Bangkok Airways' Samui Fares Under Fire

[george]

Bangkok Airways' Samui fares under fire

KOH SAMUI: -- A group of touring agencies and regular passengers of Bangkok Airways based on Ko Samui yesterday threatened a mass rally on Wednesday if the airline does not lower ticket prices to original rates for its monopolistic flights between Bangkok and the island.

Saynee Phoowasatethaworn, chairman of Ko Samui's Tourism Promotion, said both Thai and foreign tourists are now heading to Phuket because of lower air prices. He said letters of protest complaining about the hikes had been submitted to relevant ministries.

The rates were raised in October from Bt3,550 to Bt5,085 including the airport fee of Bt350 for executive class air tickets, and from Bt3,560 to Bt4,450 for economy class airport fee-included tickets.

Saynee said there would be around 10,000 joining the rally on Wednesday if the airline did not announce what it would do by today. The hikes have also badly affected tourism activities in other areas, including many nearby islands.

Ramnate Jaikwang, a member of the Surat Thani Provincial Administrative Organisation representing Koh Samui district, said Bangkok Airways violated its declaration document signed on March 26, 2004 that it would not raise ticket prices higher than Bt3,000 for high season and Bt2,500 low season.

Samui Airport director Sirichai Jaroenrat, a Bangkok Airways employee, said only 5 per cent of Thai passengers had been affected by the raise, which he said had now benefited 35 per cent of regular passengers based on the island from an original 20 per cent. He said air tickets for early- and late-night flights were still sold at Bt2,000.

-- The Nation 2006-11-13

[Rooo]

I must be missing something here.

What is an executive class? Y / class ticket open 12 months.

M / class ticket open 6 months.

Last paragraph don't make sense,unless you know they are talking about the amount of discount for resident card holders.

[limbos]

Let's hope that Saynee Phoowasatethaworn, chairman of Ko Samui's Tourism Promotion, can also activate 10.000 people to protest against the local taxi meter mafia, so they actually start using a meter.

That's just the top of the iceberg, but would be a good start. IMHO more people have bad memories from their Samui stay from being overcharged or being rudely treated by those taxi drivers than from high fares at BKK airways.

Maybe they can be taught to not hunk the horn at you and wait for you to approach them when you need a taxi, rather than them shouting at you if you need a taxi.

Edited November 12, 2006 by limbos

[womble]

The taxi's are also responsible for many road accidents which they then drive away from.

They are the scurge of the island.

[Lite Beer]

The taxi's are also responsible for many road accidents which they then drive away from.

They are the scurge of the island.

100% correct. I was a licenced taxi driver in England and if I had behaved the way this lot do I would have been stripped of my licence in no time.

[womble]

Whilst i'm against the rise in price by bkk air, there are many other things that I think are for more damaging to the island than this.

Unfortuantley as foriegners in Thailand there is little we can do, the Thai's have to take the initiative.

Most of them do not realise the effect the miriad of problems has on samui. Most probobally due to lack of eductation they can only link obvious financial things as something that will have a negative effect on their rice bowl.

[Samui Coconut]

Whilst i'm against the rise in price by bkk air, there are many other things that I think are for more damaging to the island than this.

Unfortuantley as foriegners in Thailand there is little we can do, the Thai's have to take the initiative.

Most of them do not realise the effect the miriad of problems has on samui. Most probobally due to lack of eductation they can only link obvious financial things as something that will have a negative effect on their rice bowl.

There will be NO fare increase by Bangkok Airways, so all of you who have worried, just relax and take it easy.......

[SamuiRep]

Hi to all,

Bangkokair is going to finish the Tourism on Samui. to Phuket cost the Ticket nearly 30 % cheaper than to Samui & Phuket is more far from Bangkok than Samui...

if this is a joke, than it's really a bad Joke.

Everybody on the island will be affected of this action of Bangkok air. The Best way would be, not fly anymore with Bangkokair.

at 16. of november have a big meeting and arround 10.000 People will come and protest this impudently increase the Rates to Samui.

Come on, Let's walk all...

[meatgrowler]

Whilst i'm against the rise in price by bkk air, there are many other things that I think are for more damaging to the island than this.

Unfortuantley as foriegners in Thailand there is little we can do, the Thai's have to take the initiative.

Most of them do not realise the effect the miriad of problems has on samui. Most probobally due to lack of eductation they can only link obvious financial things as something that will have a negative effect on their rice bowl.

There will be NO fare increase by Bangkok Airways, so all of you who have worried, just relax and take it easy.......

[Japhrodisiac]

What bothers me at least as much as the hike in fares is the general arrogance which accompanies the monopoly on which Bkk airways holds in Samui. Ever try to sign up for the resident card or the (frequent)flyer bonus program? "err...so sorry, your paperwork is not in order, come back next week with this paper" flash to next week - "so sorry, we have stopped taking applications for the resident card for this year, come back in 6 months ". The flyer bonus program can only be signed up for over the internet, and the signup page has a flaw where you cannot go through to the final page, it keeps reloading an error page, they wont fix it, and if you email them your details they wont respond to you.

They hiked up rates despite a written agreement to keep them at a certain level, and they are a total bunch of <deleted>. These are exactly the sort of reasons why monolpolies are illegal in many countries. I am all for business, they made a significant investment and now they want a return, but a business that provides a necessary service, such as the only air link to an island, must be controlled somewhat by the government. A family of four travelling from BKK to Samui return will pay about 42,000 baht now with departure taxes - ridiculous.

[limbos]

Japhrodisiac,

There are many ways for this family of 4 to avoid having to pay 42.000Baht, just read some of the resposnes in this read to get an idea on how to go about this.

[limbos]

Hi to all,

Bangkokair is going to finish the Tourism on Samui. to Phuket cost the Ticket nearly 30 % cheaper than to Samui & Phuket is more far from Bangkok than Samui...

if this is a joke, than it's really a bad Joke.

Everybody on the island will be affected of this action of Bangkok air. The Best way would be, not fly anymore with Bangkokair.

at 16. of november have a big meeting and arround 10.000 People will come and protest this impudently increase the Rates to Samui.

Come on, Let's walk all...

Great that you signed up to Thaivisa Samuirep,

did you actually read some of the other comments on this thread or are you so narrowminded that you only want to walk against BKK Airways since it possibly, maybe you may lose money due to the increase.

What do you have to say to this comment;

Let's hope that Saynee Phoowasatethaworn, chairman of Ko Samui's Tourism Promotion, can also activate 10.000 people to protest against the local taxi meter mafia, so they actually start using a meter.

That's just the top of the iceberg, but would be a good start. IMHO more people have bad memories from their Samui stay from being overcharged or being rudely treated by those taxi drivers than from high fares at BKK airways.

Maybe they can be taught to not hunk the horn at you and wait for you to approach them when you need a taxi, rather than them shouting at you if you need a taxi.

Edited November 13, 2006 by limbos

[Samui Coconut]

Bangkokair is going to finish the Tourism on Samui. to Phuket cost the Ticket nearly 30 % cheaper than to Samui & Phuket is more far from Bangkok than Samui...

if this is a joke, than it's really a bad Joke.

Everybody on the island will be affected of this action of Bangkok air. The Best way would be, not fly anymore with Bangkokair.

at 16. of november have a big meeting and arround 10.000 People will come and protest this impudently increase the Rates to Samui.

Come on, Let's walk all...

Great that you signed up to Thaivisa Samuirep,

did you actually read some of the other comments on this thread or are you so narrowminded that you only want to walk against BKK Airways since it possibly, maybe you may lose money due to the increase.

What do you have to say to this comment;

That's just the top of the iceberg, but would be a good start. IMHO more people have bad memories from their Samui stay from being overcharged or being rudely treated by those taxi drivers than from high fares at BKK airways.

Maybe they can be taught to not hunk the horn at you and wait for you to approach them when you need a taxi, rather than them shouting at you if you need a taxi.

For all of you who cannot read my last post, here it comes again.

There will be NO fare increase by Bangkok Airways !!!

RT USM-BKK Baht 7,100 Y Class

RT USM-BKK Baht 6,700 M Class

effective as of today !!!

Look at their website !!!

And now, let's move on to the taxi drivers.....

[SamuiRep]

Great that you signed up to Thaivisa Samuirep,

did you actually read some of the other comments on this thread or are you so narrowminded that you only want to walk against BKK Airways since it possibly, maybe you may lose money due to the increase.

What do you have to say to this comment;

DEAR LIMBOS

Who is here NARROWMINDED ?! May be you are. Excuse me, when I had the wrong information here in Samui, threw my Friends. But this is not a neccessary to tell me Narrowminded.

LIMBOS is probably Narrow-minded and stupidly !

Thanks to all other People, who gave me the right information here.

and it is not YOUR Problem, where i sign up, very unfriendly LIMBOS. I hope to see you one time in Samui...

and enough for this topic...

SamuiRep

[Japhrodisiac]

Japhrodisiac,

There are many ways for this family of 4 to avoid having to pay 42.000Baht, just read some of the resposnes in this read to get an idea on how to go about this.

If you are talking about the 1st and last flights of the day, gimme a break. I have not been able to get on one of those for quite some time. The rise in fares have driven demand for the discount 1st and last flights to the point where they are booked well in advance, and their general unavailability makes them a non option. Also, taking young children on a discounted last flight of the day makes a pretty horrible start to a vacation, arriving at your hotel at midnight, kids screaming just to save a a few bucks. My pet peeve here is the monopoly itself. I have a hard time with BS like this. If you are thinking about a reply stating the obvious that I am living here, and not in my own country...save it please -

[sbk]

Japhrodisiac, I booked a first flight of the day to Samui 3 days before I took it. Not sure what you mean by "well in advance".

Also, if you will note another thread, the price rise has been cancelled.

I agree, Bkk Air should become more fair in their prices but, as has been pointed out, they built the airport so it is their right to set prices as they choose.

One of the drawbacks of living on an island iare the limited resources and limited competition, it is the nature of living somewhere more isolated.

[limbos]

Great that you signed up to Thaivisa Samuirep,

did you actually read some of the other comments on this thread or are you so narrowminded that you only want to walk against BKK Airways since it possibly, maybe you may lose money due to the increase.

What do you have to say to this comment;

DEAR LIMBOS

Who is here NARROWMINDED ?! May be you are. Excuse me, when I had the wrong information here in Samui, threw my Friends. But this is not a neccessary to tell me Narrowminded.

LIMBOS is probably Narrow-minded and stupidly !

Thanks to all other People, who gave me the right information here.

and it is not YOUR Problem, where i sign up, very unfriendly LIMBOS. I hope to see you one time in Samui...

and enough for this topic...

SamuiRep

Thanks for your open minded and very friendly reply to me.

So when are you going to do something about the taxi rip off's on Koh Samui? Are you going to demonstrate against them as well?

If you're only going to demonstrate against BKK Airways when they raise the air fares, and do nothing against the other things that aren't right on Samui, the taxi meters just being one of them, how would you call that than?

Do you live on Samui? Maybe we actually can meet, not just to discuss BKK Airways, but also all the other things that could do with some improvement on this beautifull island.

Once more, welcome to the board and I hope to see more postings by you.

Edited November 15, 2006 by limbos

[highdiver]

Whilst i'm against the rise in price by bkk air, there are many other things that I think are for more damaging to the island than this.

Unfortuantley as foriegners in Thailand there is little we can do, the Thai's have to take the initiative.

Most of them do not realise the effect the miriad of problems has on samui. Most probobally due to lack of eductation they can only link obvious financial things as something that will have a negative effect on their rice bowl.

Dear Womble

First allow me to congretulate you on your firm stand.

As per our discussion on the last post regarding this issue . I am glad to see that you are allso concerned with other problems that I have posted.

As to the matter at hand i still claim that this whole issue was made to gain political power...

Saynee Phoowasatethaworn, chairman of Ko Samui's Tourism Promotion, said both Thai and foreign tourists are now heading to Phuket because of lower air prices. He said letters of protest complaining about the hikes had been submitted to relevant ministries.

So he said.. so what no one is takingf him seriousley apart from news papers who like to post this type of decleratrions

Saynee said there would be around 10,000 joining the rally on Wednesday if the airline did not announce what it would do by today. The hikes have also badly affected tourism activities in other areas, including many nearby islands.

yes Rigth 10,000 protestors. they could not get that amount of people to come and vote in the last election. but it sound good to the press

Ramnate Jaikwang, a member of the Surat Thani Provincial Administrative Organisation representing Koh Samui district, said Bangkok Airways violated its declaration document signed on March 26, 2004 that it would not raise ticket prices higher than Bt3,000 for high season and Bt2,500 low season.

yes and the price of gaoline has gone up 45% since then so they should loose money because of a local politician???

Bangkok airways has done excatly as expected and stepped down to "save face" from them and from the protestors. but this is thailand and they are a private buisness and we will be paying later and then we will pay more to cover the loses now.

When Taksin threatened Dr Prasat about 3 years ago Prasat responded in much the same way and avoided making the prime minister loose face.

Taksin then vowed to open a new airport in Samui. We all know what happened to the new airport and to Taksin.

At the end of the day it will be Dr prasat who has the last lough all the way to the bank.

I belive that all the local politicians who are trying to make headlines should realy dedicte the time to improve the tourist services on the island mainly taxies. But they will never do that as it is easier toi get headlines on the expanse of bangkok airways then to risk getting shot by a furuious taxi driver.

[SamuiRep]

Thanks for your open minded and very friendly reply to me.

So when are you going to do something about the taxi rip off's on Koh Samui? Are you going to demonstrate against them as well?

If you're only going to demonstrate against BKK Airways when they raise the air fares, and do nothing against the other things that aren't right on Samui, the taxi meters just being one of them, how would you call that than?

Do you live on Samui? Maybe we actually can meet, not just to discuss BKK Airways, but also all the other things that could do with some improvement on this beautifull island.

Once more, welcome to the board and I hope to see more postings by you.

Hello Limbos,

thanks for the "normal" reply of my posting. Excuse me, when i used to bad words, but i was really angry, cause, who write like this, while he/she does'nt know me.

But now i am okay of course,

Yes i am living on Samui, and i am willed to go to the meeting against the Taxi Drivers as well.

So, we will se, what will happen...

Take it easy Limbos & all friendly People here...

[womble]

Whilst i'm against the rise in price by bkk air, there are many other things that I think are for more damaging to the island than this.

Unfortuantley as foriegners in Thailand there is little we can do, the Thai's have to take the initiative.

Most of them do not realise the effect the miriad of problems has on samui. Most probobally due to lack of eductation they can only link obvious financial things as something that will have a negative effect on their rice bowl.

Dear Womble

First allow me to congretulate you on your firm stand.

As per our discussion on the last post regarding this issue . I am glad to see that you are allso concerned with other problems that I have posted.

As to the matter at hand i still claim that this whole issue was made to gain political power...

Saynee Phoowasatethaworn, chairman of Ko Samui's Tourism Promotion, said both Thai and foreign tourists are now heading to Phuket because of lower air prices. He said letters of protest complaining about the hikes had been submitted to relevant ministries.

So he said.. so what no one is takingf him seriousley apart from news papers who like to post this type of decleratrions

Saynee said there would be around 10,000 joining the rally on Wednesday if the airline did not announce what it would do by today. The hikes have also badly affected tourism activities in other areas, including many nearby islands.

yes Rigth 10,000 protestors. they could not get that amount of people to come and vote in the last election. but it sound good to the press

Ramnate Jaikwang, a member of the Surat Thani Provincial Administrative Organisation representing Koh Samui district, said Bangkok Airways violated its declaration document signed on March 26, 2004 that it would not raise ticket prices higher than Bt3,000 for high season and Bt2,500 low season.

yes and the price of gaoline has gone up 45% since then so they should loose money because of a local politician???

Bangkok airways has done excatly as expected and stepped down to "save face" from them and from the protestors. but this is thailand and they are a private buisness and we will be paying later and then we will pay more to cover the loses now.

When Taksin threatened Dr Prasat about 3 years ago Prasat responded in much the same way and avoided making the prime minister loose face.

Taksin then vowed to open a new airport in Samui. We all know what happened to the new airport and to Taksin.

At the end of the day it will be Dr prasat who has the last lough all the way to the bank.

I belive that all the local politicians who are trying to make headlines should realy dedicte the time to improve the tourist services on the island mainly taxies. But they will never do that as it is easier toi get headlines on the expanse of bangkok airways then to risk getting shot by a furuious taxi driver.

I really think it's time to galvanize support and try to make change..........

The island that I once loved and was proud to call my home is reaching the point of no return.

It is self destructing.

Why don't we (thai visa members) write a serious letter to Saynee Phoowasatethaworn we can say that if we do not see changes quickly then we will write to all the tabloids in all western countries and tell them the truth about the island. We should take photo's to back up our story and include this in the letter.

I think a good way would be for us to write a petition. http://www.petitiononline.com

We can then get as many people as possible to sign up, business owner, tourists everyone we know.

We can then each fax the petition to relevant people and departments that should be taking action. If they start getting 100's of faxes on their desks mayeb they will do something.

Email doesn't work in Thailand, maybe by faxing we can get some attention.

It should be written in English and Thai.

Edited November 16, 2006 by womble