Thai Lion Air - Any firsthand experience

[ravip]

How is this airline,  Thai Lion Air? Never tried it before, hence any comments would be most welcome. Comparatively, it seems cheaper.

But reviews seems all bad...

[BobBKK]

Yes!  they cancelled my flight and didn't tell me - then looked shocked that I was ****ed off

[Puchaiyank]

Pay the extra baht...get dependable quality service...I use Smile Airlines when ever I can...

[suzannegoh]

I've used them a lot and they are good when they fly.  But I did have one case where I bought 3PM Phuket to Bangkok tickets months in advance at a promotion price and they canceled that flight and reassigned me to a 6AM flight.

[HungDonger]

Don't do it !!

[Bangkok Barry]

My own experience is that they are very good indeed. I'm using them to fly Khon Kaen-Bangkok-Singapore, and the whole trip is half what Thai and Singapore are charging just for the international sector. My previous experience with them is on-time, new clean planes, pleasant crews.

But any airline can be good or bad on any given day. Many factors involved. The only airline I avoid at all costs is Nok, who often cancel flights due to a lack of pilots. I also avoid Air Asia for international flights out of Bangkok because of their bizarre check-in procedure where you have to queue once to print out a luggage tag and then queue again for a check-in desk where they attach the tag. No thanks.

[Almer]

Bangkokbarry, 100% agree with all, 

[Old Croc]

The parent company Lion Air Indonesia tops many lists of the most unsafe airlines because of the many crashes and incidents in it's short period of existence. The last one was the Boeing 737 Max crash near Jakarta last October that killed all. 

No incidences have been recorded by the Thai version, so from a safety perspective, so far so good.

[colinneil]

9 minutes ago, Old Croc said:

The parent company Lion Air Indonesia tops many lists of the most unsafe airlines because of the many crashes and incidents in it's short period of existence. The last one was the Boeing 737 Max crash near Jakarta last October that killed all. 

No incidences have been recorded by the Thai version, so from a safety perspective, so far so good.

Bit cruel of you posting about the crash last october, as everybody knows it was not the airlines or pilots faults, but Boeings fault for selling an unsafe aircraft.

[cnx355]

I used them a few time but it is my last choice as the seat pitch is not great if you are  a tall person.

I am just 178 cm ( 5'9") and my knees touch the seat up front. You cannot get the emergency row all the time)

They squeeze as many row of seat that they can in their 737 planes. I think the airline industry call that < High Density > option.

 

Except tat , I never had a problem with them except that the credit card application they use for the payment often refuse foreign credit card.

[PingRoundTheWorld]

I flew with them to Saigon a couple of years ago. I don't think they still operate that route, but at the time the flight was great - but I also paid a little extra for seat selection (front) and priority boarding.

 

It's a low-cost carrier so you get what you pay for - 7kg carry on free, if you want extra checked baggage they charge for it. Seat selection available at a price - I'd highly recommend it as you don't want to wait 1-2 hours at the check-in queue. There's no entertainment and no meal (available at extra cost).

 

For short haul flights it's great. For long I'd avoid.

[mick01827]

I've used them and they were fine, no frills but its exactly the same with any airline, have a bad experience and you'll think they're crap

[dougiemac52]

20 hours ago, Puchaiyank said:

Pay the extra baht...get dependable quality service...I use Smile Airlines when ever I can...

Used Lion airlines once from Yangon. I felt it was better than Air Asia

[Pdavies99]

Never a problem, clean and run well, quite often 10-20 minutes late etc.

[FritsSikkink]

Flight itself is good but quite often delays or (multiple) changes to schedule.

[lagavulin1]

We used to use them. Absolutely fine. Good value. 

We changed to AA only because Bangkok Bank issued us AA Visa cards. You get discount, priority luggage handling, priority boarding and a free drink. 

I'm the sort who Has to be first on the plane hahaha. 

[GreasyFingers]

Have not been on one but would be a last resort. As posted above I had a morning flight to connect to an international one and they changed it to an afternoon flight. They had trouble understanding that I needed to cancel their flight, then it took a month for a refund which was not for the full amount.

[Fairynuff]

I’ve heard too many bad reports to consider using them. I use Air Asia very often and whilst I’ve had quite a few issues over the years, none have been very serious. From personal experience not many delays or cancellations. I probably fly them around a dozen times a year.

[xtrnuno41]

I have to  use Smile now, as that is the only one going from Suvarnabhumi.

I thought i used them in 2014 when going to CM, they were then leaving from Suvarnabhumi, no problem. 

Now you have to move to Don Muang for inland flights, except for the Smile, which is Thai Airways. 

[seajae]

if you have baggage make sure you get the extra insurance, they have broken a few of our suitcases then only offer 500 baht as compensation ot a thousand if you get really p*ssed at them and tell you that you have to take the extra insurance if you want them covered fully. Strangely enough nothing has been broken since we started taking insurance so its a total set up

[Classic Ray]

38 minutes ago, xtrnuno41 said:

I have to  use Smile now, as that is the only one going from Suvarnabhumi.

I thought i used them in 2014 when going to CM, they were then leaving from Suvarnabhumi, no problem. 

Now you have to move to Don Muang for inland flights, except for the Smile, which is Thai Airways. 

Not quite, Thai Viet Jet fly from Swampy as well. I fly regularly between Chiang Mai and Bangkok and have tried them all. Thai Viet Jet usually cheapest but don’t do online check in, used to be always on time. Thai Airways currently best and nearly cheapest, AA and Nok quite late usually. I have used Thai Lion Air a few times, just as good/bad as the others.

 

My main complaint is they never tell you they will be late until after scheduled boarding time or 5 mins before takeoff, no information in Skytracker etc to save you rushing to the airport. They expect Thais not to make a fuss about waiting, and can’t be bothered to make announcements  until I push them. Budget mentality

[TroyC]

Only flown on Lion Air once, and had a problem with my cabin baggage. Lion have unstandard dimensions for their baggage (not exceeding 40 x 30 x 20cm) compared to every other airline I've flown with the standard 56cm X 36cm X 23cm.

[madmen]

Always first choice. They have a near new  fleet of 737 900"s 

[naboo]

The only positive I have is they manage to make Air Asia look good.

[ravip]

Thank you very much gentlemen, for all your helpful responses. Finally, for whatever it was worth, I decided to give it a try. The sectors I flew were;

CMB -> DMK - Thai Lionair

DMK -> CNX - NOK Air

CNX -> DMK - Thai AirAsia

DMK -> CMB - Thai Lionair

 

All flights were on time.

The air-crafts were very clean and appeared new.

No issues with baggage or with the staff.

 

The only difference between the normal flights and these budget ones I felt was...

Almost a 50% saving on the ticket

AirAsia seats were small and a bit cramped up

International sectors, the food they served (free) were in small potions, compared to the normal flights.

 

Overall, I would say all was perfect!

[ElleOh]

Hello guys! Im planning a trip from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok on October 20th and was kinda worried from what Ive read in a news about Thai Lion Air. Anyone heard about this? https://www.cybersecasia.net/news/malindo-air-lion-air-passenger-records-breached-and-exposed-on-web-forums 

 

Any suggestions is much appreciated. Thanks!

 

 

[Old Croc]

On 6/21/2019 at 11:10 AM, colinneil said:

On 6/21/2019 at 10:59 AM, Old Croc said:

The parent company Lion Air Indonesia tops many lists of the most unsafe airlines because of the many crashes and incidents in it's short period of existence. The last one was the Boeing 737 Max crash near Jakarta last October that killed all. 

No incidences have been recorded by the Thai version, so from a safety perspective, so far so good.

Bit cruel of you posting about the crash last october, as everybody knows it was not the airlines or pilots faults, but Boeings fault for selling an unsafe aircraft.

Not everything is black or white:

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/what-really-brought-down-the-boeing-737-max/ar-AAHtnDu

[MarineEquine]

On 9/22/2019 at 10:43 AM, Old Croc said:

Not everything is black or white:

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/what-really-brought-down-the-boeing-737-max/ar-AAHtnDu

Very interesting read. Thanks for the link. I'll be sure to avoid Lion Air now. 

[ravip]

On 9/22/2019 at 9:13 AM, Old Croc said:

Not everything is black or white:

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/what-really-brought-down-the-boeing-737-max/ar-AAHtnDu

Unfortunately the link does not work.

 

[steven100]

I have flown Thai Lion Air many times.

 

Very good service and I've never had any issue at all.

I can recommend them.