Thailand direct TUI or cheaper indirect

[Esmz]

We are looking at going to Khao Lak in April 2025. Would prefer booking as package. Has anyone flown direct with Tui from Gatwick?
If we book with Kuoni and fly Emirates or Qatar with a layover, we save £900. Is the convenience of direct flight worth paying more? We have only ever flown short haul direct before. We are two adults and a teenager.

I have flown direct to Bangkok with Eva air and it was a horrible long flight even in business class. I would definitely do a connecting flight next time just to give myself a break

My thinking was that direct flight is easier as I'm worried about the first flight being late and missing the connecting flight. Maybe I'm overthinking, but one option is a 50 minute layover in Doha which seems too short to manage comfortably.

I flew Eva air premium economy to BKK, it was fine, I'd rather just get on with the journey than faff around with stopovers.

I’ve flown both Qatar and Emirates to Thailand and it’s so much better to break the flight up with a stop in the Middle East. Great airlines as well. You’ll need a longer layover than 50 mins in Doha though as the airport is huge and you’ll struggle to make your next flight.

doha is very efficient for connections, if they sell that connection its will be doable as long as your flight is on time, and if you do miss the connection they will put you on the next flight

45 minutes is the shortest connection time. You should be fine. It's an extremely efficient airport.

You can fly direct with TUI from Gatwick or Manchester to Phuket it's way easier than doing a stopover could It all over within one go 12 hours