Flying in SE Asia in the summer

[xetere]

So my wife is going to Thailand for five weeks at the end of June. I intend to take summer vacation and join her for two weeks at the end of July and we are going to go to Angkor.

One of my biggest fears re: turbulence is thunderstorms. The fear began on an Eastern Shuttle flight (dating myself) from LGA to DCA that was so bad that everyone was screaming, and a woman next to me was fingering worry beads. Didn't go on a plane for a few years after that. You know how the DC area is hot humid and full of CBs in the summer.

Well that part of the world at that time of the year is pretty much one big thunderstorm. So if anyone has ventured there during the summer, how likely will I have a bad flight.

Ironically I *have* been to Thailand in October when it is still pretty bad, even rainier than July, and I loved it and had wonderful flights, so go figure.

I have this vision of the pilot's doppler seeing read and only read and saying, well we gotta go through it.

[ksjhawk]

I'm also curious. Will be flying to Hainan island mid-July - East of the SE Asia peninsula. Hainan seems to get a lot of summertime quick t-storms. Anyone with southern China/SE Asia experience please post.

[ryanbryan]

I've flown through and within SE Asia quite a bit, and can say that despite the fact that it storms frequently, flying there for me has been quite pleasant. Airlines there tend not to shy away from rerouting around storms if required, and you should also remember that pilots of these airlines are very experienced in flying in this kind of weather.

Depending on what kind of plane you're in, flying through a storm isn't necessarily that bad. I have flown through and landed in a number of storms in SE Asia, and while I certainly wouldn't describe the ride as smooth, it's not as bad as you would think.

One criticism however, would be that most SE Asian airlines tend to not really say much during the flight, especially regarding turbulence if it is present. I once flew Malaysia Airlines from KUL - SYD, where we had quite horrible turbulence for almost the whole way, and barely a word was heard from the flight deck.

[xetere]

Thanks.

I flew to Hong Kong and Bangkok on Cathay Pacific about ten years ago, and they were informative and the flights were smooth. It seemed they were really good about routing through storms.
This time I am on JAL from New York to Tokyo (747-400) and also from Tokyo to Bangkok (777), and I have to admit, my nervousness is increasing, so your words are good. Although I can't guarantee a good flight, sometimes I do wonder if there is a more "macho" attitude amongst pilots outside of the US, especially in places where rough weather is common. Ideally I would have loved to have made the NRT - BKK flight like form midnight landing in BKK in the morning, but alals, no, so we'll be leaving Narita @ 6:00 PM and getting into BKK @ 11:30 PM, which sets off my alarms, because I do know the peak storm times are in late afternoon to evening (calming down by 11:00) but again, thanks for writing!