Bangkok Airways
Economy Class (Y)
PG943: BKK-VTE (Bangkok to Vientiane)
21 May 2018
Airbus A319
HS-PPS
Seat 10D/10E/10F
Departure: 09:45AM
Arrival: 11:00AM
We arrived in BKK early, so I had a bit of extra time to kill. I was through transit security within 10 minutes, so my first stop was to find the Singapore Airlines transfer desk. I had a flight on SilkAir (from VTE) later in the day, so in order to maximize my time on the ground in Laos I wanted to get my boarding pass issued in BKK. SilkAir does not actually operate at BKK, but I figured it was worth trying to get my BP from the SQ transfer desk. SilkAir is the regional arm of Singapore Air, so I figured it should be possible.
After I found the SQ transfer desk, I asked the agent if he could issue my BP for later in the day. The agent worked for Thai Airways, who presumably is contracted to SQ for this service. At first, he told me it wasn't possible. Then I mentioned I was flying in F the following day on SQ from SIN-PEK. At that point, he contacted his supervisor and was able to issue both boarding passes after a few minutes. This was potentially a big timesaver.
Boarding pass sorted, I wanted to track down the Bangkok Airways Lounge, as they include lounge access for all passengers flying with them. Nice perk, right?
I should mention I've had issues navigating BKK airport in the past. It's a huge, sprawling airport and the signage is not really kept updated. It took some time to find the Bangkok Airways Lounge, but after a bit (~1km) of walking, I finally found it.
I present to you the Bangkok Airways Lounge in all its resplendent glory (drumroll please)...
Underwhelmed? Yeah, I was too. The food and drink selection was abysmal and the seating was not very comfortable. I've been to worse lounges (looking at you The Club in the basement of BOS Terminal E), but there really was room for improvement. On the plus side, it was deserted, so I pretty much had my pick of seats.
On a more serious note, the BKK maps showed this to be the location of the PG Lounge. Clearly, the lounge had moved. I'd been faffing about for a while now and I didn't have a lot of time left before boarding. So, I decided to use my Priority Pass to visit the Miracle Business Class Lounge near Gate D5. It was a perfectly decent lounge; at the time, it happened to be full of Russians waiting to depart on a SU flight to Moscow.
I had a quick Diet Coke and I was off to my (somewhat) nearby boarding gate a mere 500m walk away. The PG lounge was a further 250m beyond the Miracle Lounge in the wrong direction from my gate, so I gave up my quest on that occasion.
HS-PPS
Yes, those windows are horrifically dirty; don't adjust your screen or tell me to clean my camera lens.
A couple days beforehand, I moved my seat from 9A (window) to 10D, the aisle seat. As it turned out, 10E and 10F were both unoccupied, so I got the entire row to myself. The pitch in these seats is very small, so that extra room came in handy. The anorexic French woman (inexplicably wearing a black pantsuit in 95F tropical weather) in 9D decided to recline her seat immediately after take-off and left it reclined for the entire flight. I really love it when people do that.
In these cases, I'm not overly concerned about "accidentally" bumping their seat...
My PG Sky Sofa in action
After a short time, the crew began the meal service. The meal this time was still breakfast and it consisted of mushroom and chicken congee with fresh fruit and yogurt. Everything was quite good. No complaints whatsoever.
Arriving at the sleepy Vientiane Airport
Before long, the plane landed and I was off to immigration and landside at 10:55AM. A whole 5 minutes prior to our scheduled arrival time. The Laos airport arrival process was very fast and efficient. It helped that I'd procured a visa in advance instead of applying for a visa on arrival.
And thus commenced my 2.5 hour visit to Laos.