Budget Travel - Connecting flights on Asian LCCs - how dangerous?

I am thinking about traveling SGN-BKK on Jetstar, then connecting 105 minutes later with a BKK-HKT flight on Air Asia. How dangerous is this? The Jetstar/Air Asia flights come to about $150 all-in; the same booking on Thai/*A will cost me perhaps $400.

Basically it comes down to how on-time your flights are. Given you've got to pass through immigration, collect your bags, pass customs, head up to check-in again and Air-Asia closes check-in 45 minutes before the scheduled flight time it gives you about an hour to do all that.

If the flight's ontime then you have no worries, if it's more than about half an hour late then you're looking at the potential for issues. As you're probably already aware, if you're too late then it's time to buy a new ticket on the next flight. That being said even with the added cost of buying a ticket on the next flight you'd still end up ahead.

It's the same as with virtually every airline (low & legacy) when you buy separate tickets - it's up to you to make the connection & pay through the nose if you don't

Taking the low cost carrier seems to be a no-brainer. But the connection time is short.

Can you book a longer connection? Or take TG only for the BKK-HKT flight? Or consider flying the next day?

The BKK-HKT flghts are full at the moment, so missing a connection without a back-up plan is not a good idea. You may want to reserve a 2nd, later flight, unticketed. TG, PG both sell changeable tickets. Nok Air does too, but they only fly limited dates to HKT until Nov.

I'd still go for the lowcost carriers.

It is important to note that you must clear immigration and customs and go upstairs to the ordinary check-in counter to check-in and AirAsia closes check-in 45 minutes before scheduled departure. That said. If the flights are on time and you move fast it is doable. I would do it myself but I would be willing to accept the consequences if it didn't work.

Book a longer connection.

Even without checked luggage, you run a big risk of a misconnect. Jetstar certainly has a better on-time record than FD, but the risk is there. Air Asia is pretty sticky about their rules in respect to check-in. You may also have a long hike through a linear airport to connect. The worst case would be a bus gate from Saigon and another to Phuket on opposite ends of the approximately 1 mile long terminal. Although FD departures are usually from a gate, you still have to clear security domestically.

If you have baggage, I will bet you a 500 rial bill that you do not make it.

Have you checked flying a bit further and either doing SGN-KUL-HKG or SGN-SIN-HKT, and seeing if you get a better connection times? Often the pricing difference is small.

When I was in HKT a couple of weeks ago, I was upstairs and passed by the Air Asia desk. They had a big note in the window saying that all flights were full for a couple of days.