Airasia or Lionair, which is better and why?

[bob_ny]

I'm traveling from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and would like to get an idea of which airline to choose.

 

It seems that Airasia charges for baggage and Lionair has free baggage with weight restrictions.

 

I've read online reviews from very angry passengers of Lionair because of constant cancellations but not sure if that applies to this flight. They seem to run these hour and a quarter flights as a shuttle. Plenty of flights one after another.

 

Any insights from experienced and seasoned travelers of this route would be appreciated.

[cockandballs]

Nok air fly this route too. Free baggage

 

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[bob_ny]

Nok air fly this route too. Free baggage

 

Sent from my R7plusf using Tapatalk

Thanks.

 

Did you have good experience with them?

[jerry]

What's 'free baggage' if the price for a flight is 500Bht higher ... ? 

 

IMO Air Asia still the best organized airline . There must be a reason they're

chosen best budget airline for 7 consecutive years already . 

[iluvasians/latins]

Bangkok Airways is good and cheap. It's just an hour flight...........

[Wolf Cat]

Air Asia's carry on luggage is free but if you book online with them they try to sneak in the extras, insurance, choosing your seat, etc.

 

I've flown all three inside Thailand, Air Asia, Nok Air and Lion Air, all fine for me, but when booking online, read all the small print.  Domestic flights inside LOS aren't long anyways.

[HimBadMan]

Air Asia. When flying domestically in Thai , I always look at how many flights that airline has to my destination a day.. Just incase delays, mechanical issues etc, I can count on air Asia due to fleet size and # of flights to my destination. My holiday time is limited cannot afford to be delayed for more than a few hours

[dave01]

I have flown with most Thai airlines...  For me AA is the last card in the deck...  Mainly because of the shambolic check in at Don Muang... Leave me out of AA

For me, NOK is the choice.  Usually a decent price and reliable. Bangkok Airways are very good, but most times, you do pay a premium price.

[LTGTR]

Air Asia's carry on luggage is free but if you book online with them they try to sneak in the extras, insurance, choosing your seat, etc.

 

I've flown all three inside Thailand, Air Asia, Nok Air and Lion Air, all fine for me, but when booking online, read all the small print.  Domestic flights inside LOS aren't long anyways.

 

The only things they "sneak" in are insurance.But 2 clicks and that's gone. And baggage.1 click and its gone. The remainder is a la carte.But like you said, seats and meals are kind of crazy for a hour flight. It's so funny when they have their weekly fare sales and your free seat ends up $75. I did get Singapore to U-Tapao with meal, 20kg baggage and  row 6 seat for $74 for Feb.Just over 2 hours.

[LTGTR]

I have flown with most Thai airlines...  For me AA is the last card in the deck...  Mainly because of the shambolic check in at Don Muang... Leave me out of AA

 

For me, NOK is the choice.  Usually a decent price and reliable. Bangkok Airways are very good, but most times, you do pay a premium price.

 

Bangkok Air fare from BKK to Phnom Penh is competitive with Air Asia. I comes down to flight times and airport preference.

[semi-retired member]

Thai Lion Air are better, because of the free 15-kg baggage-allowance.

 

They have fewer aircraft than Air Asia Thailand, but operate far fewer routes, so I don't think reliability is a problem, I've had a couple of 2-4-hour-late flights on AAT, but none as-yet on TLA, just one person's experience.

 

Both are much-of-a-muchness, good modern aircraft with dense-seating, and low prices (if booked in a Sale).

[sang som mick]

Bangkok Air  20 kgm luggage included , join their

 

frequent flyer program { free } and u get 10 kgs extra .

 

Also they have a lounge for economy passengers at most airports

[kd_traveller]

If you travel with baggage, I have frequently found that Bangkok Air to be as cheap as or even cheaper than other airlines on internal flights when they fly routes that other airlines fly when you add in all the 'extras' other airlines charge for.  

 

On the Samui route where they more or less have the monopoly  (they own Samui airport) they are expensive!

 

If the is little or no price difference I would always chose Bangkok Air, access to their lounge for all travellers, flying from Suvarnabhumi and I have managed a free few flights from them with their points program as they have at least one annual sale where redemption flights are discounted, one sale discounted flights by up to 70%! 

[Roadglide]

Any suggestions for flying BKK- Chiang Mai - Utappo.

[LTGTR]

Any suggestions for flying BKK- Chiang Mai - Utappo.

 

Flights to U-Tapao are very limited to/from any destination.-9-10 per day. From Chang Mai,there are 2 flights per day-1 on Thai Air Asia and the other on Kan Air. http://www.flightstats.com/go/FlightStatus/flightStatusByAirport.do

[bob_ny]

Thanks guys for all the info.

 

I went with thai lion air. Just missed their Christmas deals tho.

 

I went with their website because it was easier to pick the exact times I wanted coming and going. Kayak had already chosen the RT pairings.

 

RT from their site cost $59 compared to $69 on kayak.

 

I'll follow up with how things work out including my impression of DMK compared to BKK. I think last time I used DMK was 9 or 10 years ago when it was the only option.

 

Since baggage limit is 15kg I think I might try to find a place to stash some of my goods in Bangkok while I travel to chiang mai.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm thinking about leaving them at the hotel I'll be staying at on my return if they do that. Or just pay the overage fees if it's close to what it costs to store it in Bangkok.

[bob_ny]

So here's some feedback from my experience using thai lion air from Bkk to chiang Mai.

 

Flight took off and landed so it was a success.

 

Long line at check in Bangkok. They did pull me off line when my time for flight was getting close so they gave good sense.

 

Their weight limit was no problem for me as I brought along a small baggage scale. Great invention that I recommend to everyone traveling these days. Their limit for checked bags is 15 kg free. Going over limit will cost you possibly double the cost of the flight. My RT to chiang Mai cost me less than $59 U.S. So the $10 for the scale was a worthwhile investment. The scale also eliminated one less thing to stress out about while traveling.

 

The carry on bag can be a problem. From what I read, the normal carry on is oversized for this airline. I didn't test it so I'm not sure if that's true. Instead, I used a small backpack. That needed to limit at 7 kg. I don't recall them weighing the carry on.

 

The flight there was delayed about 30 minutes but took off and landed safely. I got a soft drink and Oreo cookie for free. Nice young flight attendants too.

 

I would use again.

[bob_ny]

Also, if anyone is interested, I left a bag of stuff with the hotel I checked out of in Bangkok. No problem. The bell captain advised not to leave anything other than clothing or personal stuff, meaning DO NOT LEAVE YOUR COMPUTERS AND PERIPHERALS in you bag. Phones, tablets, hard drives, etc.

 

Got it all back no problem 2 weeks later.

[jlo19]

I've traveled with both airlines and didn't see any difference service wise. I prefer lion air because of 15kg free check in bag allowance.

[passport220]

^I regularly travel AirAisa.  With one free carry-on and one personal item (like a laptop) you can take two 7kg carry on bags with out charge on AA.  Take the laptop out of the bag when I am checking in, put the two cell phones, PSP, pad lock, etc in my pockets to keep the weight down.  It depends on the airport but they don't really check in less your bag really looks out of order.  If your bag has wheels, it will likely get weighed.  

 

14kg plus a laptop, phone, etc is plenty to travel with and carry around if you plan on being active, changing hotels, ridding a motorbike with your bags, a Thai girl and her stuff,  hopping on to ferries, etc.

 

Don Muneg airport check-in does suck but if you have carry on only, you can just use the self-check in keisok.  Seat assignment does not matter for a short flight on longer flights, 3+ hours, it is worth it to pay a few extra dollars for an "upgraded" seat.

[par47]

Does it really matter for a 40 minute flight?? What's your main concern, seat comfort, leg room, movies, meal....?

 

Just go with whoever has the best price and flight times.

[bob_ny]

^I regularly travel AirAisa. With one free carry-on and one personal item (like a laptop) you can take two 7kg carry on bags with out charge on AA. Take the laptop out of the bag when I am checking in, put the two cell phones, PSP, pad lock, etc in my pockets to keep the weight down. It depends on the airport but they don't really check in less your bag really looks out of order. If your bag has wheels, it will likely get weighed.

 

14kg plus a laptop, phone, etc is plenty to travel with and carry around if you plan on being active, changing hotels, ridding a motorbike with your bags, a Thai girl and her stuff, hopping on to ferries, etc.

 

Don Muneg airport check-in does suck but if you have carry on only, you can just use the self-check in keisok. Seat assignment does not matter for a short flight on longer flights, 3+ hours, it is worth it to pay a few extra dollars for an "upgraded" seat.

Thai lion allowed a personal bag and a carry on bag as well. They also have 7 kg limit but didn't weigh my bags at either DMK or Chiang Mai.

 

They did have what I thought was small dimension requirements for the carry on bag. I don't think the normal carry on bag meets their dimensions and that's why I used a backpack. When I googled the dimensions with the term baggage backpack images came up.

 

So Thai lion also allowed a bag and personal item bag(computer) and 7 kg was the limit. And they also had free 15kg cargo baggage.

 

It's just important from what I read on the reviews to not go over the weight limit because they have reputation for being strict and expensive if you're overweight.

[bob_ny]

Does it really matter for a 40 minute flight?? What's your main concern, seat comfort, leg room, movies, meal....?

 

Just go with whoever has the best price and flight times.

That's the way I approached my decision as well, but if you're bringing a bit of baggage with you, it needs to be considered to figure out what is your best option.

 

Excess baggage weight can easily double the cost of your ticket depending on your airlines policy.

[passport220]

I am taking side trips to Koh Phangan, Indonesia, Malaysia, two trips to the Philippines with additional domestic flights within the Philippines. All on AirAsia except one flight on Cebu Pacific.  I could end up paying more in bag charges then I would like so I am on the explorer, travel light program this trip. I carry one 18" backpack/laptop bag and one 18" gym bag. They have one extra check at the Davao, Philippines airport, that is the only place so far I have had one bag weighed.  I actually segregate a couple of old work out t-shirts and shorts that I would toss out if I had to so I can be within limit.

 

I never tried Thai Lion but to have the checked bag privilege would be nice as you don't have to worry about the carry-on security criteria and checks.  They took away my 170ml bottle of Thai green chili seafood sauce I tried to sneak through to bring to a friend in the Phills at Swampy for my Cebu Pacific flight.  Grrrrr

 

This is the bag dimensions limits for AirAsia (22 x 14.2 x 9.1 in inches):

[bob_ny]

I am taking side trips to Koh Phangan, Indonesia, Malaysia, two trips to the Philippines with additional domestic flights within the Philippines. All on AirAsia except one flight on Cebu Pacific. I could end up paying more in bag charges then I would like so I am on the explorer, travel light program this trip. I carry one 18" backpack/laptop bag and one 18" gym bag. They have one extra check at the Davao, Philippines airport, that is the only place so far I have had one bag weighed. I actually segregate a couple of old work out t-shirts and shorts that I would toss out if I had to so I can be within limit.

 

I never tried Thai Lion but to have the checked bag privilege would be nice as you don't have to worry about the carry-on security criteria and checks. They took away my 170ml bottle of Thai green chili seafood sauce I tried to sneak through to bring to a friend in the Phills at Swampy for my Cebu Pacific flight. Grrrrr

 

This is the bag dimensions limits for AirAsia (22 x 14.2 x 9.1 in inches):

The carryon dimensions for thai lion are a bit smaller than that, at 40 cm X 30 cm X 20 cm

 

Get one of those baggage scales which I found to be a stress reliever. Worth the $10 fee. Found it on amazon.