Review of Bangkok Airways flight from Bangkok to Phnom Penh in Economy

Hello Dear Reader,

This is the report of flight PG937 from Bangkok - Suvarnabhumi Airport (IATA: BKK, ICAO: VTBS) to Phnom Penh International Airport (IATA: PNH, ICAO: VDPP) with with Bangkok Airways (IATA: PG, ICAO: BKP), in Economy class on Mar/01st 2020.

It was founded in 1968 and is a private owned regional airline based at Bangkok Airport. Is considered a Boutique airline due to the excellence of service and was elected for the last 5 consecutive years as the best regional airline by SkyTrax.

Currently has 40 airplanes: 15 ATR72, 16 Airbus A319 and 9 Airbus A320, with an average age of 10,5 years, operating routes to 28 destinations. The focus destinations are Phuket, Chiang Mai, Krabi, Koh Samui and Hat Yai in Thailand.

Check my video with the full flight report: 

Check also video my video from a the lounges of Oman Air, Singapore, Thai and Eva I visited on a previous time: 

Departure airport

Bangkok Airways operates the international flights from Concourse B and C and domestic from Concourse A. The check-in counters at BKK for PG are located in Row F (F01 to F15). This airport counts with 1 main Terminal, split in Concourse A for Domestic Flights and Concourses B to G for International Flights. It has 2 runways and a third is planed to be built in 2021.

According with the latest official data, BKK had 63,3 millions passengers in 2018 (4,1% increase compared with 2017) and 369.476 movements. The busiest international routes were Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul, Dubai and Taipei.

As I was travelling with staff ticket was not possible to check-in online because PG doesn’t allow it.

As I have started my travel in Phuket International Airport (IATA: HKT, ICAO: VTSP), where I checked in for this flight and also had my emigration clearance. In Thailand they allow connecting passengers to get an emigration clearance at the initial departure airport. The same for arriving passengers from international destinations and with domestic connections: the immigration clearance is only made at the final destination. This mesure is very good for short connections but at the same time a big lack of safety because nobody checks the passports and for some instance, in case the passenger goes to the domestic arrivals will enter in the country illegally. At HKT they also gave me a sticker with the acronym “C.I.Q.” to place it in my shirt to allow the staff at BKK to recognise I am a transit passenger.

So after I arrive from Phuket in Concourse A I followed the indications for transit passengers/CIQ. I had a ticket control and passed to the security screening. For the first time I had some kind of troubles with my power bank there. Unfortunately the letter containing the part number and the capacity were gone (it’s 3 years old and is normal with the use the letter to disappear) so they were not able to check it… after a long discussion I finally found the model online and showed them it was less than 32.000mA, otherwise I would have to checked-in with my cargo luggage! 

Lounges

I went to the Bangkok Airways Blue Ribbon Club Business Lounge using my Priority Card. It is located near gate D7, on the 3rd floor.

It is a small but cozy lounge, with one room with seating area and pc’s and the other with the buffet and tables for dining. Apart of the buffet they also offer an a la carte menu of 2 or 3 dishes. 

After it, I headed to one of my favourite lounges which is possible to access with Priority Pass at BKK: the Oman Air First and Business Class located on the 3rd floor of Concourse E.

The Middle Eastern inspired decoration and the blue light gives it very unique feeling. After entry has a large room on the right, which is usually reserved for First Class Passengers when Oman Air is operating at BKK. The other spacious room is where the buffet is located and also has seating and dining area, together with business center and private rooms (access is not allowed). The food in this lounge is very good and is a combination between Middle East and Thai. 

Flight

The boarding gate for this flight was the F2, which is not very common, because PG mostly operated from Concourse B and C.

The airplane was not a the stand so we boarded to a Bus and drove all the way to the other side of the airport as the airplane was at the remote stand 105.

This flight was operated by an Airbus A320-232 (with IAE V2500 engines), Registration HS-PGW, with 14,6 years old, named Samui and a special livery: a beach, the sea, whales and fishes. In some way advertising for Koh Samui Island which is one of the main destinations.

This airplane is flying for PG since August 2005 and its cabin has a full economy layout, with 27 rows and carrying a maximum number of 162 passengers.   

I was seated at 14A, right after the emergency exit, in Economy Class. Due to the corona virus outbreak in Asia, the flight was empty and most of the passengers were locals

The aircraft pushed-back 21h17 and taxied to the runway 19L.

The actual departure time was at 19h29, 1 minute before scheduled departure (at 19h30)

After take-off, the airplane flew east towards Phnom Penh. 

10 min after departure, the crew served a meal: Was chicken with mashed potatoes and broccoli. After that a second service with drinks.

The crew was very nice as usual and very effective! I really like how fast and good the service is and also appreciate the fact they always serve a meal during the flight

The aircraft landed on Runway 23 at Phnom Penh Airport at 22h18, 27 minutes before scheduled arrival time (at 22h45) and 49 minutes as flight time.

 I taxied to the stand 9 and arrived there 5 minutes later. 

Arrival Airport

Phnom Penh has a main terminal divided in international and domestic gates. It is located 10km west of the countries capital and has 1 runway. The Cambodian Airports are managed by the French company Vinci, and PHN had 5 millions passengers last year (an increase of 11,3% compared with 2018) and 56.018 movements (also an increase of 7,3%).

The disembark was made by the airbridge and I access the International Terminal where I proceed to Passport Control.

After it I went to luggage carousel and I pick it up.

Thank you very much for browsing through my flight report,

Fábio Conceição

(Data source: Airfleets.net, Wikipedia.org, Airports and Airline’s Website)