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Sky Angkor (formerly Skywings Asia Airlines) is a joint venture airline between Cambodian and Korean investors heavily focusing on Korean markets. This Cambodian airline has its main base in Siem Reap and second base in Phnom Penh, they operated their first inaugural flight in 2011 in a McDonnell Douglas MD-83 before getting their first A320 during the same year. Right now their fleet consist of A320, A321 and A320neo, with 6 aircraft currently in operation. They are operating to 3 countries which are South Korea, China and Thailand, I will be flying a return leg between Bangkok and Phnom Penh.

BANGKOK – PHNOM PENH

CHECK IN

There was a bit of a queue to get checked in but it wasn’t too bad. I asked for a window seat and got assigned 30A, which is the last row of the left side of the cabin. This ended up being a “windowless window seat”. When queuing up there was a guy who was tailgating me which was annoying, I don’t understand why people find the need to be following you so closely, this will be a trend for the remainder of the flight.

FLIGHT

Boarding started around 45-50 minutes prior to departure which was earlier than I would have expected, we ended up pushing back around 30 minutes prior to departure which was good if no one got left behind, but there was no announcement or anything other than the departure board by the gate showing last call around 40 minutes prior to departure when I got to the gate after having my breakfast.

During boarding, while standing in the aisle waiting for passengers to store their bags, another guy standing behind me was also standing really close to me to the point that he kept bumping into my bag. I was not in the mood at that point so I turned around to tell him to back off, it doesn’t speed up the boarding process by pushing people around so there’s no need for that. I don’t get the mentality behind it and also often around these parts of the world the queue is more of a suggestion and people tend to walk right to the front without a care in the world.

The flight made up a majority of what seems to be mainland Chinese passengers. The guy in front of me was talking loudly on his phone before pushback and the others in his row were a bit rowdy. During touchdown, the plane bounced and the passenger on 29D stood up, I don’t see how that’s possible if the seat belt were fastened correctly, it was not only a hazard to himself, he was putting other passengers at risks by pulling a stunt like that. If the plane were to skid off the runway, he could very possibly fly all over the cabin injuring multiple other passengers. It was highly irresponsible of that passenger and I’m unsure whether the crew failed to do their checks properly or that the passenger loosen their belt after the checks were done. After the seat belt sign went off, those same passengers were running up to the front of the cabin, I’m not sure what that will achieve as they still have to wait for the door to open to deplane, and they might save up to a minute.

The service attitude of the crew were apparent from the moment I got on board. There was no smile and no greetings, during the drinks service, that was the same attitude with minimal effort. As they were collecting the empty cups, the crew totally overlooked my row and walked straight back to the galley. When they were doing the landing checks, all I was told is to put my tray table up despite my empty cup was sitting there, they didn’t ask or offer to take it away. All the crew walked up and down the aisle for 3-4 times and not one of them pay enough attention to me that I can give my cup away, until the very last walk where a crew looked at me 1 second extra that I got their attention to give my cup to them. That was a very poor service attitude to have and minimal effort put in for their job.

This whole flight felt more like a circus act more than anything, rowdy passengers and uninterested crew, I was coming out of that flight confused, concerned and disappointed.

PHNOM PENH – BANGKOK

CHECK IN

There was a short queue to check in, but it didn’t take more than a few minutes to get to me. The ground staff who served me was very nice, but I couldn’t say the same for her colleague who was giving the “look and attitude” that she wasn’t interested in her job.

FLIGHT

Today I got assigned 25F, at least it’s a window seat this time. Row 20-30 were called to board first, and I was quick enough to get to the counter that I was the first to board. At least this time the boarding was more in line with the scheduled departure time unlike when I took the flight from Bangkok.

During boarding, all the crew were smiling and welcoming, which is a good sign that this will be a much better flight than the one I came from, and that this is also not an airline culture issue comparing to the previous flight where all the crew were cold and unenthusiastic about their job.

We departed on schedule this time which is good that they are sticking to the schedule at least, not like a 30 minute early departure which was a bit overkill, I could understand if it’s 10 minutes since most passengers should be by the gate around 15-20 minutes prior to departure.

The middle seat was empty so this flight is going to be more comfortable than the last, the guy sitting on 25D seems to be mainland Chinese as well, when he settled on his seat and saw me vlogging, he started calling people and showing them that I was vlogging, and also talking loudly on the phone, so rowdy passengers seems to be a norm here with the high number of mainland Chinese passengers.

During the drink service, I got myself a cup of green tea? That’s what I was told the last flight so I assumed that’s what it is, it definitely doesn’t taste like normal black tea. The drinks selection seems to be the same as the last flight, with a choice of coffee, tea, orange juice, Coca Cola or water.

I was able to confirm that none of the seats on board can be reclined, for the relatively short flight that they operate it is tolerable, the furthest flight they have on their network is probably China or South Korea, which would be about 2-3 hours I would assume. The legroom was also fairly decent so there’s a bit of compromise on it.

The state of this particular aircraft could do some work as well, the seat back and wall were splattered with stains which means they didn’t do any cleaning (or attentive cleaning if they did) between turnover or even overnight. The lighting strip cover was also looking a bit gross with some weird stains on them, I’m not quite sure how they got there or what exactly it is, since I don’t presume coffee can be poured on it.

The rest of the flight was pretty uneventful which is the best you can expect for a flight, unless you’re a thrill seeker of course 😂 After landing during taxi to the gate, a passenger started walking to the lavatory which they made an announcement telling the passengers to stay in their seat. I’m not sure why they did not enforce that rule, plane can still brake suddenly while taxiing which is a hazard for the passengers (or could also potentially slam into another passenger while walking on the aisle), the crew should have instructed the passenger to stay in the seat until the aircraft come to a stop at the gate.

CONCLUSION

Sky Angkor has its good and bad, with a large majority of its customer base being mainland Chinese, you’ll bound to experience some rowdiness among the passengers, that is not something that the airline or crew can control, at least not unless they break the law or cause issues with other passengers or safety of the aircraft.

The crew service attitude are a mix bag, while the outbound flight was nothing to praise for, the return flight was what we typically expect from the crew, with a smile and a good service attitude. While this means it’s not a wider cultural issue within the airline, there’s definitely more that could be done to improve if the airline intends to showcase their excellent service and hospitality.

If you’re willing to overlook the mixed service attitude, the lack of recline comfort, and minimal drinks offering, they do offer a competitive pricing at least for this flight and a generous 40kg checked luggage allowance. For a short flight such as this, I would say luggage allowance take precedence over most of the other things, given other low cost carriers would charge an arm and a leg for adding luggage allowance, it makes this an appealing option.

The bigger concern I have that is seemingly lacking is when it comes to passenger safety. Both flights I have seen some very concerning behaviors, while the first flight it may be entirely the passenger’s fault but the second is definitely something the crew could control. But their lackluster approach to passenger safety open up a perception to passengers and potential passengers that they don’t take safety seriously so they will do things that are more and more unsafe, and you do not want that for your airline, if you are willing to overlook such simple safety procedure, what other things are you overlooking like maintenance.