EASY FLYING

The flight to Singapore and back was uneventful and smooth. Thai Air Asia is a low-cost carrier in the same style as EasyJet and RyanAir in the UK. They use the same type of planes - Boeing 737s - although the 300 series they use is older compared to those carriers.
You know I am a bit of an anorak when it comes to planes, and I have just discovered that the plane I flew back on (pictured here) was first purchased by Delta Airlines and made its first flight on February 9th 1987 - so it's 20 years old now give or take a few days. After Delta it spent time in the colours of Western Pacific Airlines, also as what's called a logo-jet which means it carries sponsors or supporters colour schemes. Solartron incidentally is a supplier of solar panel equipment.
For the money it was a good experience. Including taxes it came to around 80 pounds return which is pretty good value for a two-and-a-half hour trip. There is no pre-allocated seating so it's a dash for the best seats. At Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport you are bussed to a remote stand, so it's better to be last on the bus so you can jump off and bound up the steps to the plane - a fact that 95 per cent of my fellow passengers didn't seem to realise.
Both ways the plane was around half full. The 3x3 leather seating is comfortable but don't expect too much leg room. You also have to pay for food and drink and they enforce a 'no outside food and drink' policy on all their flights. Prices are higher than you would expect - 40 baht for a can of coke compared to 13 or 14 baht at 7-Eleven - but that's not extortionate in my opinion.
At Singapore I timed the turnaround time - that's to say the time the wheels stopped on the arriving aircraft, to the time it started moving again with the new passengers. It was a very impressive 19 minutes.