Thailand's Third Budget Airline Begins Service

[Darlek]

what price do they quote for Udon Thani ? and what times do they fly ?

From B498 according to their website:

http://www.nokair.com/

thanks for the website, google didnt have it !

it says to book ahead as early as posible , like how early 1 month - 2 months ???

obviously at xmas time they will be booked well ahead too -- december is always busy

[Neeranam]

Lowest Nok fare between Bangkok and Chiang Mai is 598 baht plus taxes. Should work out to almost 800 baht with the taxes added in. By the way, the airport code for Chiang Mai is CNX. CHX is the code for Changuinola, Panama, probably not your final destination! 

Lowest fare is 598 inc. taxes and insurance.

I was at the airport on Monday.

I fly to Khon Kaen every week for 99baht(200+ with tax etc) with Air Asia.

they are crap, but for the money they are excellent!

[trawler]

I flew Nokair up to CNX on Thursday and came back yesterday with them.Booked over the internet Thursday morning and turned up at the airport 3 hrs later.All reasonably smooth.Aircraft are TG(Thai Airways)i with TG flight crew and senior purser is also from TG,the resy of the girls in yellow are NOK somethings.

Flight up nd down was uneventful,nice thing over Airasia is you get a assigned seat rather than the free seating mad rush,

If you want tea/coffee etc its available but did not see if you have to pay or not.

Felt just like flying TG without the snack service.As I booked late it was around TB 1400 up nd 700 back down so total 2100 roundtrip.As mentioned in a earlier post the further out you book the cheaper the fare.cheers

[sabaijai]

I just flew Nok Air BKK to CNX myself, booked the ticket on the Internet at a cost of 1300B including tax and fees. Good flight, good service, planes leased from THAI, much better than flights I've done on Air Asia thus far.

They had food & beverage service on Nok Air, but as on Air Asia you had to pay as you went. A small bottle of water cost 20B.

[sabaijai]

I not sure what the logic is with ThaiAir introducing their own cheap airline; BA tried it in the UK, and they just did not have the mindset to run a no frills airline. I think Thai should have changed all their domestic flights to be value for money; the domestic routes already have the feel of a cheap airline, and the prices are pretty low (well compared to domestic flights in other countries). Also the livery for Nok uses the same colours as Thai Air, so why make it look like Thai Air? To me it seems like a half hearted attempt to fend off the cheap airlines; just like BA did.

That's my feeling too. Nok Air even uses THAI boarding passes. I don't see the point, unless it's simply to counter the perception that THAI is 'expensive'. I suppose THAI now plans to position itself as a 'premium' domestic airline, the only one with complimentary newspapers and complimentary food.

One thing I noticed about my Nok Air flight is that the plane had business class seating. Didn't check the biz fares.

[ovenman]

One thing I noticed about my Nok Air flight is that the plane had business class seating. Didn't check the biz fares.

It is supposed to be an additional 500 baht.

[Darlek]

.As I booked late it was around TB 1400 up nd 700 back down so total 2100 roundtrip.As mentioned in a earlier post the further out you book the cheaper the fare.cheers

what is early and what is late ?

are we talking days or weeks or what ??

how early do you need to book to get the cheap rate ?

and when does the highest rate kick in ???

ball park figures ....

no doubt the early morning flights are not so booked up as the mid day flights

[ovenman]

To me it seems like a half hearted attempt to fend off the cheap airlines; just like BA did.

That's my feeling too. Nok Air even uses THAI boarding passes. I don't see the point, unless it's simply to counter the perception that THAI is 'expensive'. I suppose THAI now plans to position itself as a 'premium' domestic airline, the only one with complimentary newspapers and complimentary food.

Assuming that Nok Air is successful, I wonder whether we will see a cut-back in the number of THAI flights on duplicated routes such as Bangkok-Chiang Mai or whether there is room in the market for the current number of TG flights plus whatever number that Nok provides?

[thaiflyer1]

One thing I noticed about my Nok Air flight is that the plane had business class seating. Didn't check the biz fares.

It is supposed to be an additional 500 baht.

Yeah on average an extra 500 baht its called Nok Plus.

[Darlek]

Assuming that Nok Air is successful, I wonder whether we will see a cut-back in the number of THAI flights on duplicated routes such as Bangkok-Chiang Mai or whether there is room in the market for the current number of TG flights plus whatever number that Nok provides?

you aint seen nothing yet , 7-11 is planning to sell tickets for budget flights so the market is still young and will expand

[ovenman]

Just took a Nok Air flight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. All went according to schedule and I can't add anything to what has already been said about the service.

I was initially puzzled by why Nok Air is offering a business class (Nok Plus) as this is not generally a service provided by low-cost airlines. As far as I can tell, Nok Air have done absolutely nothing to refurbish the cabin of the 737-400's they are renting from THAI. Those leased planes already had 12 business class seats in the forward cabin. Therefore, Nok Air has 12 business class seats to offer on each flight.

[farang bha]

is it posible to just go to the domestic airport bkk and buy a flight and go ? on nok air ,air asia( and just hope they have a seat lol) i guess i would have to pay full price? ?