With the Ko Samui – Thailand airport offering a duopoly choice between Bangkok Airways and fly Scoot Airways operated by Singapore Airlines, we ended up flying Bangkok Airways Singapore to Ko Samui return. We would experience a mostly old school no nonsense flight experience, that included complementary seat selection, a free meal with wine, and free checked baggage. Read on to see how her experience was on “Asia’s Boutique Airline“.

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This post is one chapter on a trip with my 82 yr old mom from Canada to Singapore. For informaton on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Air Canada Aeroplan and Hertz Gold Plus Rewards. For parts of the trip, please see this index.

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Review: Bangkok Airways Airbus 319-1, Ko Samui International Airport – Singapore Changi International Airport Terminal One

This portion of our trip was a nested ticket inside an Air Canada Aeroplan award redemption. With a great Marriott Bonvoy redemption at the W Ko Samui,we paid for a separate air trip to Ko Samui from Singapore. This segment was the return portion of our flight.

As I reported earlier, the Ko Samui airport is owned by Bangkok Airways there is a duopoly on flights “in and out” of Ko Samui International Airport. Currently the airport is served by both Bangkok Airways and fly Scoot, operated by Singapore airlines. When I compared the two carriers Bangkok Airways offered a better value when all the ancillary seat selection and checked baggage fees were taken into account.

While Bangkok Airways did offer a business class cabin on the flight, it was priced at double the regular cash fare. Since the flight time was only one hour and forty minutes, and we already had lounge access in Ko Samui at the Bangkok Airways Blue Ribbon Lounge courtesy of Priority Pass, we didn’t bother to spend the extra money on a business class ticket.

As a result, we ended up purchasing a paid cash fare on Bangkok Airways to experience “Asia’s Boutique Airline”. We would end up crediting the flight miles to Qatar Airways Privilege Club Avios, which we’d later transfer to British Airways Executive Club Avios program to be topped off on a future redemption, as a American Express Membership Rewards partner.

Checking in with Bangkok Airways:

After taking a hotel car from the W Ko Samui to the Ko Samui International Airport, we checked in with Bangkok Airways.

The Bangkok airways check-in queue at Ko Samui international airport is located in the domestic departures building. With segregated domestic and international check in areas, we were promptly attended to without any wait.

After our passports were verified and our baggage was weighed and accepted, we were given boarding cards and directed over to the international terminal. The international terminal is located a short six minute walk away through a commercial mall like environment. The walk looked more like a south Florida mall environment than an airport; containing sleep bean bags, massages and coffee bars.

We evetnually arrived to the international arrivals hall where we arrived on Bangkok Airways Ko Samui – Singapore.

we entered the international terminal by passing through a security screening check followed by exit immigration. We took the opportunity to visit the Bangkok Airways Blue Ribbon Lounge, courtesy of Priority Pass. I’ve done up in separate post on my experience with the lounge; it was well worth a visit.

For those that didn’t have lounge access, the Ko Samui international Airport offered an outdoor open air concourse. This included beach lounge chairs near the coffee bar, a few select food and beverage outlets that were adjacent to a different gate areas.

We eventually made it over to an air conditioned portion of the international terminal for our departing flight to Singapore. There was an exceptionally small duty free zone at the Ko Samui airport, selling whiskies and Woodbridge Californian Wines. Since it wasn’t selling too much that was of interested, we decided we were better off waiting for duty-free on arrival in Singapore Changi International Airport.

While we were waiting for the flight, I happen to notice on the flight information screen that this Bangkok Airways flight code shared with nine different airlines that included Air France, Etihad, Emirates, Lufthansa, KLM, Quantas, British Airways and Finnair. I guess it is much simpler for Bangkok Airways to enter into code share agreements with all of these carriers, getting a little ticket revenue from each of them, while they get to offer a new destination on their websites.

Bangkok Airways offers complimentary snacks to all passengers through their convenience corner for those looking to indulge.

The Bangkok Airways Courtesy Corner offered many of the same snacks located in the Blue Ribbon Lounge, although it didn’t offer the neat dim sum from the lounge.

We eventually boarded with zone two approximately 25 minutes behind the boarding time as posted on our boarding card. Zone two was listed to be Rows 13 to 29. Since there are no jet bridges at the Ko Samui International Airport, we took the tractor towards the apron position of our aircraft and boarded the air stairs.

Bangkok Airways
PG 961 – Economy Class (V)
USM – SIN (Ko Samui International Airport – Singapore Changi International Airport Terminal One)
June 2, 2024
4:25 PM – 7:10 PM
Booked: Airbus 319-1
Flown: Airbus 319-1

On Board Bangkok Airways:

Today’s aircraft was a Bangkok Airways Airbus 319 – 1 “Phnom Penh”. Like our flight in, the Airbus interior is a little dated as a result of it being almost 16 years old.

We passed through the Bangkok Airways Blue Ribbon Business Class cabin which featured traditional recliner seats. Since the seats weren’t state of the art, I was reassured in the decision not to upgrade and purchase business class seat for the short leg.

Our seating was in the economy class cabin in row number six. We paid extra for front row seating which allowed us to get off the plane earlier than expected.

The legroom was about as expected for economy class seating. As a tall traveller and occupied most of the seat space which was perfectly fine for a short under two hour flight.

Instead, I wandered back to seat 7F in ecomony class. Row seven was among the first seats in the premium extra space seating. Bangkok airways economy class was a reasonable narrow body economy class seating in the usual 3–3 configuration.

The seats offered a reasonable round of legroom and were perfectly fine for short to medium haul flights.

Like on our inbound aircraft, there are no seat power points for plug-ins or telephones on the Bangkok Airways 319 aircraft. As a result I was unable to charge my smart phone, like I normally would on any flight.

I would also say that there was no television monitor entertainment on either the seat back or projected from the overhead console. As a result, if you want entertainment, you’ll have to bring it with you in the form of a book, magazine or downloaded content on your device.

The seat arm rest did offer a volume and channel feature. However, it was not in operation during our trip.

Similar to most Airbus 319 aircraft, Bangkok Airways offered individual air nozzles in the passenger cabin. This made for a comfortable cabin and ride up to Ko Samui.

The Bangkok Airways cabin on their Airbus 319-1 offered a reasonably comfortable seating and accommodations for our one hour and forty minute flight. Despite the cabin not having many of the modern conveniences like in seat power or in flight entertainment.

Departing Ko Samui International Airport:

We departed about 30 minutes past the schedule departure time. Since there was no other traffic, our takeoff from Ko Samui International Airport was smooth and fast.

We took off in the northerly direction on runway 17, with views from the wing over the harbour area and the islands’ coastline.

The Meal: A Light Dinner

After we reached our cruising altitude we had a captain’s announcement with an apology for the flight delay. An international duty free shopping purchase was offered, although there didn’t appear to be many takers.

A light dinner was offered on a complimentary basis which was a nice touch for an international economy flight.

Tonight’s dinner consisted of chicken curry with pineapple cake served all at once.

Brancroft Estate red and white wine was also offered on a complimentary basis. I ended up with a Chang Classic Beer.

Since there was no onboard in-flight entertainment, after dinner concluded there was nothing left to do except gaze out the window and enjoy the views of the clouds as we approach the equator. We can call this involuntary “raw dogging” a flight.

Arriving to Singapore International Airport:

As we started our descent, there was a pilot announcement cautioning on importation of drugs into Singapore along with it being an offence punishable by death. We had a roundabout landing into Changi International Airport. I always find it impressive arriving into Singapore given the amount of boats that are parked in the harbour.

For the first time ever, I arrived into Singapore Changi International Airport to a bus gate. Fortunately, there were quite a few buses available and being in the first five rows of the aircraft, we left fairly properly.

The bus dropped us off almost immediately at immigration preventing a long walk down to Singapore Changi Airport concourse. We use the Singapore Airlines immigration E gates and or through to collect our luggage at baggage claim quite quickly..

We would end up taking a grab ride share back to the family house before eventually heading home to Canada.

My Thoughts on Bangkok Airways:

Much like our outbound flight, our Bangkok airways experience was an old school fully equipped flight.

We were offered complementary seat selection, free checked baggage allowance and a free meal. Bangkok Airways even went as far as offering a few free snacks at the gate; something that you never find on other carriers.

While the equipment was a little old, it was perfectly satisfactory. My Qatar Airways Privlege Club Miles posted about nine days after the trip. With a great travel experience that delivered, “as expected”, I would easily fly Bangkok Airways again in the future.

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If you have flown Bangkok Airways, how did you find their service as “Asia’s Boutique Airline” ?

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