Experience Using Budget Airlines
 

I'm considering using one of the budget airlines versus Thai Airways to book my travel between BKK/CR and BKK/Phuket. Specifically, I was looking at Air Asia. Anyone have experience with this airline or any other budget carrier for Thailand travel? Other than cost, what are the main differences (comfort, baggage allowance, change fees)?

Thanks,
Mai

they have had their problems....delays,,cancelled flights and very limited luggage allowances

We have used Air Asia and Nok many times without problems, provided that you are aware of the luggage allowance, which is ample for most people.

However, I would never use them when connecting with, or from, an international flight as you would have little or no come back in the event of a delayed flight. You also need to be aware of the possible problems of having two airports operating in Bangkok.

Free seating

Forgot to add they are not necessarily cheaper than full fare airlines especially during peak periods.

I'm giving Air Asia a try for several flights, including some international flights. I'll let everyone know how they work for me.

insofar as international flights go, we are arranging 1/2 day stopovers for the connecting flights to ensure there are minimal problems with delays and such.

mark-

Air Asia is my last choice when it comes to budget airlines. Free seating coupled with cronic delays makes me wary of them. I much prefer Nok Air or 1-2-Go. The latter even has a decent luggage allowance.

A further concern about Thai Air Asia right now is the threat to withdraw their operating license due to an unauthorized change in ownership. This was in the Thai language press on Tuesday but hasn't appeared in the English dailies yet.

Free seating, yes, BUT they do allow elderly and disabled to board first...which works for my situation.

I have flown Air Asia many times without a hitch. The baggage allowance isn't an issue with me since I travel light. The extra charge is minimal any way.

On the other hand, both of the times I flew Bangkok Air I had very long delays.

The open seating doesn't bother me a bit. SW Airlines here in the USA is one I fly on frequently and I love them.

Nok is the budget airline for Thai Airways. It is like United's Ted. I have heard of delays, but I have never had a problem and they are usually the cheapest of the bunch. Air Asia has also been reliable, but their staff is not as nice. One-to-Go I have never flown. As of March 24th so will be flying out of the old airport.

We have flown Thai Air Asia 6 times in the last 18 months and overall have been happy with the service.
We fly over from USA to SEA Business Class, so it's a bit of a comedown- dislike the free-for-all boarding thing that happens where everyone crowds around the boarding area 1/2 hour or more before they begin boarding.

Of the 6 flights only 2 were delayed and the one international flight we did with them was on time and less than half the price of any other flight to Vietnam.
Both flights we have taken to Phuket from BKK were delayed... weather they said, and, that could have been true as even though it was in Jan, there were thunderstorms both times.
Luggage is our big problem as they have a very strict allowance and as we often come to Thailand for a month with plenty of luggage. We make arrangements to leave suitcases at our returning hotel. Even so we were hit with a $25 surcharge on our return from Phuket, still not a big deal as the flight is on decent planes, short trip and overall a huge savings compared to Thai or Bangkok Air.
Sue

Hi MPT:
We just returned from 5 weeks travelling from China (where we reside) to Thailand, Laos and Myanmar. Most of our flights were on Air Asia and I must say we chose them solely because of the cost. The price difference on exact flight date comparison was almost $1000 Canadian dollars between it and Thai Airways. Some of our flights we were getting for the ridiculous price of $25.00 per leg.
We were forewarned of the problems the company has but we decided we would try them just this once to see.
Well all the problems do exist. The mad running for seats gets very trying; the choice of food on board is extremely limited so it's a good thing we had only short flights so we passed on purchasing any food;
the fact that you can't check in for flights more than 2 hours prior to departure makes for long hours wandering around the airport with your luggage if you are connecting from other airlines; the delays on the boards show an epidemic of Air Asia flights that are late; the limited luggage allowance is annoying especially on your return after you have tried to help out the local economies by shopping your heart out and the cost of overweight luggage turns out to be different between different places. (e.g. 80 Baht per kilo from Thailand to Laos or Myanmar and !! 140 Baht per kilo from Thailand to China) When we asked why the difference we got no answer except the young man very kindly said ..move some things out of your checked luggage and carry it on. :)

We did feel that we had lots of leg room in the seats however.
Would we choose them again over an airline like Thai?. Only if we were taking short flights and never when we were connecting to an international flight, had no other flights to connect to and were travelling for short periods where we didn't have a lot of luggage.