Greedy Bangkok Airways... Action needed!

[Jo M]

Bangkok Airways are too greedy...

Bangkok Airways is the bottle neck of increasing tourism to Samui, everybody with common sense knows it. Government knows it, municipality knows it. 

It's time to take an action to stop the greediness of Bangkok Airways regarding Samui flights.

They are Monopoly therefore ways are limited, by but with social networks and the truth Samui, Phangan & Koh Tao can WIN.

Flights to Samui normally cost 3-5 times MORE than the a LONGER flight to Phuket, and comparing to... Bangkok Airways ITSELF!

Comparing to other airlines it's even more shockingly expensive...

Ripping money from Samui travelers and residents? SURE!

Listen to this:

Samui resident card - people living on the island used to get it... WOW.

So now they play games to make more greedy money...

Under new policy starting this year only few are entitled, even if you retired on official pension Visa and live in Samui for many years, and HAD resident card... Forget it... You are not a resident anymore!

From now you will pay 4 -5 times more than tourist travelling to Phuket...

Food? The "boutique airline" changed to plastic uneatable cold food (from warm and ok food) on flight... Saving... Greedy...

And... After all that, if you still loyal supporter (by no choice, Monopoly, remember?) and have their card, from August 2018 one will not earn points on the resident special price... company saves another 200 baht... Greedy we said already?

And did you know they still charge airport tax? Have you known this? Have you ever pay in other countries "airport tax" for DOMESTIC flight?

Greedy...

So what we do?

Fly we have to...

But we can spread it...

sofirstly, tourists will know and fly to Suratthani at a fraction of the cost (sometimes 80% less!),

and secondly, we should vote for OTHER domestic company for best regional airline in coming year, and we should make big powers to start do something...

They hurt the island tourism, they hurt their own loyal (by no choice) travellers, they hurt the people of Samui economically, they hurt the reputation of Thailand and it's competitive ability, they are too greedy...

Let's us show them that we care, and greediness will not work.

Spread it as much as you can, help the islands of Samui, Phangan, Koh Tao.

[colinneil]

JoM are we to understand you are not happy with Bangkok airways?

[islandguy]

Good to remember that most of the employees we deal with domestically at BA are competent and service minded. We even have had late luggage delivered directly to our door after arriving on next flight. Overall company policies are what the poster is upset about.

[theguyfromanotherforum]

It's not a bad airline. Used them on my visa trips to Laos and ate and drank like a pig at their completely lounges.

[Neilly]

1 hour ago, Jo M said:

Under new policy starting this year only few are entitled, even if you retired on official pension Visa and live in Samui for many years, and HAD resident card... Forget it... You are not a resident anymore!

Would you care to elaborate on this? I got my card renewed this year and can't see any changes on their website regarding different paperwork required.

 

https://flyerbonus.bangkokair.com/flyerbonus/type-of-membership/414/samui-resident-card

[huberthammer]

fact is that they own the airport,  the airport seems close to full capacity and many months of the year most of their flights are full as well.

 

I am frustrated as well about their ridiculous high prices but I also understand demand and supply and that they are not a charity organisation. We can vent as much as we want, as long as it is a commercially viable way of operation for them they will continue doing it.

 

I would also add that flight prices were a known issue when we moved to Samui. Phuket flights are ridiulous cheap but then they also get all the rifraf so we can't have both. Opening the airport to other airlines and/or lowering prices would bring more tourists to the island, but could the infrastructure really cope with this? Look at the ringroad, electricity and garbage disposal in the current situation.

[sammieuk1]

You should get at least one free flight if you post that all over social media good luck ?

[KhunBENQ]

From what I see Samui is crowded already?

At least it has not much to do what I experienced some 20 years ago on my only visit.

Now add cheap flights preferably direct from half a dozen Chinese airports (like U-Tapao/Pattaya) and wait what happens.

[khunPer]

Bangkok Airways has no monopoly on Koh Samui flights, Thai Airways also fly from/to Bangkok, and other airlines fly from/to other destinations, for example Silk Air. Anyone can fly Samui within the restriction of number of daily operations set by Thai aviation authorities, the number was recently increased from 36 to 50. The airport however, has high fees, as it's private owned.

 

Anyone that fulfill the requirements for being a resident, can have a resident card to Bangkok Airways for free, and the benefit of discounted price (talk from positive experience). 

 

Airport tax is normally included in the flight price, but might be specified when paying a ticket.

 

At my last Bangkok Airways flights from/to Samui in May and June this year, the service level seemed excellent looked through my glasses, especially when compared to some of the other airlines I've used this year. Depending of the time of day, you are having different servings on the short trip from BKK to USM vv. – what do you expect to be served during one hour flying time..?

 

Finally, we that live at Koh Samui shall be happy for the slightly higher airport fees and thereby airfare prices, as the island otherwise might be overrun with tourists – if you want to fly budget, there are a number of possibilities on the mainland and bus/ferry service to the island – and  for the increasing number of tourists heading to the increasing number of resorts with some number of stars, the airfare price don't seem to stop them coming.

 

And by the way, you don't have to fly to Samui – Phangan and Tao you cannot fly to – plenty of options by bus/ferry or train/ferry.

?

[huberthammer]

58 minutes ago, khunPer said:

Bangkok Airways has no monopoly on Koh Samui flights, Thai Airways also fly from/to Bangkok, and other airlines fly from/to other destinations, for example Silk Air. Anyone can fly Samui within the restriction of number of daily operations set by Thai aviation authorities, the number was recently increased from 36 to 50. The airport however, has high fees, as it's private owned.

 

 

I agree with most of what you said but the above is not quite true.  BA does own the airport and do assing the landing rights.  They give them under the condition that BA prices can not be undercut.  Thai Airways has announced that they will end their Samui flights (don't recall if it already happened or if it will be in the 4th quarter). Silkair is a good example, prices are always at least what BA offers at the same time.  I am not quite sure what the deal is with the Chinese Charter flights that hit Samui a few times a week.

 

As a side note, I don't think there is capacity for more than 50 flights per day given the size of the airport and only one runway. However, people with more aviation experience might be in a better position to comment.

[khunPer]

13 minutes ago, huberthammer said:

I agree with most of what you said but the above is not quite true.  BA does own the airport and do assing the landing rights.  They give them under the condition that BA prices can not be undercut.  Thai Airways has announced that they will end their Samui flights (don't recall if it already happened or if it will be in the 4th quarter). Silkair is a good example, prices are always at least what BA offers at the same time.  I am not quite sure what the deal is with the Chinese Charter flights that hit Samui a few times a week.

 

As a side note, I don't think there is capacity for more than 50 flights per day given the size of the airport and only one runway. However, people with more aviation experience might be in a better position to comment.

Thanks for your comments.

 

BA has earlier been quoted in news for that it's the airport fees, not anything with undercutting fares, that makes ticket prices higher at USM; however the fees might make undercutting almost impossible. If I remember right, it was in an article where Air Asia wished to operate at USM, and it was also mentioned in that article, that any airline could operate at USM, just they paid the fees, and the flight would be within the limitation of allowed daily operations.

 

The 50, and before 36, operations per day was said to be due to the airport is in a transit area – flight corridor above the aislands Samui and Phangan – it has nothing to do with airport capacity.

 

Thai Airways was operating today. Instead of operating the own airplanes, Thai made a codeshare agreement with Bangkok Airways, and got thereby access to all Bangkok Air flights, in was said in the last new article I read about Thai Air terminating their own flights to Samui. A number of airlines have codeshare with Bangkok Air.

?

[CaptainWindsock]

15 hours ago, khunPer said:

 

As a side note, I don't think there is capacity for more than 50 flights per day given the size of the airport and only one runway. However, people with more aviation experience might be in a better position to comment.

The single runway, even with the present limited taxiway access, could handle many more flights than 50 a day. Think about it, 50 a day is only just over an average of 3 per hour during their opening hours. The terminal, which at times is already packed, is the limiting factor at this airport.

 

From my understanding the figure of 50 was an agreement with the Thai Aviation Authorities with regard to environmental impact on the islands. I will stand corrected on this if it is not the case.

 

With regards to the "transit area - flight corridor above the islands"  this sounds like an excuse. And I have heard this mooted before.  Any proper airspace management would generate a massive increase in capacity over 50 a day.

[1happykamper]

Bangkok Airways are....
So what we do?
Fly we have to...
But we can spread it...
sofirstly, tourists will know and fly to Suratthani at a fraction of the cost (sometimes 80% less!),
and secondly,

So fly to surat thani and enjoy a much longer journey on a bus and boat and relax. What's your hurry? Cheaper and you can use AirAsia.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

[Tropicalevo]

52 minutes ago, CaptainWindsock said:

The single runway, even with the present limited taxiway access, could handle many more flights than 50 a day. Think about it, 50 a day is only just over an average of 3 per hour during their opening hours. The terminal, which at times is already packed, is the limiting factor at this airport.

 

From my understanding the figure of 50 was an agreement with the Thai Aviation Authorities with regard to environmental impact on the islands. I will stand corrected on this if it is not the case.

 

With regards to the "transit area - flight corridor above the islands"  this sounds like an excuse. And I have heard this mooted before.  Any proper airspace management would generate a massive increase in capacity over 50 a day.

I agree with the Captain

 

It was explained to me that the limit of 36 flights per day was for all private airports/airfields in Thailand.

 

Bandit Airways asked for and received an extension up to the current number of flights based on them wanting more airlines to land here.

 

Yes - Thai Airways are to stop their own flights (in noisy, older aircraft) in or after September this year. The reason given was because the full code share agreement with Bandit Airways made their own flights unnecessary.

 

Other airlines currently flying into Samui are Tibet Airlines, Lucky Air, Silk Air and Thai Airways (for now).

 

There have been other strange attempts for airlines such as Berlin Air to fly here, but this was on a 'part-time' basis.

 

At peak times (Christmas etc), all 50 slots are in use. Personally, as I live under the flight path, I would prefer not to see an increase in the number of flights. 06.00 to 22.00 is easy to live with. Earlier or later flights would be a pain.

[huberthammer]

56 minutes ago, CaptainWindsock said:

The single runway, even with the present limited taxiway access, could handle many more flights than 50 a day. Think about it, 50 a day is only just over an average of 3 per hour during their opening hours. The terminal, which at times is already packed, is the limiting factor at this airport.

 

Currently 3 take offs per hour and 3 landings so on average 10 minutes runway time per flight,  on a small and somewhat basic airport could you really get that much more traffic? I have no aviation experience and I am just interested as I struggle to see planes coming and going every 5 minutes on Samui airport. 

 

 

56 minutes ago, CaptainWindsock said:

 

With regards to the "transit area - flight corridor above the islands"  this sounds like an excuse. And I have heard this mooted before.  Any proper airspace management would generate a massive increase in capacity over 50 a day.

I guess the people living in Bangrak will not argue with their point..

[huberthammer]

56 minutes ago, CaptainWindsock said:

The single runway, even with the present limited taxiway access, could handle many more flights than 50 a day. Think about it, 50 a day is only just over an average of 3 per hour during their opening hours. The terminal, which at times is already packed, is the limiting factor at this airport.

 

Currently 3 take offs per hour and 3 landings so on average 10 minutes runway time per flight,  on a small and somewhat basic airport could you really get that much more traffic? I have no aviation experience and I am just interested as I struggle to see planes coming and going every 5 minutes on Samui airport. 

 

 

56 minutes ago, CaptainWindsock said:

 

With regards to the "transit area - flight corridor above the islands"  this sounds like an excuse. And I have heard this mooted before.  Any proper airspace management would generate a massive increase in capacity over 50 a day.

I guess the people living in Bangrak will not argue with their point..

[huberthammer]

15 minutes ago, Tropicalevo said:

There have been other strange attempts for airlines such as Berlin Air to fly here, but this was on a 'part-time' basis.

 

Bangkok Airways operated Air Berlin planes for a while (and some from a Bulgarian airline I believe) as they had a shortage of planes. I remember being quite puzzled getting transported to an Air Berlin plane when I was booked on a BA flight to Singapore.

[scottiejohn]

20 hours ago, sammieuk1 said:

You should get at least one free flight if you post that all over social media good luck ?

Yes!  But it will be one way (out) with NO return allowed.

Enjoy it!

[sometimewoodworker]

16 minutes ago, Tropicalevo said:

At peak times (Christmas etc), all 50 slots are in use. Personally, as I live under the flight path, I would prefer not to see an increase in the number of flights. 06.00 to 22.00 is easy to live with. Earlier or later flights would be a pain.

More flights, if permitted would not  need to make a difference to the 06:00 to 22:00 arrival times you could comfortably triple the number of flights without overtaxing the runway, though the terminal infrastructure would have to expand.

[khunPer]

7 hours ago, huberthammer said:

Currently 3 take offs per hour and 3 landings so on average 10 minutes runway time per flight,  on a small and somewhat basic airport could you really get that much more traffic? I have no aviation experience and I am just interested as I struggle to see planes coming and going every 5 minutes on Samui airport. 

1½ minute (90 seconds) separation would be technically possible; i.e. 40 operations an hour which could be 20 landings and 20 take offs. However that might generate a long queue in the terminals...?

You could for example compare to London City Airport that handle 4½ million passengers a year between 06:30 and 21:30 with 38 flights an hour on a 1500 meter runway – Samui has 2100 meter – all smaller airplanes like ATR-family (42 + 72), Airbus 318 family, and Embraer 190 jet.

 

PS: I got a long time ago past in aviation operation...?

[huberthammer]

2 hours ago, khunPer said:

1½ minute (90 seconds) separation would be technically possible; i.e. 40 operations an hour which could be 20 landings and 20 take offs. However that might generate a long queue in the terminals...?

I kept a close watch on it while waiting for a friend landing today. 90 seconds would not apply here, from the moment i saw the plane touch the ground until it taxied back to the "parking" took forever.   I guess a UK or US airport turnaround time is not possible here. 

 

Probably for the same reason we exited the rat race, all is a bit slower (and more pleasant here)

[gaff]

Just fly to Surathani and stop whining !