How Long Does It Take to Get to Thailand from the USA?

If you are planning to take a trip from the United States of America to Thailand for a vacation, official duty, etc., you may be wondering about the duration. While there is an average duration you can keep in mind, you should note that numerous factors may come into play to determine how long it will take. Below, we will consider the various factors so that you can have a rough estimate of the proposed journey.

Basically, flying from the United States of America to Thailand will take around 17 hours, 45 minutes. In other words, you will spend less than 18 hours flying from the USA to Thailand, provided your fly directly from the US to Thailand. However, you should understand that this calculation assumes that the commercial airplane flies at 805 km/h (500 mph or 435 knots). Similarly, an additional 30 minutes have been considered for take-off and landing.

It is noteworthy that the calculation of the flight duration from the USA to Thailand has been done by Travel Math based on the direct distance of around 13,877 kilometers (8,623 miles) between the two countries. Nevertheless, numerous factors can shorten or extend how long it will take you to get to Thailand from the US.

What factors can affect how long it will take to get to Thailand from the USA?

Although an estimate has been given for flight time from the US to Thailand, reality may differ from expectation. Factually, in lots of situations, you will spend more than the estimated flight time. This could be due to any of the following reasons:

  • A direct or indirect flight

The biggest factor that can affect the flight time is whether you are taking a direct or indirect flight. In this context, a direct flight means that you will fly directly from the United States of America to your destination in Thailand.

However, in most cases, you may need to take an indirect flight that involves one or more stopovers. That is, you will need to stop for some minutes or hours in other countries before getting to Thailand. For instance, if you are flying from LAX, you can have a stopover in Korea, Japan, or China before flying to Thailand.

As expected, a direct flight to Thailand from the USA will be faster than an indirect flight with various stopovers. Also, the number of stopovers will have a big say in how long it will take you to get to Thailand from the US.

  • Weather

Of course, the effect of weather on flight time can never be overemphasized. Since flying requires an airplane to cruise at over 45 miles above ground level, it doesn’t come as a surprise that the weather will have a big impact on an airplane. The wind speeds will determine when and how fast the airplane will move. 

This is why weather forecasts are often considered to be an essential part of the pre-flight checks by the flight crew. If the weather is not duly considered, the safety of the flight crew and passengers may be jeopardized.

The weather condition during your flight can affect the flight speed, the take-off, delays, and stopovers you will have to deal with. All these factors can have substantial impacts on how long it will take you to get to Thailand from the USA.

Besides, snow on the runways can also lead to some issues. Hence, there may be some delay before the airplane will finally take off from the airport. 

  • Location in the USA

Another important factor that will affect how long it will take you to get to Thailand from the United States of America is your location in the US. For example, let’s assume that you are traveling to Bangkok for Lexington, Kentucky, you may have to spend as long as 35 hours during your flights. Besides, you will likely have to take about 4 different flights before reaching your destination.

However, the duration will be quite different for someone traveling from Los Angeles to Thailand. For such an individual, the trip to Thailand will be more direct and faster.

Furthermore, the international airport you are landing in Thailand may also have an effect on the overall time it will take to travel. The flight time to an airport in Bangkok will likely be different from a flight to Chiang Rai International Airport on the northern side of Thailand.

  • Time spent for take-off and landing

In the calculation above, it has been assumed that only 30 minutes will be spent on take-off and landing. However, this doesn’t work in many instances. While the take-off and landing time may be longer than the estimate, it may sometimes be shorter based on a wide range of issues. Although the difference will probably only be some minutes, it can contribute to the overall flight time from the US to Thailand.

Therefore, if you are planning to get to Thailand from the United States of America, you must take the time to consider the aforementioned factors. They are the major determinants of how long it will take you to move from one country to another.

Cost and duration

As you are thinking about how long it will take to get to Thailand from the USA, you may also want to consider the cost. The longer the distance covered, the more the cost will likely be. However, the cost will also be affected by air flight deals and time of flight.

For example, if you want to fly in November, December, and January which are considered to be the high season, the flight ticket will likely be expensive. But flying in September will likely reduce the cost of flying significantly.

Conclusion

Traveling from the United States of America to Thailand will likely take around 20 hours. However, numerous factors can have varying effects on the total duration of moving from the US to Thailand. These factors include your location in the US, time spent for take-off and landing, weather, and type of flight.

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