AirAsia offering Phuket deals – but not for long
Phuket to Singapore for B1,838; Thai AirAsia Airbus at Changi Airport, Singapore. - Photo by Terence Ong.
Travellers to and from Phuket have three more days to book special cheap flights with AirAsia during the period from August 9 to November 15.
People booking travelling during that period and booking before August 2 can get one-way flights from Phuket to Bangkok, Chiang Mai or Udon Thani for B990, Jakarta for B1,590 and Singapore for B1,838.
The flights are part of a network-wide promotion by AirAsia that ends on August 1. For details, see here.
Thai Airways International is also trying to get in on the discount game, offering a two-for-one deal during August. The deal, titled “Buy 1, Get 1 Free for Your Mom” is, the airline explains, “part of the ‘Love for the Nation’s Mother’ project that the Government initiated to celebrate Her Majesty Queen Sirikit’s Birthday” (which falls on August 12).
The deal applies only to round-trip tickets in economy class. This gives a an effective price of B4,500 per return ticket Phuket-Bangkok-Phuket or vice-versa. Oddly, the deal does not appear to be listed on the airline’s website. Not yet, at any rate, so you may need to visit a ticketing office if you and Mom plan to take advantage of it.
In any case, Phuket Observer is more impressed with the AirAsia deal, which works out at B1,980 return. Even Nok Air, Thai’s budget offspring, beats the parent, with fares in August ranging from B1,300 to B1,800 each way, or around B3,000 return.
Thai’s only winning argument is the frequency of its Phuket-Bangkok service, which makes it a lot easier to get convenient connections via Bangkok to elsewhere in Thailand, or the world.
But it must be hard being the flag carrier in these days of budget airlines.
