Thai Lion Air

Not Verified | Tokyo Narita to Bali. Be sure to pay for baggage when purchasing ticket. We did not, and tried using their website a day in advance of our flight. No luck with the website, we went to the airport in Bali 5 hours ahead of our flight to get our bags prepaid. That failed as well ... there office was closed. Once the counter opened we were hustled into paying 430 US dollars for two suitcases, the heaviest weighed in at 12 kilos. No supervisor to be found. Ruined the ending of what was a great trip. Thai lion Air customer service is the worst.

✅ Trip Verified | Krabi to Hanoi via Bangkok. Not bad at all. After reading reviews I was surprised. Paying for hold baggage was a pain and took a few phone calls but I managed. Paying at check-in is hugely expensive, which is common for budget airlines. Prepaying is much cheaper. Check in was fast and courteous. Boarding was no less manic than any other airline in Thailand. Flight was short and fine. As expected for an economy short flight. Bit of a Ryanair experience to be fair.

✅ Trip Verified | Kathmandu to Bangkok. This is a terrible airline to travel with. Please beware. This is the second time I am flying with Thai Lion Air and both times the flight was delayed. This time, it was delayed over 26 hours, and the boarding crew kept telling us that the plane was delayed for 2 hours, but we waited 11 hours at the airport. In the end the flight was cancelled and they put us up in a terrible hotel which did not even have hot water for a shower. They told us that we were going to leave in the morning, but in the end the flight was scheduled to leave at 2.15 pm and even then, the flight was delayed again. This is a terrible experience and I would not recommend anyone to fly with Thai Lion Air.

✅ Trip Verified | Denpasar to Bangkok. Our flight was perfect, check in was 5 minutes, departed on time, crew were polite, arrived on time. Plane was not super comfortable but was fine with sufficient leg space. Considering the flight cost us 100 dollars the trip was really good.

✅ Trip Verified | Bangkok to Krabi. A cheap way to fly around Asia, knowing that, I don’t think you will be too disappointed with the no leg room, no customer service, excessive charges on carry on and checked baggage. So make sure you have your carry on weighed before you head to airport. Then if you check any bag it’s very very expensive. Somehow I made changes (twice) to my ticket. And after the whole transaction went through, they said they didn’t accept US credit cards! In shock. But the hotel clerk went into the site where I bought the ticket and twice was able to input my cc information. Just be aware, it’s Thailand, low cost carrier.

Not Verified | Bangkok to Chiang Mai. Ridiculous policy on carry-on bags. If your bag weighs more than 7k you have to take items out of your bag and hold them. I ended up walking with my backpack, neck pillow, toiletry bag, running shoes and make up bag. It was so inconvenient that I just put my stuff back in my bag, but there was another scale at the gate before boarding so we had to go through the process again. When we got on the plane we stowed the carry on bags and just put all the extra items up in the overhead compartments, completely defeating the purpose of lightening our bags. Once seated my partner and I took out our lunches that we’d packed, only to be told that in fact, outside food isn’t allowed on the plane,there were no signs or announcements outlining this policy. We had to sneak bites of our food during the flight. When we landed the airline operated shuttle bus was broken and we had to stand in the isles (holding all of our items that had been pulled from our bags) for 25 minutes. Overall it was a pretty funny experience! Weird policies (attempt to make more money by charging baggage fees and making people buy food on the plane?) and one inconvenience after another!

✅ Trip Verified | Bangkok to Phuket. Flight was 25min late and changed time of my flight (still through thai lion) had to pay for my bag twice even though was still through same airline. (2 flights one from Chiang mai to Bangkok then Bangkok to Phuket) both same airline. I checked in online 24hrs before and paid for baggage but when I arrived to check, they told me it wasn’t paid for. The lady in Chiang Mai was able to find my reservation for checked bag but when I had to go to baggage claim go through airport again to go through same airline (made no sense) they couldn’t find my reservation for my bag so I spent 30min dealing with that and still had to pay again. Horrible experience.

✅ Trip Verified | Bangkok to Osaka. Again, confusion over check-in times. Email sent 24 hours before said open 4 hours before, web-site said 3 hours and screens at the airport showed a check-in row number more than 5 hours before. Approached the check-in desk, which then had almost no queues, to be told that check-in opened at 2 am - 3.5 hours before the flight. All this information is completely contradictory and confusing. Returned to the check-in desk at 2 am and checked in very quickly - no waiting at all. Seat numbers had been changed (again) from those booked and paid for (due to aircraft change) but staff very helpful in moving us to more appropriate seats. Why don’t they communicate with customers when pre-selected and paid for seats are changed? This would at least give customers the option of trying to amend their booking to choose different seats, or automatically refund the price paid. I lost money by buying 25kg of luggage when my bag actually weighed less than 22kg. It’s crazy to expect customers to be able to predict their bag weight to the nearest kilogram, so inevitably people presumably end up buying more than they need. An enlightened approach to customer service is needed here. How about automatically refunding unused pre-paid luggage, considering the lucrative revenue stream they must generate from charging people at check-in who have underpaid? Fast and smooth through immigration and security. The long bus journey to aircraft via Gate 1 - groan. On time departure and arrival, uneventful flight. (The flight was re-timed several months before departure from 04:30 departure to 05:20. This was communicated effectively by email but was annoying nonetheless). Overall, considering this and the previously-reviewed outward flight, I might use this airline again if the price was right. However, they have lots of issues with their website, booking system, communications and policies generally that - even for a budget airline - leave areas where improvements could be made. There is room in the market for a low-cost operator to also show that they care about their customers - a lot of initiatives are not expensive. The check-in staff who helped me with my seats today got close and made a good impression, but the company itself has much more to do.

✅ Trip Verified | Bangkok to Jakarta. No online check in possible, but the airport check in was smooth. Staff extremely lenient about grossly oversized hand luggage carried by many. Flight departed on time and arrived 15 minutes early. I was given an emergency row seat but could also find several empty rows on board, making for a comfy journey. Crew was courteous, only customs forms were not provided.

✅ Trip Verified | Osaka to Bangkok with Thai Lion Air. Original ticket booking was difficult, taking several attempts before the payment went through. Have to book baggage per exact kilogram, which is difficult to accurately predict months before the flight. Inevitably you end up buying more weight than you need and therefore overpaying. It would be better to have weight bands (e.g. 15 to 20kg, 20 to 25kg etc) like Air Asia and others do. Website said check in open 3 hours before departure. Email sent day before said 4 hours. Actually opened 2.5 hours before. Email suggested checking-in online, but website said this was “not possible for international flights.” Email was received 24 hours before flight and mentioned booking meals “up to 48 hours” before departure. So confusing and difficult to plan arrival time and other arrangements at the airport. Extremely slow check-in, with many passengers having baggage and other problems. Strict application of 7kg hand luggage policy. Payment for excess baggage in cash (JPY) only. Not a problem for me because I had pre-paid my baggage when I bought the ticket. Seat numbers changed even though seats had been selected and paid for when flight ticket purchased. Booked and paid for Row 12, reminder email said Row 3 and boarding pass said Row 20. Apparently this was connected to a change of aircraft in 3+3 seat formation (Boeing 737-800) - not what I had expected or was shown when I booked. I will request a refund for the fee I paid for the original seats. Flight on time. Smooth boarding etc. Plenty of empty seats so had three seats for two people. Free pastry and cup of water unexpectedly provided. Seats, service and other on-board issues satisfactory for a budget airline. Extremely quick out of DMK - no queues at passport control, short wait for luggage, no wait for taxi.