South east Asia’s two main cities are Bangkok, Thailand and Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia. Both cities are business and economic centers for most of south east Asia and beyond so, travel between the two is popular. As a resident of Bangkok, I’ve flown from my city to Kuala Lumpur at least 25 times and always take the cheapest round-trip flights I can find. There are several ways to get cheap airfares between Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur and you can get some amazing deals, if you just know where to look.
Avoid Expedia and Travelocity – Don’t even waste time looking for flights from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur on Expedia or Travelocity. They’re not cheap. The last time I checked on those sites, the absolute cheapest flights they could scrape up were $175 more expensive than what I could get myself at the airline’s own websites and they were selling the same seats on the same airlines.
Book Your Flight Online – Don’t even bother going to a travel agent in Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur to try to get a cheap deal. I used to do that and quickly discovered they don’t have the special online deals that all the top airlines offer on their websites. So, book online and you’ll see a savings of at least $50 compared to what a travel agent can find you.
Three Airlines Offer The Best Deals – After years of searching for cheap fares every time I fly to KL, I usually only look at the region’s three most popular airlines. There’s a reason they’re the most popular (cheap price and good service) and, most of the time, when I look at other airlines there’s just no way they can beat them.
Air Asia, Lufthansa and Malaysia Airlines (or vice-versa) are at least $100 to $400 cheaper than any of their nearest rivals for a round trip airfare from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur, and that is always the case.
Keep Checking Back And Don’t Book Too Early – I book all my flights from Bangkok to KL online and I start looking for good flights around a month before I’m planning on going. Normally, I don’t get the cheap price I want the first time I look so I keep going back to the three airlines’ websites to check.
Last time I booked a flight from Bangkok to KL, the cheapest any airline had was 5,660 baht ($175) round trip and I knew that was too expensive. So, I made a mental note to keep checking back ever day and, sure enough, a week later Lufthansa had suddenly added a ton of cheaper seats. The 5,660 baht airfare was suddenly down to 4,420 baht ($138) round trip, and that’s the flight I booked.
Too many people think they need to book flights within south east Asia early to lock in a certain price, but that’s not usually true. I’ve ended up with incredibly cheap deals (once $36 round trip), because I’ve waited closer to when I’m flying before I book my flight.
Air Asia Has Sales Often – Air Asia often has the cheapest flights to or from Kuala Lumpur simply because they’re Malaysia/Thai owned and they run frequent sales. Check Air Asia’s site every day as a sale will suddenly pop up and the prices they offer are incredible. I’ve had flights as low as $36 round trip and once even got a free round-trip flight, as they were running a birthday promotion.
So, remember, if you’re looking for a cheap airfare from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur or vice-versa, take your time and check a few options. For less than an hour spent looking, you can save yourself a few hundred dollars and get a great deal on a reliable airline. Happy Flying!
