Koh Samui Airport

Flight #35 - Bangkok Airways 145
Bangkok (BKK) – Koh Samui (USM)
Sunday, Feb 17, 2013 
Depart: 1:30PM / Arrive: 2:35PM
Duration: 1hr 5min
Aircraft: Airbus 319 
Seat: 1E and 1F (Economy) 
Mileage: 304 miles
Lifetime Miles:  71,711 miles

We got a taxi from the hotel around 11AM to catch our 1:30PM flight to Koh Samui (island).  This might seem a bit early for our flight but we didn't want to stress if we got caught in the famous Bangkok traffic.  However, it wasn't the car traffic that was the problem (took 40 minutes), it was the human traffic when we went to check in for our flight on Bangkok Airways.

Oftentimes, foreign carriers are usually in an alliance with other airlines like how Thai Airways is in the Star Alliance along with United Airlines.  And when you're an elite in one, you get many of the same benefits when flying on their partner airline (such as being able to check in at their business class desks, expedited security lines, free/extra checked bags).

But unfortunately, Bangkok Airways isn't affiliated with United (nor American nor Delta, for that matter).  They have a code-share agreement (meaning you can earn miles) with a few random international carriers, but nothing that would help my father.

My father glanced over to the empty Bangkok Airways "Blue Ribbon" (premium class) check in desk and sighed as he made his way over to the end of the long line in Economy.  The line wrapped around 6 times but since we were there early (11:50AM), we figured we'd still have plenty of time.

After finally getting our tickets (around 12:25PM), we went straight to the departure gates since the flight was boarding at 12:50PM.  Bangkok offers all economy passengers access to a club lounge (separate from their first class lounge) but we decided to pick up some fast food for the flight instead since it was lunchtime and we weren't sure they were going to serve anything on a 1 hour flight.

Surprisingly, however, they did serve a full meal and coffee/tea while in the air.  By the time the meal was cleared, we were descending to Koh Samui Airport, the "most beautiful airport in the world."

Koh Samui Airport isn't like other utilitarian regional airports.  It was built 30 years ago by Bangkok Airways specifically to access the island by air.  Before it was completed, travelers had to take a long train/bus ride from Bangkok and then take a ferry to Samui.

But now, it's an hour flight to a beautiful (and eco-friendly) airport that's designed stylishly like a tropical resort hotel property.  As Bangkok Airways said, "We want your vacation to start as soon as your plane lands."

And now, we were off to find our pre-arranged ride (van & boat) to Koh Phangan island...