Thai Airways

[noosard]

The airline has decided to merge with it self, Thai Smile, this is to reduce costs
Thai airways only used Thai smile to reduce its services to backwaters like Udon to reduce costs

[Potamoi]

TG and WE funny little codeshare just now.

I bought a couple of tickets on the ThaiSmile website TO BKK and a couple more FROM BKK to UTH last month for an April trip. I needed the extra baggage so I booked the front of the plane. ThaiSmile allowed for mileage on TG only. Thai Airways allowed Star Alliance airline miles but was 11% more expensive for the exact same seats.

Neither allowed to purchase extra checked baggage in advance beyond the 30 kg allowed in the front of the plane seats. This was kind of the experiment I was trying by using both websites. There is some vague statement allowing for 40 kg when connecting from an international flight but I reckon it must be in the same itinerary.

It would be great if the hassle was removed from the last couple of hours of a 30 odd hour return journey by allowing one to book the extra 34 kgs in advance or allow one to pay at the check in counter rather than needing to go up to the ticket office to pay the extra baggage fees. Still feels a bit silly and backward to me but since I know in advance, I have allowed time to manage this step. Not a fan of long layovers unless there is a proper lounge and shower rooms involved.

[stattointhailand]

Assuming the multi billion losses made by Thai Smile over the last 8 yrs had actually been shown in the Thai Airways accounts, what are the chances that the restructuring package would never have got off the ground and both Thai Airways and Thai Smile would have been no more by now.

[joepai]

Shame, I like the Thai Smile service

[Potamoi]

TG and WE funny little codeshare just now.

I bought a couple of tickets on the ThaiSmile website TO BKK and a couple more FROM BKK to UTH last month for an April trip. I needed the extra baggage so I booked the front of the plane. ThaiSmile allowed for mileage on TG only. Thai Airways allowed Star Alliance airline miles but was 11% more expensive for the exact same seats.

Neither allowed to purchase extra checked baggage in advance beyond the 30 kg allowed in the front of the plane seats. This was kind of the experiment I was trying by using both websites. There is some vague statement allowing for 40 kg when connecting from an international flight but I reckon it must be in the same itinerary.

It would be great if the hassle was removed from the last couple of hours of a 30 odd hour return journey by allowing one to book the extra 34 kgs in advance or allow one to pay at the check in counter rather than needing to go up to the ticket office to pay the extra baggage fees. Still feels a bit silly and backward to me but since I know in advance, I have allowed time to manage this step. Not a fan of long layovers unless there is a proper lounge and shower rooms involved.

Figured I would follow up on this recently completed flight:

We arrived early on our Qatar Airways flight so I went to the check-in counter to ask if we could change to a flight 4 hours earlier than the tickets we held to Udon (a new flight was added to Udon since I bought these tickets). She said there were indeed seats and that I needed to go to the ticket office to change.

After about 45 min waiting to change flights as there was only one working agent (4 agents all busy on their phones) it was done and we now had tickets on the flight leaving in about an hour. I asked to purchase the extra baggage as I knew the weights and my allowance. She said it must be done at least 24 hours in advance. I told her I did try to buy online at the time of ticket purchase but could not do so. She said I must come in to the ticket office to buy it. Incredible. I explained how silly that was when flying in from abroad and she then offered I could phone in to buy extra baggage. Well I suppose if that was explained on the website I would have done so but I now visualized a two hour phone call to make that happen.

I then asked her what I should do with my bags if it was impossible to buy extra kgs. She suggested I go to the Thai Post office and ship them that way. Amazing. I thanked her and went back to take my chances at the check-in counter. The check-in agent said we needed to purchase 25 extra kgs. I explained what happened with the Thai ticket office and was told it was impossible when same day flight according to TG. She filled in the order for 25kgs extra baggage and told me to go back with that chit and all would be well and to come back to get my boarding passes with the receipt. I went back to the ticket office, pressed both the TG and ThaSmile queue buttons. Went to the first one that opened which thankfully was ThaiSmile (right next to Thai, literally feet away and owned by the same company) The Thai Smile agent cheerfully charged me 4500 baht for the extra baggage which was 1520 baht more than the whole Smile Plus ticket which allowed 30kgs. I dutifully made now my third trip to the check-in agent, showed that I paid, received the boarding passes and went to the gate.

Moral of this story is I will do my level best not to fly Thai or ThaiSmile from here on. It really does not surprise me they are going bankrupt. NokAir is so much better at customer service and pricing I reckon it may be worth the airport transfer inconvenience when necessary. I already use them almost exclusively when just going to Bangkok and am pleased to do so. VietJet also is an option I suppose but I have not tried their advance extra baggage purchasing system yet.

Hopefully others will benefit from this little diatribe and avoid the hassle and expense by either avoiding Thai or phoning in advance for extra baggage.

[maaka]

I have the same palava when I come, as I am usually lugging the car engine , motor mower or some such overweight thing..learnt to give plenty of time between arriving Bangers, and flying out to UD

[747man]

And Yet a Few Years ago when Me & My Mrs arrived into BKK from LHR On Thai ( We had NO Onward Ticket booked to UTH & Just booked at the ticket counter in BKK,We had NO Problems checking in with 84kgs of baggage for the flight to UTH on Thai & Never had to pay even 1 Baht EXCESS Baggage.....How times have changed.....

[Laan Yaa Mo]

About 4-5 years ago, I had a problem with Nok Air, and the counter people were a bit rude. So I switched to Thai Smile, and flew with them whenever I needed to go somewhere within the country. It seems Thai Smile has gone downhill since. I will try them next time and find out for myself.

[the-monk]

Good luck finding good, or NOT too bad, flifgts from/to Udon.
Few years ago i had made a reservation on Thai lion Air , nmaking a connection in DMK, they changed the flight schedule so i could not make my flight in DMK, they refused to refund me. Then i switched to Thai Smile, it was ok for a while. My 2 last flights with them were problematic. Both flights delayed - one by 90 min - gate changes without any announcement. No water available on the plane. Boarding time zoo after a 90 min delay. What s next ?

[joudon]

I remember when Bangkok Airways used to serve UTH
I had a seat on BA10 BKK to LHR departing 11.45
I had booked the first Bangkok Airways flight in morning due to get me to BKK 0930
As I waited patiently in UTH departure lounge the arrivals screen showed my flight delayed, the delayed again
I approached their agent who ,after accertaining that I only had hand baggage ,took my passport away. Finally it showed flight arriving over 1 and half hour late.
Back came the agent with my BA boarding pass!!
On finally arriving at BKK at a remote gate I was hurried off the aircraft to a waiting mini van.I was escorted through immigration by another agent who hurried me. luckily I can walk very fast.
On arrival at the BA flight I boarded and the door was shut behind me. Bingo!
I will always rate Bangkok Airways and hope they return to UTH.

[Laan Yaa Mo]

That does not sound promising. Even though I'm in Khon Kaen, I would think the same problems exist here as in Udon Thani.

[samster]

Dont worry LYM. People from KK are treated better than our Northern counterparts. I fly 10+ times a year KKC/BKK and never had an issue.

You can always find fault with an airline but, to dismiss the most convenient connection to international flights because of one issue is cutting your own nose off.

[Potamoi]

About 4-5 years ago, I had a problem with Nok Air, and the counter people were a bit rude. So I switched to Thai Smile, and flew with them whenever I needed to go somewhere within the country. It seems Thai Smile has gone downhill since. I will try them next time and find out for myself.

I flew Nok nearly every weekend DMK-UTH-DMK for a few years while working in Bangkok and building a house in Udon. I never had a notably poor experience. I think I missed one Monday morning meeting due to a fog delay and likely had 8 or 10 delayed flights on Friday evenings of over 30 min out of about 250 flights which were all associated with near the end of day schedule creep.

The service was always good, the web site was reasonable, english phone service was subpar due to wait times but other than that I was pleased with the performance, service and especially price. Many of my flights were less than 800 THB as I booked them a month in advance on most commutes.

I'm sure there are isolated negative cases we all have had with every airline and the same in a positive way as well. I think if I fly Thai again it will be through the ThaiSmile channel rather than Thai but it will be only after other options fail to meet my needs.

[Laan Yaa Mo]

Dont worry LYM. People from KK are treated better than our Northern counterparts. I fly 10+ times a year KKC/BKK and never had an issue.

You can always find fault with an airline but, to dismiss the most convenient connection to international flights because of one issue is cutting your own nose off.

Sounds good, in particular, the part about the better treatment. It just goes to show that the universe is unfolding as it should..

[sometimewoodworker]

I then asked her what I should do with my bags if it was impossible to buy extra kgs. She suggested I go to the Thai Post office and ship them that way. Amazing.

I was flying back using Qatar and flying on to KK as that was a better drive.

I carefully researched my options and had purchased all the possible extra baggage, due to Qatar giving me a couple of extra pairs of pyjamas and having 4 sets of toiletries + U.K. cold weather clothes I was roughly 20kg overweight on my carry on bag. However I was flying back to Thailand to BKK then hopping the shuttle to DMK with several hours available between flights. I had researched how to get the overweight baggage home and decided to try the Post Office. The Post Office in BKK airport is a little out of the way and maybe busy later in the day but they were very efficient sold me the box I needed. As I recall it cost about 1/20 of the or something between 200 & 400 Baht and it took about 2 days to arrive

So in future I will be using them again, it was a surprisingly easy to do everything in English

[747man]

Good luck finding good, or NOT too bad, flifgts from/to Udon.
Few years ago i had made a reservation on Thai lion Air , nmaking a connection in DMK, they changed the flight schedule so i could not make my flight in DMK, they refused to refund me. Then i switched to Thai Smile, it was ok for a while. My 2 last flights with them were problematic. Both flights delayed - one by 90 min - gate changes without any announcement. No water available on the plane. Boarding time zoo after a 90 min delay. What s next ?

I AVOID Thai Lion Air after their last little episode with myself, I'd Booked UTH to DMK No Hold Baggage Only a 20cm ( APPROVED ) Cabin Bag with Only 6kgs inside, They said it was Toooooo BIG, Even though I Had a Manufactures Tag on it saying ( Approved Size for Cabin ),They Would check it in & When I asked them what I could Do, Rudely said Go & Buy a 100 Baht Bag from the little shop in the Terminal & Repack I Asked what I could do with my Brand New 20cm one I'd bought in The U.K ?? Answer was Just Empty it & Put it in the Bin......Marvelous " Eh.....Since then I've NEVER Given them 1 Baht of my Money for any other Bookings.....Stuff Them......

[Potamoi]

I then asked her what I should do with my bags if it was impossible to buy extra kgs. She suggested I go to the Thai Post office and ship them that way. Amazing.

I was flying back using Qatar and flying on to KK as that was a better drive.

I carefully researched my options and had purchased all the possible extra baggage, due to Qatar giving me a couple of extra pairs of pyjamas and having 4 sets of toiletries + U.K. cold weather clothes I was roughly 20kg overweight on my carry on bag. However I was flying back to Thailand to BKK then hopping the shuttle to DMK with several hours available between flights. I had researched how to get the overweight baggage home and decided to try the Post Office. The Post Office in BKK airport is a little out of the way and maybe busy later in the day but they were very efficient sold me the box I needed. As I recall it cost about 1/20 of the or something between 200 & 400 Baht and it took about 2 days to arrive

So in future I will be using them again, it was a surprisingly easy to do everything in English

Thanks for the info STWW. I think next time I will simply buy the extra baggage at the time of ticket purchase on Nok as I intended to do with Thai and/or ThaiSmile. Seems straight forward and reasonable:

https://content.nokair.com/en/Journey-P ... ggage.aspx

[Udon Map]

I AVOID Thai Lion Air after their last little episode with myself, I'd Booked UTH to DMK No Hold Baggage Only a 20cm ( APPROVED ) Cabin Bag with Only 6kgs inside, They said it was Toooooo BIG, Even though I Had a Manufactures Tag on it saying ( Approved Size for Cabin ) . . . .

I always wondered who relied on the manufacturers' tags.

Different airlines have different bag rules, both for checked bags and carry-ons. Manufacturers' tags saying that the bag is approved for carry on mean nothing.

[sometimewoodworker]

I then asked her what I should do with my bags if it was impossible to buy extra kgs. She suggested I go to the Thai Post office and ship them that way. Amazing.

I was flying back using Qatar and flying on to KK as that was a better drive.

I carefully researched my options and had purchased all the possible extra baggage, due to Qatar giving me a couple of extra pairs of pyjamas and having 4 sets of toiletries + U.K. cold weather clothes I was roughly 20kg overweight on my carry on bag. However I was flying back to Thailand to BKK then hopping the shuttle to DMK with several hours available between flights. I had researched how to get the overweight baggage home and decided to try the Post Office. The Post Office in BKK airport is a little out of the way and maybe busy later in the day but they were very efficient sold me the box I needed. As I recall it cost about 1/20 of the or something between 200 & 400 Baht and it took about 2 days to arrive

So in future I will be using them again, it was a surprisingly easy to do everything in English

Thanks for the info STWW. I think next time I will simply buy the extra baggage at the time of ticket purchase on Nok as I intended to do with Thai and/or ThaiSmile. Seems straight forward and reasonable:

https://content.nokair.com/en/Journey-P ... ggage.aspx

While buying the amount of extra baggage is certainly a good idea, there is a limit to the amount you can purchase. Also with several airlines flying business you get 2 extra cabin bags so it is likely that if you are maxing out you international travel allowance you’re going to be over weight for anything domestic in Thailand. Once you start getting excess baggage flying internationally you are totally out of luck domestically.

I have flown in with about 70kg checkin + cabin bags it was impossible to fly domestically with that weight. Because I was unaware of the ease and cheap prices of the Thai post office I had to come up to Udon by train with 6 suitcases.
If I do a similar trip the post offices will be my first option.

[BillaRickaDickay]

Could always get a Taxi, after all if one is going to travel business class internationally there's obviously no problem cash wise.
I've bought in 40kgs before now and just paid the excess, how much for a Taxi? I'm guessing, probably about 8000bht to Udon.