Читать книгу Bangkok and Chiang Mai On a Rope - Larry Stein - Страница 12

Nok Air and Asia Air are excellent budget friendly airlines. Nok air flies within Thailand. I have flown between Bangkok and Chiang Mai as well as from Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Son. Legroom is limited, but the Recaro seats (the company known for high-end sports car seats) are comfortable for the short trips.

Air Asia is even better. I have flown from Phnom Penh to Bangkok, and from Bangkok to Mandalay. If you order food at the same time that you book your reservation, you will have a choice of several tasty options for 4 dollars each. Also worth doing is paying 9 dollars to upgrade your seat. The upgraded seats have more legroom. The most popular are the ones in the front, but choose the exit rows in the middle of the plane. Because we have long legs my wife and I choose aisle seats across from each other. On both flights we had rows to ourselves. Passengers on this economy airline are pinching pennies, so spend an extra 900 and have your own row.

You will often read that fares are cheaper if you book them in Southeast Asia rather than pre-booking in the states. This isn't the case with discount carriers. Very low fares are offered for those who book early. This is also the case with some full price carriers such as Bangkok Airways. On some popular routes, such as between Chiang Mai and Bangkok, Bangkok Airways has competitive fares for early bookers.

Sometimes, buying in country can result in savings of up to 20 per cent. I booked a flight on Laos Air from Siem Reap to Luang Prabang before leaving on my trip. In Siem Reap my friend saved about 15 per cent booking the same route on Vietnam Airlines leaving and arriving about 10 minutes later than my flight. It was not until we arrived at the airport that we discovered we were on the same plane.