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I have not flown AirAsia for many years, the last was back in 2019 also from Bangkok. AirAsia operates from Don Mueang, this used to be the Bangkok main airport before Suvarnabhumi, however accessibility to this airport isn’t as easy as Suvarnabhumi with the lack of direct transit options from the city centre, although it has improved significantly since my last trip.

I took the MRT to Bang Sue station, which was around 35 baht then a 5 minute walk to the grand station via the underground passage. There was signage to show you which way to go but it’s in Thai so it’s not super clear, but as long as you follow that big red arrow it will get you to the right place. Once you get to the grand station, there’s an information booth where the staff will direct you to where you need to go. I asked the staff how do I go to Don Mueang and she told me to go to the ticket counter, and I went there, got my ticket which was only 20 baht (capped by the government but unsure how long this will remain), and she told me to go to platform 3. There was also that big red arrow to show you the way to the platform. The train is very new and modern with cold AC, compared to the slow open air train that I took in 2019 which I remembered having to cross train tracks and walk on the street to get to the airport, now the new train station bypass the roads with the sky bridge and link all the way to the terminal.

I think this is so much easier compared to what I did in 2019 even though some people mentioned the confusion on the transit between the MRT station and grand station, also the lack of information to the platform and such. They have definitely improved on that front but it would be great if they also include some English language that tells tourists where to go for the Don Mueang train if they want more uses for this service, because even Thai people don’t seem to know about it when I ask my hotel staff how to get there with public transport which might be a lack of promotion from the government about this relatively new service, Google Maps will also not give you a good direction to take this service as it thinks you’ll have to walk 30 minutes to transit between the Bang Sue station and another 30 minutes from the airport train station to the terminal.

The Thai government will have to work with the maps providers to ensure that they are able to provide new and accurate information so that tourists as well as locals can find these new transit options, if they want people to utilise the network and reduce the reliance on cars and reduce road congestion.

CHECK IN

Days out from departure, I got an email from AirAsia asking me to do an upgrade to Hot Seat. Looking at the minimum price for the upgrade it’s starting at 543 thai bhat (NZ$28) which is not a small amount, given that I didn’t pay a lot for this flight in the first place. The only perk you’ll get is the 1st row or emergency row seats, and priority boarding. I don’t find that to be a particular good value unless they throw in a lounge access pass and possibly priority baggage handling/fast track as well.

There are several self check in kiosks dotted all across the terminal. I thought it would print out my bag tag but it only gave me a boarding pass, so I had to still go to the check in desk to get it sorted. There wasn’t a very long queue and the staff who served me was really nice.

The security line however was fairly long so I would highly recommend heading through security as soon as possible.

BOARDING

Our flight didn’t get into the gate until half an hour before our departure, even though the boarding pass stated that we have to be at the gate 40 minutes prior. About 15 minutes prior to departure we started boarding, with 3 boarding groups starting with group 1 which is for the hot seat passengers. Group 2 are the back half of the aircraft and Group 3 are the front half of the aircraft. I think the aircraft did come in a bit late so we did push back a little bit behind schedule.

When I got to my row, I found someone already sitting on my seat. The 3 women are friends I think and they just decided that they will take the row with complete disregard of their assign seating. I took one of their seat 15D instead of my actual seat 15A. Moments later a crew came by and she said I could take my assigned seat if I wanted to, I have already settled down on this seat so I couldn’t be bothered moving again, plus it worked out pretty well in the end. There was no one sitting in the middle seat and the window seat was a monk so he was quiet the whole ride and I could still film out the window without squeezing with a bunch of yapping bitches.

FLIGHT

The service started about 15 minutes after departure. Browsing through the extensive menu, it was very impressive to say the least but I doubt they actually load most of those items on board, so pre-booking is essential if you’re planning to eat on board.

I was initially going for just a yuzu soda drink but then I overheard the announcement about their cheesecake and this doesn’t really make any sense, because their drink itself cost 90 baht, the cheesecake itself is 80 baht, but if you make a combo cheesecake with a drink, it’s 100 baht. So it’s a no brainer that I wouldn’t add an extra 10 baht (NZ$0.50) for a cheesecake.

The cheesecake was small but it was creamy and thick, very filling even with its small size. The taste was really good and for such a short flight, it is definitely a perfect snack. I would highly recommend it if you get to fly on AirAsia. One negative point is the lack of card payment option, unlike Jetstar where they do accept card/contactless payment, AirAsia will only accept cash, you can pay with a foreign currency such as USD but I doubt that they will change back in USD, so you’ll end up paying an inflated price.

As for the seat itself, it’s very minimal as you would expect on a low cost carrier. The leg room is terrible but tolerable for an hour flight, the padding is much better though comparing to newer products where they use thin padding which lacks support.

The crew service attitude were ok, but I wouldn’t even go as far as saying they are on the higher end of the good scale, so not bad either which is acceptable for an airline that is under a low cost branding.

CONCLUSION

If AirAsia can offer a competitive price for the route, I think that it is still a strong competitor with its strongest suit being the wide selection of food and beverages offering, although they are unlikely going to stock all of them so pre-booking is essential. I would highly recommend the cheesecake combo as that’s the best value and also the cheesecake is yum 😋.

The legroom does lack significantly but the good padding does make it more tolerable for 1-2 hours flight time, even more so when there’s an empty middle seat.

If you’re flying in/out of Bangkok, you’ll more than likely be going through Don Mueang which is not a very accessible airport in comparison to Suvarnabhumi airport, it took me a little more than an hour from Terminal 21 which is more or less the middle of Bangkok city centre to Don Mueang, with 1 transit at Bang Sue, with the total cost of travel was only around 55 baht (less than NZ$3), if you need to travel further or take the sky train then your cost would increase but it’s an affordable and relatively easy way to travel there in comparison to years prior. Not many people know about using public transit to get to Don Mueang so you’ll need to do some research online before attempting it, otherwise you may get lost with the lack of signage. I wouldn’t recommend it if you have to transit between the 2 airports, while they do provide shuttle service between the 2 airports with the heavy traffic in Bangkok it could take a long time to get there which is going to add additional stress and prolong your travel time.