AirAsia

Flew one-way KUL-LGW and managed to get standby upgrade from economy to Premium via the Optiontown service. Though notification of successful upgrade only came through via email some 8 hours before the flight. Not best but for the low price it was worth it. 14 hrs flight to LGW was fine. Food-wise there is just one main dish item for each meal service ie. no starters bread or desserts. A free bottle of water was provided with each meal (part of the Premium deal). Other soft drinks were chargeable. Not a problem if one manages one's expectations and prepares ahead accordingly. The Premium seat does indeed fold out flat but not horizontally. It tilts at an angle with head higher than the feet. It was comfortable enough and roomy. Almost full size pillows and light quilts were provided which was excellent. It was well worth getting upgraded this way (on standby via Optiontown). The total cost of the one way ticket was less than some one-way economy tickets within Europe! The entertainment console which cost RM 35 was okay. It had 6 films or so on it and some other TV programs and music. Crew were efficient. Commended. Baggage arrived fine. Will fly Air Asia X again in future.

HKT-CNX. Comfortable flight only marred by a group of unruly passengers. Thai crew unable to control them but then who could? Flight on time and thankfully shorter than advertised. New and clean plane with leather seating. All in all a decent experience will fly them again.

Round trip Bangkok to Chiang Mai. The problems started trying to book the flight online. A truly painful process and ended up a much more costly experience than first expected with extras and charges you even have to pay for choosing a seat. As for the flights outwards was fine but all I can say on the return leg is - if the company uses the same guidelines of employing non customer facing staff as they do with the customer facing staff then disaster is only a matter of time.

MFM-BKK-HKT. Check-in was easy as I had prepaid for my luggage however I was unable to transfer my baggage at BKK and had to re-check my baggage. Flight was 30 mins delayed with very little updates. Once boarded the service was very professional and efficient. I had pre-ordered meals on both legs meals are quite cheap on the website however if you are hungry I would recommend having two meals.

TAA has re-timed their CNX-SIN flight and this is much better although it is a late arrival in CNX on the return sector. My flight to SIN was slightly early but the return was almost 30 mins early into CNX arriving at 2235 instead of 2300. Boarding in SIN aided this and the aircraft with 55 pax pushed back 10 mins ahead of schedule but we lost that time waiting for a slot at the end of the runway! As per usual I ate at Changi and filled my water bottle from a fountain at the gate. 30 baht for their tiny bottle of water is a rip off. Looks like TAA is eating into Silkair's customer base as the latter has dropped its prices to about 1000 baht more than TAA but them there are no add ons and you get a free meal and beer. All in all I'm starting to warm to their Changi service after an indifferent start in January.

DEL-BKK-DEL with AirAsia. I got promo fares of 7000 rupees aircraft was good and flight was good. Also seats comfortable. I enjoyed vegetable briyani and it was delicious.

Shopping around I found that there was an excellent promotion fare with TAA from SIN to CNX. I used this service on day one in January and hoped that they could at least get it back to CNX on time. The flight has been retimed since earlier in the year and it seems to work as the flight got into CNX 30 minutes early (as opposed to 30 mins late in January). I ate at Changi airport avoiding having to buy their overpriced meals onboard. As is usual with Air Asia the flights are pretty routine and uneventful. The check in kiosks make life very easy when having no baggage and I was able to check-in well ahead of regulation time. Thai crew were polite and efficient and I noticed that the first officer was a woman (a first for TAA?). Don't see many of them in Asia!! I'm slowly coming round to the fact that if needs must then Air Asia is a viable option provided you shop around and don't just assume that they are the cheapest because they say they are. Disappointed to see that the fuel surcharge is back for my June trip to Singapore! The other problem I have with them is that in allowing 'everyone to now fly' they allow people to do so who frankly shouldn't be allowed out of their living rooms and have no idea of how to behave when travelling or worst of all why the crew handed out immigration cards before landing.

RGN-BKK-RGN. Check in at Yangon International Airport hassle free. Flight call by seat boarding fine greeted by smiles and seated behind the emergency exit row. Landed at Bangkok on time and was first to receive baggage. Check in at Bangkok was okay but not as good as Yangon.

BKK to Hat Yai (HDY) and noticed service deterioration. Flight retimed one month in advance and cause me minor itinerary problem (despite their offer to change to earlier or later flight). Only one Bag drop counter for internet/ Kiosk check in opened. Their advertisement that internet check in is quicker and hassle - free is totally untrue. Once on board A320 aircraft is new and clean but seat pitch is a very tight. Aptitude of the crew does not seemed to be as good as their earlier year. My friend who sit upfront tried to purchase chicken rice and was told that only curry is available but I was told later that I can only get chicken rice because my curry is finished.

Took the inaugural flight from Chiang Mai to Singapore. To say it was just another flight would be an understatement. And it was 30 minutes late which is about par for the course with Thai AirAsia. No apology for being late. Their slogan is 'newest planes newest routes'. Well it wasn't their newest plane which was delivered in time for the start-up of the SIN service. Judging by the crowds assembled in SIN for the return journey it looks like they are marketing the flight at the SIN end. There was no hype at CNX and I haven't seen any media coverage of the fact that the flight has now started. Most of the passengers were non-Thai. Standard Air Asia service. I cant believe they charge 30 baht for a small bottle of bottle. If you get a promotional fare its good value otherwise shop around. Having done PR for major events including such new services I was sorely disappointed. Frankly Thai Ai Asia's product is far below that of its big brother in Malaysia and it shows.