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Bangkok Feast on Tigerair

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  • Bangkok Feast on Tigerair

    With the recent political crisis going on in Thailand which greatly affected tourism, airlines and hotels are slashing prices to Bangkok and thus, we booked this trip at a very affordable price (air-tickets for only $120 all-in per pax and 5-star hotel for amazingly low rates as well) for our annual Bangkok food, massage and tailor getaway!

    Checked-in online 72hrs prior to the flight and printed our boarding passes. We were allocated seats 15E and 15F.





    14 March 2014
    Tigerair
    TR 2104
    Singapore (SIN) - Bangkok (BKK)
    A320
    9V-TAN
    Budget Class


    On the day of departure, we arrived at Changi Terminal 2 and verified our travel documents at TR's document verification counters slightly more than an hour before departure. Most of the morning peak wave has departed and thus there were not much of a queue at the Tigerair check-in counters. However I have heard of horror stories of the long queues during peak periods. Did some duty-free shopping and proceeded to the gate 30min prior to departure, with most pax already boarded. We would be departing from a bus gate this morning! Guess not enough gates at T2 for the morning peak departures. Load was more than 150 pax out of 180. Not bad! Guess Singaporeans will still travel to BKK with the low fares offered.




    Down to the tarmac and boarded the bus to ferry us to the aircraft. Apparently we were on the last bus as most pax have already boarded.




    Tarmac view during ride to our plane.




    Boarding the Tiger. This is one of the older aircraft still with cloth-cladded seats.




    Welcomed by the crew as we boarded. Another crew along the aisle was also assisting with carry-ons. Quite a good first impression. Got to our seats quickly. An SQ A333 was parked beside.




    Legroom was tight as usual, but bearable for the 2hrs flight.




    Crew preparing cabin for departure/




    Not too soon after we settled in our seats, aircraft doors were closed and safety brief was conducted. We actually pushed back right on time!




    Started our taxi to Rwy 02C. However there was a slight queue for takeoff. I counted 5 planes ahead of us. Spot a number of Silkair aircraft at the remote stand, including the newly delivered B737-800!




    Finally reaching the runway after almost 15min of taxi.




    Takeoff!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCajc7ies84


    Climbing into blue skies.

    Last edited by ycp81; 25 March 2014, 12:19 AM.
    My past and future travels

    My Travel Map

  • #2
    Tiger-mags and safety card.




    As the prices of the inflight buy-on-board are not too attractive, we did not order anything but just entertained ourselves with our mobile devices and magazines. However, I observed that service by the Tiger crew were rather professional, though not overly friendly.

    Cabin view mid-flight. Plane was rather full!




    Descending into Bangkok




    Flaps down




    And I had one of my smoothest landing ever on an A320!!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsPGWpjjNRI


    We arrived slightly more than 10min early. Taxiing to the terminal, I noticed that an additional pier was being constructed.




    Lao Airlines ATR72 preparing for departure.




    Parked at the best gate of the terminal. Immigration was just right outside the gate!




    Overall, a reasonably comfortable flight on Tigerair, and the early arrival was definitely a bonus!

    Due to the lack of tourists, immigration was almost deserted! In fact, from disembarking the plane to clearing immigration and customs, it took us just a mere 5 minutes! Never ever had it been so smooth in BKK! Then it was the airport train and BTS to our hotel.

    We stayed at Renaissance Bangkok Ratchaprasong at a very low rate of S$120. With the fantastic location, awesome service and room comfort, this has became my new favourite hotel in Bangkok! However, if not for the sale rates, I guess I would not have afforded to stay here.




    First meal was at a very famous wanton noodle store in Pratunam. It was apparently so famous that it became a must visit for Singaporeans. Surprisingly, being a frequent BKK visitor, I only knew of this stall recently haha. Well, I must say that the noodles do taste "old-school".




    More snackings out of meal times.




    We had Jap cuisine for the first night.




    Local thai dishes for lunch on the second day.

    My past and future travels

    My Travel Map

    Comment


    • #3
      I hope they didn't charge for all that extra weight on the way back.

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by ycp81 View Post
        However I have heard of horror stories of the long queues during peak periods.
        That sounds like coming from me. Haha.

        indeed, Friday night + TigerMandala + no online check-in ex-Singapore = snaking queues with 8 turns at Row 12.

        With Jetstar pricebeat guarantee, there is no reason why I fly Tiger anytime.

        Although I must say I somehow prefer Tiger's seat ergonomics than Jetstar's

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by SQueeze View Post
          With Jetstar pricebeat guarantee, there is no reason why I fly Tiger anytime.
          Jetstar is charging much higher fares, and its frequencies are much less than Tiger to BKK, with either too early or too late flights. Tiger has up to 7x daily flights to BKK!
          My past and future travels

          My Travel Map

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by ycp81 View Post
            Jetstar is charging much higher fares, and its frequencies are much less than Tiger to BKK, with either too early or too late flights. Tiger has up to 7x daily flights to BKK!
            Precisely because they are generally always higher than Tiger so with their price beat guarantee policy, Jetstar will beat Tiger by 10% and there are no credit card fees when booking this way. A SGD120 fares by Tiger will become SGD108 and no fees on Jetstar. I even tried price beating Tiger's SGD 0 fares and Jetstar honored the 10% off (effectively negative revenue from me).

            But true that Jetstar's timings are either very early or very late, which actually work for me very well as I don't use annual leave for short trips.

            Comment


            • #7
              Very tasty and affordable dinner at Inter, which is packed with locals.




              Its Mango Tango time!




              Brunch at a restaurant in Centralworld. Northern Thai cuisine, western fusion and delicious choc cake!




              Our "To-go" dinner place beside Chong Nongsi BTS, Lek Seafood.




              More local food and a very interesting ice-cream café that sells "artistic" ice-cream!





              17 March 2014
              Tigerair
              TR 2109
              Bangkok (BKK) - Singapore (SIN)
              A320
              9V-TAX
              Budget Class


              After packing the pounds over 4 days, it was time to return home. Checked in with no hassles at the empty TR counters as TR as 8 counters available for check-in! Kind of an overkill as SQ at the opposite row only has 6 counters opened for check-in. I had bought 20kg of check-in allowance to be shared among both of us. And no, TR did not charge me for the extra pounds I have put on.




              Boarding pass. We were allocated 17D and E, thus no window views on the return.




              Again, immigration and security was Q-less and painless and we were again through within 5 minutes! Grabbed some over-priced Burger King meals before heading to our gate at E10, right at the end of the terminal unlike our arrival. The plane has arrived ahead of schedule and boarding was actually announced early!

              A colourful Bangkok Air taxi past.




              Our plane preparing for boarding soon.




              Boarding by rows from the rear was enforced. However, we had free "Board-me-first" on our tickets and thus was allowed to board first, not that the boarding attendant checked our e-tickets or boarding passes (which did not have the "board-me-first" service printed on unlike outbound from SIN). The aircraft was slightly newer with leather-cladded seats. Legroom was similar to the flight up.




              Ended up with an almost full flight again.




              This flight had a very energy-packed crew-in-charge, who kept checking and making small talks with passengers. However the same cannot be said with the other crew members who were much more reserved and just did the necessary. Also, our captain was a female pilot as well! One of the very few rarities of SIN-based airlines.

              Cabin view.




              It was the standard and smooth TR flight with no frills. However, we had an early pushback and early arrival as well! No complaints. Hence the end of my very short Bangkok feast report.
              My past and future travels

              My Travel Map

              Comment


              • #8
                I know this is rather irrelevant for an aviation forum and a thread on Bangkok, but the Japanese food does look good. I am craving the bacon wrapped mushrooms now!

                Comment

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