Views on current local air travel

[wazza]

The less you pay for a ticket the less options and more add ons. Finale

I fly with Thai Smile regularly, and never pay for xs baggage from UTH - BKK - UTH , having just arrived off International flights with 45 KG and 2 hand carry etc. No transits to Swampy thankfully, as some of my international connections would mean an overnight in BKK, to meet the early flights or connecting times are less than 2 hours.

The TG Gold card allows their benefits still., as well as access to the Thai Domestic Lounge.

Service has dropped off in flight and TG International ticketing is a premium cost compared to other carriers.

[tutone]

I will never use Air Asia unless absolutely necessary due to an annoying experience with them. At check in in BKK asked for seats together for wife and myself. Was told she could not do and would have to ask when boarding flight. At the gate was told we would have to wait until last to board then ask the cabin attendant. On entering the plane spoke with the flight attendant and she said sit anywhere. Entered the actual passenger cabin and over half the seats were empty!! Just seemed to me the folks at the front desk would have known there were plenty of seats available and saved us all that waiting around and wondering if we would have seats together. Also the flights I have use with AA, it seemed to me the seat comfort, and leg room were not as good as Nok or Thai Air.

[BobHelm]

Air Asia now do 'online' booking in, where seat reservation can be done for nothing.
If you buy online & have an email address registered with them then they will send you an email reminder 7 days before your flight to enable you to do that.
When I did that for my Vietnam flight they also allowed me to book in & get allocated seats for the return leg as well (14 days later).

I don't especially like them as a carrier but they are well priced as long as you play by their rules. Step outside them & they slap you with serious charges.
A lady at Ho Chi Minh airport was booking onto my flight back to BKK while I was. She ended up paying over $70 excess baggage charge - that complete flight flight only cost me $110....
That was for 1 (admittedly rather large) case...

[parrot]

There's a discussion on another channel about airline safety.....points to this website:
http://www.airlineratings.com/safety_ra ... ne.php?l=L

Interesting info......but no matter the ratings, given a choice of a bus, minivan, train, or plane to Bangkok, I'll take the plane thank you. Lion Air looks pretty dismal in those ratings!

[lassebasse]

Yesterday I booked a flight for 3 adults and one child on a date in april, one way from Udon Thani to Bangkok. I first checked Thai Smile, price 13.120, then Nok Airways, 11.796 and finally Thai Lion Air, 13.610. Hmm, then I decided to take a look at Thai Airways even though they do not fly this domestic route anymore. Well they do in cooperation with Thai Smile and the price was 10.515!!!

[GARYZX6R]

Yesterday I booked a flight for 3 adults and one child on a date in april, one way from Udon Thani to Bangkok. I first checked Thai Smile, price 13.120, then Nok Airways, 11.796 and finally Thai Lion Air, 13.610. Hmm, then I decided to take a look at Thai Airways even though they do not fly this domestic route anymore. Well they do in cooperation with Thai Smile and the price was 10.515!!!

Sounds expensive , only pay just under 1000 bht normally with Lion air or Nok ? Unless i got your prices wrong ? Dots and commas ?

[lassebasse]

For sure you can get lower prices if you are more flexible about when you like to travel but now I wanted to go a specific day and a specific time. The interesting part of my message was not to forget to check the Thai Airways prices.

[Jing Jing]

While each of the airlines have their pros and cons a major flaw is the airports. DM may have a new domestic counters, but the same gates remain. Gates 71 - 78 are a hell hole. There are approximately 1,000 pepole crammed into what amounts to a bus terminal. There are two inadequately sized restroom to serve this mass. Announcements are sometimes hard to hear. After check in you are crammed on a shuttle bus to journey out onto the tarmac to board your hot plane. Wonderful!

[the-monk]

Totally agree the airports remain a mess. At Swampy the other day no crowd control
at the check-in counters. Everyone looking for a way to jump the line. I was in the
DROP BAG line having web cheched-in but at least 5-6 persons in front of me were told
to queue in the other lineup.... what a waste of time and a good dose of frustration for all involved.
An airline agent posted at the entrance of the boarding area to direct
the passengers to the proper counter/lineup would alleviate the mess.. speed up the process and
diminish the passenger s frustration. Then the immigration another irritating
experience.

[BobHelm]

Well, despite my original post of disappointment of having issues with 6 flights out of 6, I decided to give it another go.

This time the plan was for 7 flights over a two week period, although 6 of those flights were over 2 days at the start of the 14 days & 2 days at the end.
Again from Udon to Vietnam, but taking in Da Nang & Nha Trang while I was there.

The start could not have gone better. I took the 3 flights to Da Nang without a hitch. The flights were on time & no hassle from any of the 3 airlines used - Lion Air, Udon to DM, Air Asia, DM to HCMC & Vietnam Airways HCMC to Da Nang.

I had booked & paid for the trip in February & the 3 internal Vietnam flights were all on Vietnam Airlines. The short hop back to HCMC from Nha Trang appeared to be particularly troublesome after I booked it. I had received 4 emails concerning time alterations as it skipped from the mid day timing I wanted to early morning. Thankfully the dice stopped rolling as I left on the trip to a more respectable 10am slot.
After 6 very pleasant days in Da Nang I arrived at the airport at noon (to take my 1pm flight to Nha Trang) & was rather puzzled at not being able to spot my flight on the departure board. There was not a very large queue at the Vietnamese Airway check in, but I had most of the staff's attention once I put my ticket & passport on the desk..
Yeap, my flight had safely departed & completed the journey to Nha Trang at 10 minutes past 8 that morning...
Was accompanied to their ticket office who pleasantly booked me a Business Class flight to HCMC leaving at 1pm. & a (rather tight) flight leaving from HCMC to Nha Trang. Never a mention of it being my fault (which technically it was) or of there being any financial implications to me.
The only real blot was that the HCMC to Nha Trang flight ended up being delayed to 5.30 pm..

Other than that, all the flights went well with little in the way of delays. Very different from the December/January experience, but I think that it is very much a matter of luck rather than a genuine upturn in the local airline service levels.


I still think that DM sucks as an 'International' Airport though. The directional signage is still woefully inadequate & the 70 series gates that they are still constructing for domestic flights are way too small & always require bussing to the plane.
Immigration for non ASEAN passengers is still understaffed & the system of queuing in front of individual officer desks is just a plain poor idea. It seems to frustrate the officers nearly as much as the customers &, in consequence, they get ridiculously 'picky' about the Arrival Form - even down to insisting that the back of the form is also fully completed.
I was also still rather frustrated by the Lion Air booking in system as well. Still not enough desks manned to cope with the volume queuing for a any desk can book any flight system. I guess this time I only had to queue for 45 minutes though, so a slight improvement on last time.