Air Bagan

RGN-SNW. Quick boarding with allocated seating for 45 minute flight in ATR72 to Ngapali Beach. Good safety briefing before time take off and light snack and drink en route. Pleasant FA's smooth flight and great landing over the surf and through the palm trees to this small exRAF WW11 strip on the Bay of Bengal. Luggage is delivered by handcart to the entrance gates-expect to pay 500kyat per piece.

Flew 2 internal flights in Burma with this local airline. Surprisingly new plane pretty much on time and with very pleasant crews. Also served a good snack gave out towels although flights were only about 45 minutes. Was a bit reticent about using them but very pleasantly surprised.

Flew on four separate legs within Myanmar and found them to be surprisingly good. You don't normally expect catering on flights of under an hour but there was something on all segments. Arrived in good time at Heho Airport for a flight to Yangon and they automatically put me on to an earlier departure. There is a certain amount of third world amateurism about the boarding process but it all seemed to work.

Took two domestic flights on Air Bagan one from Yangon to Bagan and another Mandalay to Yangon. Both flights were with ATR-72 aircraft. The interior of this aircraft was very cramped with hardly any leg space. The aircraft definitely showed its old age. The flight from Mandalay to Yangon was free seated and flight was completely full. The in-flight service was nice and they served savoury croissants and cakes with drinks. Regarding reservations the booking system is fairly tricky. Also the airline requires the passenger to confirm the flights at least 24 hours before departures. Yet the 4 phone lines are constantly busy. For both flights our hotels repeatedly tried calling to no avail. Air Bagan offers value for money because there is hardly any competitive alternative today.

Recently flew throughout Myanmar on the following routes: Yangon-Mandalay-Heho-Mandalay-Nyaung U (Bagan)-Heho-Thandwe-Yangon on their Fokker 100 and ATR72 aircraft. Check-in interesting as there are no computers and everything is weighed manually. Ground crew cordial but not overly friendly. Flight crews were friendly and always helpful. Catering is good for the short flights with croissants and drinks being offered on even the shortest of flights (unthinkable in Europe). Aircraft's were always spotless and comfortable.

Ground service is terrible compared to in the air. Manual check-in process with no computers. This airline seems to be the only one to have a lounge in the domestic terminal in Yangon. Air-conditioned and friendly associates offering a cheese croissant. No bathroom inside so that was a drag. People in Lotus class got a private van to the plane which was nice compared to cramming onto a bus. Onboard the flight was pretty good. The front of the plane is much quieter compared to the back. Their inflight magazine was pretty decent and the english grammatically correct. Even on short flights they gave you food. On my YGN-MDY flight which was about 50 minutes they served a full breakfast. Seats were pretty comfortable on par with United A320 first class seats. I don't really see the need for inflight entertainment on such short flights.

Yangon-Bagan. ATR-72. Decent plane old and tired but as you'd expect from an airline in Burma. There was 1 cabin crew member and the co-pilot. Very pleasant service and a nice cheese croissant for the flight. Completely empty so you could stretch out over two seats which is important for me being 6ft 3.

Chiang Mai to Yangon return and pleasantly surprised by the standard - fairly new aircraft and meal service for 50 minute flight. Flight attendants were somewhat offhand. Reasonable leg room in economy.

Four internal flights in the last three weeks. Three on time one an hour late and this because a party of VIPs decided to turn up an hour after the scheduled take-off time. All flights satisfactory. Planes in OK condition. Even on short flights we were served refreshments. Nothing computerised and the whole process completed manually. When joining flights outside Yangon (the starting point for most flights) there is 'free' seating. This is because the systems are unable to work out which seats are vacated at each stop.

Yangon to Lashio in November 2009 ATR 42 plane. Allocated seating and good snack served with excellent customer service. Would fly with them again any time!