok in that period and it looks like it's going to be very difficult for you to get tickets under $1000. If you depart from NYC on 25 December the absolutely cheapest ticket on the market is with Asiana Airlines - They start at $799. Delta Airlines start off at $849, which is the same as Korean Airlines offer. However, these cheap tickets are probably already gone but if I were you I would check out Asiana’s, Delta and Korean Airlines webpage. Don’t wait too long on deciding and purchasing your tickets though – you might end up with only having some even more expensive alternatives to choose from.
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#8
30-05-2005, 15:34
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Living in the UK I am used to quite dramatic weather variation. Therefore when in LOS in January 05, the girls would often make me laugh. "Very cold today" (28c!) or "very hot today" (32c!), lol.
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#9
30-05-2005, 15:37
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Delta doesn't actually fly to LOS. But they do sell tickets, acting a ticket broker for Korean Airlines, mainly, and sometimes also Eva and China Airlines! I bought my tickets from them last time. Flew Korean thru Korea to BKK. On the way back, it was very confusing, because I assumed that I was flying Korean, but it turned out that I was flying Eva out of BKK to Taiwan. In Taiwan it got even crazier, with people all telling me to go elsewhere. The security guys just laughed and waived me thru the security checkpoint after the first couple times, I went back and forth so many times, between the gates and the ticket counters. Finally, figured out that I was now on China Airlines from Taiwan to US, and made it to the right gate just before departure. The problem was that my tickets said Delta, but nobody knew who was really flying me because Delta is a US carrier that doesn't fly to China, Korea, or LOS!
__________________
LOS is warm, soft, smooth, and brown.
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#10
30-05-2005, 16:12
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That is actually the coolest time of the year, but it is still hot according to tourists. I have no idea what the temps are in fahrenheit, as didnt learn that in my country, but instead of being in the thirties (celsius) it may well be mid to high twenties. If I recall correctly the past January was quite cool and we even had the fans turned off at night.
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#11
30-05-2005, 17:46
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That's the beauty of what the airlines call "Codeshare". Basically many airlines acts as "brokers" for other airlines and then just call the flight some obscene flight number. In many cases you dont know who your are flying with until you see the actual plane itself :P Some flights can have several codeshare numbers for several different airlines. As an example a flight from New York to Paris flown with Air France could be AF 123. Now since Air France is in bed with KLM it most likely also has a KL 1234 flightnumber and I bet you would find a Continental CO 12345 and Delta DL 2342 flightnumber as well.. All those numbers for the same plane that is actually an Air France plane
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#12
31-05-2005, 02:48
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the weather is fantastic at that time of year. nice and hot and sunny during the day, pretty cool durign the night. i kinda go by how much i sweat at night when i go out. in december and january i did not sweat at all, compared to when i just left, i was sweating my ass of when i went out
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#13
31-05-2005, 10:18
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Average temperature are December: High - 87, Low - 74; January - High 88, Low 73.
That is really ideal weather. If you think that is not hot enough for you, then just go out under that tropical sun and I think you will change your mind! Besides, many days are in the low 90's. Those nights when the temperature is in the low 70's are absolutely perfect, couldn't ask for more IMHO. Great night for hitting the bars and going to Safari!! When I was there April, 2004, it was especially hot, because although the average temperature for April is 91, it seemed as if it was over 100 most days, and when you went out to dinner at 10 PM, it would still be 90 or higher. I really couldn't live in that kind of heat for long, but the Thai told me that it was an exceptionally hot year, not like that every year. Complete weather info, current and yearly averages is available at: www.phuket-info.com/weather.htm (Thanks for the link, AD!) JayBee
__________________
LOS is warm, soft, smooth, and brown.
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#14
31-05-2005, 11:26
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Thanks alot guys for all the information. Please keep them coming. I have checked the Asiana Airlines and it doesn't look like they have any flight dates for me. It says all the dates that I picked are not available. I have tried Delta Airlines as well, and the prices range from 1099 to 1149. Man, what a terrible time to go. But from December to January, my job would accomodate that. I can stay for a good 3 to 4 weeks due to my vacation days being started off fresh once january rolls around and also due to the x-mas and new years holidays. I am trying to stay in LOS as long as I could. Hopefully I will never return!!!
I am going all out on this trip, and its not even my honey moon yet. I have figured the airfare and the hotel alone will be about $2,000 USD on my behalf. I mean the price is not that extremely important, due to the fact that I want to be able to choose my dates according to my schedule rather than trying to save a couple of bucks. But I do not want to get ripped off either. So once tomorrow comes along, I will have to contact my agent that I used last year to travel to thailand. I remember when I went in the month of July both years, my plane tickets were priced as follows : 2003 - $740, 2004 - $800, 2005 - $1100!?!?! Man, thats a crazy jump but I do consider the time frame as well. But thats $300 per person increase. And I will covering the airfare as well for both of us so that is like $600 bucks extra!!! Korean Airline was ridiculous they wanted like $1500+, I could get a direct flight from Thai Airways for that price. One other thing, do you know where to obtain tickets for flights to Koh Samaui? Or Phi Phi? I know Asia Airlines does not offer those two islands. They do offer phuket and I will not able to book the tickets until like July, because they go in 6 month time frames. Thanks again guys!!!! I am dying to take a vacation to LOS again!! I really cannot wait, once the tickets are confirmed, the days will start counting down. --MARC26, what airline or agent do you use to book your trips to los?
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#15
31-05-2005, 11:48
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Book the Delta flight. You won't beat that price for those dates. If you wait too long, the price will go up as those tickets are filled. When you book Delta, you will fly on Korean airlines to get there anyway, so why pay more to Korean. But I flew Korean(thru Delta) and I liked it. Just punch it up on the net. Click the buttons and give your credit card info and it's done! You are booked! In 2002, I waited too long. By the time I booked a flight leaving Dec 17, the very cheapest flights to BKK were $1500 round-trip. I spent 24 hours on the net almost non-stop and saw the prices go up as I watched. I almost panicked and paid that much. The only way I got the price down to $1250 was that I found a one-way ticket to Phuket for $800 and a one-way return ticket leaving in February during a slow period for $450. And that was the year that a lot of people weren't going to Phuket because of the Bali bombings. Just book it! Don't waste time with a travel agent. You can't compare July prices with December prices. It's apples and oranges! JayBee
__________________
LOS is warm, soft, smooth, and brown.
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#16
31-05-2005, 12:41
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I did some checking. The Delta flights are with Korean Airlines, which is also offering those days at $1120. The difference is that with Korean, you would have to make two stopovers(Taiwan and Seoul) on the way back. Their one-stop package is $1510. Incidentally, the $1100 Delta tickets(Delta Flight 7854) and the $1510 Korean airlines tickets are both for economy seats on on the same planes, Korean Airlines Flight 82 and 86(KE82 & KE 86). Same seats, different price!
 So, the bottom line is that only Korean airlines has flights leaving on 12/20 and coming back on 1/5 at those prices. They have two flights that day, one is the red-eye leaving at 12:50 AM, in other words, very late on Monday night, but technically Tuesday. The other leaves at 12:30 PM on Tuesday. Delta has the market cornered on the cheap Korean tickets. When those two flights fill up, no more $1100 tickets. When the $1100 one-stopover flights have filled up, there may still be tickets for $1100 for a 2-stopover return flight through Anchorage, Alaska, but do you really want to have to go that route? There is the possibility of other airlines with pricier seats, that remain unsold, offering them for less at some time as Decmeber nears, but it is unikely that the price will get as low as $1100. It is almost certainly a case of buy now or pay more later. Korean has always been the cheapest airline. The only difference is that Delta has bought up large blocks of their seats. JayBee P.S. The only way a travel agent could beat these prices is if he is affiliated with a company that has already bought large blocks of DEC tickets to LOS at a discount. But even if that were the case, that company would be watching the market for prices on DEC flights to LOS, and be very unlikely to want to undercut the market. What would be in it for them? They know the value of the seats.
__________________
LOS is warm, soft, smooth, and brown.
Last edited by JayBee : 31-05-2005 at 12:45.
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#17
31-05-2005, 15:58
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Yes
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December weather is awesome...... 
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#18
31-05-2005, 16:57
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Some advice, avoid Korean Airlines if you can.
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#19
31-05-2005, 21:42
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Thanks SteveM, I have flown with them twice already, first time I said never again. But the second time around it was not bad.
But thanks for the advice. I will book it today!! yaY! Okay I have booked the tickets. It ended up costing me $1149 per person. But I gotten the dates that I wanted. So I will be leaving from Dec 17th to January 8th.Now time to count down the days.  Last edited by WildOnE : 02-06-2005 at 08:04.
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