• Blog
  • The Nomadic Notes Newsletter

Nomadic Notes

Travel blog featuring transport and accommodation guides in Southeast Asia

  • Southeast Asia Train Travel
  • Thailand Travel
  • Vietnam Travel
  • Where To Stay

Flight Review: Thai Vietjet Air – Chiang Mai to Bangkok (BKK)

November 5, 2017 By James Clark

Flight Review: Thai Vietjet Air - Chiang Mai to Bangkok (BKK)

Flight: Thai Vietjet Air VZ 101
From: Chiang Mai (CNX) To: Bangkok (BKK)

I flew with Thai Vietjet Air from Chiang Mai to Bangkok. I compared flights with Skyscanner and this was the best option for flights to BKK.

The Chiang Mai – Bangkok route is very competitive with flights from both Bangkok airports connecting Chiang Mai. The Chiang Mai – Bangkok train is too slow to be competitive, thus there are more flights between the two main cities of Thailand. With so many airlines already plying this route I was surprised to see Thai Vietjet starting a service on this route. Thai Vietjet is the Thai-based version of Vietjet Air, which as you could probably guess is from Vietnam.

I have flown Thai Vietjet from Bangkok to Saigon, but this was my first domestic Thai flight with them.

Airlines from neighbouring countries starting a local-based airline isn’t new. There is Thai AirAsia which is originally from Malaysia, and Thai Lion Air, which is originally from Indonesia. The thing with those airlines though is that they have generic names that can be used in any ASEAN country. Flying a Vietnam branded airline on a domestic Thailand flight is another matter. It would be like Thai Smile starting a Vietnamese brand named Viet Thai Smile.

Anyway, Vietjet ordered another 100 jets so expect to see new routes from city pairs that would not have been a consideration a few years ago. For example the are now direct flights from Chiang Mai to Saigon, and Bangkok to Dalat.

When I booked online I wanted to see if Vietjet offer through booking to other cities yet, like AirAsia now do. For example you can book an AirAsia flight from Saigon to Yogyakarta via Kuala Lumpur all on the one ticket. When I clicked the dropdown box Bangkok was the only option here, so not yet. If Vietjet keep expanding then it would make sense if they do offer this in the future.

Thai VietJet Air CNX-BKK one way

I can’t remember if if all the flights were shown in Dong or if it was because I booked from Vietnam. It would be odd if the baht option wasn’t offered.

CNX-BKK booking

Vietjet Air have a dedicated sales desk at Chiang Mai now. With flights to Phuket and Saigon and maybe others in the future it makes sense there is a permanent desk.

Vietjet sales

Chiang Mai is my favourite airport to arrive in Thailand at. For departures is it also reasonably quick, though the airport is running out of space. There are plans to expand it and also to build a new airport.

Departures

While I was in the queue I noticed most of the passengers had Chinese passports, so perhaps this service will do well with foreigner travellers who aren’t looking to be loyal to a Thai brand.

VZ 101

I got to the check-in queue 5 minutes before it opened and was fifth in the queue. I didn’t have a seat booked and I asked for an aisle seat. They gave me an exit row so that was a bonus.

Emergency Row

On Thai Vietjet they have the same inflight magazine that they use for Vietjet flights. It’s in Vietnamese with a few articles translated into English. If they want to go Trans-ASEAN they should produce a English magazine like AirAsia do for all their regional airlines.

one2fly Nov 17

There is no route map in the magazine either – just a list of destination pairs.

Destinations

The aircraft has signage in Vietnamese and English.

Vietnamese-English signage

The only “Thai Vietjet” branding I saw on the flight was the Thai painted on the tail, and the brand on the safety card. Everything else looks exactly like a Vietjet flight.

Safety Card

The menu is made for Thailand, with Thai language and prices in Baht.

Meals

Prices are very reasonable like domestic Vietjet flights, with cup of noodles from 60 THB.

Noodles

Snacks and drinks also start from 60 THB.

Drinks

I got a 3-in-1 coffee for 60 THB.

Coffee

Thai Vietjet is a low cost airline so there is no onboard entertainment. At less the one hour flying time you wouldn’t have time to watch anything anyway. I had left my Kindle in Saigon so I went old-school and bought an actual book made of paper.

Read a book

One thing I like about Vietjet is that they fly from Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK), which I prefer over Don Muang (DMK). When doing a search on sites like Skyscanner you can select Bangkok (All) or select your favourite airport. I still select all, just in case there is a crazy deal for either airport.

Thai Vietjet Air at Bangkok (BKK)

Filed Under: Flight Review Tagged With: bangkok, chiang mai, thailand, vietjet air

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.

Nomadic Notes Newsletter

Sign up for the newsletter for a summary of the latest posts, site updates, and other unblogged ramblings.

About Nomadic Notes

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.

More about me and Nomadic Notes.

Get more travel reads

Subscribe to the weekly newsletter of the best travel reads at The Travel Wire.

Follow Nomadic Notes

About Nomadic Notes

About
Contact
Press/Media Mentions
Where I've Been

Search Nomadic Notes

Follow Nomadic Notes

Where To Stay In…

Bangkok
Chiang Mai
Da Nang
Ho Chi Minh City
Hoi An
Hong Kong
Jakarta
Kuala Lumpur
Macau
Penang
Singapore

Newsletter

Sign up for the newsletter for a summary of the latest posts, site updates, and other unblogged ramblings.

Subscribe to the newsletter

Copyright © 2025 Nomadic Notes · Site Map | Privacy · Log in