Dudemius

Hi,

I will be in Singapore in early September and am considering a side trip to visit Angkor Wat for 2 -3 nights. To make this work I need a reasonably priced direct flight for SIN-REP (and return).

The airline choices I'm aware of seem to be limited to Silkair or Jetstar. Of those 2 which would you pick? Are there other options?

Thanks,

Steve

jpatokal

Yes, those are presently your only options, and I've flown SIN-REP on both. Silkair's full-service but expensive, although they sometimes have attractive promos (I snagged one-way tickets for S$100 a few years back). JetStar's no-frills but cheap and better than most (assigned seating, new planes, tolerable pitch, etc). At any rate, it's a fairly short flight (~2 hours), so I wouldn't lose too much sleep over it, just pick based on price and schedules.

Guy Betsy

Or you may try Malaysia Airlines ... via KUL. Or THAI via Bangkok. Though transit times may not be the best.

yycworldtraveler

I don't think Thai serves REP. I thought Bangkok Airways had a monopoly on the BKK-REP route.

MegatopLover

yycworldtraveler is right. TG does not fly BKK-REP. Bangkok Airways, reknowned monopolist, has BKK-REP tied up, complete with extortionate fares.

Dudemius

Thank you for your responses. I'll work with the existing direct flight options.

PCheng

Never flown Silkair from Singapore to Siem Reap, but I flew Jetstar last year and find the departure time horrible. It leaves Singapore at 6 in the morning and returns from Siem Reap at 7:50. You basically had to stay up the day of departure, and had to spend an extra night for hotel on the return date.

All things being equal, I will go with Silkair. But if the price difference is substantial, go with Jetstar and pocket the extra money.

sadeghi

I flew on SilkAir from Singapore to Siem Reap back in 2004. Flight was OK. It left on time. A boxed snack was served. Nothing too memorable about the flight.

billygoat27

Mrs. Billygoat and I took the JetStar flight about a month ago. JetStar is Qantas' low-cost subsidiary, and JetStar Asia is partially owned by Singapore Airlines (who performs the maintenance on the A320s). Its a low-cost carrier, no meals/pillows or anything on the early morning flight (want to say 7am), but they do flight out of the nice terminal at Changi.

Bottom line: Low cost, clean and safe.

fraidofheights

MegatopLover...you can get "discovery airpass" from Bangkok airways and it really isn't that expensive to fly BKK-REP...

Chapel Hill Guy

But how do you get one? I called my TA here in the US and she reported back that she can't even get anyone at PG on the phone.

YVR Cockroach

You have to use one of PG's representative offices. Luckily for me, there's one (or was) in Vancouver/YVR where I went in with cash to buy the passes.

See: http://www.bangkokair.com/contact/?id=us

gt_croz

I took the REP-SIN JetStar flight in December. It seems like a very solidly run operation. ^

GadgetFreak

I cant help on flights, I went there from BKK on Bangkok Air and out to Hanoi in Vietnam Air. But I did want to say that if at all possible do go. It is an absolutely stunning destination.

MegatopLover

I beg to differ. $330 per r/t ticket for a 35-minute flight in the low season is over the top. I watched fares for months and never saw it get so much as one baht cheaper. Two-to-go and four-to-go fares never offered. This was the fare for direct purchase from PG at the airport or online. From TA's, it was a bit more expensive still.

To top it off, PG didn't even use contact gates at Suvarnabhumi. Had to take busses to and from the aircraft, which was pretty irritating. I know all about the construction issues at BKK; I'm just making a point that Asia's boutique airline is taking advantage of the opportunity to save a few $$$ and inconvenience passengers.

I will allow, however, that service was pretty good (check-in agents at BKK and REP were both bad but FAs were quite good) and they did serve us food on board. We got Airbus aircraft both ways, and they were certainly nice airplanes.