Bangkok Airways Poor Service High Price

[Samuian]

I think the food is great for such a short flight, I always look forward to it and save it for later if I don't want it then. Staff has always been very courteous and helpful to me...have to say they are FAR better than any european or american airline. That said, yes, they are really screwing all of us who have to travel on and off the island a lot...the price is clearly a result of their unfair monopoly.

It's all about the pricing - unfair to the entire business community on Samui!

Agree to 2900-3500 RT!

And certainly soft-drinks only - "grab 'n go!"

lunch-sandwich packs @ departure lounge

would be efficient!

And as seen on Samui Airport - they need to replace

the FB manager or get a cost saving management!

Emppty departure lounges and all stuffed with snacks ....!

The "Green Campaign" needs an overhaul -

on closer look it shrinks to none else then a PR gimmick

[lunalanding]

Well, we all know Bangkok Airways have a monopoly at Samui Airport - which we all suffer from due to excessive fares - so for this money you would expect a good service - well, not so, as well as having the most expensive short haul fares in Thailand they are also providing the lowest grade service.

First the food - The last few times we have flown the food they have provided has been disgusting. Simply a dried out bun, overloaded with old lettuce and something they call 'chicken' - but not real chicken - a horrible cold minced patty which simply turns your stomach when you smell it. They offer no options on the flight - if you dont like it you go hungry and to make things worse every flight we have been on in the last year (and there have been over 10 trips) this was the 'lunch'. This last time we told them no we dont want your bad food! Now we have learnt to eat in the VIP area before we got on the flight and the pastry snacks there are fine.

Secondly, the last trip we travelled with our 2 month baby to BKK and when booking we tried to request the front seats due to the baby as there are no seats in front of these to recline should my wife need to feed the baby - most airlines automatically allocate these when they know there's a small child - our baby was in fact just a couple of months old - but not Bangkok Air... we were told that we had to do this on arrival at the airport. So were queued early and when we got to the check in desk they told us as we had a baby to go to a special desk to issue the baby's ticket so lost our place in the queue!! - and to make matters worse my wife waited there for nearly half an hour when they processed this, thus losing our early space in the queue and subsequently all front seats were then allocated to other customers. They also had the cheek to charge 850baht for a baby who had no seat (sat on mothers knee) and ate no food.

Thirdly, after queueing again and we got back to the check in desk we were told all these front seats were taken, so they put us on the second row. We were so angry when we saw that the front seats had no children on them whatsoever - just normal people and another child behind us on row 4 was screamed the whole trip as he had no space to move. When the people in front then reclined their chairs my wife and baby were pushed with no room to spare into their seat. Should be have hit an air pocket or something for sure my baby's head would have smashed into the headrest in fornt which was only 2 inches from his head. Disgraceful. The air hostesses didin't even have the courtesy to ask them to change seats with us.

Fourth - when ferrying to the airplane - we were told to get on the trolley bus shuttle to get to the plane, which I have to admit they gave us priority - BUT then we and our baby were put on the trolley bus shuttle with all other passengers ...yet, next to it was a small 8 seater cart and to our amazement they let on a girl with a bandaged ankle and drove off leaving our 3 months old baby in the heat of 35 degrees sitting on this shuttle bus for nearly 15 minutes on the tarmac ... whilst the bandaged ankle girl was comfortably seated on the plane when we got there.

Then when we dis-embarked the trolley all the customers with their hand luggage barged through us - there was no priority for babies/children first and no Bangkok Airways staff helping us.

Personally, if I had an option at Samui Airport I would NEVER fly Bangkok Airways again!!

I was wondering if any one else has experienced anything like this with Bangkok Airways .... as I am putting in a written complaint to their Director.

I've read all the people giving this poor guy a bad time,I have 4 kids and and all born on this island,I have used bkk airways for over 15 years and then Thai come along.When you're in the lounge waiting for the announcement to board the plane,first they announce in Thai that people travelling with young children should be allowed to board first,but no,all those who can hear their flight number being called make a dash to board the plane and the staff do nothing to help the families travelling with young kids,and then when you do get past, you're only boarding a bus to take you to the plane anyway so you have to wait for everyone else.with Thai I've found that they have more experience and before they announce to get ready to board the plane they'll look out for people with special needs and approach them first before letting everyone else on.Why is it that Bkk air has one the same award from the same people every year and nobody else ? I personally really enjoy flying with Air Asia,big comfy seats,buy your food that you choose,pay for excess baggage and all done online at a great price,no extra costs.How many people with young kids dissagreed with the parents here ? You were all kids once you know and as long as I can remember we were allways given special treatment, maybe its just the way things are in the world today.

[t.s]

snip ....

How many people with young kids dissagreed with the parents here ? You were all kids once you know and as long as I can remember we were always given special treatment, maybe its just the way things are in the world today.

my father worked for a large international carrier throughout my childhood and we flew at least 6 times a year from the time i was one year old. Contrary to receiving special treatment, exceptional behavior was expected of us because we were travelling on employee passes. As children we knew that travelling with my parents was a privilege.

Air travel was also significantly different then and a certain level of dress and behavior was expected of everyone. Air travel has since become much more accessible and that has resulted in a change in attitudes from carriers and passengers alike.

i have been traveling on bkk air between bkk and samui about 5 times a year with my daughter, since she was just over a month old, now she is three. i chose to procreate and i choose to travel with my child - no one, including bangkok air owes me a living.

ironically, i book my child in as an adult its usually 1-2000 baht in savings and that is one way!

i am not a huge proponent of bangkok air, but as i said earlier, the op reeks of new parent hysteria.

traveling with children doesn't make you special, simple really.

Edited July 24, 2009 by t.s

[lunalanding]

snip ....

How many people with young kids dissagreed with the parents here ? You were all kids once you know and as long as I can remember we were always given special treatment, maybe its just the way things are in the world today.

my father worked for a large international carrier throughout my childhood and we flew at least 6 times a year from the time i was one year old. Contrary to receiving special treatment, exceptional behavior was expected of us because we were travelling on employee passes. As children we knew that travelling with my parents was a privilege.

Air travel was also significantly different then and a certain level of dress and behavior was expected of everyone. Air travel has since become much more accessible and that has resulted in a change in attitudes from carriers and passengers alike.

i have been traveling on bkk air between bkk and samui about 5 times a year with my daughter, since she was just over a month old, now she is three. i chose to procreate and i choose to travel with my child - no one, including bangkok air owes me a living.

ironically, i book my child in as an adult its usually 1-2000 baht in savings and that is one way!

i am not a huge proponent of bangkok air, but as i said earlier, the op reeks of new parent hysteria.

traveling with children doesn't make you special, simple really.

Just said it yourself, you were probably travelling for next to nothing because your dad worked for one of the big carriers, whos talking about owing a living ? I've sent my daughters up to Bangkok by themselves before when they were only about 6 and 8 years old and Bkk Air took good care of them, its true about Bkk air not issuing a ticket for a young baby and having to pay when you get to the airport, so more cues and more time wasted with your young child, why not look at these issues rather than just saying the guys not owed a living.So you dont think its crazy that you get a promotional fair and your daughter gets 50% of the full priced fair, so you pay the adult price,I work in the a service busines and have many times filled in suggestion papers at the airport for Bkk air, not because I'm angry but because it would give the paying customer a better service a Bkk Air a better name, a more effective way of doing things.

[sometieguy]

snip ....

How many people with young kids dissagreed with the parents here ? You were all kids once you know and as long as I can remember we were always given special treatment, maybe its just the way things are in the world today.

my father worked for a large international carrier throughout my childhood and we flew at least 6 times a year from the time i was one year old. Contrary to receiving special treatment, exceptional behavior was expected of us because we were travelling on employee passes. As children we knew that travelling with my parents was a privilege.

Air travel was also significantly different then and a certain level of dress and behavior was expected of everyone. Air travel has since become much more accessible and that has resulted in a change in attitudes from carriers and passengers alike.

i have been traveling on bkk air between bkk and samui about 5 times a year with my daughter, since she was just over a month old, now she is three. i chose to procreate and i choose to travel with my child - no one, including bangkok air owes me a living.

ironically, i book my child in as an adult its usually 1-2000 baht in savings and that is one way!

i am not a huge proponent of bangkok air, but as i said earlier, the op reeks of new parent hysteria.

traveling with children doesn't make you special, simple really.

indeed....in fact children should be charged more.

[t.s]

snip ....

How many people with young kids dissagreed with the parents here ? You were all kids once you know and as long as I can remember we were always given special treatment, maybe its just the way things are in the world today.

my father worked for a large international carrier throughout my childhood and we flew at least 6 times a year from the time i was one year old. Contrary to receiving special treatment, exceptional behavior was expected of us because we were travelling on employee passes. As children we knew that travelling with my parents was a privilege.

Air travel was also significantly different then and a certain level of dress and behavior was expected of everyone. Air travel has since become much more accessible and that has resulted in a change in attitudes from carriers and passengers alike.

i have been traveling on bkk air between bkk and samui about 5 times a year with my daughter, since she was just over a month old, now she is three. i chose to procreate and i choose to travel with my child - no one, including bangkok air owes me a living.

ironically, i book my child in as an adult its usually 1-2000 baht in savings and that is one way!

i am not a huge proponent of bangkok air, but as i said earlier, the op reeks of new parent hysteria.

traveling with children doesn't make you special, simple really.

indeed....in fact children should be charged more.

especially if you are shunting them around alone.

i do agree though, if you expect special treatment, bulkhead seating, preboarding and additional service, you should pay more.

when my daughter was sub 2 years, she was on the manifest when we flew bkk air before we got to the airport, so i have never had an issue with extra ticketing, lineups etc.

as i have said, i have other issues with bangkok air, but your own experience seems to indicate that they seem to accommodate children quite well if your expectations are realistic.

as someone in the service industry, do you think the op's complaints regarding the staff treatment of the injured passenger are valid?

please re-read the op, then come back to disagree.

air travel has become very democratic, there are pluses and minuses to that.

[zzaa09]

Interestingly the op's complain list starts with his culinary disappointment and then all the others points follow. It seems that if the airlines food would be fine and he could fill him self up, there would not be a complain at all.

Chances not. Just looking to whinge and bitch. Sure Bangkok Air {overall} is not what it use to be as they seem to be cutting back in certain services. Simpler to live your protest. If you don't care for BA and the way that they do business - don't do business with them. Find an alternative for your commute.

[Eric1949]

Just recently went to Singapore for a week with Bangkok Airways, no problems. Departures, on time, meal service and quality were excellent.

No complaints.

[Mark Wolfe]

BIC:

First the food - The last few times we have flown the food they have provided has been disgusting.

Don't eat it.

(Actually, coming back to Samui a week or so ago they served these tortilla rolls with chicken (from a bird) and lettuce and tomato inside. They were not only really good, they made me think, "I have to make some of these when I get home. Where can I get flour tortillas?")

"...the last trip we travelled with our 2 month baby to BKK and when booking we tried to request the front seats due to the baby as there are no seats in front of these to recline should my wife need to feed the baby..."

Samui to Bangkok is generally around an hour or less flight time. The infant couldn't make do for an hour? And if not, what a Princess and the Pea sort of demand – "Must have RECLINING seat to feed baby!"

Good grief, Charlie Brown!

"They also had the cheek to charge 850baht for a baby who had no seat (sat on mothers knee) and ate no food."

Well, you got me there. It's not like a two-month-old infant is actually a person that the airlines should charge for using its transportation services. God, it's like they charged 850 baht for your golf clubs to be flown on the plane. Outrageous!

(From Bangkok Airways Web site: Infant ticket price is 10% of the applicable Published adult fare. 850 isn't 10 percent of the adult fare. Where did that calculation come from?)

"We were so angry when we saw that the front seats had no children on them whatsoever - just normal people and another child behind us on row 4 was screamed the whole trip as he had no space to move."

"Normal people," I love that. Score one for people who bring babies on holiday as "abnormal."

And a child was ruining your flight? Shocking! What are these people who bring small kids on airplanes thinking!

"...then we and our baby were put on the trolley bus shuttle with all other passengers ...yet, next to it was a small 8 seater cart and to our amazement they let on a girl with a bandaged ankle and drove off leaving our 3 months old baby in the heat of 35 degrees sitting on this shuttle bus for nearly 15 minutes on the ..."

You were put in with "all other passengers"? Like you were normal? How dare them not give you the VIP private eight-seater! And your baby aged a full month during the ordeal!

OK, I'm not an expert, but does sitting in an open-air shuttle for 15 minutes in Thailand with a baby endanger its health?

"...there was no priority for babies/children first and no Bangkok Airways staff helping us."

"Attention all passengers on flight PG 601 bound for Bangkok, the Golden Empress God-child, future inventor of the cure for cancer and AIDS, is flying with us today. Please allow this global treasure, and his fussbudget parents, to leave the plane first upon landing."

I have never understood the idea that babies or little kids get a whopping discount on air travel. You never see a parent arguing this: "My baby is a human being just like every other passenger! You don't charge by how fat a person is or how old, or smart or race or creed! Just because my son is young you treat him like excess baggage? I demand to pay the full price -- for the dignity of my child!"

I think of air travel as the "transporter" on Star Trek, only really slow. If transporters did exist, why would the owners of the device discount for small babies? Isn't the end result of air travel and transportation providing a service to enable people and things to go from one place to another?

[bojo]

I've never really understood why kids are charged less if they have their own seat. My 5 year old gannet of a child eats more than some adults. I'm drawing the line at the free beers though! Jokes aside though..

One reason that they're not charged full fare could be to encourage more full paying passengers to bring their kids along=extra revenue for the airline, even at half price.

I've flown with Bangkok air loads of times and find their service to be just fine, their food is pretty good but I seem to remember it being top notch years ago.

As lunalanding pointed out, if one is unimpressed.. fill out the suggestion papers at the airport to get one's voice heard.

A couple of posts back someone mentioned 'princess and the pea' How apt. We all think our daughters are princesses but we don't embarress ourselves as the OP did, by posting here.

Regards Bojo

[livinthailandos]

1. Bangkok airways owns the airport

2. the only real competition they have is thai airways so they don't have to lower prices to the likes of air asia as they are NOT a budget carrier and neither is thai airways

3. Regardless of bangkok airways if you don't like them fly thai airways or go to suratthani and fly air asia

4. I do agree the meals of quality have gone done but its your choice eat them or don't eat them its up to you

5. to many people expect singapore airlines quality and a air asia price ( yeah good luck with that ) thats why you have regular carriers and budget carriers

6. If you can't handle the price of flying then take the bus to bangkok

[zzaa09]

1. Bangkok airways owns the airport

2. the only real competition they have is thai airways so they don't have to lower prices to the likes of air asia as they are NOT a budget carrier and neither is thai airways

3. Regardless of bangkok airways if you don't like them fly thai airways or go to suratthani and fly air asia

4. I do agree the meals of quality have gone done but its your choice eat them or don't eat them its up to you

5. to many people expect singapore airlines quality and a air asia price ( yeah good luck with that ) thats why you have regular carriers and budget carriers

6. If you can't handle the price of flying then take the bus to bangkok

An example of Bangkok Airways and non-compete. Sukhothai. Long before they expanded their routing network, domestic and regionally international, BA had very simple routes to Sukhothai, Chiang Mai, and Samui. That was it {early 90s}. They actually bulit the airport at Sukhothai and outright own and control the surrounding area. To this day, they limit the 'public' transport from/to the airport. 26K to town.

[koheesti]

"...then we and our baby were put on the trolley bus shuttle with all other passengers ...yet, next to it was a small 8 seater cart and to our amazement they let on a girl with a bandaged ankle and drove off leaving our 3 months old baby in the heat of 35 degrees sitting on this shuttle bus for nearly 15 minutes on the ..."

You were put in with "all other passengers"? Like you were normal? How dare them not give you the VIP private eight-seater! And your baby aged a full month during the ordeal!

OK, I'm not an expert, but does sitting in an open-air shuttle for 15 minutes in Thailand with a baby endanger its health?

The parent here is 100% in the wrong. I have been convinced by the many experts on this forum that Samui is perfectly safe for infants - and that includes the open-air shuttle.

I've flown BA quite a bit in the last 1.5 years, to BKK, Hong Kong and recently to Singapore and I have no service complaints. I appreciate their comfortable lounge with free Internet in BKK and the in-flight food has never bothered me. I've never even heard kids screaming and trust me, I would have noticed.

[PatinBKk]

Well, we all know Bangkok Airways have a monopoly at Samui Airport - which we all suffer from due to excessive fares - so for this money you would expect a good service - well, not so, as well as having the most expensive short haul fares in Thailand they are also providing the lowest grade service.

First the food - The last few times we have flown the food they have provided has been disgusting. Simply a dried out bun, overloaded with old lettuce and something they call 'chicken' - but not real chicken - a horrible cold minced patty which simply turns your stomach when you smell it. They offer no options on the flight - if you dont like it you go hungry and to make things worse every flight we have been on in the last year (and there have been over 10 trips) this was the 'lunch'. This last time we told them no we dont want your bad food! Now we have learnt to eat in the VIP area before we got on the flight and the pastry snacks there are fine.

Secondly, the last trip we travelled with our 2 month baby to BKK and when booking we tried to request the front seats due to the baby as there are no seats in front of these to recline should my wife need to feed the baby - most airlines automatically allocate these when they know there's a small child - our baby was in fact just a couple of months old - but not Bangkok Air... we were told that we had to do this on arrival at the airport. So were queued early and when we got to the check in desk they told us as we had a baby to go to a special desk to issue the baby's ticket so lost our place in the queue!! - and to make matters worse my wife waited there for nearly half an hour when they processed this, thus losing our early space in the queue and subsequently all front seats were then allocated to other customers. They also had the cheek to charge 850baht for a baby who had no seat (sat on mothers knee) and ate no food.

Thirdly, after queueing again and we got back to the check in desk we were told all these front seats were taken, so they put us on the second row. We were so angry when we saw that the front seats had no children on them whatsoever - just normal people and another child behind us on row 4 was screamed the whole trip as he had no space to move. When the people in front then reclined their chairs my wife and baby were pushed with no room to spare into their seat. Should be have hit an air pocket or something for sure my baby's head would have smashed into the headrest in fornt which was only 2 inches from his head. Disgraceful. The air hostesses didin't even have the courtesy to ask them to change seats with us.

Fourth - when ferrying to the airplane - we were told to get on the trolley bus shuttle to get to the plane, which I have to admit they gave us priority - BUT then we and our baby were put on the trolley bus shuttle with all other passengers ...yet, next to it was a small 8 seater cart and to our amazement they let on a girl with a bandaged ankle and drove off leaving our 3 months old baby in the heat of 35 degrees sitting on this shuttle bus for nearly 15 minutes on the tarmac ... whilst the bandaged ankle girl was comfortably seated on the plane when we got there.

Then when we dis-embarked the trolley all the customers with their hand luggage barged through us - there was no priority for babies/children first and no Bangkok Airways staff helping us.

Personally, if I had an option at Samui Airport I would NEVER fly Bangkok Airways again!!

I was wondering if any one else has experienced anything like this with Bangkok Airways .... as I am putting in a written complaint to their Director.

BangkokAir are a rip off but I have 3 kids and would never expect any kind of special treatment, we all pay the same and if your kid is going free or at a fraction of the cost, why should us parents get the best seats...on a 12 hour flight I could possibly understan but a 45 minute flight from BKK

[rdog]

Actually prefer to board last as opposed to first as the kids get irritated and bored before the plane even takes off. Food = if you don't like it don't eat it as it's only 45 minutes! I can last the drive from Nathon to Chaweng without starving to death! Although the main airline from Samui, I have flown much worse airlines in USA/Australia/UK and find airline staff in Thailand more than approachable and agreeable than most places and always feel a different attitude when returning to Thailand.

[dominator]

"They also had the cheek to charge 850baht for a baby who had no seat (sat on mothers knee) and ate no food."

Well, you got me there. It's not like a two-month-old infant is actually a person that the airlines should charge for using its transportation services. God, it's like they charged 850 baht for your golf clubs to be flown on the plane. Outrageous!

(From Bangkok Airways Web site: Infant ticket price is 10% of the applicable Published adult fare. 850 isn't 10 percent of the adult fare. Where did that calculation come from?)

Have you ever heard airline of liability insurance?

Or maybe you'd rather pay for any injuries yourself.