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After reading so much about flying during this sort of Pandemic recovery period in the West, I think it will be interesting to see how some of the more unknown country treat flying in this Covid-19 world. On my way back to Hong Kong, I decided to spend a week in Thailand, and a week in Singapore before flying to Hong Kong. When I booked the ticket, USA is still on Hong Kong’s banned list, so I was going to “wash out” in these two countries. Singapore to Hong Kong is also a reliable route in case my flight got suspended for some stupid reasons again. If SQ got banned, I could fly Scoot or CX or Hong Kong Express. Anyway, since I had three full days in Bangkok, I decided to spend half a day flying these domestic flights. I want to add a new airline to my list, as well as a new airport. In the end, I settled on this route: Thai VietJet, a new Thai subsidiary of VietJet from Bangkok to Phuket, Bangkok Airways’ unique ATR-72 flight from Phuket to Hat Yai, a new airport for my list, and Thai Smile Airways from Hat Yai to Bangkok.

I was fortunate that all three flights went on time, and picking Thai VietJet as my first flight was a strategy to make sure that I flew the first flight of the day so I won’t run into delay problems. Bangkok Airways was as good as ever, but sadly the rain sort of dampened the mood a bit, as we were boarding. Thai Smile Airways’ Plus cabin was pretty good, but given that the Thailand government still has a ban on inflight service on all domestic flights, paying for a Plus cabin does not make sense, even I got a hot lunch box to go. There was not much to report on for in-flight service because all food and beverage service was suspended on board all Thailand domestic flights now, as well as no newspapers were allowed too. You have to wear your mask 100% of the flight. Without food and beverage, passenger have no excuse to remove masks. I found out during my first flight, but would appreciate if airlines would actually remind passengers such rules during the booking process.

Anyway here is the full report:

June 26, 2022
VZ [Thai VietJet] 300 BKK-HKT Lv0620 Arr0745 Airbus A320-200 Sharklet HS-VKN

A word about booking a flight on Thai VietJet:
When I first tried to book a flight on it, I just used Google to search for the airline and clicked on the first available link. I was directed to actually a third-party site with a deceptive address using thaivietair. So be really careful and both Google and Thai VietJet should be aware of it. I reported it to Google but as of this point, it was still not fixed. Here is the correct website: https://th.vietjetair.com/#

While Thai VietJet is cheap, most Thai people that I talked are not a fan of it, due to its frequent delays. However, it is fairly common with these low cost carriers so I purposefully select the airline as the operating carrier for my first flight of the day to minimize opportunities for delays.

I also decided to book “Deluxe” fare category so I have access to priority desk and priority boarding. Despite my flight ended up using a bus gate, it was still worth it to have access to priority desk for check-in. Thai VietJet actually has a higher fare category known as SKYBOSS, but the fare was a bit higher than I liked. Plus if I am willing to pay for SKYBOSS fares, I mind as well fly Thai Smile Plus class. However SKYBOSS will get you a private bus shuttle to the plane, and also beware that only row 1, the bulkhead row, featured extra legroom. Row 2 & 3 have no additional legroom. Anyway as a deluxe passenger, I don’t get access to seats on Row 1-3 but free access to exit row seats, which I prefer anyway. The check-in agent asked if I wanted to switch, I said “no”!

Check-in area – well-staffed and still quiet on these morning hours





Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport is still the world’s worse new airport, and the design just does not make sense at all. All domestic flights use Concourse A/B now and there is a checkpoint before entering those areas, but you don’t actually go through security until you head to the gates. You cannot buy any bottled beverages and even if you buy like bottle of lotion in BOOT, they have to put in those sealed plastic bag. It does not make sense at all.

Most VietJet flights seem to use remote bus gates and my flight was no exception.




Boarding began right on time at 5:35am, but we actually spent much time waiting inside the bus, like most European flights. At least they kept the a/c on and the Thai government regulation did not allow them to pack the bus. It was quite chaotic once we were let off the bus, but I did not mind, as I could take these following pictures.

There was a nearby A321.





The aircraft used on my flight was a transplant from parent company and they just added the Thai label and changed the registration to Thailand. This A320 was not the cleanest but looked decent enough.






Cabin shot






Exit Row – I was the only occupant and was glad that I paid for the extra legroom.






I got a briefing from the friendly F/A, and boarding was stopped at one point, due to some unknown passenger issues with two gentlemen. I did not speak Thai so could not report what’s wrong. Eventually the issue was resolved and boarding continued. Door was closed on time though, and we pushed back at 6:26am.

Sadly Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport was still not busy at all, and we took off from R/W19L at 6:36am.




Flying time was an hour and one minute with a cruising altitude of 36,000feet.

As of this point, I have already found out from the P/A that there was no inflight sales service because Thai government banned eating and drinking on board. You are technically not allowed to even bring your own beverage and food on board too. I saw passengers drinking water from their own bottles or bring their own bottled waters. No F/A seemed to stop them, but no one tried to eat. However, the F/As are allowed to do so, as I saw F/As eating their meals and snacks in the galley on two of the three flights I was on. Since there was no service and any form of entertainment, most passengers just went to sleep on this morning flight. I just read my ebook for the flight.

Safety card is Thai VietJet branded and vomit bag is VietJet branded




Bathroom – at least they have extra cash for flowers




Most interesting part is that a F/A was waiting for me as I came out from the bathroom and offering me some hand-sanitizer. It happened on my Thai Smile flight too. Since they are not allowed to provide any service, offering hand sanitizer seems to be a priority for F/As.

It was a gloomy day in Phuket so I did not take many pictures on arrival.

Descent began at 7:12am and VZ 300 landed on R/W27 at 7:37am, and parked at gate four at 7:41am.