Review of Thai Air Asia flight Chiang Mai → Krabi in Economy

Hello and welcome back to the 6th trip of my christmas journey with my wife through Thailand. After a wonderful time in Chiang Mai, It was now time to proceed to the south part of Thailand with either AirAsia or Bangkok Airways. We decided to go for AirAsia as they were 50% cheaper than Bangkok Airways including checked luggage and meal.

We decided to leave our hotel about 2.15 hours prior to our flight by the rental car we hired from Hertz. By accident we turned into the entry for drop-off passengers, while we needed to proceed a gate further, which is used for rental cars to be returned, so I managed to grab a photo of the terminal's drop off section.

The drop-off of our car went smooth and within a matter of seconds, the chap wished us a good onward journey and we went off to the terminal. Upon entering the terminal, we saw a huge line of people waiting for a check-in kiosk and in the photo below you can see the line, which is not even the end, on the left side of the picture too…. Our fears were confirmed when staff told other travellers that it was the line for Thai AirAsia…

In line waiting for the check-in, I went to order some coffee and tea for my wife. It took about 10 minutes for the ladies behind the counter to complete the order and by the time I received my drinks, the line itself just moved forward by about 5 meters or so.

Another impression of the line after I had my coffee. Four flights departing in the timespan of an hour with three kiosks were simply not sufficient to deal with the number of the passengers and a lot of people were getting anxious about missing their flight and tried to skip the line by joining the priority lane, which is technically only reserved for monks, AirAsia Special Members and an additional group I can't recall. Most of the staff walking around were also trainee's, which didn't know how to respond to some of the travellers and letting them skip the queu by that priority lane.

With about 1 hour 15 minutes to departure, we were still far away from checking in…. Luckily enough the PG flight to Bangkok was now done with check-in and some of the staff of AirAsia used their kiosks for passengers to be checked-in. 

By opening the kiosks of PG for AirAsia flights too, the line was now clearly moving at a much faster pace. With about an hour to departure, we finally managed to check-in and drop-off our luggage and we were informed by the ground attendant of a 15 minute delay for our flight due to the late arrival of the aircraft from it's previous flight out of Da Nang.

Despite the check-in counter having a luggage belt connected to it, we were told by the lady also to drop off our luggage at the drop off station shortly before you go to departures. Here you had to drop your luggage off and wait till your luggage was seen on a television screen to be sure it was not picked off by one of the staff members for a search. I've never seen such a procedure nor am I a massive fan of it either.

Security didn't take long, but was somewhat chaotic and we entered a very very busy and hectic terminal with most passengers being tourists. It had a few stores, the terminal was very loud  and seating was very limited for the amount of travellers. It becomes apparent that Chiang Mai Airport isn't build for the amount of travellers from these days compared to like 10 years ago.

Gate 7 would be our gate and boarding was eventually called 5 minutes past our scheduled departure time.

On our way to our aircraft, I saw this whiteless Airbus A320 of Thai VietJet Airlines who was prepping for it's flight to Bangkok.

This is probably the best view I've had of our aircraft that would bring us to Krabi. In Krabi the gate and terminal would give me a poor option too. 

The flight of today would be performed by HS-ABD. A 14,9 year old (at the time of the flight) Airbus A320 that has solely flown for Thai AirAsia and joined their fleet in February 2008. It is powered by two CFMI engines and can carry up to 180 people in an all economy configuration. The 180 seats however are divided into 42 Hot Seats & 138 Standard Seats. 

Legroom was alright for a low-cost airline and a two hour flight, though not impressive.

Boarding was completed about 20 minutes past our scheduled departure and it took another 5 minutes or so for the pushback to be engaged. The flight attendant in the cabin was busy briefing the passengers sitting at the emergency seats what they're suppose to do in case of an emergency.

Seats are equiped with individual airvents & the obvious reading light.

About 25 minutes past our scheduled departure, we were finally on the move for our departure with the terminal being a tad more quiet with just two Boeing 737-800's of Nok Air being idle at the gate.

The aircraft that brought us to Chiang Mai a few days earlier landed at Chiang Mai once again doing the same exact flight on the same exact flight number.

The all-white Thai VietJet was departing to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi.

The next flight that left Chiang Mai was this Boeing 737-800 of T'Way Airlines with a flight to Seoul Incheon. 

And with a delay of 30 minutes, we were finally rolling for our departure to Krabi.

With a right turn of 180 degrees to proceed in the correct direction.

By the time we were at a much higher altitude, the cabin crew announced that they will start to provide their pre-booked meal service first prior to BoB. I decided to choose this option too as the value package was only 40 THB (1 USD or so) more expensive than buying the luggage alone. The value package included 20 KG of luggage, Free Meal & Free choice of seat.

I booked the Uncle Chin's Chicken Rice, which was served with plastic cutlery, sauce and a bottle of water.

The impression of the meal upon opening it.  In terms of taste, the meal was alright and a bit salty, but it's been better than some of the meals I've had with other airliners providing us with complimentary food. 

The BoB service followed soon after, but I didn't opt for anything given my meal.

AirAsia's BoB menu as followed.

The safety card

And a paper displaying the Year-end deals of Thai AirAsia.

By now we were already in the approach to Krabi with the pilot confirming us that we will be landing roughly 35 minutes past our scheduled arrival time.

Touchdown was hard and about 37 minutes late!

An Airbus A320 of Scoot was already prepping for it's flight to Singapore. A flight that used to be done by SilkAir, but moved to Scoot a few years ago.

Krabi's terminal.

Disembarkation followed suit.

This was the only view I've had from my aircraft in Krabi when I was waiting for my luggage to be dropped off.

The very small drop-off section of Krabi's domestic terminal.

We took a taxi from Krabi Airport to Ao Nang Beach for a price tag of 600 THB (18 USD), though you can get a shared minivan to Ao Nang for 150 THB (5 USD).