Hey Y'all welcome to another Winged Reviews flight report. This was such a cool flight because Koh Samui is a fully outdoor airport. Hope you enjoy!
FLIGHT INFORMATION:
Airline: Bangkok Airways
Aircraft: Airbus A319-100
Registration: HS-PPB
Flight Time: 1hr 42min
Seat: 10A
From: Koh Samui (USM)
To: Chiang Mai International (CNX)
This is the full routing for the trip!
Flight routing
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5Bangkok Airways - Economy - Koh Samui → Chiang Mai - Airbus A319
- 6
- 7Japan Airlines - Economy - Bangkok → Tokyo - Boeing 787-8
- 8Asiana Airlines - Economy - Tokyo → Seoul - Airbus A330-300
- 9Asiana Airlines - Business - Seoul → Las Angelos - Airbus A380-800
- 10American Airlines - Economy - Las Angelos → Dallas - Airbus A321-253NX
AIRPORT
Koh Samui airport is owned and operated by Bangkok Airways. They built it back in 1989 and operate around 35 flights per day mostly to Bangkok. This airport is unique because it is fully outdoors.
This is the check in area. We check-in in online and did not have any checked bags.
It was raining pretty hard on our way to security but our flight was not delayed.
Enter text here…
There is a drop off area right in front of security but we did not know that.
This was the entrance to security.
There is a very large sitting and play area outside right in front of the runway so you can watch the planes takeoff. It would have been very nice if it was not running.
They do not have any jet bridges so everything is a remote stand. You have to get on one of these trollies to make it to the plane.
Bangkok airways offers a free "Lounge area" with free food and drinks for all passengers in the airport. The person was just setting it up when we got there.
LOUNGE
With the priority pass we had access to the Bangkok Airways Blue Ribbon Lounge. This was fully indoors and was air conditioned. This lounge was very nice and not to crowded. There was a large Varity of food and drinks along with a full menu for food on demand.
This was a little dumpling case with a whole bunch of different kinds, they were pretty good.
This was the on demand menu where you can order food and drinks made fresh. I ordered the chicken teriyaki and it was absolutely delicious. It came out hot and was a great meal before my flight!
These are some of the other self service food and drink stations they had.
There were lots of different seating options available.
BOARDING
While waiting for boarding all of the power went out for about 5 seconds before it came back up. It did not cause any delays that affected us. This was the waiting gate to board.
Bangkok Airways boards by zones and rows.
To get to the plane we had to take these trollies. It was pretty fun!
So many great views!
Lots of people around to make sure you get on the right plane!
SEAT
The seat was not to bad, there was not head rest but it did not really make a difference. The back of the seat just had a small literature pocket and tray table. For some reason I did not have a picture of it.
Each seat had its own reading light and air vent.
We pushed back very on time.
We had to back taxi on the runway to takeoff.
We pulled a 180 o the active
It was definitely a short field takeoff!
FOOD SERVICE
Shortly after takeoff the crew came around and handed out the meal trays. It came with the main dish of chicken and rice, fruit, peach crumble muffin, metal silverware, and a cold water bottle. This chicken and rice was super delicious and it was very hot.
I cannot believe that they had Bangkok Airlines branded metal forks and spoons. This is technically considered a regional airline and this is a pretty short flight. That is pretty impressive.
LAVATORY
This is the rear lavatory. It was very clean and it felt a little retro.
The engine view on this flight was great!
We started our decent.
From here this airport looked pretty deserted.
We parked at another remote stand!
What a great View!
There were some pretty cool planes at this airport!!
Bangkok Airways is definitely my prefered airline in Thailand as they are very consistent, offer great service and are pretty reliable despite using older aircraft. The only downside is that they are often charging to criminal rates to fly either to Samui (or from), Trat and Sukothai as those airports are owned by them and basically have a monopoly over it. Might be worth to book them on those legs in J class as those fares tend to be similar priced (which a lot of people do not know) giving you access to their lounge and opt for fast track, which you sometimes need in Samui.
Though it seems that they cut down a bit on their catering by changing the food offering from a hard-plastic plate into a carton box. Not a huge deal, but the meal offering loses somewhat of the 'boutique' vibe the airline is looking for.
Thanks for this great report though!