GagaPilot

Getting ready to plan our first trip back to Thailand since 2019! Wow, can't believe it's been that long. But yeah, thanks Covid. Anyway, my spouse and I plan to travel to Thailand in (most likely) February 2024. We always fly into BKK, spend 4 or 5 days there, then to a different city in Thailand, spend 4 or 5 days there, back to BKK for 1 final night, then back to the USA. This upcoming trip we plan to go to KBV.

In the past, we always flew Thai Airways (TG) in their domestic business class on wide bodies to wherever we went in Thailand. Since that's no longer an option for domestic travel in Thailand, we have been looking into other carriers for the BKK-KBV-BKK trip. We prefer to stick with BKK over DMK since it's an airport we are familiar with, and will be flying out of it to return to the USA. We always stay our last night at the Novotel BKK to be in position for our morning departure on KE. Looks like our options are Bangkok Airways, Thai Air Asia, That VietJet, and Thai Smile. None of the carriers have wonderful schedules in/out of KBV right now... most departures/returns are early morning or evening. Nothing midday. But then again by February we might see more capacity added.

Bangkok Airways seems to have the most desirable schedule of the four above, so we are leaning in that direction. Just looking for people's overall opinion of PG and any advice or helpful tips, do's/don'ts they can provide. I did a search on FT and can't find much information. The info that was there was mostly positive.

A few questions I do have:

1. Is the 20KG baggage allowance the total weight allowed per passenger or per bag or the total? More than likely we will each have 1 checked bag, so that would be 2 bags total. Does that mean a combined total of 40KG or 20KG per bag? I have no problem paying for excess weight, or if we brought an extra 3rd bag. Just wanting to understand the rules ahead of time. Normally we fly in business class or on an airline we have status with, so it's quite rare for us to have to worry about paying for baggage and the rules read differently than most US carriers.

2. Are there advance seat assignments? Or are they assigned during OLCI like TG used to do? We will probably buy the more expensive economy fare just to have the flexibility in case we need to make changes.

3. Any benefit to signing up for their FF program?

4. As for check-in queues in BKK/KBV, how far in advance should one plan to arrive?

Thanks for any and all info! And if anyone would suggest another carrier for whatever reason, please feel free to share. Nothing has been booked yet - just in the early planning stages.

Thai-Kiwi

I have flown PG a number of times both domestically and regionally. As a TG*G I have usually preferred TG, but have used other airlines when schedule or cost suited.

PG operates its own lounges no matter the travel class. Better than nothing and marketed as a boutique feature.

1. It is 20kg per pax total weight. Not stated but presumably in a single bag. I have never had more than one bag <20kg so can’t offer anything more. There is business class (Blue Ribbon) that offers 40kg per passenger. Note that health & safety limits a max weight of 32kg for one bag.

2. Yes, there is advance seating allocation. The more flexible the fare, the better the seating options.

3. I signed up as there used to be an additional 5kg for checked baggage. I don’t know if that is still offered.

4. For domestic check-in I tended to arrive 90mins prior and get through the process. Depends on the time of year, and Feb could still be quite busy, especially with hoardes of Chinese visitors finally allowed to travel to travel more free overseas.

For what it is worth, Thai Smile (WE) and Nok Air (DD) are also quite OK. Usually we used WE as I am TG Gold and so get some benefits (not to *G though, except LH/LX/OS). WE’s best seating is just first few rows with an empty seat between and a slightly nicer meal - and lounge access. Actually not a bad product. Nok Air has also been quite OK as well with good service levels, and amongst the best frequency.

THAI Smile “Smile PLus”







Bangkok Airways A320 bound Bangkok-Chiang Rai


Bangkok Airways economy meal

GagaPilot

Thanks for the reply! Appreciate all the good info and pictures. Sounds like PG is a perfectly acceptable choice, and that's my main concern.

I looked into the Blue Ribbon Business Class, but it appears it's not offered on domestic routes within Thailand on PG (or at least I couldn't find any search results for it).

And good to know about Thai Smile and Nok Air... will keep them in mind as well!

Davvidd

If you are flying business class then I would always go with PG.

plunet

Acknowledging the OPs preference for BKK, don't totally dismiss DMK (the old airport) as there are many more domestic and regional flight options from there. DMK does now benefit from the new red line rail connection, the lack of a modern rail link was a detraction in the past.
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Enjoy your trip back to Thailand.

Davvidd

The red line connection is not fully working right now. If you take the BTS to Mochit you have to take a bus to make the connection to the red line at Bang Sue. I know because I had to take one 3 days back.

rankourabu

#1 - we had a 22kg bag and a 15kg bag - Bangkok Air had no issue since the total between us was below 40kg in 3 trips with them late last year

You can credit the flights to Qatar for some Avios.

dmf_singapore

I fly domestically a lot and prefer Bangkok Airways, with Thai Smile being my second choice. Neither have been concerned about the weight of my carry on (many low cost carriers weigh carry on bags and charge if it's overweight). The free checked baggage allowance is 20kg per person. You can find their full baggage rules here if you have excess baggage.

Although Krabi/BKK is only about an hour in the air, they do serve a meal/snack. There is decent leg room that is ok for such a short flight. You will select seats at the time of booking (even before paying with your credit card), but check again 72 and 48 hours before the flight and you'll find additional blocked seats at the front will open.

As a full service carrier, I've never found there to be much of a queue at check in. Since it's a domestic flight you can get your boarding pass on the app (fi you didn't have a bag you'd go straight to the gate). At the check in counter look for the special queue for those who checked in online and drop off your bag.

They have been very accommodating when they changed a flight time. I called about being rebooked on a different flight and once when other flights didn't work, they quickly refunded my money to my credit card. The miles are so insignificant it probably doesn't matter if you sign up for their frequent flyer program or not.

Like you, I fly business class for longer trips, but flying Bangkok Airways economy for short domestic flights is perfectly acceptable

PlaneSpeaking

Just returned from a very pleasant break in Paphos on BA. Very surprised to see a Bangkok Air A320 parked on the apron as we taxied out. Does anyone have any ideas as to why and how on earth did it get there given the distance and limited range?!

dvs7310

Certainly not a how, but why. Planes do ferry flights all the time and since BKK is all / mostly overland from Europe range is not an issue, just needs multiple stops. Would be quite interesting to know the tail number of the plane you saw, but I suspect it was probably en-route between BKK and TLS.

PlaneSpeaking

Thanks DVS - very interesting. I did try to note the tail number but it was too dark.

GagaPilot

Resurrecting my own thread from a few months ago rather than creating a new one:

Starting to finalize our travel plans a bit more now and took another look at flight options between BKK/DMK and KBV in February 2024. The Bangkok Airways schedule BKK-KBV has changed to depart earlier in the morning more in line with the other carriers now, which was my predominant reason for leaning towards PG versus others.

Thai Viet Jet now has the most attractive schedule with a mid/late afternoon BKK-KBV flight and similar return. Basically not having to leave/arrive BKK super early or late at night. (They do have those options as well, but having this 3rd option with better times versus all other carriers having only 2 flights).

So, anyone have any notable objections to Thai Viet Jet? I do see they are considered a low cost carrier, but even selecting one of their more expensive fares (SkyBoss) it can allow up to 30kg of checked luggage per person, so that itself is attractive to me. Not really concerned with a meal on such a short flight. Right now Thai Viet Jet's most expensive/flexible fare is about $100 more per person that Bangkok Airways most expensive/flexible fare. To me, $100 each ($200 total) is acceptable for a much more desirable flight schedule. Appreciate any one's thoughts!

And I did check DMK, while they have a few more options than BKK, none were significant enough to warrant flying in/out from there given our return flight to the states departing BKK the morning after our return from KBV.

Davvidd

I have flown Vietjet earlier this year and it was enough for me. I paid for the sky boss seat and since I had someone in front of and in the next seat, I asked to be seated across the aisle as the whole row was empty. They refused even though it was just across the aisle because it was also a paid seat and I had also paid for my seat the same amount I see no reason why could not accommodate me. The online service was bad too. This was from HAN to BKK.

plunet

VietJet are most definitely a low cost carrier, so any expectation that there would be any option of anything other than what you paid for is probably unreasonable.

They're fine, but don't expect any frills, and expect the upsell or two.

Davvidd

Yes I would understand if the other seat was a more expensive seat. It was the same amount I paid for and even Air Asia has no problems with exchanging hot seats if it was the same amount you paid for it.