Bangkok Airways reduce extra FlyerBonus Hold-Luggage

[Ricardo]

http://www.bangkokair.com/eng/newannouncement/view/341?utm_source=Taximail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=03PRIORITYENGOCT2017

 

From 1st November FlyerBonus card-holders, who have previously always been allowed to load an extra 10kgs of hold-luggage on domestic-flights, will see this reduced to only 5kgs.  You can of course still pay for extra hold-luggage, but it's a little bit less of a 'boutique-airline' experience.

 

This will affect many passengers (including myself), who had previously loaded 30kgs to/from Bangkok on PG, to connect to/from other airlines on international trips, which often allow 30kgs long-haul.

 

This follows on also from their regretable recent reduction in inter-lining, where passengers have two seperate tickets/PNRs, which are now being denied through-booking in most cases.

[observer90210]

well, in that case, farang shopping spending will drastically drop with this new luggage weight restriction....

 

another smart move for the national economy ?

[stament]

Yes very disappointing I just read the email. Whereas Bkk Airways used to be the most attractive domestic carrier for me due to 30kg, separate ticket transits and lounge access they are becoming less attractive now. Thai Airways advance tickets are always cheaper than BKK Airways it seems so now Bkk Airways only USP is lounge access.

 

I hope TA doesn't follow suit and reduce KG

[Ricardo]

5 hours ago, stament said:

Yes very disappointing I just read the email. Whereas Bkk Airways used to be the most attractive domestic carrier for me due to 30kg, separate ticket transits and lounge access they are becoming less attractive now. Thai Airways advance tickets are always cheaper than BKK Airways it seems so now Bkk Airways only USP is lounge access.

 

I hope TA doesn't follow suit and reduce KG

 

I agree, I had previously been automatically booking my seperate-ticket domestic-connections with PG for all of my long-haul trips, based on their superior-service, however the need now to pay extra for a standard 30kgs of hold-luggage will definitely deter me in future.

 

A quick scan of prices on Thai Airways, for the dates of my (already booked) next trip, shows that although they have fewer flights between CNX & BKK, Thai do at least still offer 30kgs as standard.  And at a cheaper price !

 

So Bangkok Airways are now doubly uncompetitive, with the main alternative.

 

I've emailed them, and will report back here when I get a non-automated response, asking whether the old-rule will still apply to tickets purchased before 1st November, but TBH I'm not very optimistic.

Edited October 21, 2017 by Ricardo

[Ricardo]

Just to add, that I recently received a marketing-email from Bangkok Airways, saying  "It's Been a While Between Flights & We Miss You !", which then went on to offer a reduced-price promo-code, if I made a new booking soon. 

 

This really does add insult to injury, doesn't it ? !

 

Hack away at the extras we value, that do make it a better-than-average experience to fly with them, and then wonder why we don't book so often !

 

Rant over, for today at least.

[1337markus]

2 hours ago, Ricardo said:

 

I agree, I had previously been automatically booking my seperate-ticket domestic-connections with PG for all of my long-haul trips, based on their superior-service, however the need now to pay extra for a standard 30kgs of hold-luggage will definitely deter me in future.

 

A quick scan of prices on Thai Airways, for the dates of my (already booked) next trip, shows that although they have fewer flights between CNX & BKK, Thai do at least still offer 30kgs as standard.  And at a cheaper price !

 

So Bangkok Airways are now doubly uncompetitive, with the main alternative.

 

I've emailed them, and will report back here when I get a non-automated response, asking whether the old-rule will still apply to tickets purchased before 1st November, but TBH I'm not very optimistic.

shows that although they have fewer flights between CNX & BKK: I agree. Notice the cutback of flights a lot; the worst is they want to stop flying BKK to CNX vice versa at 2000. So for a midnight flight Internationally you are looking at many hours in Swampy doing what?

[PerkinsCuthbert]

Oh, the suffering!

 

Personally, I've always avoided PG wherever possible, I found them very overpriced and inclined to be monopolistic/anti-competition. However, there are routes and times where they are unavoidable.

[natway09]

They fly smaller planes & 5 kilo per passenger can make a difference.

For info there is a Pacific flight where all passengers are weighed & you pay by the kilo for your ticket.

Weight = t/o weight = fuel consumption.

With modern flying we are inclined to forget but still applies.

Anyway Thai gives me 30 kilos anywhere (not that I use the extra weight muck)

[observer90210]

4 hours ago, natway09 said:

They fly smaller planes & 5 kilo per passenger can make a difference.

For info there is a Pacific flight where all passengers are weighed & you pay by the kilo for your ticket.

Weight = t/o weight = fuel consumption.

With modern flying we are inclined to forget but still applies.

Anyway Thai gives me 30 kilos anywhere (not that I use the extra weight muck)

Largely corpulent or overweight passengers should be required having 2 seats [with extra payment] if flying in ECY class...for their comfort obviously,  but mainly for the comfort of the fellow passenger who also is entitled to his quota of space and arm rest in the cramped seats.

[Ricardo]

16 hours ago, natway09 said:

They fly smaller planes & 5 kilo per passenger can make a difference.

For info there is a Pacific flight where all passengers are weighed & you pay by the kilo for your ticket.

Weight = t/o weight = fuel consumption.

With modern flying we are inclined to forget but still applies.

Anyway Thai gives me 30 kilos anywhere (not that I use the extra weight muck)

 

Modern jets, like PGs' A319s/A320s, on one-hour hops with half the maximum fuel-load, have absolutely no problem with the extra weight, however.

 

As a senior finance-manager at a major UK-airline, for a few years many moons ago, I used to do these calculations so I'm fully-aware of just how little the extra fuel-burn costs.

 

In my own case I fly outwards with minimal hold-luggage, it's only on the return-flight that I need to carry the maximum, and halving the increase-in-allowance to their frequent-flyers is anyway a bad move from a marketing-POV, because it tarnishes the image of being a 'boutique-airline' rather than a low-cost-carrier.

 

I'm happy to pay a few hundred baht extra, at the start or end of a stressful long-haul journey, to smooth the way.  However PG have been chiseling-away at their previous clear-advantage in quality, over their competitors, this is merely the latest example of their deliberately down-grading the experience for regular customers.

 

Which is a pity, because having found them to be the clear leader amongst local-airlines, I'm now being forced to revise that opinion & look elsewhere, for future bookings.  Why do successful businesses like this insist in shooting themselves in-the-foot ?

[siam2007]

BKK AIR started to s*ck big time over the past few years.

Evereythiong is getting worse. the FF-program is now completely useless, as their fees are ridiculously high when redeeming miles, more expensive than paying for a ticket of another (budget) airline.

Their on-time performance has been abysmal in the recent past, in some months, they must have had the worst performance of any Asian airline (this is most likely due to the too many code share agreements they now have, which means they have to wait for any delayed flights from middle East or elsewhere in Asia to connect those transit PAX).

Now they cut other "perks" too for frequent flyers. I predict that one day, they will close all their lounges too. At the same time, their fares continue to be the highest on some domestic or international routes - but now without offering any incentives. In earlier years, I used to have 10+ flights per year with BKK AIR, but now, I haven't used them for more than 3 years. But the truth is, due to the growing influx of international PAX from middle East and South Asia as well as East Asia, they just can afford to not care about their local Thai / Thai resident clientele.

[Ricardo]

On 21/10/2017 at 8:12 AM, Ricardo said:

I've emailed them, and will report back here when I get a non-automated response, asking whether the old-rule will still apply to tickets purchased before 1st November, but TBH I'm not very optimistic.

 

Received a reply, which just repeats what I already knew, that the extra-baggage privilege will be "changed"  (ie reduced by 50% !)  effective from just a week later !  And ignoring my query about whether flights booked earlier would still be under the old rules.

 

"we would like to inform you that the Priority Members can get additional 10 kilograms until 31 October 2017. From 01 November 2017, check-in baggage privileges for Priority Members will be changed from additional 10 kilograms to additional 5 kilograms. Then you will get 25 kilograms on economy class after 01 November 2017"

[shanesox]

Laughable airline ‘boutique”? Overcharges and monopolises an airport and thinks it’s special ! A joke !


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[mogandave]

I think it likely less about fuel-burn, and more about lost freight revenue.

In any event, it’s great to have competition, vote with your feet.


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[Ricardo]

Prompted by PG, I have now pre-paid the extra 5kgs which I'll need,via the Manage-My-Booking function.

 

5kgs cost B350, or I was also offered B750 for 10kgs, which makes sense in a TiT way ! 

[siam2007]

On 10/27/2017 at 8:02 AM, shanesox said:

Laughable airline ‘boutique”? Overcharges and monopolises an airport and thinks it’s special ! A joke !


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By all fairness, they took the risk and built several airports at then secondary destinations at their own expense when nobody else was interested to do it. So, to a certain degree, they deserve to earn the fruit of their work and entrepreneurial vision

[CNXBKKMAN]

On 27/10/2017 at 8:02 AM, shanesox said:

Laughable airline ‘boutique”? Overcharges and monopolises an airport and thinks it’s special ! A joke !


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You might not like them but Bangkok Airways are arguably the best economy airline in the world. What other airline offers a free of charge lounge for economy passengers? 20kg baggage, 25kg if you enrol in the freq flyer programme. Light meal and refreshments even on short domestic flights. Modern aircraft and their own maintenance facilities. Cheap airfares on many of their routes and cheaper than Air Asia at peak times.

         If you think they charge a lot compare them to BA on the short Heathrow to Manchester domestic flight. 150 miles between the airports on this busy route. Roll up today for a one way ticket and the cheapest flight is 8560 baht , top price is 14990 baht. No baggage allowance pay extra for that, no complimentary drinks or snacks you pay for those as well, they dont accept cash though. Lounge? The national flag carrier serving the UK. Lol.

[mogandave]

You might not like them but Bangkok Airways are arguably the best economy airline in the world. What other airline offers a free of charge lounge for economy passengers? 20kg baggage, 25kg if you enrol in the freq flyer programme. Light meal and refreshments even on short domestic flights. Modern aircraft and their own maintenance facilities. Cheap airfares on many of their routes and cheaper than Air Asia at peak times.

         If you think they charge a lot compare them to BA on the short Heathrow to Manchester domestic flight. 150 miles between the airports on this busy route. Roll up today for a one way ticket and the cheapest flight is 8560 baht , top price is 14990 baht. No baggage allowance pay extra for that, no complimentary drinks or snacks you pay for those as well, they dont accept cash though. Lounge? The national flag carrier serving the UK. Lol.

 

If you think they’re expensive, compare them to other airlines flying the same route.