For the flight back, we would be flying on Thai AirAsia, which is currently one of the few budget airlines based at Don Mueang, Bangkok's previous gateway. It would be interesting to revisit this old friend! Taxi ride from the city to Don Mueang (DMK) is faster than to BKK, but the cost is approximately similar by taxi due to the higher toll charges to DMK.
Currently, all airlines are utilizing Terminal 1 for flights, with Terminal 2 also due to reopen if traffic continues to climb. Checked in and dropped out bags at the AirAsia common check-in counters with no fuss.
Boarding passes are issued on receipt printouts.
Due to the fewer international departures compared to BKK, immigration and security are so much faster! Entered the departure area, which has been newly renovated with duty free shops and some eateries.
Most of the flights were dominated by the AirAsia group, with a few Orient Thais in between.
As there are only a few airlines operating from DMK, plane-spotting is thus not as interesting as BKK. Here, a Nok Air B738 is pushing back from the domestic wing of the terminal.
Orient Thai B734 and AirAsia A320, the main operators at the international wing.
Gate area.
More AirAsia aircrafts. Quite a number of TG aircrafts are stored at DMK, including the A300s at the distance. TG's A345s and some B744s are also stored at DMK.
Something out of the ordinary? Yep, an Air New Zealand B772ER is also at DMK for maintenance!
Our plane at Gate 23. It is a special livery aircraft, painted in celebration of a thai rock band, Carabao's 30 year anniversary.
Boarding was just starting when we reached the gate.
29 June 2013
Thai Air Asia
FD 2933
Bangkok Don Mueang (DMK) - Singapore (SIN)
A320
HS-ABJ
Economy Class
Boarding by aerobridge rather than stairs! Guess aerobridges are cheaper to use in DMK….
Hot seats. Other than being at the first few rows and red headrests, there is nothing particular hot about these seats.
Again, prebooked our seats at row 24 E/F. Not wanting to risk the chance of being separated, especially since the flight was almost full! Boarding was quite smooth even though it was not done by rows.
Legroom. For once, I much preferred Jetstar's legroom!
At the gate.
With everyone onboard, doors were closed and we started out pushback without delay, especially with the lack of traffic at DMK. All female cabin crew today, with a flight time of 2h5m to SIN.
Pushback passing the Nemo NokAir plane.
Crew performing safety demo.
Starting our taxi.
Just had a short taxi to Rwy21R and took off, bound for Singapore. See all the stored aircraft at the other end of the airport.
Climbing
Interesting No use of handphone signage. Don't remember seeing this before.
Climbing
Leaving the coast.
The service announcement after takeoff was pre-recorded.
Overflying some islands off Pattaya?
Setting sun
Lets take a look at the onboard menu. Only on Thai AirAsia can you have a mango sticky rice inflight!
Service started, first with the distribution of immigration forms, followed by pre-ordered meals from a cart. Crew were tallying their meal manifest versus pax boarding chits prior to handing out the meals.
With the rather affordable prices for its inflight meals, we pre-booked 3 meals to share at 120baht each. Each meal came with a 100ml cup of water. The meals were prepared by a thai restaurant chain, See Fah.
Basil chicken with rice
A Thai favourite rice dish, as juicy chicken is stir-fried in a handful of spices and fresh sweet basil leaves are added at the end to give it a fragrant touch.
This was delicious! Chicken was tasty and spicy, and the accompanying rice was fragrant and fluffy. One of the best meals I had on AirAsia!
Dada's chicken with sticky rice
Thai style roasted chicken with delectable sticky rice served with Thai sweet mild chilli sauce
An interesting and tasty dish.
Roast chicken
This combo is most favoured for its flavour and texture as we marinate our chicken thigh in a special blend to further enhance its natural goodness. Served with a side of roasted potatoes, carrots,green beans and BBQ sauce for an all-around fulfilling meal.
This was just ok. I found it a tad too salty for my liking though.
After pre-booked meals were distributed, buy-on-board snacks/drinks were sold, Quite a number of takers. Guess with affordable prices, passengers would still be willing to spend onboard.
Duty-free goods and AirAsia merchandise were sold as well. After the trash were cleared, there was nothing much to do except entertaining myself with the view outside the window.
Avoiding storm clouds.
Sunset shortly before we start our descend.
View of the cabin. Lots of advertising on the overhead bins.
While approaching Changi, we made a detour around some fierce looking storm clouds. Also enjoyed a lightning show! Flight was still rather smooth as we were able to avoid the storm clouds altogether, although it added some minutes into out flying time.
Flaps down and approaching from the northeast.
Landing on Rwy 20R on schedule.
Taxiing to the gate.
Parked beside a QF B744.
