Firefly’s direct Penang-Phuket flights go daily from March 25

[webfact]

Firefly’s direct Penang flights go daily from March 25

The daily flights will depart Penang just after 2pm - the return flight is approximately 3.30pm, Phuket time (one hour behind Penang)

By Tanutam Thawan

 

 

Firefly are upping the direct flights from Penang to Phuket from four a week to daily starting March 25.

 

The regional airline is owned by Malaysian Airlines and flies ATR 72s with 70 seats.

 

Flying out of Penang, Firefly flies internationally to Banda Aceh on Sumatra, Indonesia and Phuket. Locally it serves Langkawi and Kota Baru.

 

Full story: https://www.phuketgazette.net/news/fireflys-direct-penang-flights-go-daily-march-25

 

-- © Copyright Phuket Gazette 2018-02-20

[nkg]

It's still relatively expensive for visa runners.

 

Booking a couple of months in advance:

 

A return from Phuket to Penang is 5500 Baht (Firefly)

A return from Phuket to Udon Thani is 3000 Baht (AirAsia)

 

Even though Penang is far closer to Phuket than Udon Thani.

 

Still, it is an improvement to what we had before, so I'm not complaining.

 

 

[Guest]

50 minutes ago, nkg said:

It's still relatively expensive for visa runners.

 

Booking a couple of months in advance:

 

A return from Phuket to Penang is 5500 Baht (Firefly)

A return from Phuket to Udon Thani is 3000 Baht (AirAsia)

 

Even though Penang is far closer to Phuket than Udon Thani.

 

Still, it is an improvement to what we had before, so I'm not complaining.

The prices depends quite a lot, when the reservations have been made. I just flew with Scoot to Singapore for about 3000 baht/return. 

 

The benefit of flying to Penang, instead of going the Udon Thani route is that there is no visa costs and also there is no 2 hour minibus travel to the border of Laos. Not to forget the ability to enjoy Penang's Indian food offerings :)

 

[Thian]

2 hours ago, nkg said:

It's still relatively expensive for visa runners.

 

Booking a couple of months in advance:

 

A return from Phuket to Penang is 5500 Baht (Firefly)

A return from Phuket to Udon Thani is 3000 Baht (AirAsia)

 

Even though Penang is far closer to Phuket than Udon Thani.

 

Still, it is an improvement to what we had before, so I'm not complaining.

 

 

These days that tourist tax (700 baht iirc) is in the ticketprice, so for Udon you don't have to pay it since it's a domestic flight.

[madmitch]

2 hours ago, nkg said:

It's still relatively expensive for visa runners.

 

Booking a couple of months in advance:

 

A return from Phuket to Penang is 5500 Baht (Firefly)

A return from Phuket to Udon Thani is 3000 Baht (AirAsia)

 

Even though Penang is far closer to Phuket than Udon Thani.

 

Still, it is an improvement to what we had before, so I'm not complaining.

 

 

It's a matter of price over convenience. It can be cheaper to get to Penang with Malaysian or Air Asia via KL but much more hassle. Minibus? No thanks. Firefly direct for a bit more money? That's what I did last time and would probably do again.

[steelepulse]

Too bad the flight doesn't depart later in the afternoon so passports could be picked up and the flight could be caught on the same day.  I bet they'd have a lot more business if they could have scheduled it like this.

[PJPom]

I flew with 

Edited February 20, 2018 by PJPom
Complete mess up

[PJPom]

I flew with Firefly to Penang from Krabi with only another four people on board, needless to say they soon cancelled the service.

I now wonder about the possibility of a Phuket-Krabi-Penang service, maybe it would be worth them investigating.

I also did a visa run to Penang in a van, I am now older and wiser, never again.

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, PJPom said:

I flew with Firefly to Penang from Krabi with only another four people on board, needless to say they soon cancelled the service.

I now wonder about the possibility of a Phuket-Krabi-Penang service, maybe it would be worth them investigating.

I also did a visa run to Penang in a van, I am now older and wiser, never again.

I once flew Bangkok air to Sonkhla and took a van from there to Penang. Big busses were not available. That's better than doing the whole way with van, still not fun at all.

 

Got back home with Firefly and if I recall correctly, the plane was quite full.

 

Air Asia flights Penang-KL-Phuket is often cheaper, but that route naturally takes a lot more time.

Edited February 20, 2018 by Guest