Last May, during a tourist trip to Thailand, I discovered Thai Smile by chance. How? I wanted, at the last minute, to go to Phuket from Chiang Mai and return to Bangkok afterwards, at a reasonable price. A travel agency offered me Thai Smile for a decent price: let’s go!
A subsidiary of Thai, between legacy and Ultra Low Cost
The emergence of Asian low-cost airlines, notably in Thailand (with Thai Air Asia), has cut into the market share of major Asian airlines such as Thai Airways, Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific.
Like its colleagues, Thai Airways has reacted by creating a Low Cost subsidiary from scratch, Thai Smile, to counter the emergence of these Low Cost companies without reducing the service to nothing as it does in its other Ultra Low Cost company, Nok Air.
This positioning is risky, as it could swallow up the Legacy’s customer base. But Thai Smileis doing very well, notably by having its own operating certificate (it used to use the parent company’s), and by offering different benefits to loyalty passengers than those offered by Thai Airways.
Pre-sale, purchase and pre-flight
The company has a modern and functional website, available in Thai, Mandarin and English.
The site allows you to search for flights, book and manage your reservations.
However, in Thailand as in many Asian countries, travel agencies have access to different seat quotas than those available on the company’s website, and I was able to get a 1/3 lower fare by going through an agency located in the night market of Chiang Mai.
Secondly, the website’s Manage my Booking features make it easy to choose your seat.
Please note, however, since October 2, 2014, as Thai Smile operates under its own IATA code, Star Alliance Gold members no longer enjoy the benefits associated with their status (increased baggage allowance, access to lounges, access to priority queues, earning miles), including on TG-coded flights operated by Thai Smile (WE). Members of Thai’s loyalty program continue to enjoy select benefits. If this dimension is important to you, stick to flights operated by Thai.
So I booked on Thai Smile two one-way flights: one Chiang Mai (CNX) – Phuket (HKT), and one Phuket (HKT) – Bangkok (BKK). Note that Thai Smile also operates some flights from Don Muang, the former Bangkok airport now used almost exclusively by low cost airlines.
Check-in and boarding
The check-in is done in the traditional way on Thai Smile. Online, but also at the counter. The airline offers a 20 kg baggage allowance (weight concept) to all its passengers.
I was a little overweight, but nobody told me anything, both at CNX and PHT.
Both times I showed my Star Alliance Gold card, without much hope: both times they put a priority tag on my luggage, and my number was added to the file, without of course having any effect.
No priority lane for the security checkpoints, but when I passed these checkpoints, it was not necessary anyway because the queues were so short or even non-existent.
And no lounge either, at least not accessible to me.
At the time of boarding, passengers traveling in Premium Class are called and then general boarding begins in no particular order.
Cabin and service
The company uses Airbus A320 family aircraft to operate all its flights. These are in a perfect state of interior maintenance: the cabin is bright and the materials are new.
The pitch between two rows of seats is good for a low cost :
The service begins shortly after the instructions signs are turned off. Yes, on a low cost, you have a service worthy of a European Major in the 80s.
No, no, this is not a paid platter, it is offered to all passengers, and the quality is there.
Conclusion
Thai Smile is what I would call a Premium Low Cost that offers a product similar to a traditional airline but with a very reduced internal cost structure.
The complete report of a Chiang Mai – Phuket flight done by me is available at our friends of Flight-Report.
