Mr. Bob

Good day,

Mrs. Bob and I will visit Thailand in September, and I need to make reservations for us for the round-trip flights between Bangkok and Phuket.

Several members of this forum recommended Thai Air for the flight. I checked the price online and it is more than 7,100 THB per person. I checked similar flights on Air Asia and it is approximately 2,100 THB per person.

I know that TG is supposed to be a better airline and will cost more, but more than triple the price? That seems excessive.

Is there something that I don't know that makes TG a good deal at that higher price, or Air Asia a bad deal at that lower price?

Thanks,
Bob

seanthepilot

No Assigned seating. No free snack service. Strict carryone and checked luggage restrictions.

Buy the cheaper one...

... unless you need the flexiblity to change. (and even then, it's a tough call)

francophile

You may want to try Nok Air. They are affiliated with TG. They are a LCC but offer an upgraded product that is often less expensive that Y on TG. The seats are comparable to domestic U.S. F.

http://www.nokair.com/s1000_obj/fron...content_id=142

billp

Air Asia is fine for the one-hour flight. They tend to be more on schedule earlier in the day. Nok Air is about the same except I find the cabin crew tend to be cuter, for whatever that's worth.

The seats are not particularly uncomfortable and you won't starve during the one-hour flight.

Someone's going to jump down my throat when I say this, but I've also flown the route with One-Two-GO, the LCC brand of Orient Thai, and they were fine as well, as far as I was concerned- and I'd fly them again if it suits me. Pick the one that fits your budget and time requirements.

Just don't pay through the nose for the dubious priviledge of flying Thai on this short hop. You can do a lot with the 8000 baht or so that you save.

MegatopLover

Or you can kick it up to 9100 baht r/t per person and fly Business Class with TG.

If you have any say in the matter, September is a bad time to visit Phuket-- height of the monsoon season. Mr. Megatop and I lucked out in our visit to Phuket in late May, at the start of the rainy season. But the week before it rained constantly. It's worse in September. I believe the Gulf islands, such as Koh Samui, will have better weather in September, and you even get to fly on over-priced monopolistic Bangkok Airways (it owns the airport in Koh Samui and takes a dim view of competition).

FWIW: Mr. Megatop and I flew TG in C. It was fun enough. For $30 per person per sector compared to TG Y, worth it. And TG Y at 7100 THB ($200) isn't an altogether bad deal.

hiyo

Air Asia is fine, especially for a one hour flight, as posted previously. For THB200, you can get head of the line privileges for boarding. If you are over 55, you can pre-board.

Thai Air Asia (FD) is a semi-autonomous branch, and tends to have better service and on-time performance than regular Air Asia (AK).

The baggage allowance is stingy, 15kg checked and 7kg carry-on.

Air Asia sale prices are sometimes in the same ballpark as bus prices - actual examples, BKK-HAN THB1450 and CNX-BKK THB642, for travel this Nov-Dec. Those are total prices, including everything, purchased during the last $0 fare sale.

As my wife and I are over 55 and travel light, we fly Air Asia whenever it's convenient. That is, if the flight times fit into our connections, we have no problem flying with them.

party_boy

Agreed with most of the other posters. All of the LCC's are fine for a 1 hour flight. I've flown Air Asia, Thai Air Asia, One two go, and Nok Air. All were fine. If you fly TG, might as well fly J for the extra 50 bucks.

Pureboy

Just bought two pairs of roundtrip tickets on Air Asia last week for my honeymoon trip in August with priority boarding for both.
BKK- Chiang Mai RTx2 THB 5399
BKK- Surat Thani RTx2 THB 4113
Total 9512. Thats about $288 for both of us! Won't be the most comfortable, but each flight is less than 1.5 hrs, and a hell of a lot faster than any other way of getting there. Nok or Thai can't come close to that price.

Grace B

I've just bought a round-trip BKK-HKT-BKK on Air Asia for August at a total cost of THB 1709.86. Quite a good price, I think.

I have flown Air Asia and NOK on this route before, and quite frankly, there was little to choose between them. In fact I preferred Air Asia, as the FA's seemed to be a bit more friendly and I was able to get a better seat (I'm over 55). Not to mention the difference in price.

mtacchi

Nok AIr Business Class is the best deal hands down to Phuket.

Mr. Bob

Thanks to all for the messages, you have been a great help. ^

Air Asia looked good until I got to the luggage limitation: one 15kg bag won't work for a 15-day trip. (Maybe for me, but not for Mrs. Bob. haha)

NokAir looked good, but it appears that they fly from Don Mueang and not the new airport. That could be a challenge. The only service I see from the new airport is to Krabi and Hua Hin. That won't matter for our fight from HKT, but will be a difference for our flight to HKT. We'll be flying from Hong Kong to Bangkok earlier that morning and would prefer to not change airports.

So, it looks like TG may be our option. For that price I understand we get unlimited food and alcohol, and our seats are actually a hot tub! Is that true?

Starbucks

As it usually not matters if you buy a oneway ticket or a return i would buy a one-way TG "J"-Ticket for the outbound BKK-HKT and fly back with Nok Air to DMK. If it fits in your schedule try to get on a 747 flight out of BKK and ask at check-in if you could get a seat in the F-section.

hiyo

I've never gone over the allowance, but I think it gets expensive fast.

$5 per kg? That's my recollection, but I'm not positive. Can that be right?

mtacchi

Nok Air J class gets Extra baggage free.

Thai Dometic J has NO BOOZE, and minimal food.

I own a house in Phuket and commute from HKG. I do this a lot.

There is a DIRECT Thai flight from HKG to HKT you may wish to look into.

Mr. Bob

I looked at the direct flight from HKG but it was not an option. We are using AAdvantage miles for our airfare, and that network does not offer HKG-HKT service . So, we need to come up with another option.