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Flight Review: AirAsia – Ho Chi Minh City to Bangkok

March 10, 2020 By James Clark

Flight Review: AirAsia - Ho Chi Minh City to Bangkok

Flight: Thai AirAsia FD 657
From: Ho Chi Minh City (SGN) To: Bangkok (DMK)

I flew with AirAsia from Ho Chi Minh City Bangkok. This is a popular route with many flights to choose from. I have previously flown this route with Nok Air, and to BKK with Thai Airways and Vietjet Air.

For this flight I searched for the cheapest flight with Skyscanner, and picked AirAsia for the combination of price and time of day. The total fare was 1994.56 THB ($66.35 USD), which included a check bag.

SGN-DMK ticket

I booked this flight in December to attend a conference in Bangkok. The conference was postponed due to COVID-19, but I went ahead with the trip. The last time I was at Tan Son Nhat Airport was a few days before the lunar new year holiday. That was the first time I heard about the coronavirus, as Wuhan had just gone into lockdown. That day was the busiest day of the year for travel in Vietnam. This flight was the complete opposite, with the airport feeling half abandoned with hardly any queues at check-in.

Check-in at SGN

By now it was apparent how much the virus was disrupting travel around the world, with the departure board showing a sea of red.

Cancelled flights at SGN

Public notices about the Coronavirus are everywhere now.

Coronavirus notice

Thai AirAsia FD 657 departs SGN at 9.45 and arrives at DMK at 11.30, for a scheduled flight time of 1H, 45M.

AirAsia at SGN

With reduced flights operating it was no surprise that our flight departed on time.

View of SGN

AirAsia is a low cost airline, so there is not much in the way of leg room. For short flights such as this I would rather just fly economically, so I don’t mind.

Legroom

Travel360 – the inflight magazine of AirAsia. On Thai AirAsia there is also a Thai version.

Travel360 -March 2020

Being based in Southeast Asia, AirAsia is by far my most flown airline. They have flights everywhere, though we still wait to see if AirAsia start a subsidiary in Vietnam to capitalise on the booming Vietnam aviation market.

SGN-DMK route

There is no meal service but you can order food online, or order onboard.

Santan menu

Meals are available for 150 THB ($4.99 USD).

Meals

A coffee is 60 THB ($1.99 USD).

Drinks

AirAsia is now serving boba milk tea for 90 THB ($2.99 USD).

Boba milk tea

I’ve flown between Saigon and Bangkok many times, and the flights are almost always full. The flight today was 60-70%, which I was surprised that so many were still flying.

Wearing a mask

Crossing land at the Gulf of Bangkok.

Coast near Bangkok

The flight arrived on time, and the airport here was also quiet.

AirAsia at Bangkok Don Muang Airport

Overall this was a good flight option for travel to Bangkok.

Filed Under: Flight Review Tagged With: air asia, don muang airport, sgn airport

About James Clark

James Clark is the founder of Nomadic Notes. He has been a digital nomad since 2003, and Nomadic Notes features trip reports, train travel articles, and where to stay guides. He writes about transport and urban development at Future Southeast Asia. Subscribe to the weekly travel newsletter.

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James Clark from Nomadic Notes

Hi, I’m James Clark, and I've been travelling the world since 2003 while running a location independent travel business. Nomadic Notes is a travel blog featuring travel guides and notes from my travels.

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