Review of Thai Lion Air flight Krabi Bangkok in Economy

Airline Thai Lion Air
Flight SL708
Class Economy
Seat 2A
Aircraft Boeing 737-900ER
Flight time 01:25
Take-off 04 Jan 23, 13:10
Arrival at 04 Jan 23, 14:35
SL 14 reviews
ThomasDutch
By SILVER 792
Published on 15th January 2023

Welcome back to my trip through Thailand.

Our christmas trip in Thailand was nearing the end and my wife and I had to reposition back to Bangkok. Krabi is well-connected to Bangkok with almost all carriers in Thailand, though we chose Thai Lion Air for this flight as it gave us the best departing time to Bangkok for a very fair price. The flight was booked with 20 KG baggage and a seat 20A, though I was bumped up the day earlier to Seat 2A as the aircraft was changed to a larger Boeing 737-900ER. 



A private taxi or Shared Minivan from Ao Nang are easily arranged the day prior to your departure via one of those many tourist stalls for 500 or 150 THB. Given that I received a promotion code that I had to use via Booking.com, I decided to book my private taxi for the very first time via Booking.com and received the details of my driver the day prior to the departure. The company informed me that a Toyota Camry would be used for our ride, so we were somewhat surprised when the driver turned out to be driving a Minivan.


photo 20230104_091146photo 20230104_091131

We told the driver to proceed to Terminal 2, which is used for domestic departures in Krabi, while Terminal 1 is being used for international departures. While Krabi isn't the largest airport, they do have a few seasonal intercontinental flights from Russia and the Scandinavian region.


photo 20230104_093638photo 20230104_093749photo 20230104_093758

Terminal 2 of Krabi is an old terminal, tend to be overcrowded with insufficient seating availabilty. Most passengers opted to wait in line for their check-in counter, while check-in wasn't even open.


photo 20230104_093859

We managed to grab a seat at the seating section as some counter went open and a lot of passengers moved to drop-off their bags.


photo 20230104_094021

Bored of sitting and we wanted to grab a bit in the restaurant downstairs as soon as possible as we didn't have any breakfast as if yet, we moved into the line for our flight. Soon after the photo below, the line was split into three lines for all kiosks and we dropped our luggage off within a matter of minutes.


photo 20230104_094305photo 20230104_094712

The only proper restaurant available within Terminal 2 is Immsook Restaurant, which is located on the ground floor. Not the best nor the cheapest, but it does provide you with a view over the apron.


photo 20230104_100012

It is nicely decorated by flowers and plants.


photo 20230104_100735

While waiting for our food, we had a view of this Airbus A320 of Thai Smile who was busy boarding for it's flight to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi.


photo 20230104_100810

By the time we were finished with our meal, the Thai Smile A320 was replaced by an Airbus A319 of Bangkok Airways.


photo 20230104_104301

After our meal with about an hour spare to departure, we went up again to the departure section. Security took about 5 minutes to clear and the first thing you'll see is a seating section that is reserved for C.I.Q. passengers who will be connecting on either Don Mueang or Suvarnabhumi to an international flight.


photo 20230104_104815

The seating section in Terminal 2 hall is limited and tends to be overcrowded with a lot of passengers blocking more than one seat by laying down on the seats. The terminal has a few shops and coffee shops.


photo 20230104_104936

We found a seat near the window which gave us a view of this A320 of Thai AirAsia being pushed back for it's departure to Bangkok Don Mueang.


photo 20230104_105036

The Boeing 787 of TUI Airways (UK) arrived from Stockholm who was performing this flight on behalf of TUI fly Nordic.


photo 20230104_112737

And the Bangkok Airways A319 from earlier was now departing to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi. 


photo 20230104_113252

With a delay of thirty minutes, our aircraft decided to show up. Our flight to Bangkok Don Mueang would be performed by HS-LTT, which is a 7.6 year old (at time of flying) Boeing 737-900ER who has solely been in service of Thai Lion Air and delivered to them in May 2015. It is also powered by two CFMI CFM56 engines.


photo 20230104_113405photo 20230104_113414photo 20230104_113441

About 20 minutes past our scheduled departure, boarding was called. Boarding was very slow and the aircraft was not ready yet.


photo 20230104_120013

The seat 2A came with excellent legroom as there is no true window seat on Seat 1A in Thai Lion's Boeing 737-900ER, but do mind that the seat width is not the most comfortable one given that the table is on the side of you.


photo 20230104_120657

The view of my seat.


photo 20230104_120711

The seat is also equipped with the newer individual airvents and the obvious reading light.


photo 20230104_121525

27 minutes past our scheduled departure, we were finally pushing back for our flight to Bangkok when this Airbus A320 of Thai AirAsia arrived from Chiang Mai. The exact same aircraft that brought us to Krabi from Chiang Mai too four days earlier.


photo 20230104_122112

You can clearly see the difference between the domestic terminal on the left and the large terminal building on the right. With so many gates available and limited international flights, the Boeing 787 of TUI was still parked at a remote stand to reduce parking fee's I assume. 


photo 20230104_122450

Lining up for Runway 14.


photo 20230104_122605

With a quick departure and an early left turn to be flying in the correct direction as soon as possible.


photo 20230104_122818

The Boeing 737-900ER's cabin.


photo 20230104_123107

With the missing seat in row 1, the two windows made it feel spacious, yet the seat's width was drastically reduced. Though if you fancy those legrooms, be sure to book seat 2A as the seat on 2F was blocked by a seat on row 1.


photo 20230104_123201

The safety card for your seat can be found in the seat of your neighbour and the conditions of them were rather poor as they've been used so much and never been replaced by a newer version.


photo 20230104_123237photo 20230104_123244photo 20230104_123251

About thirty minutes into the flight, the BoB service was engaged by one flight attendant, though not a lot of people made use of it. Unfortunately the cabin showed quite a lot of wear and wasn't properly cleaned in some spots.


photo 20230104_124949-64229

Somewhere above Thailand with a window that was full of scratches.


photo 20230104_130227

Landing was tough on 22R and would result in a total delay of just 10 minutes.


photo 20230104_133026

A right turn leaving the runway, I spotted this full-white Airbus A320 with no activities around it other than a semi-opened cargo door.


photo 20230104_133232

Another white aircraft was found a few parking spots further down the aircraft. HS-PGB is an ATR 72-500 that used to fly for Bangkok Airways. I've done a flight with this bird back in 2008 from Siem Reap to Pnomh Penh when Bangkok Airways used to do flights on behalf of Seam Reap Airways Int'l.


photo 20230104_133325

A few more parked birds.


photo 20230104_133349photo 20230104_133339

We parked next to a neiighbouring 737-900ER of Thai Lion.


photo 20230104_133457

Disembarkation followed soon and the huge advantage of being seated in front is that you'll be out of there in no time.


photo 20230104_133942

The disadvantage however is that you'll be waiting at the baggage claim for a bit.


photo 20230104_134324

Belt 11 was for our flight and it took about 10 minutes for our bags to be picked up.


photo 20230104_134408

After that my wife and I grabbed a taxi, which took about 35 minutes to arrange, to the Shangri-La hotel Bangkok.


photo 20230104_162556photo 20230104_162640photo 20230104_221420
See more

Verdict

Thai Lion Air

6.6/10
Cabin6.5
Cabin crew7.5
Entertainment/wifi7.0
Meal/catering5.5

Krabi - KBV

5.3/10
Efficiency6.0
Access5.5
Services4.0
Cleanliness5.5

Bangkok - DMK

7.0/10
Efficiency8.0
Access7.0
Services6.5
Cleanliness6.5

Conclusion

Thai Lionair brings you from A to B for a fair price. Despite the age of the plane, the cabin showed high signs of wear. Flight attendants however were friendly and active.

Information on the route Krabi (KBV) Bangkok (DMK)

Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 4 avis concernant 3 compagnies sur la ligne Krabi (KBV) → Bangkok (DMK).


Useful

La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est Nok Air avec 6.7/10.

La durée moyenne des vols est de 1 heures et 15 minutes.

  More information

4 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 619113 by
    NGO85 SILVER 1963 Comments
    Thanks Thomas for sharing this FR!

    Interesting to see a B737-900 outside of the US. What a bizarre seating configuration with only 2 seats in Row 1. They have a bulkhead, but still managed to squeeze in an additional row?
    • Comment 619524 by
      ThomasDutch SILVER AUTHOR 633 Comments
      There are a few operators with them in Asia and Europe, but yeah it's not a common bird to be found. I assume they squeezed an additional seat in it by removing a storage locker that was common to be there in the past years, though the seat width of my seat was unpleasant for many caucausian persons I assume.
  • Comment 619928 by
    KévinDC TEAM SILVER 6668 Comments
    Yikes, that's a tight config to have an extra row on seats that far up front! But if it's a good price, like you say, then it's perfectly fine to bring you from point A to B at a good value. If prices were the same though, I'm probably go with Air Asia over Lion for the wider seats on the Airbus family vs Boeing, seat pitch being the same tight 28-29" on both.

    Thanks for sharing!
    • Comment 619994 by
      ThomasDutch SILVER AUTHOR 633 Comments
      The seat pitch and condition of the aircraft are a lot to be desired indeed and you pay for what you get. The time we booked the flight, it was the cheapest option and the best timing for us, though despite FD being the best among the three to DMK, my preferred choice remains DD for flying to DMK 😅. Thanks for stopping by Kevin!

Login to post a comment.