A flight going from one Thai island to another Thai island. Could this
be the happiest little flight in Asia? Find out, coming up.
Our day starts off at the small but mighty Phuket International Airport,
at the domestic terminal of course. Remember, bags are scanned when entering the terminal
and they scrutinize every power bank, be prepared.
Today we are flying with Bangkok Airways on PG250 across this narrow stretch of Thai
real estate in the far south of the country. Essentially, we were flying from the Andaman
Sea to the Gulf of Thailand, nothing complicated about today's routing which brought us up to a
maximum altitude of 13.000 for this 40 minute flight to Koh Samui International Airport.
The domestic side of the terminal is fairly unremarkable but there are a variety of
small shops and food stalls available for anything you need on your way to Samui.
There were a variety of plane spotting opportunities though.
A few minutes later, I found myself in the Bangkok Airways lounge.
All Bangkok Airways passengers are entitled to enter their lounges,
here’s what happened. I walked up to the front desk and handed my boarding pass.
I saw how tiny the room was but leaving straight away felt a bit awkward. So, I got a bit of
Nescafe, sat down for 60 seconds. Then left and went to the much more pleasant Coral Lounge.
Considering the restrictions at the time there was a decent amount of food and drink on offer
and great views to go along with it. You’ll notice many foreign wide body planes here-
pre pandemic, over 18 million passengers were passing through per year.
All of the Bangkok Airways gates were downstairs and all were bus gates.
It’s first scheduled flights starting in 1986, Bangkok Airways has branded
itself as “Asia’s Boutique Airline” and was Thailand’s first privately owned airline.
They also have a habit of building airports. First, where we are going today in Koh Samui
in 1989, then in Sukhothai province in 1996 and finally in Trat province in 2003.
They operate the flight between Phuket and Samui 2-3 times per day currently and while this flight
was pretty reasonable, make sure to book far in advance if you want to travel between Samui
and Bangkok. They’re the only airline that flies the route and boy do they make some bank on it.
Soon we pulled up to this six year old ATR 72-600 where boarding was orderly through the rear door.
Bangkok Airways has a total of 35 aircraft, 13 ATRs, 13 A319
and 9 A320. All of their cabins feature an all economy configuration and pretty tight seat pitch,
though they rarely fly further than a couple of hours, so it’s sufficient. The cabin was clean
and very well kept and we were off on our Taxi to Phuket's runway 09 taking off to the east.
While it’s not quite a 777, I do always enjoy a good turbo prop spool up.
Flying across the northern part of Phuket, I had a nice little surprise to see Naka
Island one last time. If you haven’t already, check out my review of that incredible resort.
Our flight across the mainland was super short and soon enough we were over the stunning Gulf
of Thailand and lining up for the 2100m long runway 35. Before the pandemic this airport was
handling just over 1.2 million passengers a year, almost all of them flown in by Bangkok Airways.
As we cross over Chaweng Beach we can see one of my other favorite resorts,
SALA Chaweng, also worth a look in Samui.
This is as you can imagine a small airport and reminded me a whole lot of Kailua Kona
airport on the big island of Hawaii before it had a lot of direct service to the mainland.
As we deplaned we were given a small snack bag with a surprisingly tasty sausage roll and muffin
before we got on these funny little buses to take us to the arrivals area.
It is a picture perfect day here in Samui. Note that proof of vaccination is required to fly on
domestic flights in Thailand and masks are not allowed to be taken off for any reason on board,
which is why the goodie bag is given after landing.
A few moments later we were at arrivals where we needed to pass through a Surat Thani province
health check. All passengers arriving in Samui are required to fill out a Samui
specific health declaration before landing. The check in agents will give you the QR code.
When you land, the staff will scan your generated QR code.
Otherwise, pretty unremarkable.
Take care though, this airport famously has very limited taxi service.
It would be wise to pre-arrange transport with your hotel. And now on to The Flip Flop Score.
Their website is super easy to navigate and payments are processed easily at a nine.
Checkin and boarding were both quick and orderly with full marks. The seats and cabin are not the
most comfortable in the world, even for a budget carrier, but for a quick flight- they’re fine.
Cleanliness, service and that little goodie bag got nines across the board
and punctuality and add on value a perfect ten as we pushed back early and seat selection and
checked in baggage was included in the fare. Overall, a great 89/100. Would have no problem
flying with them again and in fact I already have. I hope you enjoyed this review and like
the video and subscribe for two new flight or hotel reviews every week. See you soon!