Nok Air versus AirAsia
 

Has anyone had any experience on the two airlines for Chiang Rai to Bangkok?

Does anyone know which type of aircraft Nokia Air uses for this route?

Also, which has a better record for on time and less or no cancellation.

tia

It's Nok Air.

A dummy booking on their website shows aircraft types. Your route is showing B737-800s.

I'm assuming Nokia was autofill....

Anyway, Nok (DD) flies predominantly 738s these days. And for an LCC they're pretty good.

Nok Air typically offers better prices that FD. I just flew a commuter run on Nok and it was fine except for the double bounce on landing at DMK. TG technical services takes care of Nok and its flight crews were sourced from TG. Aircraft is now weighted to B737-800 series but I noticed that the FAs used demo life vests from ATA in the USA and Aero Mexico. The plane's life vest instructions on the seats were in English andGerman. Seems to me that Nok sourced some of its equipment on the surplus market.

Overall Nok is much more user friendly that FD except at HKT which is a nightmare for Nok pax. Just the worst checkin set up, but Nok is okay for the outlying cities.
Buy the Nok Fan Club membership and get an extra 5kg baggage allowance. Wonderful perk that pays for itself after 1 flight.

Any particular reason you're not considering Bangkok Airways? Having flown all three, Bangkok is my personal favorite for flights both domestic and SEAsia international.

Thank you all. Nokia it will be.

I'd have a hard time picking PG over DD if there was much price differential, which there sometimes is; pricing them out for some future travel I'm planning, Nok's about $45 USD one way DMK-CNX, PG is about $90 BKK-CNX.

I don't value a domestic lounge and getting to fly out of BKK instead of DMK that much, and it's an hour of travel (having flown Nok before, they're fine as an LCC), hard for me to get a lot of value out of improved hard/soft product on short flights (I'm the sort of person who will happily give up Y->F upgrades on 2 hour flights to get home at better times, or will fly WN if it works for what I need). YMMV.

PG>>Nokia>>AK
 

I really enjoy Bangkok airways for flights around SE Asia and they're my preferred carrier. Might just be the BKK airport I prefer - I compare them to Jet Blue - nice Y cabin and service.

Nok(ia) airways does a good job of just getting you from point A to B and the 737-800s seem to always be packed when I fly from DMK down south. The seats are manageable for a 90 minute flight (6'3") AND they give you a little Auntie Anne's pretzel - which is more than any of the US carriers give you on their domestic offering.

Air Asia - I take them only based upon scheduling, but if price is the same as Nok, then I take Nok.

Several years ago I took Thai from BKK-CEI. No alcohol! Not even a beer offered in C cabin. :( Teach me to be a medium-roller and I'll stick with the "budget" carriers.

You make valid points. BKK over DMK does have value to me in terms of convenience. Unless I have multiple bags or a large one, or I'm getting in very late, I much prefer to get to SGS by ARL connecting to MRT. Faster, easier, cheaper and I don't have the stress-inducing task of monitoring the meter to see if the driver is trying to rip me off. Lounge/food/seats are all irrelevant to me, -- I have a 45 minute flight to/from UTH; and I'm only a little over 5'8".

Nokia is a phone, the airline is Nok.

Even as a PG Premier I'd make the same decision as you (and have recently). I've avoided (evaded?) FD for years and have walked away from TG:( with one very narrow exception.

As much as I find the trek out to DMK to be annoying I don't mind flying Nok and in the past 4 years they've really gotten their act together. Prior to that delays were rife and awful.

That's fair. I don't stay at SGS, though I do value ARL/MRT/BTS access.

To see if it was feasible, I've taken the bus from DMK to the BTS stop at Mo Chit, then BTS into town. It wasn't terrible.

If the price is the same - I take anybody over FD. Yet, I still fly them a lot. Tues, I had the early flight DMK to PNH. I got there at 4:30 am (2 hrs early) and it was a complete clusterf*ck. It looked like Chinese New Years at Guangzou Airport ! FD has a bunch of new early flights to the mainland. I've flown in and out of DMK at least 40X and I've never seen anything like it. There must have been at least 500 Chinese in front of me, w/tons of luggage, screaming at each other, trying to jump the queue, & arguing with FD personnel. It took 75 mins to get through check in, 35 through Immigration, & thank God they bum-rushed security or I would've missed my flight. Everybody was waved through and the beeper was going off continuously. $50 or not, I'll never take that early flight again.

It was the same arriving from SIN ~645PM on FD a few days ago,a real zoo, arriving flights from Mainland China must all be timed to arrive in the early evening.

Immigrations was as bad as I ever saw at DMK.

When it come down to it, price should be your determining factor for domestic Thailand flights. If prices are similar, I will NOT choose Nok Air. But, they are a good airline. They use old Thai Airways 737s with lots of leg room.

Nok has fewer flights per day, usually no evening/night flights. At one time they had 11 aircraft. I'm guessing they don't have many more than that now.

Air Asia has broader flight times, more aircraft, and often greater frequency in flights. I think price is the relative factor.

While Nok did start out with hand-me-down TG 734's, the last of these was retired in 2013, and all replaced by 18 leased 738's, five of them new (distinguishable by their 787-style bins). Their 738 have 30" pitch, vs. 32" on the 734.

I too usually chose on price; both Air Asia and Nok have regular sales reaching quite far into the future, especially Air Asia. Nok's prices include 1x15kg checked luggage allowance, while Air Asia's do not.

FWIW, Thai Air Asia has 42 A320's, but with their short turnaround times and heavy utilisation until late in the evening, I wouldn't assume them to be any more punctual.
Nok stated their new-build 738 fly 11 hours a day, and their older ones (av. age 10.6 years, hardly old) only 7.5, which should give them enough of a buffer to handle technical delays.

As for Bangkok Airways, sure, BKK is nicer and easier to access by public transportation than DMK, but their monopoly pricing to destinations such as LPQ and USM get them no sympathy vote from me!