This was supposed to be an easy travel day! After all, I’m staying within the same country. However, when I went to check in online yesterday, at the 24 hours prior to flight mark, I discovered my flight had been cancelled! Here is travelling Chiang Mai to Phuket on Nok Air with all the gory details.
Checking In
Going online, as one does, to check-in for a flight and receiving an error message really didn’t rattle me at first. For every single time I tried to check in with VietJet, I also got an error, and those flights ended fine. Try as I might I could not make the system work though.
I decided to check the Chiang Mai airport for departures the following day. What? My flight is not showing up at all! Then I check Bangkok for arrivals, again, no flight. Ok now what. I search reviews for Nok Air and read that they are extremely difficult to get a hold of but try I must. Contacting them via Facebook seemed to have the most success so that’s what I did.
Eventually I got to a human and was informed that my flight was indeed cancelled and that I had received an email on February 2nd. I replied with an absolute no, I did not receive an email, which consequently is the exact thing many of their negative reviews are about.
Having only fairly rude feedback from this person, they did provide a number for me to call. By this time, I was just about in tears and my voice was all quivery, soooo embarrassing! Anyhow I called, and got a lovely lady who confirmed I had no flight the next day. 😥
She informed me that all flights were full for the rest of the week. I asked what I should do and she said I could have a refund that I would receive in 45 days. Well. That’s not going to help me. This whole time I’m frantically googling other flights, buses, anything to get me to Phuket tomorrow. Other flights are around $500 CAD and the bus takes 24 hours, yuck.
Lovely Nok Air lady puts me on hold and the call drops after about 20 minutes. 🥴 Dang. I quickly call back and manage to get her, and she puts me back on hold. When she comes back, she informs me that I am still booked on the leg from Bangkok to Phuket, it was only the Chiang Mai to Bangkok that was cancelled. Ok great! Can you get me to Bangkok? Turns out I can fly standby on the next flight or have a booked seat on the early flight. Early flight it is!!! Wahoooooo, I’m having a travel day after all!
I’m checked in now, and am going to Phuket.
Chiang Mai Airport CNX
A fairly nice and clean place. It was dark upon my arrival but easy to navigate and find where I needed to be. A coffee shop was open after security, which Is great at that time of the morning. The airport provides free of charge, drinking water and hot water!
CNX to DMK
Nok Air 737-800 to Bangkok was just fine. The crew is friendly and the plane was clean. I had purchased the Nok Max packaged, which when I booked in November, came with a meal. I had chosen basil chicken & rice for both flights. To my surprise, I was given a ‘snack box’ which included a bottle of water a ‘raisin snail’ and a piece of cake. Hmmm.
Bangkok DMK Airport
Soooo much better than BKK! OMG there is no comparison to the gargantuan size and hoards of crowds and immigration line that happen at BKK. DMK is a breath of fresh air. Its manageable, clean, bright, lots of shops, free wifi and charging station, free water and lots to see.
Fun Fact! Did you know that at DMK there are two parallel runways, and guess what in between them? A public golf course! Yes! You can play a round of golf with heavies landing and taking off right beside you all day. 😁 How cool is that?
With my Nok Max (which I only purchased because the price was so close to the added luggage cost for my suitcase), I received free access to the Nok lounge. Saying this is a ‘lounge’ is a stretch, especially compared to others I have been in. However, beggars can’t be choosers and I was able to have free food, coffee & tea to fill my hungry belly.
DMK to HKT
Second flight of the day, after a 5-hour layover in Bangkok, was to Phuket on a Nok Air 737-800 again. This plane was a little worse for wear, but the flight was just fine. Again, presented with a snack box instead of a hot meal.
The flight was mostly above clouds and smog, so not a lot to be seen. Landing in Phuket was cool! The airport is very close to the coast and a beach, and flying over people looking up at the plane at such a low altitude was fun! Wished I was down on that beach!
I’m here on the Island of Phuket! Ready to explore this old city and spend some time on the neighbouring beaches. Can’t wait to see what is in store for me in southern Thailand.
