The Bangkok Airways Rant Thread

[Rooo]

They now fly direct from Samui to Chiang Mai.One flight a day.

PG 241

USM10:20 CNX12:10 0

1hr 50min

Cost ? Have a look , I suppose if you are a business person it's a good alternative.

[jinx1980]

Any idea what is the ticket price BKK-Samui if going to ask from the desk at suvarnabhumi (we are arriving thursday 20.2 if that matters)? "Cheap" flights to samui has not been available in last 2 months. Current web-price is total of ~15k thb by morning planes for 2+1+1 persons (web freedom-rate) which is definitely too much. I could pay ~10k (web promotion rate) but not more, would it be possible to get tickets from the airport with that price if/when there is room in the plane?

On the other hand they currently have discounts to krabi so another plan is change samui to lanta and then go to samui from there if it still looks interesting place . But there is other problem, shift time is quite short 1h50min (7:25am -> 9:15am) and I doubt that Finnair is willing to route our luggages to Krabi (which would allow us to use transit desk and practically guarantee surviving in time) because bangkok airways does not belong to same alliance. If I remember right you can use priority lane in imigration with small children which would definitely improve the changes to get plane in time... What happens if we miss that 9:15am plane, is the tickets lost or are they willing to put us into 13:20 plane which currently does not have those cheap tickets?

Other airlines (with island packages) does not help either because those leaves so early in the morning that there is no change to get those (+ different airport), next flights are in afternoon which means that you are in the island in the evening -> whole day is gone -> cheaper & simpler to take a bus and save 1 night accommodation + money from tickets .

Edited February 4, 2014 by jinx1980

[Tropicalevo]

Any idea what is the ticket price BKK-Samui if going to ask from the desk at suvarnabhumi (we are arriving thursday 20.2 if that matters)? "Cheap" flights to samui has not been available in last 2 months. Current web-price is total of ~15k thb by morning planes for 2+1+1 persons (web freedom-rate) which is definitely too much. I could pay ~10k (web promotion rate) but not more, would it be possible to get tickets from the airport with that price if/when there is room in the plane?

On the other hand they currently have discounts to krabi so another plan is change samui to lanta and then go to samui from there if it still looks interesting place . But there is other problem, shift time is quite short 1h50min (7:25am -> 9:15am) and I doubt that Finnair is willing to route our luggages to Krabi (which would allow us to use transit desk and practically guarantee surviving in time) because bangkok airways does not belong to same alliance. If I remember right you can use priority lane in imigration with small children which would definitely improve the changes to get plane in time... What happens if we miss that 9:15am plane, is the tickets lost or are they willing to put us into 13:20 plane which currently does not have those cheap tickets?

Other airlines (with island packages) does not help either because those leaves so early in the morning that there is no change to get those (+ different airport), next flights are in afternoon which means that you are in the island in the evening -> whole day is gone -> cheaper & simpler to take a bus and save 1 night accommodation + money from tickets .

In my limited experience, I have never been offered a cheaper flight at the Bandit Airways desk. Internet has always been cheaper.

A few times, when trying to buy a ticket for my manager (I could not use my credit card as I was not flying) there would be availability on the web. 10 minutes to the ticket office - no availability at the cheap price (it was not a web special either). 10 minutes home - still availability on the web.

My conclusion - they rip you off for as much as possible at the office.

But I could be wrong - I am sure that they would not do that

[gusG]

^ There is an option when booking on the web, to then go and pay in cash at their office, and several banks.

[Rooo]

^ There is an option when booking on the web, to then go and pay in cash at their office, and several banks.

Or any 7/11.

[churchill]

I know of a group of 15 Chinese wanting to fly direct from HK , they had rooms booked for this week but all direct flights were full and they did not want to travel via BK

and so cancelled ..

and another who had to upgrade to business to get a seat , same route

More flights needed ......

[Bsd]

I know of a group of 15 Chinese wanting to fly direct from HK , they had rooms booked for this week but all direct flights were full and they did not want to travel via BK

and so cancelled ..

and another who had to upgrade to business to get a seat , same route

More flights needed ......

I flew HKG-> USM on the 14th of Jan, half of the plane was empty. The issue here is that Chinese new year has hit with its matching surge in demand, in a couple of weeks time I imagine flights will have seats available again (maybe not at the same level as my flight). I know it is a pain when you cannot get flights when you want but it is not always possible to add extra flights either due to unavailability of aircraft or in the case of Samui limited landing slots (I believe the airport is limited to 36 flights a day). During high season (as it is at the moment on Samui) this would mean dropping a flight (most likely from Bangkok) and tying up a plane for 9 hours (3.5 hours each way plus the time on the ground).

[Tropicalevo]

I know of a group of 15 Chinese wanting to fly direct from HK , they had rooms booked for this week but all direct flights were full and they did not want to travel via BK

and so cancelled ..

and another who had to upgrade to business to get a seat , same route

More flights needed ......

I flew HKG-> USM on the 14th of Jan, half of the plane was empty. The issue here is that Chinese new year has hit with its matching surge in demand, in a couple of weeks time I imagine flights will have seats available again (maybe not at the same level as my flight). I know it is a pain when you cannot get flights when you want but it is not always possible to add extra flights either due to unavailability of aircraft or in the case of Samui limited landing slots (I believe the airport is limited to 36 flights a day). During high season (as it is at the moment on Samui) this would mean dropping a flight (most likely from Bangkok) and tying up a plane for 9 hours (3.5 hours each way plus the time on the ground).

Bsd - I cannot disagree with your points but.......

................. this is the 'Bangkok Airways Rant thread,

We are not supposed to be sticking up for them here. That is on the 'Aren't Bandit Airways Wonderful' thread.

Oh - we do not seem to have one of those.

[Bsd]

Bsd - I cannot disagree with your points but.......

................. this is the 'Bangkok Airways Rant thread,

We are not supposed to be sticking up for them here. That is on the 'Aren't Bandit Airways Wonderful' thread.

Oh - we do not seem to have one of those.

I will do better next time. If it makes everyone feel better, the first time that I flew Bangkok Airways I had to pay business class on the 10pm flight to Bangkok as it was the only seat available on that day. So it is not just HKG-USM where they have capacity issues during peak season.

[pokerspiv]

You should be addressing your rants to the government who enforce a maximum of 30 flights per day on Samui airport, because it is privately owned.

The fact that they have so far failed to build their own airport doesn't seem to affect their decision not to repeal this idiotic law.

[Tropicalevo]

I understand that it is a safety issue pokerspiv.

Bandit Airways do not have a pristine safety record here.

As an aside, I thought that it was 36 flights and that was increased by two to accomodate Thai Airways. But I could be mistaken.

[pokerspiv]

No Thai airline has a pristine safety record. But no, the flight cap is not a safety issue, as it is completely unrelated to safety measures. It's just an arbitrary law applying to privately-owned airports.

[scratchy]

Fly surat thani instead cheaper by far

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[PoorSucker]

No Thai airline has a pristine safety record. But no, the flight cap is not a safety issue, as it is completely unrelated to safety measures. It's just an arbitrary law applying to privately-owned airports.

Part of the problem is environmental restrictions on the number of flights and operating hours, with a total of 36 flights per day currently allowed.

Source: http://www.samuiairportonline.com/content/samui-airport-become-second-thai-international-flight-hub

Basically the hotel owners in the flight paths don't want any flights at night time.