Experiences and questions in regards to Nok air or Airasia to Samui

[livinthailandos]

I've been looking online at prices and will be taking either airline but just want to make sure I have information right and have some questions for those of you who have done this trip

Samui to Bangkok and Bangkok to samui
2 Airports
I see that both airasia,nok air fly to suratthani airport, however depending on which carrier you are flying they fly on 2 different routes meaning you actually don't do roundtrip flights from the same airport. 1 flight will be to nakhon si thammarat airport and the other flight will be from suratthani airport is this about correct?

in regards to this is the transportation from the airports / to the airports

1. At the airports if you did not buy the combo pass of boat+ferry online are there many places inside both of these 2 airports to buy the tickets for
2. After you either bought the combo online or at the airport I assume there are vans or bus waiting for you outside the airport to take you to donsak, how dependable or reliable is the transporation, for example if its not there or I miss it what options do I have as not to get stuck at the airport and without spending more than 1000 baht for a taxi
3. Donsak - I know for nok air it takes lomprayah, but what about air asia does it use raja ferry or sea tran at donsak pier?

From Samui to airport from pier
Depending which airline you fly I see that
NOK AIR - leaves from nathon pier
Airasia - leaves at lipa noi near Raja Ferry pier - pier not far from nikki beach correct?

By the way I compared fares on same days for air asia and nok air and there is a price difference of almost 1000 baht. air asia was cheaper than nok air but I assume thats because in part due to lomprayah.

Lastly what has been your experiences doing these trips. Any thing i should be aware of?

[Mole]

1. Yes, there will be places where you will be able to get tickets to vans which will take you to the boat pier. Depending on the arrival time of your flight, you may be able to contact the Lompraya booth to get their van and catamaran combo. According to their website http://www.lomprayah.com/ww/surat/surat.html They only have van/bus 3 times per day from airport, 8:30, 10:50 and 13:30. If you arrive any later, you have no choice than to take the car ferries instead, which will depart each hour from Donsak till 19:00.

The vans which will take you to the ferries will bring you first to Seatran pier, then also deliver to Raja pier. You're better off getting on the Seatran ferries because they'll arrive in Nathon where you will have much more choices of transport into other parts of the island. On the Raja pier, you will be met by the minivan mafia and they'll charge you 300 (if I remember correctly) per person to get anywhere on the island.

2. They will have a list of every passenger who bought their combo tickets and will make a headcount to make sure that everybody has arrived before they'll leave, so you can't really miss it unless you're some kind of retard... They'll hunt for you at the airport till they find you.

3. AirAsia use Raja.

AirAsia leaves from Raja pier in Lipa Noi, so it's a hassle to get there and the songthiaw won't deliver you there unless you pay extra. So keep in mind this extra hidden cost in your ticket price. For example, with NokAir, you need to go to the catamaran pier in Nathon and can take a cheap songthiaw ride there for less than 100, while to get to the Raja Lipa Noi pier, you must expect to pay at least 300 or more in extra transport costs.

So in the end, AirAsia may not really be that much more cheaper than NokAir.

Personally, I usually only buy combo tickets with NokAir from Bangkok - Samui. The total price is about as cheap as if I bought the plane and catamaran tickets separately. I also know that every bit of the journey will be arranged and taken care of from USM/NST airport all the way to Samui.

When I need to go from Samui to Bangkok, most of the time I'm better off buying tickets separately. Often the combo tickets may not show up when you search on their site (this is very common for NokAir), or there's no good promo prices.

I usually just search from URT-DMK or NST-DMK to see any good promos. I can then have flexible travelling option whether I'll use the catamaran or Seatran ferry, depending on the flight departure time.

Catamaran+van price from Samui to URT is 700 and NST 600, which is exactly the same added on the combo options of NokAir, but often, for some reason, the price for the flight cost more or the combo may not even show up in search, but do when you do NST or URT -> DMK.

Another advantage of buying them separately is that you can get cheap promo tickets with AirAsia, then travel with the fast catamaran.

One good departure time that I like to use is the AirAsia flight FD3238 11:45 URT-DMK or FD3185 12:10 from NST-DMK. I can then take the 8:00 catamaran from Nathon, and usually arrive around 11:00 just in time to catch those flights.

The worse ever NokAir combo catamaran-flight option are DD7825 and DD7221. Both of these, you'll end up waiting at the airport for 3 hours before catching your flight. In this case, there's really no point in taking the fast catamaran. You might as well take slower car ferries.

Edited February 20, 2015 by Mole

[Basil B]

Just to deviate a little...

From Samui to BKK by train (Surat), I have heard that Seatran is better than Raja, not just because of the extra distance, is it possible to get a combo (ferry,bus,train) ticket that is with Seatran?

[Mole]

There happen to be NokAir special sale only today on 23 February 2015. Domestic prices are as low as 770 all inclusive.

So I did a few search and now it turns out you're better off buying the air tickets and boat separately.

Bus+catamaran from NST->Samui or Samui->NST is 600, while on NokAir site, they're adding 700 for this under "Other transportation fee".

Bus+catamaran from URT->Samui or Samui->URT is 700, while on NokAir site, they're adding 750 for this under "Other transportation fee".

So, if you have experience in this, you should just buy the catamaran and NokAir tickets separately to save some bucks. Although it is possible to call and book the catamaran in advanced, there is really no need to because there's always space. You can buy the catamaran tickets at their counter at the pier in Nathon just before you're gonna travel or buy at Lompraya counter in both URT and NST airports.

If you're a newbie, it may be better that you just buy NokAir combo plane+boat ticket because everything will be taken care of for you.

Edited February 22, 2015 by Mole

[islandguy]

Some of the connecting times you see look very tight. However, the airport only gets a few flights and most of the departing passengers are on the same bus/minivan you are, or similar. They are ready to get you on the flight because they know you are coming.

[Mole]

Both AirAsia and NokAir has very fast turnaround time and if you don't have any check-in luggage, and you check-in in advanced through their website there will be time to get on that plane, even 5-10 mins before scheduled departure time.

[oldsailor35]

Just to deviate a little...

From Samui to BKK by train (Surat), I have heard that Seatran is better than Raja, not just because of the extra distance, is it possible to get a combo (ferry,bus,train) ticket that is with Seatran?

Seatran not only have better ferries, but they drop you right in centre of Naton. Raja is several kilometers away and can be rather isolated.

The last Raja ferry i used not very long ago was filthy.

[steelerian]

One good departure time that I like to use is the AirAsia flight FD3238 11:45 URT-DMK or FD3185 12:10 from NST-DMK. I can then take the 8:00 catamaran from Nathon, and usually arrive around 11:00 just in time to catch those flights.

I did this exact journey last week. Was great. Arrived at Surat airport about 10.55 for an 11.35 flight. The cost of the high speed cat and bus combo was 700 baht.

One more thing to bear in mind when comparing Air Asia to the other local budget airlines, is that AA charge a fee to check bags. Others do not.

I did my return jounrey with Thai Lion air, who were great, dont charge fees to check bags (up to 15kg free), and are generally cheaper than AA.

[Mole]

Yes I totally forgot about ThaiLionAir, their promos can be as cheap as 625, which is cheaper than AirAsia 690. Check in bags is also a huge plus.

Sadly I already bought NokAir DD7809 from NST-DMK 10:55. According to Lompraya site, their van will arrive NST around 10:30, so there should still be barely enough time to get on the plane.

Lompraya only charge 600 from their pier to NST, and since the NokAir promo was at 777 bt regardless of destination, I'm saving 100 as well as time by travelling via NST than URT.

ThaiLionAir flight SL8571 which depart from URT at 11:50 is also viable alternative with the 8:00 catamaran from Nathon.

I just searched right now and there's plenty of promo price at 625.

[Can samui]

Big bonus for me flying Nok Air is that it uses Don Mueang and not Swampy. Way easier if you are not worried about having to get outbound connections.

400 baht taxi ride downtown including tollway and tip, hard to beat really.

[Mole]

I just did a search on ThaiLionAir for my father travelling from CNX-DMK. The peculiar thing is that when I did a round-trip search, there were no promo tickets available at all, but when I search individually CNX-DMK, then DMK-CNX, suddenly there were lots of promo prices available at only 545 bt. The dates were exactly the same.

Edited March 2, 2015 by Mole

[islandguy]

Quote:

So, if you have experience in this, you should just buy the catamaran and NokAir tickets separately to save some bucks. Although it is possible to call and book the catamaran in advanced, there is really no need to because there's always space. You can buy the catamaran tickets at their counter at the pier in Nathon just before you're gonna travel or buy at Lompraya counter in both URT and NST airports.

So I thought also, but when I flew into Surat yesterday at 12:30, Lomphraya was sold out! Beware the FMP........

[Mole]

Yeah, forgot about FMP. But there's always space on Seatran or Raja ferries.

[Mole]

On, sorry for digging up this ancient thread, but there is some important information which I think needs to be added here.

I recently flew with Thai Lion Air because I managed to get one of their promo tickets.

It was SL8566 on Saturday October 3rd 2015 and it arrived URT 16:15 in the afternoon. After waiting for my luggage and all that, it was nearly 17:00 before I came out in the arrival area.
It was then I realized that the last shuttle service from the airport to the boat piers in Donsak ends at 16:00 and after that time, your only option to get to Donsak is to hire an airport taxi for the fixed price of THB 1600. You can go up to 4 persons in it to. It'll be a Toyota Camry type of car with proper green colored license plates, which indicates it's a proper car for hire limo.

Beware though that there may be some unlicenced taxis outside the airport who will try to tout you into getting in their car. I was offered one such and I immediately smelled a rat. His car was a pickup car with regular white license plates. His pickup had back seats, but the compartments were tiny and it only had 2 doors, so you will get crammed into the back seat basically sitting at 90degre position.

Fortunately, I had 2 other Chinese tourists who also needed to go to Samui, so we agreed to share one taxi. Since I realized the space at the back of this pickup will be really crammed for my new Chinese companions, I went back into the airport and found their proper taxi counter which I found out their car is a comfortable sedan.

So, I came back out again and tried to negotiate with this pickup guy that if I'm gonna go with his pickup and the crammed space at the back, I'm not gonna pay 1600 for that. If he can go for 1000, then OK, if not, then forget it, I'm gonna take the proper airport taxi in a comfortable Camry than that pickup. He said "No" 1000 is too low, and still insisted in 1600 which is same price as the comfortable Camry, so naturally me and the Chinese decided for the Camry.

I also had an airbnb guest who arrived with an earlier AirAsia flight and who decided to wait for me at the Raja pier, so that's where we went. I haven't been on the Raja ferries for years, and it looks like they haven't done much to their ferried ever since, it was filthy, falling apart, aircon not really cold and leaking (the aircon, not sure about the ferry though...) etc etc.

As a bonus, I arranged a minivan to come and pick us all up 5 persons at the Raja pier in Lipa Noi and delivered everybody on my own expense. (The driver owe me some favors anyway, since I've sent him a lot of transfer trips from my guests, so it was techincally not really my "expense", but they got the ride for free nevertheless)


So, those who didn't want to bother to read TFA above, to sums it up.

Do not get on a flight which will arrive after 16:00, because you will be forced to take an airport limousine for 1600 to Donsak ferry piers.

Edited November 19, 2015 by Mole

[samsensam]

a related point regarding the professionalism, honesty, reliability and therefore safety of nok air v airasia

last year i was flying to CM on nok air. the flight was delayed due to smoke over CM - or so nok air said. after waiting two hours and noticing two air asia flights had taken off for CM i went to speak to the staff to ask why air asia could fly to CM but nok coundnt. they told me the airport authorities delayed the flight due to smoke... we flew eventually.

when i arrived in CM i asked people there if there had been smoke over the airport earlier in the day. they said no.

so for some reason nok air had been lying to passengers. something worth bearing in mind.

[Mole]

Actually, during certain parts of the year in northern Thailand, there may actually be quite bad haze because the Burmese are doing their annual burning of their forests to clear land for their crops.

So the haze is a real issue.

Another thing to note is that AirAsia use Airbus 320, while NokAir use Boeing 737, so the difference in plane and presumably jet engine type may be one of the reason why one airline can tolerate higher particle levels than the other. Either that or one airline has decided to allow more "risk" in flying during bad haze than the other... which if this is the case, actually makes AirAsia being the "bad" guys here...

I seriously doubt that an airline would lie to their passengers about these things. Low cost airline business model does not really make any delays or cancellations in their favor.

One explanation why people said "no" to your question may be because communication issue. They may have thought you meant some kind of "smoke" from a fire or something, when it's actually the haze you're talking about, which for some people is taken for granted to be there during those times of year.

Go to the Chiang Mai sub forum and search for the word "haze" in that particular forum.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/forum/28-chiang-mai-forum/

Edited November 19, 2015 by Mole

[islandguy]

Regarding last bus/van connection out of Surat, another thread this week showed a sign advertising a newly added Lomphraya trip on this route. Think it was out of Surat airport at 16:00, then getting to Nathon at something like 19:30? Could someone confirm? Starting November 25th

[islandguy]

Reread the last post by Mole, see that he has 4pm as last shuttle, so change would be that you could take Lomphraya also as well as the car ferries. Never looked for the taxi desk there, where exactly is it?

[Mole]

Nope, the Lomprayah new route, the catamaran leaves Donsak at 18:00, but their shuttle bus leaves the airport at 16:00, so still same situation. Do not come with a flight which arrives after 16:00.

Taxi counter is at the far left side if you go in from entrance.

[islandguy]

Thanks.

[oldsailor35]

Just to deviate a little...

From Samui to BKK by train (Surat), I have heard that Seatran is better than Raja, not just because of the extra distance, is it possible to get a combo (ferry,bus,train) ticket that is with Seatran?

Seatran not only have better ferries, but they drop you right in centre of Naton. Raja is several kilometers away and can be rather isolated.

The last Raja ferry i used not very long ago was filthy.

I have found this two good reasons why i do not use Raja.

[Mole]

http://pttravel.org/

Time Table
Samui-Donsak
05:00 - 05:30
07:00 - 07:30
09:00 - 09:30
16:00 - 16:30
18:00 - 18:30

Donsak-Samui
06:00 - 06:30
08:00 - 08:30
15:00 - 15:30
17:00 - 17:30
19:00 - 19:30

There is now speedboat service between Samui and Donsak.

Boat cost 350, transfer to/from airport is 400, transfer from/to anywhere on Samui is 150.

Their latest departure from Donsak to Samui is 19:00, and their transfer van from airport to Donsak depart at 17:30. So now one can arrive at even later flight and still get transfer to Samui.

Another benefit is that if you have a very late flight, you can still hang out at the beach and depart much later.

Their last departure from Samui to Donsak is at 18:00, arrives at the airport around 20:00.

Lomprayah charge 700 from Samui to airport, so this speedboat service will cost only 50 more. (Lomprayah cost only 600 from airport to Samui though, but this speedboat cost 750 both ways.)

They also have more departure times than Lomprayah, so it is a very good alternative for anyone (such as me) who hate getting on the slow car ferries, and don't mind paying a bit extra to get to the beaches of Samui faster.

[Mole]

Oh, another thing is that now you will be able to catch those early flights from Suratthani airport.

With the first departure at 05:00, you will arrive airport around 07:00, just in time for those early flights!

[Rooo]

Oh, another thing is that now you will be able to catch those early flights from Suratthani airport.

With the first departure at 05:00, you will arrive airport around 07:00, just in time for those early flights!

They advertise 25 minutes crossing on their big billboard on the mainland. I think one will have to allow for rough seas & swells.

[Mole]

There should still be enough time to catch any of the first morning flights from Suratthani to Bangkok.

Nok Air DD7209 07:50
AirAsia FD3236 08:40
Lion Air SL735 10:30

Before, one could just forget about catching the morning flights, which often would have promo prices available. Even if you took your own car on the ferry, you would not catch the Nok Air 07:50 flight.

Edited June 28, 2016 by Mole

[samuijimmy]

Surely this must be the high speed ferry, not the vehicle ferry.... I think that needs to be made clear... people do get easily confused!

[Rooo]

Surely this must be the high speed ferry, not the vehicle ferry.... I think that needs to be made clear... people do get easily confused!

Photo in the link provided by Mole.

[Mole]

See here for review of the speedboat service from Samui to Suratthani airport.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/932369-speedboat-samui-donsak-suratthani-airport/?p=10968259