Thai Smile A320 economy

BANGKOK-CHIANG MAI

BACKGROUND Thai Smile, the wholly owned subsidiary of Thai Airways, aims to fill the gap between full service and low-cost airlines. It was created in 2011, and initially was called Thai Wings. It currently flies to 11 airports in Thailand, plus seven neighbouring countries, including India and Taiwan.

CHECK-IN We arrived at Bangkok’s Suvar na bhu mi airport at 1300 for our 1520 departure on Thai Smile flight WE164. We had bags to check, but there was no queue. The checked bag weight maximum was 20kg; 30kg if you fly in the Smile Plus class.

BOARDING There were two Thai Smile flights boarding at neighbouring gates. The flight to Phuket was called first, then the flight to Chiang Mai. It was well organised, with Gold cardholders being invited to board first, via a bus to the aircraft.

THE FLIGHT All passengers had pre-assigned seats at no extra cost. However the doors shut and the aircraft was pushed back while people were still putting their luggage away in overhead compartments. Nevertheless, I was very impressed with the service. Unexpectedly, we were given two sandwiches and a bottle of water, and also free soft drinks from a trolley. Considering it was such a short flight and almost full, the flight attendants did this in a very unhurried and professional manner, with lots of smiles (appropriately enough).

ARRIVAL We arrived on schedule, and this time had an air bridge into the airport at Chiang Mai. As we were domestic passengers, we had no wait, and after a few minutes our checked bags arrived on the carousel. VERDICT Very good and exceptional value for money. Tom Otley