Review of Bhutan Airlines flight from Kolkata to Bangkok in Business

BTN

B3 - Bhutan Airlines

Flight taken on 08 August 2024
B3700
12:15 02h 19m 16:04
Model Airbus A319
Class Business
Seat 3F
VM
1,576 · 109 · 12 · 22

I'm proud to present Flight-Report's very first review of Bhutan Airlines/Tashi Air!


Background


I hadn't been expecting to fly again for a few months but because of a family emergency I ended up flying to Australia less than two weeks after getting to Kolkata. There was a lot of frantic last minute searching for flights and in the end this flight to Bangkok was chosen as the first of four flights on this trip. This is the only daytime flight between Kolkata and Bangkok, with IndiGo and THAI's, as well as Thai AirAsia's service to DMK, all in the middle of the night. SpiceJet used to also have a service on this route but it was cut.
This flight operates as a stop on the way from Paro to Bangkok. Both Bhutan Airlines and Drukair Royal Bhutan Airlines don't fly many nonstop flights to southeast Asia - Bhutan Airlines flies to Bangkok via Kolkata, and Drukair flies there via Dhaka and Bagodogra (they do also fly nonstop), plus a Paro-Guwahati-Singapore service.
In January I'd taken this flight in the opposite direction so it wasn't as exciting as the first time, but it's always interesting to take unique flights like this.
The flight cost around ₹12.5k/$150 booked through MakeMyTrip - it was sold out on the Bhutan Airline website but was available on other sites strangely. The flight was booked in economy of course, more on that later.


Flight routing

  • 1
    CCU-BKK Bhutan Airlines A319
  • 2
    BKK-PER THAI Airways International 787-8
  • 3
    PER-BKK THAI Airways International 787-8
  • 4
    BKK-CCU Bhutan Airlines A319

Kolkata Airport & Aircraft


When driving up to Kolkata Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, there are some nice gardens in front with a massive Indian flag and an aircraft model.





The sign outside the terminal is very outdated… it still has SilkAir and Cathay Dragon, plus old designs for Air India, Air India Express, and Biman Bangladesh Airlines.


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There wasn't much of a line at check-in since it was pretty late.


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CCU has a lot of interesting designs on the ceiling, I have no idea what they're supposed to be.


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Now… at check-in, they offered a free upgrade to business class! I've never had something like this happen before so it was really exciting!

There also wasn't any line at immigration or security, so everything was going really well. The only issue was that security took a very long time since they were inspecting just about every bag.


Today's aircraft is A5-RIM, one of the two A319s that make up Bhutan Airlines' fleet. Named, "Rimp" (I'm not sure what that means) it's 14.4 years old and has flown for Mexicana and Frontier.


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Literally not a single interesting aircraft around other than ours.


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Oh, there is this Alliance Air wreck of a plane.


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You can see a few aircraft in the reflection.


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Boarding & Seat


I didn't get to board first or anything, they didn't even make a boarding announcement. There was another security check on the jetbridge, just a quick bag inspection. They said it was because of the independence day celebrations coming up in India on August 15th.


Look at the size of those seats…


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There was a pillow on every seat.


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Pretty big seatback pockets too.


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Loooots of legroom.


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There's a footrest as well.


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Bhutan Airlines has a very interesting logo.


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Hooks at the end of the business cabin.


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Individual lights and vents. No charging ports though.


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Tray tables of course extend from the armrest.


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The seatback pocket contains a safety card, a magazine, and another shopping magazine.


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There are newspapers available at the front of the cabin, and a nice picture of the Tiger's Nest monastery as well.


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Let's have a look at the aircraft on the ground here in CCU as we push back. Some highlights include US-Bangla Airline ATR-72s heading to Dhaka and Chittagong, an IndiGo A321neo in the air, some private jet, and and while not aircraft, some old Jet Airways buses. The pictures refuse to go in order unfortunately.





And, while a bit delayed, we were off!





Meal


The tray tables were very adjustable, you could move them back and forth quite a bit.


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Before the meal started, I had a quick look at the magazine. You know an airline's small when all their flights for the week fit on one page!


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I also had a very quick look at the newspaper, it was cool having them available on the plane.


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Soon the crew came around and put tableclothes over the tray tables.


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Now… I had ordered a special meal before the flight, obviously not knowing that I would get an upgrade. So the meal was just a regular economy special meal. The business meal seemed to be pretty similar, although it also had bread and maybe one more side, it all came on one tray. They also got metal cutlery.


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The FAs came around with beverages, and I got a mango juice, it was really good.


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It may have been an economy meal but it was really good.


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IFE & in-flight


On my last flight with Bhutan Airlines in January, the streaming IFE hadn't worked, but it did on this flight.


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They had a decent selection of movies, games, shows, music, etc. Considering how this is one of their longest flights, and there wasn't even enough time to finish one movie after the meal service was over, they have more than enough content.


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The bathroom was nice, they had some flowers (I assume they were fake) there and lots of wipes.


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The crew were nice but my main issue with the flight was that they never offered warm beverages or had a second beverage service. That said, I called to request another mango juice and they came within seconds.


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Arrival and Suvarnabhumi Airport


As we were getting closer, I happened to look out the window and saw a very strange sight. In some random town on the outskirts of Bangkok, there was a TG-liveried aircraft, I think a 777, parked. Does anyone know why it's there?


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Shortly before arrival the crew came around with warm towels, kind of a strange time for them since airlines usually give them out at the beginning of the flight, but it was still a nice touch.


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Getting closer to arrival…





The long, long, LONG, line of parked TG aircraft.


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Including an interesting special livery on one small 777.


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Welcome to Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi!


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A pair each of Thai AirAsia X and Turkish aircraft (why does TK have two aircraft in the ground in BKK at the same time?) and one Austrian.


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Emirates A380 in the distance.


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Another line of TG widebodies, these ones active.


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There was a bit of a wait for a gate (or remote stand in our case), and we were passed by arriving aircraft belonging to Thai VietJet Air, Bangkok Airways, and Biman Bangladesh Airlines.


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Looks like a temple in the background.


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And some beautiful THAI A350s.


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Plus a Cathay Pacific A330.


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And we arrived, parked amongst local aircraft.





Last views of our aircraft.


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There were a couple of special vans for business class passengers. which were great for planespotting. At one point we turned around and drove back the way we came, perhaps for better views of the EL AL Israel Airlines, Gulf Air, EVA Air, Malaysia Airlines, and ANA aircraft? There were truly a lot of interesting planes.
These pictures also refuse to go in order!





Immigration was amazing, it took barely a few minutes compared to an hour+ in January. It's great to see that BKK has fixed their immigration line issues.


Interestingly the screen at the baggage claim only showed Paro and not Kolkata. Bags also took a while to arrive.


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Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this site's first Bhutan Airlines FR!

Display all

Product ratings

Airline

Bhutan Airlines 8.1

  • Cabin8.5 / 10
  • Cabin crew8.0 / 10
  • Entertainment/wifi7.5 / 10
  • Meal/catering8.5 / 10
Departure airport

Kolkata - CCU7.6

  • Efficiency8.0 / 10
  • Access7.5 / 10
  • Services7.5 / 10
  • Cleanliness7.5 / 10
Arrival Airport

Bangkok - BKK8.5

  • Efficiency9.0 / 10
  • Access8.5 / 10
  • Services8.0 / 10
  • Cleanliness8.5 / 10

Conclusion

Overall a great flight with Bhutan Airlines. The free business upgrade alone made it amazing, but even the economy meal was excellent and the IFE was a pleasant surprise. The crew weren't as friendly as my last B3 flight (even though that one was in economy) but they were still very nice. My only issue, and it's a very minor one, was no second beverage service but that really wasn't a big deal considering how nice the rest of the flight was.
A big thank you to Bhutan Airlines for the upgrade!

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Comments (12)

  • Wow, how cool to see a review on Bhutan Airlines! After a recent Druk Air review, it's cool to be able to compare. While the cabin is definitely older, it looks super comfortable and your special meal from Economy honestly doesn't look out of place in short-haul business class, except maybe it would be served on china with real silverware. Very cool to see that, like Druk Air, Bhutan Airlines also have streaming in-flight entertainment.

    Thanks for sharing the first review on Bhutan Airlines on the site!

    • Yep, it was quite an old cabin but comfortable enough especially for the short flights that they operate. That's a good point about the meal, and really the business one wasn't that much fancier. I wasn't expecting the IFE to work, but it surprisingly did.

      I haven't flown Drukair but I think it's meant to be better, hopefully I can fly them soon.

  • Congrats on the first B3 review! Not too bad!

  • Hi, really, really cool to see a report on Bhutan Airlines, I would have loved to have flown them during my time there.

    150 booked through MakeMyTrip

    What a steal this is! From the sound of it, it seems that Bhutan Airlines is a bit cheaper than Drukair.

    they offered a free upgrade to business class

    I wonder why this was. Heck, though, defo not anything to complain about, haha; props to Bhutan Airlines for giving you the free bump!

    why does TK have two aircraft in the ground in BKK at the same time?

    They are practicing TG’ing😅, if you want to truly learn an art, you have to go where it was born!

    The seats look so beautiful. While they do look old it feels very “Bhutan-esque” (if that’s a word). The nice decoration on the pillow and the picture of Tigers Nest! Wow! I love the cabin design. The meal looks delicious as well, having them keep your special meal from economy is fantastic. As Kevin mentioned, this definitiely could pass as a J meal if it was plated a bit better. Interesting to see no hot towel service in J or warm beverages. A tad confusing.

    Thanks for sharing the first look at B3, really nice read!

    • haha that must be it, no other explanation

      TK 64 and TK 68 both arrived mid-day and don't return to IST until late at night

      • Yeah, it's strange how they schedule two flights within a few minutes of each other and have the planes sitting on the ground in BKK for so long. I guess there wouldn't be enough connections available if TK65 returned earlier.

  • What a steal this is!

    Their normal price is actually $135, definitely cheaper than Drukair from IXB/DAC and often cheaper than TG or 6E even on this route, only FD is consistently cheaper.

    I wonder why this was.

    I think they were overbooked in economy! It was great!

    They are practicing TG’ing

    haha that must be it, no other explanation

    It was definitely old but nice and very Bhutanese, and the meal was great. The hot towels came before landing which was strange indeed.

    Thanks for reading!

  • Thanks for sharing this look at B3. Always good to get an op-up even if it was only the seat. No lounge access offered in CCU I assume?

    Look at the size of those seats…

    Those old large brown leather seats give off old JL F vibes, in a good way. I'm guessing these are the original seats from when they launched in 2011 and they have just been reusing them across different aircraft? Meal looks excellent for a 2h flight in Y, they didn't use real glassware for drinks in J?

    You know an airline's small when all their flights for the week fit on one page!

    Interesting to see how they route their 2 planes everyday and I guess the 8-10h shift they operate aligns with the crew shift.

    • I'm not sure about the lounge to be honest, there is a lounge in CCU but I don't think B3 passengers have access to it, anyway there wouldn't have been enough time.

      B3 only got the plane in 2018 and I doubt they're refurbished it since then, might be the same seats that Mexicana had from 2010. No, I think the drink cart just came up from Y, regular Y cups. There was metal cutlery with the J meals though.

      It's actually impressive how much they manage to fly with such a tiny fleet. But it would be a huge disaster if one of the planes couldn't fly for a couple of days.

      Thanks for reading!

  • I had never heard of this airline before, I wouldnt have guessed a country that small had more than 1 airline!

    The seats look huge indeed, like lounge sofas!

    Catering seems better than what you would get on other parts of the world in biz.

    Thanks for sharing!

    • Yeah, both of them are very small but there are two of them.

      The seats are old, but massive and comfortable. And the meal was great for an economy meal, definitely comparable to US First meals.

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