29 June SL105 SIN – DMK

2 July SL104 DMK – SIN

It was our second time this year flying to Bangkok. The first trip was in April during Songkran, where we took Malaysia airlines. This time, we booked with Thai Lion air because they had a promotion and with free 20kg baggage allowance, it is actually quite worth it to fly with Thai Lion air. Round trip ticket was $150. Scoot and Airasia also offers tickets around this price if bought in advance, but theirs do not include the free baggage allowance.

SL105 departs daily from Singapore (SIN) to Bangkok (DMK). The plane used is a B737-900 with a 3-3 seat configuration. After having dinner at the airport, we went to our gate, which was the furthest one at Terminal 3. It was a 10-minute walk from the immigration area. This is the best thing that I like about Changi, the airport is big but the airplane gates are never more than a 12 minute walk. Boarding started 30 minutes before the departure of the plane and it was completed earlier. However, we were on the ground for half an hour because of the long queue as there were several planes taking off around the same time.

Landing at Don Muang airport at 9:50pm, the plane taxied to the gate but unfortunately the aerobridge was not in operation. We had to wait for the shuttle bus to arrive to take us to the main terminal. There was a long queue at immigration as many planes had just arrived around the same timing. Luckily the ASEAN lane was quite fast and we went out to collect our baggage from the carousel.

On the way back, we arrived at the airport with about 1h 10 minutes before the departure time. We had two extra boxes with us which contained many Thai snacks, to be checked in. Since there were some other flights departing to China, there was a long queue. I asked politely at the counter if we can check in for the flight to Singapore, and the staff allowed us to skip the queue.

We got our boarding pass and headed to the boarding gate soon. The airport was full of Chinese tourists, especially those who had bought a lot of goods in Thailand and they all formed a long queue at the tourist tax refund area. Being Singapore passport holder, we could use the automated clearance to pass through immigration without the need to queue up at the manual counters like the other tourists.

The flight was not ready for boarding when we arrived at the gate after a long walk, even though on the ticket it was supposed to be the boarding time already. 20 minutes before departure, the announcement for boarding was called and passengers lined up at gate 2 for boarding. We had to take the shuttle to our plane. This time the plane was a new one, the Boeing 737 Max 9. It is a longer version of the B737, with the same 3-3 seating configuration but with 42 rows.

The 737 MAX family is designed to offer performance with lower per-seat costs and an extended range that opens up new destinations in the single-aisle market for operators. And Thai Lion air is one of the first airlines to receive delivery of this new aircraft, in March this year.

The plane had to queue for 30 minutes at the tarmac before take-off. The flight went smoothly and we had a good aerial view of Bangkok, and some coastal areas of Singapore. The flight landed at 7.30pm at Changi Airport, before making a 10 minute taxi to our gate at Terminal 3. By the time we had disembarked and cleared immigration, it was already 8pm. I did not find anything special with the B737 Max 9, except that it has a larger capacity. I still prefer the Dreamliner for the comfort and unique automatic window shades.