Thai Airways To Ubon

[Patriot]

Yeah, good point Marco.

Admittedly they only gave me the outbound flight but wouldn't issue the March return from BKK to Ubon just yet.

[MeMock]

THAI flight from Ubon forced to land after windshield cracks

Ubon Ratchathani - A flight of Thai Airways International from this northeastern province to Bangkok was aborted and the planed had to make an emergency landing after its cockpit's windshield cracked and an engine stopped.

No one was injured when the flight TG0303 made an emergency landing at the Ubon Ratchathani airport shortly after it took off at 9:30 pm.

The captain informed passengers before landing that the windshield cracked and one of the four engines stopped.

THAI sent a special flight to take the stranded passengers from the airport at 10:30 pm.

The Nation

[gotlost]

THAI flight from Ubon forced to land after windshield cracks

Ubon Ratchathani - A flight of Thai Airways International from this northeastern province to Bangkok was aborted and the planed had to make an emergency landing after its cockpit's windshield cracked and an engine stopped.

No one was injured when the flight TG0303 made an emergency landing at the Ubon Ratchathani airport shortly after it took off at 9:30 pm.

The captain informed passengers before landing that the windshield cracked and one of the four engines stopped.

THAI sent a special flight to take the stranded passengers from the airport at 10:30 pm.

The Nation

Now you know why Thai Airways is canceling its flights to Ubon, can't keep their planes in the air.

[MeMock]

Although still a rumour a very interesting development in the Thai/Nok sage can be read here. http://memock.wordpress.com/2010/01/12/tha...in-ubon-update/

[spacemand]

I booked a ticket with Thai yesterday on the 14th of February connection at Swampy to go to Europe so they better be flying :s

Edited January 12, 2010 by spacemand

[Patriot]

Although still a rumour a very interesting development in the Thai/Nok sage can be read here. http://memock.wordpress.com/2010/01/12/tha...in-ubon-update/

Thanks for that Memock you made my day. If that's the case I'm definately back up to Udon ... thank god I didn't sell my land up there!!

[bdenner]

I'm not sure people here are not getting Ubon and Udon mixed up. OR maybe TA is dropping both routes. Udon Thani definitely has it's head on the chopping block from what I have been reading.

[MeMock]

Nope - defiantly Ubon, not Udon.

[Farma]

Travel agents outside Thailand are still accepting bookings and issuing tickets to and from Ubon on TG for March. I checked today.

[MeMock]

It seems that my information that I received regarding Nok Air only flying three times a week was perhaps not correct. The latest info from two different people is that they will indeed fly three times a day the same as Thai airways. Of course this is still just a rumour but one that makes a lot more sense!

[songhklasid]

Yes I have to agree,I 've flown that route BKK-UBP return 3 times in 09, and it's always been full ( admitingly it's the mid afternoon flt) return BKK, but on impressions it would seem a profitable route?

regards to all songhklasid.

[MAZ3]

I,ve looked on the TG Website and you can still book until Nov,i,m planning to use them next month,any updates please?.

Cheers

[MeMock]

Yet another update/rumour can be found here.

[SantiSuk]

Why don't they have done with it and have four airlines flying this relatively insignificant route. We all love sitting on websites all day comparing prices, not.

[downtown]

a strange decision. all the bkk - ubon flights ive been on have been full, in fact the last one we had to pay for bladdy business class as economy was full.

[MeMock]

Exactly downtown.

I cannot remember the last time when I flew and there were any spare seats. Just shows how badly managed the company must be.

[downtown]

have you started your new menu yet? thanks for your advice about driving round ubon - much appreciated.

[jay-uk]

Bangkok Post latest.

THAI bows to pressure to keep Ubon route:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/aviati...keep-ubon-route

[MeMock]

have you started your new menu yet? thanks for your advice about driving round ubon - much appreciated.

We have a full breakfast menu from 8am - 4pm and pizza available all day (8am - 8pm). Always great cake and coffee/milkshakes/fruit shakes/beer/wine etc.

Every week another item or two are being returned (such as hamburgers and pork tenderloins etc) but this time we are taking it slow. Training the staff up slowly instead of paying through the noise for chefs who whilst are great cooks never hang around long enough.

Edited February 15, 2010 by MeMock

[Farma]

Booked some tickets today. Travel agent said from March 1st there will be morning and evening flights by NOK AIR with Thai airways doing the early afternoon flight. The Thai Air flight price has increased with the fare quoted around B 3,300.

[SantiSuk]

Looks right - Thai Airways are now only showing one flight mid afternoon.

3 airlines to Ubon - how pathetic - could only be Thailand.

It's the airport bridge engineer I feel sorry for. No doubt Nok Air will be a cheap Charlie like Air Asia and not use the bridges

[SantiSuk]

And here is the schedule for the next few months, which applies every day of the week through to at least July (I only checked that far). All flights take about 70 minutes.

Depart Bangkok

06:10 Nok Air (Don Mueang)

07:25 Air Asia (Suvarnabhumi)

14:45 Thai Airways (Suvaranbhumi)

18:20 Nok Air (Don Mueang)

Depart Ubon

07:45 Nok Air (to Don Mueang)

09:30 Air Asia (to Suvarnabhumi)

15:30 Thai Airways (to Suvarnabhumi)

19:55 Nok Air (to Don Mueang)

Pricing

As a guide to relative pricing I just priced up one return journey on the four different timings (3 different carriers). To make them as comparable as possible I made the following adjustments:

(1) I priced in the premium to take 20 kg of luggage on Nok and Air Asia (20kg is included in the standard price for Thai Airways)

(2) I added 250 baht to buy a drink and snack both ways for my prices of Nok and Air Asia (coffee and bun included in Thai Airways price).

(5) All flights are on the basis of insurance declined

(6) Air Asia price includes the almost unavoidable 100 baht 'convenience fee' - who the hel_l has a Bank of Siam debit card anyway?

I could not price into my comparison table, the following differences in service level:

(1) No allowance made for any cheap deals that may well be available to indigenous Thais on Thai Airways

(2) I made no adjustment for the extra flexibility that Thai Airways gives you - i.e. on Thai you can change or cancel the flight (for a fee). On Nok Air and Air Asia the fare basis is 'use or lose' (although you can get a more flexible Nok Air fare, which I have not investigated).

(3) I made no price adjustment for the extra leg room you get on Thai Airways.

(4) You can get some Air Miles flying Thai. No freebies on the other two. No allowance made for this in the pricing comparison

The results were - selecting a flight from Ubon on 20 March and returning on 5 April (random selection by me - I can't guarantee it is representative, but neither did I deliberately select a date to favour a carrier).

Nok Air to Don Mueang 07:45 20-Mar / Nok Air to Ubon 06:10 5-Apr 3,489 baht

Air Asia to Suvanabhumi 09:30 20-Mar / Air Asia to Ubon 07:25 5-Apr 3,519 baht

Thai Airways to Suvarnabhumi 15:30 20-Mar / Thai to Ubon 14:45 5-Apr 6,850 baht

Nok Air to Don Mueang 19:55 20-Mar / 18:20 5-Apr 2,730 baht

Having tried to be ruthlessly impartial and factual in my analysis above I will now revert to personal prejudice and opinion Being a cynic, I firmly believe that the change is all about Thai Airways putting their cheap carrier daughter company on the route to try to eliminate a competitor. They failed to do it by putting Nok Air on the route for one time a day a couple of years back and now they are trying a bit harder. Once and if Air Asia can be forced out, Thai Airways will announce a full return to the route 'by popular demand'. Then watch the prices on all flights skip happily back up to 7,000 baht!!

I shall continue to use Air Asia (which costs 3,055 baht if you have only 15kg of luggage and don't want a drink or snack). I can cope with their poor legroom for 70 minutes, I rarely change my mind having booked and my considerable experience flying them on this route indicates they are just as timely as Thai Airways.

The cheap evening flights on Nok are very tempting, but Don Mueang iis inconvenient and I will play this one for the long term good of the route and avoid falling prey to Thai Airways grand design.

PS - I know that Thai sometimes has special deals, but I don't think we have seen them on this route in a while. We will not see them now that their affiliate is doing the discounting.

[faranginexile]

And here is the schedule for the next few months, which applies every day of the week through to at least July (I only checked that far). All flights take about 70 minutes.

Depart Bangkok

06:10 Nok Air (Don Mueang)

07:25 Air Asia (Suvarnabhumi)

14:45 Thai Airways (Suvaranbhumi)

18:20 Nok Air (Don Mueang)

Depart Ubon

07:45 Nok Air (to Don Mueang)

09:30 Air Asia (to Suvarnabhumi)

15:30 Thai Airways (to Suvarnabhumi)

19:55 Nok Air (to Don Mueang)

Pricing

As a guide to relative pricing I just priced up one return journey on the four different timings (3 different carriers). To make them as comparable as possible I made the following adjustments:

(1) I priced in the premium to take 20 kg of luggage on Nok and Air Asia (20kg is included in the standard price for Thai Airways)

(2) I added 250 baht to buy a drink and snack both ways for my prices of Nok and Air Asia (coffee and bun included in Thai Airways price).

(5) All flights are on the basis of insurance declined

(6) Air Asia price includes the almost unavoidable 100 baht 'convenience fee' - who the hel_l has a Bank of Siam debit card anyway?

I could not price into my comparison table, the following differences in service level:

(1) No allowance made for any cheap deals that may well be available to indigenous Thais on Thai Airways

(2) I made no adjustment for the extra flexibility that Thai Airways gives you - i.e. on Thai you can change or cancel the flight (for a fee). On Nok Air and Air Asia the fare basis is 'use or lose' (although you can get a more flexible Nok Air fare, which I have not investigated).

(3) I made no price adjustment for the extra leg room you get on Thai Airways.

(4) You can get some Air Miles flying Thai. No freebies on the other two. No allowance made for this in the pricing comparison

The results were - selecting a flight from Ubon on 20 March and returning on 5 April (random selection by me - I can't guarantee it is representative, but neither did I deliberately select a date to favour a carrier).

Nok Air to Don Mueang 07:45 20-Mar / Nok Air to Ubon 06:10 5-Apr 3,489 baht

Air Asia to Suvanabhumi 09:30 20-Mar / Air Asia to Ubon 07:25 5-Apr 3,519 baht

Thai Airways to Suvarnabhumi 15:30 20-Mar / Thai to Ubon 14:45 5-Apr 6,850 baht

Nok Air to Don Mueang 19:55 20-Mar / 18:20 5-Apr 2,730 baht

Having tried to be ruthlessly impartial and factual in my analysis above I will now revert to personal prejudice and opinion Being a cynic, I firmly believe that the change is all about Thai Airways putting their cheap carrier daughter company on the route to try to eliminate a competitor. They failed to do it by putting Nok Air on the route for one time a day a couple of years back and now they are trying a bit harder. Once and if Air Asia can be forced out, Thai Airways will announce a full return to the route 'by popular demand'. Then watch the prices on all flights skip happily back up to 7,000 baht!!

I shall continue to use Air Asia (which costs 3,055 baht if you have only 15kg of luggage and don't want a drink or snack). I can cope with their poor legroom for 70 minutes, I rarely change my mind having booked and my considerable experience flying them on this route indicates they are just as timely as Thai Airways.

The cheap evening flights on Nok are very tempting, but Don Mueang iis inconvenient and I will play this one for the long term good of the route and avoid falling prey to Thai Airways grand design.

PS - I know that Thai sometimes has special deals, but I don't think we have seen them on this route in a while. We will not see them now that their affiliate is doing the discounting.

SantiSuk

Thanks for the excellent analysis. My first impression upon hearing of Nok Air's entry into the Ubon market was "yeah!," since Don Muang is far more convenient to where our family tends to stay in Bangkok, I like the departure times of the Nok flights, and I figured two low-priced competitors would result in even cheaper fares.

Alas, your take on things, being more reflective of the sinister and venal designs of corporate competition, is likely the right one. Here's hoping that Ubon (and the other targeted markets) can continue to grow enough to support the 4 flight schedule indefinitely.

Thanks again.

[spacemand]

Great. Not a schedule for anyone coming from outside Thailand and want to go to Ubon or in my case Sisaket.

I arrive at about 3pm along with a lot of other flights from Europe so I have 3 choices.

1) Go to DM but small delay and I risk missing the plane.

2) Spend a night in BK and leave early next morning.

3) Take the 8pm sleeper from Hua Lamphong

Easy choice for me option number 3 and it will save me 2-4K baht

Same when flying to Europe most flights are late night and either a loooong wait in Swampy or going from DM to Swampy.

I flew Ubon - BKK on the late flight on Feb 14th and it was full, not a single empty seat as far as I could see.

Luckily I won't be traveling back and forth to Europe in the future but if I want to go to Bangkok my money would be on using AirAsia then the afternoon flight from Thai and Nok a distant 3rd.

Edited February 24, 2010 by spacemand

[SantiSuk]

Great. Not a schedule for anyone coming from outside Thailand and want to go to Ubon or in my case Sisaket.

I arrive at about 3pm along with a lot of other flights from Europe so I have 3 choices.

1) Go to DM but small delay and I risk missing the plane.

2) Spend a night in BK and leave early next morning.

3) Take the 8pm sleeper from Hua Lamphong

Easy choice for me option number 3 and it will save me 2-4K baht

Same when flying to Europe most flights are late night and either a loooong wait in Swampy or going from DM to Swampy.

I flew Ubon - BKK on the late flight on Feb 14th and it was full, not a single empty seat as far as I could see.

Luckily I won't be traveling back and forth to Europe in the future but if I want to go to Bangkok my money would be on using AirAsia then the afternoon flight from Thai and Nok a distant 3rd.

Yes I have exactly the same conundrum as you - but every 2 months. Was thinking about the sleeper, as we live much closer to SS than UR. Have you used it? Can you book a bed online?

Edited February 25, 2010 by SantiSuk

[spacemand]

Tried the sleeper once from Bangkok to Sisaket 2nd class I think we pay around 800 per person and I have no problems using it again. I am 185cm and it were big enough for me and I slept more than I expected almost all the time.

There are old and new cars the new ones seems to be old Chinese cards and according to my wife that have done the trip a few times they are much better than the old ones, only having tried the new ones I don't know anything about the old ones, on our trip the new cars were the last 3-4 cars at the back of the train if it helps.

The news ones are 4 bunks 2 up and 2 down with the down being 100 baht more expensive because they are a little bit bigger.

Shortly after departure a guy comes around and makes the bed for you with clean sheet, blanket and pillow. There is a curtain you can put all around your bunk so there is total privacy. Aircon were not to cold

There is also a 1st class which is a bit more expensive but were sold out when we went from Bangkok to Sisaket.

I would use it again with no hesitation having only tried a sleeper in Denmark 20 years ago and from what I remember this one were better and the option I am going to use with the new time tables.

Its supposed to be possible to buy online on: http://www.railway.co.th/english/index.asp

When I checked a month ago I got a warning saying there were a virus on the page and now the page to book does not work.

Edited February 25, 2010 by spacemand

[spacemand]

Looking here: http://www.railway.co.th/English/Time_HTML.asp

You would want the most expensive 2nd class sleeper to get the new cars or 1st class on the 20:30 from BKK.

Edited February 25, 2010 by spacemand

[SantiSuk]

Thanks spacemand - doesn't inspire confidence that one can book on-line, does it. After one month or more the page (or what I presume must be the page) comes up with:

Unauthorised: Access is denied due to invalid credentials

Oh well - back to Silver Gold Garden I guess, but maybe I'll put out a specific request on TV on the general subject of booking sleepers online

[spacemand]

No but its an improvement to the virus warning I got a couple of weeks ago when I checked the page

[Patriot]

Please excuse my dragging this thread up again.

In the wake of TA's decsion to cancel/suspend flights into and out of Ubon, the main Ubon town office AND the airport office is now closed.

What does one now do for ticket purchasing, mile redemption, upgrades etc where one would before have to present ones self at a Thai Airways office.

I have asked around but to no avail.

Thanks