Picked up an Air Asia Hong Kong to Chiang Mai ticket for around HKD$1,000 midweek off peak, one way. Not crazy cheap but not expensive. Previously flown HK Express from HK to Chiang Mai which was fine but needed to arrive at a different time so had to fly Air Asia. Haven’t flown Air Asia for probably 10 years or more and from memory that was a bit of a shit show as budget airlines can be.
Air Asia Hong Kong to Chiang Mai Flight FD516 is scheduled at 10:35. We were a bit delayed by about 20 minutes due to some selfish assholes being late. The crew were just giving instructions to unload their bags when they showed up, oblivious to that fact they’ve held everyone else up. Anyway, I checked in online but you still need to show up and do the passport verification thing so it’s pretty pointless. They say you go to the Document Verification Counter to do that but there’s no such thing at Hong Kong Airport so forget about checking in online.
Showed up around 9:20a.m, and surprisingly, the lines were very short with not many people waiting. About 6-7 counters, two for Bag Drop, and none of them has more than a few people waiting. Waited about 5 minutes and only took a sec to actually get a boarding pass so pretty efficient. Just had a backpack for a couple of days so didn’t have any check in baggage which helps. Check in staff were alright, no complaints.
There was bugger all people on the Air Asia Hong Kong to Chiang Mai Flight FD516 so boarding was quick. When I checked in online I bought an upfront seat (they call it a Hot Seat) for about HKD$65 extra. Good call that as even though there weren’t may people on the flight, the standard seats were quite full. By paying HKD$65 more, I got a row to myself and there was only about 4 or 5 others in these rows. Think there’s about 6 or 7 rows of these seats. Sure, the flights only 3 hrs, but by the time you board, sit on the runway at both ends, you’re sitting there for close to 4 hours so for $65 and a row to yourself, that;s worth it in my mind.
Of course, you can’t guarantee that and if you fly nearer weekends or during holidays obviously your chances of getting a row to yourself are next to nothing. The seats on Air Asia Hong Kong to Chiang Mai are actually pretty comfy, better than the Cathay seats on short haul flights. Legroom is probably not as much but that doesn’t bother me as I’m 5 Foot F all. Guy opposite was a slightly larger than average honky and his knees were right against the seat in front. No waka’s though Bro, he also had a row to himself and had a sleep.
You’re not supposed to bring food and drinks on board and there’s quite a few snacks and a couple of meals to choose from. I wasn’t in the mood for airline food and had a massive bacon, eggs and fried toast breakfast at home but decided to try the Korean Chicken, which was about as expected for a budget airline. Peanuts in a bag were…well…peanuts in a bag and got a Snickers bar which looked a bit like a white mans wrinkled square penis (so I imagine) . Check out the pics for some options on board Air Asia Hong Kong to Chiang Mai Flight FD516.
Overall this flight is fine and Air Asia have come along way from when I last flew with them. Of course, flying midweek with not many people on board makes a huge difference. Had, as is normal and pretty unavoidable these days, three mainland Chinese sitting behind me who yelled and hawked most of the way. Thank god for Bose Noise cancelling earphones which manages to block out most of their yelling. Crew were friendly and no worries there. I’d fly this again but prefer HK Express overall.
