I recently took a trio of flights around Thailand while on holiday there, all with Bangkok Airways - "Asia's Boutique Airline" - or so the tag-line goes. In an extremely rare turn of events, it turns out there's a lounge in Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport - for economy class passengers. Say what?!
This, frankly, is a thing unheard of. Naturally, I went to explore it.
Now, I know there are ways to access lounges if you're travelling in economy; you could pay a fee for third-party lounge access, or you could use the perks of your hard-earned airline status to access business class lounges too. This lounge however, was just for economy passengers travelling on Bangkok Airways flights.
I genuinely think this is a stroke of genius.
I was warmly greeted by the three staff members at the reception desk, where they scanned my boarding pass. Today I was headed up to Chiang Mai in northeastern Thailand on a swift little hop up taking about 55 minutes.
I entered the lounge and I liked what I saw.
There are caveats, of course. It's an economy class lounge, so there's (obviously) no booze on offer, and the food options are basic, consisting of tea, coffee, juice and water, as well as popcorn, some sandwiches, pastries and, nicely, a small selection of Thai sweet treats. There are also no toilets; you have to leave the lounge and use the toilets in the terminal building, and re-enter. This isn't a big drama though.
The lounge isn't huge, nor does it need to be. The colour schemes used are very Bangkok Airways, with a mix of blue, light grey and turquoise, accented with wooden elements. I thought it was quite attractive, all things considered. I think the reason I liked it so much was that it wasn't trying to be anything that it wasn't; it was simply a comfortable, quiet place to catch a breath, have a quick, simple bite to eat, then head off. Plus, the lighting was soft.
No frills, no fuss, no pretence.
The lounge was quite busy when I arrived, but it was clean and tidy nonetheless, with a couple of employees taking care of leftovers and whatnot.
One thing I liked in particular, because I've never seen it in any lounge before, was a company vision and mission displayed proudly.
I spent about an hour in this cute little lounge before heading to my gate.
Note: there is also a Bangkok Airways economy class lounge in Chiang Mai airport, however this is before security and my flight was ay 09:00, so I didn't have time to pop in and take a look as the security line was massive. There wasn't one I could see in Koh Samui airport, only one for business class passengers.
As I mentioned at the start of this post, I took a total of three flights on my journey around Thailand with Bangkok Airways, flying on a combination of A319s and A320s between Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Koh Samui and then back to Bangkok again. I'll review the three flights together as they were much of a muchness, in a good way.
Bangkok Airways, "Asia's Boutique Airline", has won a bunch of Skytrax awards in recent years, and in many ways, I can see why. And in a couple of ways, I would disagree... slightly.
I'm going to start with the negative(s): their aircraft are all quite old (or at least look it), and similarly, are a shade dishevelled on the inside, too. Additionally, each aircraft I flew on had a different livery design on its exterior; I tend to like consistency when it comes to airline liveries (unless of course the divergence from the standard is exceptional, see BA's BOAC livery which is heavenly). Additionally, each interior was also slightly different.
I would honestly give Bangkok Airways 12/10 across the board if they used a fleet of new A319/A320s or even A220s.
Now onto the positives, of which there are a lot. The ground crew and cabin crew boarded every flight fast, which is great. I was warmly greeted on board each flight with broad smiles and directed to my seat.
None of the flights I took were full, so even in economy, I didn't feel crammed in. The seat pitch on each aircraft was different, but I generally can't complain because a) I'm in economy, b) the flights were all short and c) I'm 185cm tall. On two of the flights (BKK - CNX and USM - BKK) I had nobody next to me, and on one flight (CNX - USM) I had nobody in any seat in the rest of the whole row or behind me... aaaaand recline! Winner, winner, chicken dinner!
Speaking of chicken dinners, you get a two-course meal on every flight. In economy. And they were all absolutely fine. I didn't expect gourmet cuisine on flights of no more than 90 mins that cost me £50 each, so I was pleasantly surprised at the portions and the taste. Though the options were, I think, singular, I enjoyed everything I ate, bar the strange chicken sausage I was given en route to Koh Samui. Sausages should never be made of chicken. I've said this before. Stop! Each meal also came with metal cutlery which I prefer to plastic for environmental reasons. You also get a little scented refreshing wipe; the poor man's hot towel. Awesome.
Like the boarding process, cabin service was fast. I wouldn't say the staff were excessively charming while delivering meals and drinks, but everything was highly efficient with meal service commencing as soon as it was feasible, and cleared up equally efficiently. On a flight between 55 and 90 minutes in length, this efficiency is well practiced and the crew were razor sharp. I'd prefer that to a chatty crew and then having to shove the food down my neck as we are five minutes from landing.
Speaking of razor sharp, the crew (unlike the aircraft they work on) were immaculately turned out, with barely a hair out of place. The uniforms matched the airline's livery and the colour scheme of the lounge in Bangkok, with white, blue and turquoise used. This creates a brand cohesion that I am especially fond of (see my highly positive comments on Qatar Airways' brand identity).
Readiness for landing was carried out with the customary efficiency on every flight, and the crew were all very pleasant on departure.
Baggage was delivered to every destination quickly, though this might have something to do with the fact that both Chiang Mai and Koh Samui are tiny airports. Still, I appreciated the speed of it.
On the whole I really enjoyed every flight I had with Bangkok Airways. My only real issue was with their aircraft. With a modern fleet, this little airline would absolutely shine; they have everything else on point and in a few areas Bangkok Airways go way above what is the norm nowadays, and this really sets them apart from the pack. Low cost carriers are ten-a-penny yet Bangkok Airways have a number of unique selling points that really define who they are.
Pros:
Economy class lounges (at select airports)
Swift boarding process
Meal service in economy class
Highly efficient crew
Well turned-out crew
Very well priced fares
One piece of checked luggage included in economy fare
Cons:
Old aircraft
Old interiors
I would definitely fly with Bangkok Airways again the next time I'm in Thailand.
Kob khun krab!
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