Phuket Air

I agree with other comments from fellow passengers on flight 618 on April 2nd. It was a complete nightmare and an exhausting experience for all involved. The lack of communication the standard of accommodation at Sharjah and the lack of food and water for hundreds of stranded and delayed passengers left a lot to be desired. Horrified to read their UK sales manager's Gordon MacFarland's quotes to the press. Come on Phuket Air take responsibility especially in light of further problems with your aircraft and apologise please.

I was also on the same nightmare flight and got stranded in Sharjah. If Phuket air did not think they done anything wrong or that there were no problems with the planes they should have been available and around the hotels talking to us. We are still waiting for an apology.

I was on the same 72 hour nightmare from hell trip as the others but it is not a one-off. On our flight out we ended up taking 10 hours to get from Bangkok to Phuket but not before our first plane had set off only to return 20 minutes into the flight due to "technical problems" with no explanation ever offered to us except being offered 200 baht to spend in the restaurant. This experience paled however next to the return flight. Despite the British Embassy getting involved the Sharjah branch switched off their phones and fled their offices the Bangkok office would not answer their phones and no member of the crew were prepared to speak to the passengers in person. I telephoned every other airline and if a flight had been available I would have booked it whatever the price! If you are offered a flight for nothing with this dreadful outfit please decline it.

I have just arrived back in the UK after the journey from hell the April 02 flight 72 hours from Bangkok to Gatwick. After being stranded in Sharjah UAE for 60 hours and an almost total lack of communication from Phuket Air I can do nothing other than urge anyone who is planning on taking a flight to cancel their tickets immediately and find someone/anyone other than these clowns to travel with.

BKK-LGW with Phuket Air on 04-05-05 - total chaos!! Passengers on plane before us would not get back on plane after re-fueling at Sharjah - because of the "minor problem" of fuel leaking out of the engine! We flew in 2 days later to find them still waiting at Sharjah for our plane to pick them up. Bit of a problem though our plane was also leaking fluid from the engine (different plane). Waited in Sharjah for 16 hrs for the muppets to fix the plane (well kind of fix it). Don't fly with them - Dangerous !!

Gatwick to BKK. Flight to BKK was excellent no problems. The plane was old but everything worked and the staff were excellent. Plenty of food and drinks were available on request. I flew back on 16 march and apart from the hour to refuel in Sharjah which is a little inconvenient the flight was excellent.

Intrigued by Fern Tuppen's comments below. We were on the same LGW-BKK plane on the 24 February and condition wise the cabin was dirty and scruffy. Torn and stained seat covers and staff service was offhand to say the least. Are the staff the Thai Airways rejects because they really do not come close to the Thai standards. I agree about the flights not being full and have heard rumours that Phuket Air will have to cut these long haul flights because it is crippling the airline to keep losing money. I would not repeat the experience even though I admit it was cheap! I do have real concerns for the maintenance and safety standards for this outfit and fear the worst has yet to come for them.

LGW to Bangkok out 24/2/05 back 10/3/05. I had been dreading it. Maybe we were just lucky. The planes are a bit old and tatty but no worse than others I've flown - in our case the ex-KLM both ways. We were in Economy and legroom and seat width was OK both flights were around half full so we had a row of 3 between the 2 of us - makes a world of difference! Service was excellent food better than average drinks available- although on request because the cabin crew don't hassle you much. Managed to get some kip on the way home which for me is unusual. Both flights were on time and devoid of trauma. Yes the plane stopped at Sharjah for about an hour and the toilets were cleaned and checked which took about 20 minutes.

Myself and my partner flew Phuket Air to BKK in Oct 04. The flight over was ok the plane was an old KLM jumbo which was tatty but comfortable. I agree with the comments about the cabin crew not being able to handle drunken louts. On the flight out there were a group of middle age men who were served alcoholic drinks from the time of serving to just prior to landing. Although they didn't cause any trouble I was very surprised that the cabin crew continued to serve them over a period of 11 hours. Our return flight was a bit of a nightmare. Having spent 6 hours waiting in Bangkok airport we boarded the plane at midnight. Our take off time came and went 40 minutes passed and we were told nothing. Then the captain said we would be taking off in 10 minutes (no apology). This came and went then another announcement there was a problem loading the luggage and we would be taking off in 10 minutes. Again this came and went. One and a half hours passed before we finally started to move. This KLM jumbo was really in bad shape and was much worse than the plane on the flight over it was dirty my table was broken and we generally didn’t feel that happy flying in it. As the plane turned the corner and revved the engine to join the runway there was the most horrendous smell of burning. We were sitting at the front end of the plane near to the kitchen in the nose cone. As the plane started to go down the runway the smell got much worse. All the cabin crew were up running about looking in all of the ovens trying to find the source of this smell. They all looked terrified which is pretty off putting to the passengers in the first place! The plane continued down the runway with the smell getting worse all the time. Even as the plane was taking off the crew continued to look for the problem. My partner and I were terrified as too seemed those people sitting around us. One lady even got us and asked the crew what was going on. They didn’t really tell her. The plane climbed very slowly with this smell still present. Whilst we were still climbing the captain came out and sniffed about with all the cabin crew flapping around him then the co-pilot came out and done the same. I think everyone on the flight feared the worst. We honestly thought we were going to be blown out of the sky. About an hour later the smell went away but we couldn’t settle after the adrenaline rush of panic. We also stopped in Sharjah which was awful as the air conditioning was switched off and we were delayed here too. We weren’t given any drinks were told not to use the toilet and weren’t allowed off the plane. Our journey home took us over 36 hours which marred the end of our holiday. I was most upset by the lack of information provided by the crew. We were not told about the burning problem or the cause of it or reassured about it there were no apologies at all. I would never fly Phuket air again nor recommend it. I am surprised that the BAA allows them to provide a long haul service from the UK.

LGW-BKK 05/02/05 and BKK-LGW 16/02/05 in Business Class. The flights were on time - Business Class cabin located upstairs and spacious quiet clean. Seats comfortable with good recline legroom and personal video display. Food was excellent and the service very friendly.