No More Nokair Flighst To Phuket :(

[mekka]

Well i just found out tonight that nokair have ceased all flights to and from Phuket as of the start of this month...12go also stopped so what options do we have now for budget flights...i got BKK regularly and always used Nokair!!!

Airasia is supposedly charging huge amounts now for tickets...not cool!

[britmaveric]

TG or Air Asia - those are your choices. Or train/bus.

[mekka]

Is Bangkok Air still flying here?

[britmaveric]

Yes - looks like 2 flights daily.

[HDRIDER]

Hi

My GF had a ticket from BKK to Phuket with Air crap Asia, they called her and said, cancelled, you will get you money back in a month’s time, and she was on the way to the airport. The price for one way was 3,500. Thai air was 2,500, but no room, so on the bus it was.

Look at this: http://phuketgazette.com/dailynews/index.asp?id=6674

[huggybear]

Well i just found out tonight that nokair have ceased all flights to and from Phuket as of the start of this month...12go also stopped so what options do we have now for budget flights...i got BKK regularly and always used Nokair!!!

Airasia is supposedly charging huge amounts now for tickets...not cool!

Yep, the day after Nok announced cancelled flights, Air Asia's rountrip to Bangkok went from 2500thb to 4500.

Malaysian is supposed to have some good pricing but I can never get their lame website to work !!!

[starkey_rich]

For the last few years I have had a large group of fiends come to visit every year.One of them contacted me last night and said they will be going somewhere else in Thailand this year due to the price of getting to Phuket and that the hotel they usually stay has just doubled it's rates.So that's 12 less peple on the beach this year.

[ozymandious]

I suppose you could always pick one of these up

http://gizmodo.com/5033812/fold+up-plane-f...hown-folding-up

and park it at the Phuket Air park, if they would allow you to sly it in Thailand.

[baabaabobo]

Flights back on again

From The Phuket Gazette:

Nok Air resumes Phuket service

PHUKET CITY: Nok Air is resuming twice-weekly flights to Phuket from Bangkok following media reports of Phuket-bound tourists stranded in Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok.

The Phuket Gazette's report as well as other media reports were used by the board in their decision making, Nok Air media and public relations representative Dechavut Vuttisilp told the Gazette.

The limited service, which resumes on August 9, is scheduled to operate on Saturdays and Sundays only. Flights depart from Don Muang airport in Bangkok to Phuket International Airport (PIA) at 9.15 am, with the return leg taking off from PIA at 11.05 am.

However, the Sunday flight for this week will be moved to Tuesday, August 12 to accommodate those wishing to enjoy Mother's Day in Phuket. For the rest of August the flights will be on Saturdays and Sundays.

Many Phuket-bound tourists who already faced limited flight options following the suspension of One-Two-Go's services on July 22 were stranded in Bangkok when Nok Air suspended its Bangkok-Phuket service on August 1. The move followed Nok Air's halt of its Krabi-Bangkok service on July 1.

At that time, Nok Air issued no official statement regarding its marketing strategies, but a source at the budget airline told the Gazette that people would be able to figure it out if they looked carefully at what the airline was doing.

Nok Air also suspended its loss-ridden Phuket-Haad Yai service November last year after a six-month trial period found there were not enough passengers to continue it. It now remains impossible to fly between the South's two major airports, which for decades had regularly-scheduled services.

Angry Finnish tourist Arto Tiitinen called from Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok on August 2 to inform the Gazette that many other irate Phuket-bound tourists were awaiting standby flights.

"I'm surprised that there are not extra flights; now my family must holiday elsewhere. I have no problem with money, it's just that there aren't any tickets to Phuket available for now at any price," he said, adding that he would instead take his family to Chiang Mai for a holiday.

The Gazette checked the AirAsia website that day, which showed that the airline's seven daily flights to Phuket from Suvarnabhumi were fully booked until Tuesday, August 5. Thai Airways continues to fly two or three flights daily to Phuket from Don Meuang and six flights a day from Suvarnabhumi.

Nok Air, which used Don Mueang International Airport as its main base, started operations in July 2004. Owned 39% by Thai Airways International, the low-cost carrier was set up to compete with the aggressive expansion of rival low-cost carrier Thai AirAsia.

As it celebrates its 4th anniversary, the carrier has also relaunched its "Nok Gives Life" project.

With "Nok Gives Life" the airline works to raise funds for the Cardiac Children Foundation of Thailand, established Under the Royal Patronage of HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana. Funds raised enable life-saving surgery and treatment for young heart patients.

[siam2007]

its complete nonsense in my humble opinion, that NOK has suspended Phuket flights, now that notorious 1-2-go become a 1-2-gone. For sure, NOK would be able to achieve an average load factor of no less than 80-85%, even if they only operate one flight each day.

AirAsia didnt actually raise their fares. the PASSENGERS did that work. because no more 1-2-go and NOk flights were available, the AirAsia seats were filling quickly, and the better a flight is booked, the more expensive the seats get. thats the pricing-system of low-budget-carriers anywhere in the world, so why the whining ?

by the way, after 19th of August, there are still thousands of seats to Phuket available on AirAsia at the usual 449 / 699 THB before taxes... some seats even at 99 THB. during main holiday periods or long weekends, the seats are always more expensive than during low-season. and still, AirAsia has the LOWEST surcharges of ANY BUDGET AIRLINE in Asia (did u ever check the CEBU PACIFIC Monster-surcharges for flights BKK-MNL-BKK ?).

[flamingtodd]

had a issue after meeting some friends in the KOK for Golf. No flight back.

paid a taxi (2007 CMRY), 10k and I left BKK at 7:30pm and was at HKT airport at 7:45am the next morn.

Slept the whole way unless I was gripping the seat back for my dear f-in life because he was standing on the brakes trying to avoid the sleepy, thai dump-truck driver asleep and moving into our lane.

I love this route, and highly suggest it to people with stress free lives.

all the biggest huggs and sloppiest wettest kisses... (todd has had a few)

your true lover!

todd

[mekka]

Well Nokair have started flying between phuket and bangkok again, but only on saturday and sundays...better than nothing i guess!

had a issue after meeting some friends in the KOK for Golf. No flight back.

paid a taxi (2007 CMRY), 10k and I left BKK at 7:30pm and was at HKT airport at 7:45am the next morn.

Slept the whole way unless I was gripping the seat back for my dear f-in life because he was standing on the brakes trying to avoid the sleepy, thai dump-truck driver asleep and moving into our lane.

I love this route, and highly suggest it to people with stress free lives.

all the biggest huggs and sloppiest wettest kisses... (todd has had a few)

your true lover!

todd