Review of Thai Air Asia flight from Nakhon Si Thammarat to Bangkok in Economy

As by now our trip was about to end in the next few days, it was time for us to re-position to Bangkok with the second to last flight of this trip as we wanted to have some time in Bangkok to meet up with some of our friends, buy some baby things and do some groceries with products that we are unable to buy in Europe (or at extremely high prices) before returning to home.

Given that we didn't really want to go too early to Bangkok nor arrive too late, we decided to book a flight that was scheduled for the early afternoon and choices were either Thai Lionair or Thai AirAsia for prices that were very similar to each other. As Thai AirAsia tends to have my preference for being more reliable, friendly and comfortable, I decided to book a flight with them for about 110 USD for two persons. This rate included 20 kg of hold luggage, free meal and complimentary seating.

As we had four lovely days in Khanom Beach, it took us about an hour to reach the airport of Nakhon Si Thammarat with our rental car that we leased from Avis. Before entering the airport though, there was a checkpoint by some soldiers where one of the persons have to show an ID to get into the airport. Given that my wife was Thai, it was much easier to do so with her national ID.

As we had to drop off our rental car, we decided to follow the arrivals signage, which was a bit confusing as there ''arrivals'' was showing in two different directions, however one was leading via the old terminal road (long way around) while the other one was a more direct road to the arrival hall. Signage didn't specify it though and obviously we were the one to actually find the long way round.

With about 2 hours and 30 minutes to spare (road was very quiet), we entered the arrivall which was quite deserted with just a few eateries being open without anyone occupying any of the seat. We decided to grab a coffee at Amazon though before heading upstairs to check in for our flight to Bangkok.

By the time we finished our cup of coffee, we decided to head to the 2nd floor, which is used for the departures. Floor 3 is suppose to have more shops and restaurants, however felt like it was completely shut down and not in use.

The departure hall is very spacious and overly large for the amount of passengers it handles annually, however like I said on my previous report is that this is a newly build terminal with the idea to attract more international passengers for Sichon & Khanom Beach, (which seems to become more popular over time). So far no airline has announced any international flight as of yet and I wonder whether it was just another waste of government funds.

Given that the airport was quite deserted with just a handful of passengers checking in for both SL and FD.  With no one before us, we were handled immediately by one of the ground attendants who turned out to be the manager of the team and I was quite disappointed with the way she handled us as she barely said a word to us, made clear signs that she didn't want to be there and openly shows signs of uninterest.

It wasn't that she was rude to us, but this kind of behaviour as a manager is poor in my opinion, though she was efficient in her job as it took less than a minute for us to drop off our luggage and receive our boarding pass.

Security was also quiet and it took only a minute to clear it. Once you cleared security, you are immediately dropped off in a large and open departure hall with tons of seating and a few shops.

Once you clear security on your direct left hand side you will find some coffeeshops, bakeries and a souvernir shop for prices that are quite expensive and familiar in most Thai airports.

We decided to head to one of the seating areas in the aft to sit down and charge our phones.

The airport does have plans to expand with a lounge on the third floor though once flights are picking up, but for now the sky lounge is a closed and empty project.

The airport does offer you a view over the tarmac, but is partly obstructed by the path passengers are using to get to their designated jet bridge.

Not a lot of movement takes place though until the first of two early afternoon flights did arrive.

Followed about ten minutes later by the bird that was going to bring us over to Bangkok.

And it didn't take long for the weather gods to decide that it was time for some rain to pour down that was followed by a powercut of the entire terminal. It took less than two minutes for the power to be restored though.

Boarding was eventually called right on time and we decided to board the plane as one of the last passengers. Once my wife decided to scan her boarding pass, the ground attendant asked her to step aside and to fill a statement (as my wife was pregnant) that the airline was not responsible for anything that would happen to her unborn child and that the trip was solely on her own risk. She told us that it was common practise among all airlines in Thailand, yet nobody of us asked to sign any document prior to this.

By now we were the last ones to board the aircraft and it was still pouring down rain. 

The flight however was going to be performed by HS-CBI. This 6.9 year old (at time of flying) Airbus A320 has solely been flying for Thai AirAsia and was newly delivered to them in July 2018 and is powered by 2 CFM56 engines and can carry up to 180 passengers in an all economy configuration.

Upon embarking the aircraft we were kindly greeted by two flight attendants and eventually made it to our seat 20F.

Legroom isn't that impressive and could become unpleasant if on longer routes of three hours or above, though for this specific flight it was perfectly fine.

The view if no rain wasn't all too shabby either from this seat.

The table was clean.

And the literature in your seat pocket contained a Buy on Board Menu, Safety Card, Air Sickness Bag and a Promotion card.

By now the rain was actually disappearing and that also meant that the 737-800 of Thai Lion was being pushed back for it's departure to Bangkok. 

Once the Boeing 737-800 of Thai Lion Air was clear of us, our flight immediately pushed back for our departure to Bangkok and about a minte past our scheduled departure time.

Once all the checks were done and the cabin prepared by the flight attendants, we were backtracking to runway 01 to depart in northerly direction.

And about eight minutes past our scheduled departure time we were rolling for a northerly departure. The flight did stay at a lower altitude though for a significant period of time, which I assume had to do with some weather above us, but gave us some nice views of the area around NST.

By now we were climbing to safe altitude with all lights working. The aircraft was also equipped with individual air vents.

Given that the lowest fare with an add-on of hold luggage was actually more expensive than simply ordering the value pack, we obviously decided to buy the value pack which included a free pre-ordered hot meal and a bottle of water. I can't complain and ordered an Uncle Chin's rice for both me and my wife as this is probably AirAsia's most famous dish.

Luckily by the time we received our dish, the weather was clear and smooth.

Not much happened throughout the flight anymore and about twenty minutes prior to landing the flight attendants came around to clean up the cabin for landing, while the aircraft was already positioning itself for a southerly landing by the time they actually finished securing the cabin and eventually touching down 9 minutes ahead of our scheduled arrival time.

with a very short ride to our stand meaning that we were in DMK about six minutes ahead of time.

Disembarkation followed soon after and it gave me some time to capture the padding of our seat. You can say what you want about LCC, but the padding of those seats are definitely more generous than the one you would get on Iberia or Lufthansa on their narrow-body fleet….

Disembarkation went smoothly to be honest and quite quick and it took about 20 to 25 minutes past our disembarkation for our luggage to appear on belt. The wait wasn't overly long though as the walk to the baggage claim itself took more than 10 minutes to complete though.