Views on current local air travel
Posted: January 9, 2016, 12:11 pm
Usually I would include the travelling to & from a holiday destination in my views on the holiday in general. This time I have decided to post in a separate thread. This is partly because of the quantity of travel - 6 trips in 14 days - but also because just about any negativity on my time away came from this area.
I didn't want to give the impression that I had anything but a great time, but I didn't want to miss out recording my disappointments in this area either..
The flights
26th. December - Udon to BKK (Lion Air) & BKK to Ho Chi Minh City (Air Asia)
27th. December - Ho Chi Minh City to Da Nang (Vietnam Airline)
7th. January - Da Nang to Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam Airline)
8th. January - Ho Chi Minh City to BKK (Air Asia) & BKK to Udon (Lion Air)
All the flights were about an hour in duration, but every flight suffered a lift off delay significant enough to alter the boarding time. The worst delay was only just over the hour, but it was a pretty appalling record..
The carriers
As they were all equally bad on punctuality, I guess that I will have to concentrate on other things...
Passenger comfort.
Lion Air were the worst in this regard. I am only 5'11" & 82 kilo. While I guess that is pretty large by Asian standards (but even that is becoming less so), it really isn't from other parts of the world. On the Lion Air flight it was impossible to sit without my knees touching the seat infront.
Air Asia gave just about enough room for a short haul flight to be comfortable & on the 1 flight had those well padded leatherette affairs that are not too bad at all for sitting in.
Vietnam Airlines were probably running the oldest planes of the 3 carriers. Possibly because of that, there was quite a bit of leg room. Indeed I have flown tourist long haul with less.
Food
These are all low cost airlines, so don't expect too much here...
Lion Air just about won by handing out a bottle of water & a pack of 2 Oreo biscuits - not that I am a fan there!!. In good old low cost tradition, Air Asia give you nothing - but are willing to sell you just about anything at an inflated price. Vietnam went the bottle of water route, which is good enough for me on an hour long flight.
Point of turn around improvement here for Vietnam Airlines...
The Lion Air cabin staff come around with a bin bag just before landing & so have got the plane into a fair condition before the passengers have even left & utilising them to clean up their own mess. The Vietnamese cabin staff just dished out the water & left it at that - definitely a clean up required after the passengers have left & so just by the employees.
Quirkiness
The winner of the quirkiness award goes to Lion Air for a sign displayed on each passenger seat.
I must have taken 100s of flights (in various conditions of 'playfulness') but I have to say that the thought of stealing one of the under-seat life jackets had never entered my head.
I do not know if, in its' early days, Lion Air carried a lot of cheap Charlie yachts' men or vacationing fishermen, but there is a notice posted that reminds passengers that it is illegal to steal them & that the company take any such act seriously.
To sum up. There was not a great deal of difference between the carriers & no one excelled or appalled. It was disappointing that they all seemed incapable of keeping to a schedule that they had created though & that smacks a little of either poor planning or poor management.
Don Mueang
I have always had a bit of a nostalgic, romantic regard for the old airport.
I used to like the long trek from International to Domestic & when I did a trip through there a year or so ago it still, to me, had a quaint appeal.
It is now back to full service though & any appeal is now long gone.
A new terminal had been opened since I last went through & all International flights were separated from Domestic on Christmas Eve, so I was expecting some teething issues when I travelled down 2 days later. In fairness it all went surprisingly well & my only complaint was the lack of signage to at least give a passenger a fighting chance of heading in the right direction without needing to constantly ask someone.
So I was pretty hopeful that a couple of weeks would have given them a chance to knock off the hard edges.
I could not have been more wrong & the experience was worse than any that I ever experienced at Swampy - even at the height of its issues there.
It took 45 minutes to get through a packed Immigration department that was pretty obviously way undermanned. There were bays available, just no one occupying them. The situation worsened during the time I was there, rather than improved & I am certain that many after me will have waited well past the hour.
However, that all faded to insignificance compared to the debacle of trying to book onto the Lion Air Udon flight.
Rather than having dedicated flight desks, Lion have gone for two banks of 7 desks that will accept any Lion flight.
While the theory might be sound, the practical demonstration yesterday was a nightmare. The queue snaked around 5 times between rope & poles but even this length proved insufficient for the number of waiting passengers. At one stage this was so long that it extended out through the airport doors.
If my flight had not been delayed by 45 minutes while I was in the queue then I would not have made it in time anyway, such was the processing time.
I had read that delays were expected yesterday anyway, because of the Thai Royal Airforce practising for the Children's Day display today. So I can only hope that my experience yesterday were a one off as a result of those issues.
As it was, it was totally unacceptable & if it represented the 'norm' then the airport will see no more of me..
I didn't want to give the impression that I had anything but a great time, but I didn't want to miss out recording my disappointments in this area either..
The flights
26th. December - Udon to BKK (Lion Air) & BKK to Ho Chi Minh City (Air Asia)
27th. December - Ho Chi Minh City to Da Nang (Vietnam Airline)
7th. January - Da Nang to Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam Airline)
8th. January - Ho Chi Minh City to BKK (Air Asia) & BKK to Udon (Lion Air)
All the flights were about an hour in duration, but every flight suffered a lift off delay significant enough to alter the boarding time. The worst delay was only just over the hour, but it was a pretty appalling record..
The carriers
As they were all equally bad on punctuality, I guess that I will have to concentrate on other things...
Passenger comfort.
Lion Air were the worst in this regard. I am only 5'11" & 82 kilo. While I guess that is pretty large by Asian standards (but even that is becoming less so), it really isn't from other parts of the world. On the Lion Air flight it was impossible to sit without my knees touching the seat infront.
Air Asia gave just about enough room for a short haul flight to be comfortable & on the 1 flight had those well padded leatherette affairs that are not too bad at all for sitting in.
Vietnam Airlines were probably running the oldest planes of the 3 carriers. Possibly because of that, there was quite a bit of leg room. Indeed I have flown tourist long haul with less.
Food
These are all low cost airlines, so don't expect too much here...
Lion Air just about won by handing out a bottle of water & a pack of 2 Oreo biscuits - not that I am a fan there!!. In good old low cost tradition, Air Asia give you nothing - but are willing to sell you just about anything at an inflated price. Vietnam went the bottle of water route, which is good enough for me on an hour long flight.
Point of turn around improvement here for Vietnam Airlines...
The Lion Air cabin staff come around with a bin bag just before landing & so have got the plane into a fair condition before the passengers have even left & utilising them to clean up their own mess. The Vietnamese cabin staff just dished out the water & left it at that - definitely a clean up required after the passengers have left & so just by the employees.
Quirkiness
The winner of the quirkiness award goes to Lion Air for a sign displayed on each passenger seat.
I must have taken 100s of flights (in various conditions of 'playfulness') but I have to say that the thought of stealing one of the under-seat life jackets had never entered my head.
I do not know if, in its' early days, Lion Air carried a lot of cheap Charlie yachts' men or vacationing fishermen, but there is a notice posted that reminds passengers that it is illegal to steal them & that the company take any such act seriously.
To sum up. There was not a great deal of difference between the carriers & no one excelled or appalled. It was disappointing that they all seemed incapable of keeping to a schedule that they had created though & that smacks a little of either poor planning or poor management.
Don Mueang
I have always had a bit of a nostalgic, romantic regard for the old airport.
I used to like the long trek from International to Domestic & when I did a trip through there a year or so ago it still, to me, had a quaint appeal.
It is now back to full service though & any appeal is now long gone.
A new terminal had been opened since I last went through & all International flights were separated from Domestic on Christmas Eve, so I was expecting some teething issues when I travelled down 2 days later. In fairness it all went surprisingly well & my only complaint was the lack of signage to at least give a passenger a fighting chance of heading in the right direction without needing to constantly ask someone.
So I was pretty hopeful that a couple of weeks would have given them a chance to knock off the hard edges.
I could not have been more wrong & the experience was worse than any that I ever experienced at Swampy - even at the height of its issues there.
It took 45 minutes to get through a packed Immigration department that was pretty obviously way undermanned. There were bays available, just no one occupying them. The situation worsened during the time I was there, rather than improved & I am certain that many after me will have waited well past the hour.
However, that all faded to insignificance compared to the debacle of trying to book onto the Lion Air Udon flight.
Rather than having dedicated flight desks, Lion have gone for two banks of 7 desks that will accept any Lion flight.
While the theory might be sound, the practical demonstration yesterday was a nightmare. The queue snaked around 5 times between rope & poles but even this length proved insufficient for the number of waiting passengers. At one stage this was so long that it extended out through the airport doors.
If my flight had not been delayed by 45 minutes while I was in the queue then I would not have made it in time anyway, such was the processing time.
I had read that delays were expected yesterday anyway, because of the Thai Royal Airforce practising for the Children's Day display today. So I can only hope that my experience yesterday were a one off as a result of those issues.
As it was, it was totally unacceptable & if it represented the 'norm' then the airport will see no more of me..