Budget Airlines in Asia
Posted on: Fri, 2007-02-16 15:44
Offline
Budget Airlines in Asia
The arrival and expansion of budget airlines has made travel in Asia even easier. Sometimes it is actually cheaper to fly than to go overland, and it certainly is easier. Even the cheapest of backpackers look at the prices and head for the airport.
So far I have flown on Tiger Airways between Singapore and Padang, on Sumatra in Indonesia, and from Bankok to Chiang Mai on Asia Air. The flights go farther afield, too. It's possibel to fly budget airlines between Singapore and Perth, or Kuala Lumpur and Bali.
I would avoid the Indonesian-based airlines. Adam Air recently had a crash that looks like it was causeed by neglected maintenance. Tiger Airways is half owned by the best airline in the world, Sinapore Air, and is based in a country with very strict standards for everything. Air Asia and Bangkok Air are also good.
To check which budget airlines fly where, try www.whichbudget.com , and no, I don't get a commission. Though maybe I should ask.
Any other experiences with Asian budget airlines to report?
Someone in this thread suggested PAL and Cebu Pacific. I have never actually heard of any of those.
There is a pretty good discussion of airlines in this thread.
I usually check the price and if its all the same go with an airline I know.
Andre
Travel Photos
PAL is Philippine Airlines. Cebu Pacific is also an airline based in the Philippines.
One way to get cheap fares on an airline you know is to look at the schedules of the budget airlines and then look at flights on the lines you like that are at the same time. For instance, major airlines tend to match SouthWest's rates when they have a competing flight.
I've flown Air Asia and they are fine. Jetstar Asia should be good too - owned by QANTAS
I should have mentioned that Tiger is partailly owned by Singapore Airlines. After the Adam Air crash and the ferry sinkings, I'm sticking to lines that are based in countries that I have a little faith in. I'm thinking about taking a ferry to Sumatra from Penang, but I'll be going on Malysian ferries, so I'm not too worried. I've never seen one that was overloaded or didn't have life jackets.
While I have flown several times on AirAsia from BKK, I find that I prefer to spend a few more dollars to fly NokAir, which is owned by Thai. My problem is AirAsia is that it might as well be a flying bus, and I have NEVER taken off or landed on schedule on a Thai AirAsia flight. NokAir is wonderful, and should you find yourself rolling in extra Bhat, you can get a "business" class seat up front. It's a nicer airline alltogether. Regards, Sip
When I was looking into flying to Malaysia, I found out something interesting about 12Go. Although their on-time record is so bad that they make you have three hour connection times, they do actually sell connecting tickets. This allows you to check your baggage through, and makes your onward flight their problem when you miss a connection. When you book two separate tickets on a budget airline, say Chiang Mai to Bangkok, and Bangkok to Phuket, you usually have to pick up your luggage in Bangkok and recheck it. If the flight coming in is late and you miss your connection, too bad. That's also true if you use a budgt airline to get to a regular flight, as some friends of mine found out.