After two hours in a hot cramped car the feeling of arriving at Krabi airport just cannot be described in words.
It took nearly ten minutes to offload all the passengers and all the luggage in the car.
All luggage had to be x-rayed at the entrance to the terminal building and the passengers had to pass through a metal detector.
Once inside I immediately headed for the restroom to freshen up a bit and change clothes.
I had spent most of the day in the sun so my skin was aching a bit and the hot car had not really made things any better (I had quite a tan when I finally got home).
Check-in
Three desks were open for Thai Airways in the rather spacious departure hall, two desks for economy class and one desk for business class (Royal Silk) and Star Gold.
No line for the single premium desk so they were checking in economy class passengers, I am sure many people didn’t even notice there was a difference between the desks and several people glared at me as I passed the long line of people in the regular line.
A man and a woman were working at the premium check-in desk, the man actually made a comment about me looking quite warm. I am not surprised...
The check-in process was very quick and as I showed my Star Gold card the check-in agent immediately got a priority sticker from the desk.
Apparently seat 32K had been pre-booked for me, same seat as on the outbound flight.
I could imagine the check-in agent in Bangkok had something to do with it. Anyway, that was a good seat so very appreciated!! ^
Thai Airways Royal Silk Lounge, Krabi
With all formalities completed it was just after 5 pm, the priority check-in really made a difference. Still two hours left before scheduled departure.
After a quick security control I was happy to find a Thai Airways lounge on the immediate left after security. It couldn’t have come more appropriately!
The lounge was completely empty when I arrived and the three or four lounge attendants working there looked very bored and were in fact quite happy when I arrived.
The lounge had the new Royal Silk lounge design which is very stylish in my opinion.
I was happy to find a rather decent selection of light food and snacks at the self-service buffet including fresh fruits, finger sandwiches and warm miniature pies and pastries.
As for dessert they had very nice and tasty pineapple pastries and blueberry cake.
The lounge was completely dry though, just like the domestic lounge in Bangkok, so only soft drinks, fruit juices, tea and coffee to drink. Fair enough...
For nearly an hour I was the only passenger in the lounge making very good use of the self-service buffet (I was both thirsty and hungry after the long afternoon) while watching TV and surfing the internet using the free WIFI.
Just after 6 pm, an hour before departure, four more passengers arrived at the lounge
On the whole the Royal Silk lounge was a very decent lounge and a positive surprise for a small domestic airport like Krabi with only three flights a day to Bangkok.
Boarding
The main transit hall in the terminal was quite small with only a small shop and a cafeteria.
Killing two hours in there would have been boring, to say the least, so I am glad I had access to the lounge.
At 6.35 pm boarding started for the evening flight to Bangkok.
The passengers seemed to have been divided into two rooms, I never quite figured out for what reason, but I would guess it depended on if you were connecting to an international flight in Bangkok or not.
Priority boarding was offered for business class and Star Gold but wasn’t properly enforced.
As on arrival all passengers took an escalator down to the ground floor and then walked the short distance to the aircraft.
A rather tropical feeling!
Quite a lot of passengers on the flight so it took a bit of time for everybody to get onboard and we ended up waiting outdoors for a few moments.
Actually a very pleasant evening with a perfect temperature in the air, very refreshing after the long hot day.
The aircraft that was to take us to Bangkok was an Airbus A300 named Phaya Thai. Not the same aircraft as on the outbound leg (it was called Chiang Mai), but the same aircraft type.
Just like on the outbound flight I had been assigned 32K, so a window seat on the second row of economy class.
The flight was very full, I think economy class was almost completely full whereas in business class there were quite a few empty seats.
I was seated next to a young Japanese man who spent most of the flight playing with his laptop.
The interior was the same as on the outbound flight, old and retro with simple but adequate economy class seats.
Otherwise the cabin itself was tidy and well-maintained.
Krabi-Bangkok, flight TG 250 operated by Thai Airways
Departure: 19:00
Arrival: 20:20
Aircraft: Airbus A300
Class: Economy Class
Seat: 32K
Expected flight time to Bangkok was 55 minutes, so slightly shorter than scheduled.
We pushed back right on time at 7 pm and after back-tracking the runway we took off at 7.12 pm from runway 34.
During the flight to Bangkok a paper box was offered to all passengers in economy class.
The box contained a cheese croissant, a chocolate chip cookie and a small orange juice.
After the boxes had been distributed the crew passed through the cabin offering coffee, tea, water and more orange juice from a trolley.
The snack was quite nice and filling and perfectly adequate for the time of the day and the length of the flight.
I wasn’t very hungry myself as I had quite a lot to eat in the lounge in Krabi, so this was perfect!
I was rather tired after a long day to I spent the remaining part of the flight dozing off while listening to some music.
Arrival in Bangkok
The weather in the Bangkok area was excellent so a very nice view was provided during the descent to Suvarnabhumi airport.
We landed 10 minutes early at 8.10 pm on runway 01R.
Sitting on the second row of economy class with a very light load in business class in front I was one of the very first passengers to get off the aircraft and the very first person from the flight to reach the baggage reclaim.
It was a rather lengthy walk to get there from the gate, but actually I did not really mind stretching my legs a bit.
More passengers started to arrive in the baggage area, however I believe a large number of passengers on the flight were connecting to international flights and headed straight for the international transit area. There are quite a lot of departures around midnight.
Baggage delivery started very quickly and the priority-tag worked like a dream.
My bag was the second to arrive on the belt and I was standing in the arrivals hall at 8.35 pm, just 25 minutes after touching down on the runway.
That’s really good for a large airport like Bangkok ^
Verdict
I was very pleased with the lounge in Krabi, much better than expected. The lounge was in fact really pleasant with nice food and drinks and an elegant interior.
It would have been even better though with some nice Thai beer as well...
The flight itself was unremarkable but the small snack was nice and adequate.
A hands up for the arrival in Bangkok, the quick baggage delivery and the priority baggage coming out first (as it should). Saved me a fair amount of time...
But now back to the real first class flights again!
