Is 1-2-Go Airlines 1-2-Avoid?
 

We're about to book flights from BKK to Chaing Rai and the most convenient times for us are on 1-2-Go Airlines. Also, the r/t price is 1/5 of what it is on Thai. I've done a safety search but can only come up with statistics on Thai-Orient, the parent airline. Would love to hear people's 1-2-Go experiences.

I've only used 1-2-Go once, and didn't have any complaints at all. Frankly, on domestic routes, their service is just as good as Thai's. I've known many Thais who have used them, and have heard very little complaints, aside from occassionally late flights.

As with all budget airlines, you generally want to avoid flights late in the day. Their tight schedules don't allow for any delays, so if there are any problems at one stop, the delay gets amplified through the rest of the schedule for that day.

Was your plane very old? My research has shown that they have an ancient fleet.

They use a mix of 757 and MD-80's on domestic, they also have 747 for long hauls but use them sometimes on the Phuket route. I have not flown them myself but staff and family who go up to Chiang Mai and down to Phuket often have and no complaints, I plan the trips and find their fare basis is simple and although they don't have then absolute minimum fares it is certainly easy to check the fares without any large 'shock' add ons like others do.
You also get full baggage allowance unlike Thai Air Asia or Nok Air ( though Nok Plus is great value for money ! )
Their 757 and MD-80 are certainly not new but such aircraft are used by many major carriers worldwide.

The old planes belong to Orient-Thai, 1-2-go's parent. They are pretty old (747-300's if I remember correctly) and mainly used for charter service to Hong Kong. The 757s and 717s used by 1-2-Go are fairly new. The 717s are new enough to be 717s and not MD80s, which makes them less than 10 years old, I think.

hi i was jus tthere earlier this month...check out air asia.com - very resonable but cannot pack alot of luggage...7 kg...i beleive but it costs next to nothing to fly between cities...have a great time...

One-2-Go fleet info:

http://www.fly12go.com/en/about_us/fleet_info.shtml

I used to fly 1-2-Go regularly between Phuket and Bangkok (every three weeks). Never had a problem, good equipment, far more reliable than Air Asia - IMO/IME.

I have an acquaintance who imports furniture, etc. from Asia. He goes on buying trips every 6 weeks. He told me, just last saturday, that he uses 1-2-go frequently, and without incident. And the price is hard to beat.

thanks to everyone for your responses. nok doesn't fly bkk-chiang rai and the air asia times are inconvenient for us. if we take a flight from CR that theoretically gets us to BKK at 8:30 PM, do you think that will give us enough time to make our 11:30 PM international flight?