Booking 2 Flights to coincide

[MattDavies86]

Ok, so I've booked a load of flights online and traveled a lot, this is not the issue, the only query I have is this:

I want to book:

Return flight from London Heathrow - Bangkok
Return flight from Bangkok - London Heathrow

But I want the Return trip from Bangkok to London to match the outgoing trip from the second booked flight, basically going to be going to Thailand to see my SO, then after 2.5 weeks I will go home, but she will come with me, is there a way to ensure that both flights are the same so we can obviously travel home together.

Anyone have experience in doing this? And if so how did you go about it? Did you have to book well in advance to make sure there were 2 seats available? I'm looking to book them around February (traveling in May).

Cheers

[Tooki]

When you go to book the flights, make sure that the dates, flight numbers and times line up.

It's easy to allocate your own seats online (but you will probably need to pay for this in advance)

[MissButterfly]

I did this with my SO when we closed the distance, I booked a return flight and he booked a single flight. Some companies make you pay for picking your own seats, but some don't. What Tooki said, just check the flight number and the time, and if possible have someone else book the other flight at the same time as you, while you can communicate, to ensure both picking a seat and being on the same flight. That's how I did it, when booking the flights we were skyping together. Should work just fine!

[MattDavies86]

When you go to book the flights, make sure that the dates, flight numbers and times line up.

It's easy to allocate your own seats online (but you will probably need to pay for this in advance)

I can select specific seats for a flight then? Is that possible through Skyscanner or expedia etc do you know? Would be good if that's the case, if I book these flights online I'll have to book 1 flight, then the second separately right? Sorry to be a pain but I have no clue how I could do this, unless I book the flight over the phone somehow.

thanks for the reply by the way

[Tooki]

I doubt that your flight will have sold out by February, so you should be able to book the flights one after another.

I don't think that you can book the flights together, because they are not in the same itinerary.

You should be able to go onto the airlines website and put in the requested information to manage your booking. Within that, there should be an option for selecting your seat on each leg of the trip. If you are flying with multiple airlines (code shared flight), you will have to go onto the other airlines website to choose a seat for their flight.

[MissButterfly]

I would really suggest booking together with a friend or something while sitting next to each other, so that you can book both flights at the same time and are sure that you'll sit together. Yes, all airlines have the option of selecting your own seat, but some will charge you for this. Even with expedia, you'll have to go through the steps of the carrier so you should be okay.

[MattDavies86]

Thanks for the replies, so just to be cleared, basically, say I book both flights for the same flight number etc on (for example) skyscanner/expedia, after the flights are booked, I can then go to the carriers website (it will more likely be thai ariways for me) and I can choose seats then? or am I misunderstanding, I don't mean to sound dense, just want to get it right.

[Tooki]

Are you able to cheat the system that way Butterfly? I haven't booked tickets concurrently, but I have always been seated with my friends when we check in together.

Thanks for the replies, so just to be cleared, basically, say I book both flights for the same flight number etc on (for example) skyscanner/expedia, after the flights are booked, I can then go to the carriers website (it will more likely be thai ariways for me) and I can choose seats then? or am I misunderstanding, I don't mean to sound dense, just want to get it right.

That is it exactly. Whether the airline charges or not for seat allocation will be up to them. I'm unsure about if booking via a third party will get around any possible seat allocation fees though.

[MattDavies86]

Are you able to cheat the system that way Butterfly? I haven't booked tickets concurrently, but I have always been seated with my friends when we check in together.



That is it exactly. Whether the airline charges or not for seat allocation will be up to them. I'm unsure about if booking via a third party will get around any possible seat allocation fees though.

That's great, thanks for the help mate, appreciate it, i'm not too worried about any charges for seat selection, thanks again!

[MissButterfly]

Are you able to cheat the system that way Butterfly? I haven't booked tickets concurrently, but I have always been seated with my friends when we check in together.

Haha, sort of yes! It really depends on the carrier, but sometimes you just get seats assigned and they'll make you pay a lot to change it. When I was booking with my SO, we'd just say 'Ok so you click 19A then I click 19B before it refreshed. But then again, this was a very small plane of which quite a lot of seats had already been booked. You should be fine if you just book one after another, but I felt safe booking them at the same time

[princessmeg1328]

I've booked most of my flights on Expedia, and I've always been able to choose my own seat. I've even changed my seat a week before my flight, and it's never charged me. I just go to my itinerary on Expedia and changed it on Expedia. There's a section where it tells you about where you're seating. Sometimes I won't be able to pick my seat until closer to my flight though so be aware of that. I usually fly American Airlines or Delta though so it might be different with Thai Airlines. Also, sometimes people are really nice and will change seats with you if you're traveling as a couple and they're traveling by themselves.

[MattDavies86]

thanks for your input, I will look into it further and contact Thai Airways too, just to verify that I can select seats with them after I've booked and if there is a fee, very important for me to get us seats together to be honest, she's never flown before and doesn't travel very well, but she's coming to the UK for us, so I want to be sat next to her to help and comfort her the whole way if need be!

[Tooki]

Haha, sort of yes! It really depends on the carrier, but sometimes you just get seats assigned and they'll make you pay a lot to change it. When I was booking with my SO, we'd just say 'Ok so you click 19A then I click 19B before it refreshed. But then again, this was a very small plane of which quite a lot of seats had already been booked. You should be fine if you just book one after another, but I felt safe booking them at the same time

I never get that option when I book my flights. I always have to pay to allocate my seats during the booking process, but the airline makes seat allocation free 24 hours before departure. (This is the case with Finnair and Qantas).

[milaya]

Like Tooki, I've never had the option of selecting seats when I book tickets on expedia and such.
Overall you shouldn't make things more complicated than they are, in my case I wouldn't even contact the airline company and go through that hassle, because it's very simple.
If you make sure, like others have mentioned, that your flights are the same (date, time, flight number etc.) then the both of you just show up in Bangkok airport in good time and check-in together. It can be as simple as that. My SO and I have done it several times before. Most recently was when we went to Bangkok (funny enough).
I booked my tickets from Copenhagen to Bangkok and he booked his from Japan to Bangkok. Since we used Air China we had a transfer in Beijing (so my SO made sure to buy the same ticket as me departing from Beijing to Bangkok). We tried contacting Air China concerning seats, but they said it wasn't possible to arrange. I arrived in Beijing airport 6 hours before him, he sent me an e-mail with his seat number from when he checked-in in Japan. I wasn't able to check-in before 2 hours before departure, so I waited around. When I checked-in I asked to get a seat close to the seat my SO had gotten, and I got the seat right next to him.

When we went back from Bangkok to Osaka (these tickets were also booked separately), we just checked-in together at the airport and got a seat next to each other right away - we didn't even have to mention anything. Very simple.

[digitalfever]

When you go to book the flights, make sure that the dates, flight numbers and times line up.

It's easy to allocate your own seats online (but you will probably need to pay for this in advance)

This. You could also call the company your booking with to double check.