benberg2013

I'm seing flights around Singapore and Bangkok with JetStar, Air Asia, Scoot, Tigerair, Lion Air and Malindo Air.

Can anyone tell me which each of this airlines are like which European Airlines, e.g. Easyjet, Ryanair, Wizzair, etc. Which are the better which are the worse, and what are the good and bad points? I know an Air Asia flight crashed into the sea not long ago.

I only want to try them out once, for the experience.

Thanks.

superangrypenguin

Are you really looking to die?

I avoid them like the plague. Operators have a far way to go (and inspectors) before I'd set foot on those airlines.

lcpteck

I'm sure the millions and millions of passengers are looking forward to their deaths when they board these airlines yearly...

superangrypenguin

Life's about risk management. I'm a low risk person. Clearly tongue and cheek comments = wooosh in this case.

TGflyergirl

Finally someone who has some facts!

Please help me, as I've been looking too but can't seem to find a broad sweeping general report that tars ALL the LCC's in Asia with one brush... or are there exceptions to your list?

buylowsellhigh

Depends on where the airline is based at, I think... for example a SIN-based LCC would likely be better in safety than say, Indonesia.

All being said, not sure what "experience" you're looking for, some of them have very new aircraft and premium seats, such as Scoot 787's while others, such as TigerAir, generally have single class planes filled to the brim with passengers.

mikal

"I know an Air Asia flight crashed into the sea not long ago.

I only want to try them out once, for the experience."

Those last couple of sentences made me chuckle. Seems like more than once just wouldn't be a viable option.

percysmith

A Hong Kong administrative tribunal found the proposed Jetstar Hong Kong to be not a not a Hong Kong airline http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/catha...ect-cx-35.html . Since Jetstar Asia signed the same Business Service Agreement as Jetstar Hong Kong is required to sign, take the other LCCs for an "authentic" Low Cost Asian Carrier experience.

pogonation

Personally have flown airasia many times. Very good airline. Easy to deal with, great route network, good safety rating. They have a very new fleet of aircraft and the seating is comfortable enough. For short hops around asia they are a great airline. Much better than easy jet and ryanair we have back in europe.

superangrypenguin

Very safe huh?

The airline had the second deadliest air crash involving an A320

jiejie

When it comes to safety, there are different degrees of risk amongst the various Asian LCC's. If you do your google research and check for frequency of issues, that will give you some clues. Jetstar out of Singapore is absolutely different than Lion Air out of Indonesia.

When it comes to more mundane concerns such as scheduling, on-time reliability vs delays, ticketing ease vs hassles, refundability issues, and all that, most have warts but some have more than others. Read the fine print just as one would for a European LCC, and see if you can live with the terms. Universally: NEVER try to schedule another separately ticketed flight with a close connection after one of these LCC flights. Try to keep at least one day + overnight before flying onward.

lolstebbo

Well, one thing to keep in mind is a lot of Asian LCCs are like franchises. There's like, five different AirAsias, four different Jetstars, and three different Tigerairs. Which doesn't really help when crashes happen since, for the most part, there isn't much of an effort to differentiate between the different affiliates (aside from AirAsia X, NokScoot, and Tigerair Taiwan).

exwannabe

Well, slightly off topic. But if you want to try a moderate cost regional on that route, you could fly PG (Bangkok Air).

A little more civilized than Air Asia et all. But obviously a regional. Very friendly and service oriented. Hell, they even serve food on most routes even when under 90 minutes (though admittedly they kind of toss you the shrink wrapped sandwich as they set the drink down).

And, AFAIK, they refrain from water landings.

nanyang

Not sure if all the above comments are that serious, but I've certainly flown on all those airlines incl. Jetstar (Australia, Jetstar Asia, Jetstar Pacific) and AirAsia (Malaysia, Thai AirAsia, AirAsia Indonesia).

Certainly I would not have any concerns flying with any Singapore domiciled airline.

Customer service with all these airlines is certainly superior compared to Ryanair, and I would also argue easyJet. I remember how surprised I was with my first AirAsia experience back in the day - much, much more civilised compared to what one would expect with Ryanair.

In my opinion, all these airlines offer an adequate customer experience. I can't really remember having any problems with any of these airlines.

Malindo are a hybrid / full-service airline, but the others are LCCs, so some features of the product cost extra.

ClimbingCook

I've flown Lion Air in Indonesia maybe half a dozen times, it's a huge step up from air KBZ in Myanmar