Thai Smile Air Airlines

  About Thai Smile Airways

Thai Smile Airways is a low-cost regional carrier that predominantly caters to services in Thailand and India. The airline is fairly new in the aviation industry as it came into existence in 2012. Operations of Thai Smile Airways commenced in 2012. It is a subsidiary of Thai Airways International and is wholly owned by the parent company. The decision to commence a business for a new carrier came in 2011 by the Thai Airways board. They announced plans to come up with a low-cost carrier that would be emulating Thai Wings. The chairman of Thai's board of directors, Ampon Kittiampon, revealed plans for Thai Smile Airways in 2011. The main idea behind creating Thai Smile Airways is to provide to the market gap that low-cost airlines and main service airlines. Out of a pool of names that were collected from about 2,229 entries, the name Thai Smile was finally chosen. It was speculated that the airline would start showing profit margin two years from its inception.

Right from its first operations, Thai Smile Airways has managed to grow into an important subsidiary for Thai Airways International. There are plans to expand Thai Smile Airways' domestic route and regional route to accommodate more destinations and attract passengers in the process.

Fleet size of Thai Smile

As of 2020, Thai Smile's fleet size has 20 aircraft, all from the Airbus family. The airline has two diverse configurations to the Airbus A320-200 aircraft, namely 320 and 32S. Currently, the 320 configuration aircraft is in service and has about six of its as part of Thai Smikle's fleet. As for the remaining 14, they are all of the 32S configurations and in service. The major difference between the two variants of Airbus A320-200 is the seating class and configuration. While the 320 can accommodate about 168 total seating class, 32S has space for 162 seating class which can be utilised. The airline has not revealed any plans to expand its fleet or acquire new aircraft to replace the current ones. As it is a fairly new fleet, the requirement to replace the existing aircraft doesn't seem necessary. However, expansion of the fleet with more aircraft does seem like a good approach if the airline is rooting for some upscaling and is eyeing to connect to more domestic route and international route destinations.

Baggage Allowance

Thai Smile's baggage allowance is quite similar to the policy as set by Thai Airways International. Ahead of the journey, the airline expects passengers to understand more about their baggage allowance policy and ensure to follow the same. Thai Smile doesn't have a business class cabin on their flights as it is a regional carrier. However, it does offer a premium class and economy class cabin where the facilities are diverse. For international routes, Thai Smile allows the premium class passengers to carry about 40 kg for checked baggage. As for passengers travelling by economy class, the airline allows a maximum of 30 kg weight for checked baggage. It is necessary for travellers to adhere to this limit as the airline will not accept baggage weighing more than what's mentioned in their policy. Similarly, for domestic route transit, the airline allows 30 kg weight for premium class travellers and 20 kg for economy class passengers. The dimension of the baggage should also not exceed 158 cm and should be inclusive of the wheels, pockets and handles. This helps the airline accommodate the checked baggage in their aircraft. The rules are slightly tweaked for passengers travelling with Star Alliance or Royal Orchid mileage programme.

In-flight services

Thai Smile's in-flight services are in the lines of how one can enjoy immaculate hospitality on Thai Airways International flights. As its regional subsidiary, the in-flight services are just as good, even though they do not have many facilities to provide. The regional airline is a cost-effective venture that offers affordable tickets to basic travellers. Hence, in-flight services are also quite basic. The seating is decent, and there is enough legroom to wriggle in. The flight attendants are quite helpful and accommodating. Passengers who have premium memberships in the airline's mileage program and or are part of the Star Alliance's frequent flyer programme can receive several in-flight benefits ranging from complimentary in-flight meals to seat selection. For members of Royal Orchid Plus, the airline allows the passenger to select the seat, ahead of the transit. The passenger would not be charged extra fees for the seat selection. Other such in-flight services include the airlines offering complimentary meals and beverages that can be availed on domestic as well as international flights. In fact, travellers can pick from the menu that the airline has provided, which has several types of meal combos, including vegetarian and vegan meals. Additional carry-on baggage allowance can also be enjoyed by passengers.

Popular routes and top cities for Thai Smile

Thai Smile has managed to acquire several domestic routes and international route connectivity since its inception. With Bangkok as its hub and Chiang Mai as the focus city, the airline boasts exceptional route connectivity with Southeast Asian destinations. Some of the top cities include Chittagong, Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Changsha, Chongqing, Zhengzhou, Hong Kong, Luang Prabang, Vientiane, Macao, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Yangon, Mandalay, Kaohsiung, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Hat Yai, Khon Kaen, Krabi, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Narathiwat, Phuket, Surat Thani, Ubon Ratchathani and Udon Thani. Simultaneously, Thai Smile caters to a slew of Indian cities. As a regional airline which has good international route connectivity with cities in India, it is not surprising to see the list of names that are part of its services. The Indian cities that Thai Smile operates services to include Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Gaya, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, New Delhi and Varanasi. Out of these, Gaya is a seasonal destination wherein travellers majorly visit during Buddha Purnima. As Bodh Gaya is the place where Gautam Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment, the Indian city witnesses a huge number of tourists during Buddha Purnima from Buddhists around the world. Thailand, in general, is one of the cheapest and affordable tourist destinations for Indians. Hence, the country sees a huge number of tourists from India. To cater to the demand, Thai Smile has enabled several services that connect Thailand and India.

Why travel by Thai Smile?

Thai Smile Airways, as a subsidiary to Thai Airways International Public Company Limited, has the best domestic route connectivity. The airline's vision to become the Regional Favourite Airline in Thailand drives it to constantly work on enhancing the quality and efficiency of its services. From the start, the airline has been offering high-quality in-flight services and convenient facilities to meet the needs of passengers. Not to mention the affordability of such experiences that come at a pocket-friendly budget. As part of the Thai Airways International, the airline certainly has some exquisite benefits for passengers. The airline's mileage programme called Royal Orchid Plus has a slew of discounts and deals for passengers and loyal members. In fact, Thai Smile's affiliation with Star Alliance further adds to the perks that passengers can avail in terms of booking Thai Smile flight tickets, raking in better baggage allowance and getting access to airport lounges, to name a few.

Members of the Star Alliance network will receive tremendous benefits from travelling with Thai Smile. The alliance network came into existence in 1997 as a global airline alliance network. The idea behind bringing forth such a network is to combine seamless services while offering excellent connectivity and a worldwide reach for an international traveller. A frequent flyer of Star Alliance' mileage club will be making quite a few heads turn at the airport with the benefits and facilities that will be at their service. As part of Thai Airways International, Thai Smile is also eligible to provide the benefits of Star Alliance to its customers and passengers. Right from the priority at the check-in counters to airport lounge access, a Star Alliance frequent flyer member can make the most of their membership. Flying from Thai Smile will also add to the miles earned, which can be utilised for a more expensive trip.

While some of the obvious perks associated with the airline's privileged programmes are available, its in-flight services and ticketing facilities are also quite good. Thai Smile's in-flight services are top-notch and in lines with Thai Airways International's standards set. You can book a Thai Smile Airways flight ticket on their website and even avail some discounts and combo deals. In fact, they do offer multitudes of travel deals on the website. Planning a trip to Thailand with Thai Smile would actually be more cost-effective than one can imagine. In case you are travelling with family, you can receive several discounts with respect to flight tickets and accommodations too. Further, the airline's website also enables web check-in to make the passenger's travel scenes more convenient. Travellers can also get updates on flight status and flight schedules from their website.