How is it in terms of reliability, safety etc? I've always used thai airways in thailand but air asia has better times for my next trip.

Gloria, there was a thread on this about a week ago:

http://tinyurl.com/2lqwr8

gloria---many consider nok air to be superior in every way

But Nok doesn't fly to chiang rai. I want to fly to either CM or CR and return from the other. But I'd like to go late evening and return early morning. I can fly Thai BKK-CR at 6PM which is ok but I'd prefer a later flight. Air asia has one but not nok air. I'll probably just stick with thai -- don't like what I'm reading about air asia and the price difference isn't worth it to me.

We had a great experience at the Manathai (www.manathai.com) on Surin Beach. Quiet, has a restaurant, great service.

Whoops! Somehow I managed to post to the wrong thread - darn Fodor's for not letting you delete.

Make sure to read the Air Asia fine print. Things like:

In the event that I miss my onward flight as a result of my first flight being delayed, will AirAsia put me on next available flight or refund my ticket?
No, AirAsia operates on a point-to-point basis and will not be held responsible for the consequence of any delays experienced while flying AirAsia.

You could check one two go. They have a late flight to CM at 20.10 and a return from CR at 08.45. Fares are standard at 1700 baht plus airport tax. Seats assigned.

Hi Gloria, I've just booked my Air Asia tickets today for four of us from Penang to Bangkok. The reason I picked the airline is because thats the only budget airline that flies the route and the costs were considerable less as compared to Thai Airways (which is what I usually use).

Also, after you book your tickets, they give you an option to buy insurance (AirAsia GoInsure Travel Protection), which was like 8MYR per person. Supposed to cover lost luggage, flight delays etc. Haven't really read the fine print, but we went ahead and got some.

https://www.dds.aigtravel.com/dds/pd...flight-eng.pdf

We don't need to make any connections, otherwise I might have thought twice about flying them.

We had terrific experience with Air Asia. As long as you don't mind a cattle corral type of boarding (no assigned seating) they are fine. Not one of our 6 Air Asia flights was late. In fact, they tended to be early. Reasonably comfortable, and though they charge for refreshments, they don't charge exorbitant amounts...30-50 baht for drinks and candy.....not bad considering they have a monopoly on the snacks, IMO.

Air Asia is definitely safe. Not only it's cheap to fly nowadays, it gets you to your destination early. Whether it's their selling point or not, Air Asia sure made an impact, even for its birth place here in Malaysia.

Cheers,
Charles
www.excitingborneo.com