July 22nd, 2007, 11:44
I decided to take a break from work and fly from Singapore to Udon Thani to spend a few days with a bar boy I met last time I was in Pattaya. He returned home for the "low season". Tiger Airways seemed the best option. They have a flight 3 days a week (Tues, Thu, Sat) leaving Singapore before 7am, arriving Udon Thani around 8am local time. I went on last Thursday morning's flight.
To check in you go to the budget terminal at Changi Airport. It's just one huge space. I arrived about 90 minutes before departure. I had booked online and for $5 (Singapore) extra I could reserve a seat (otherwise it's whatever's available at check-in). There was no queue for my flight, but a long queue for the Vietnam flight leaving 30 minutes earlier. After check-in I decided to have something to eat at the one cafeteria-style place before going through security. It was crowded. I should have waited, as there were plenty of places to eat after Immigration. The lines were short to have my passport stamped, and Singaporean passport holders can go through a gate that scans their passport without any need for official oversight.
There's a large sign telling you if your flight's gate is open. There's not a lot of point going to the gate much before then as all you do at the gate is queue up to get on board - there's nowhere to sit and the gate is chained off until roughly 35 minutes before take-off. Tiger seems to have only one type of aircraft and you have to walk from the gate and climb the steps to the aircraft - there's no airbridge. The seating is six across separated by an aisle. There was food and drink for purchase.
Anyone who thinks the men of Udon are handsome would have had their illusions shattered by the passengers. There was only one male I gave a second glance, and I think he was Chinese.
Arriving at Udon Thani I knew I was back in Thailand. Arrivals was a mess. Again, it was a walk from the aircraft to the Immigration area, which was staffed (around 200 passengers on the plane) with a single officer. Other Immigration officials were standing around but processing passengers obviously wasn't in their job description. There were about 20 passengers in front of me when I joined the queue (lots of people seemed to stop off at the lavatories first - silly them). A couple of minutes after I joined, an Immigration official who was walking around making sure the Thais all had correct documentation told them to form a queue at a second booth. There was a rush to join that queue. By the time I arrived to have my passport stamped (20 minutes later), the first person in that new queue was still waiting. No immigration officer had turned up to start processing them. This Is Thailand, as they say.
To check in you go to the budget terminal at Changi Airport. It's just one huge space. I arrived about 90 minutes before departure. I had booked online and for $5 (Singapore) extra I could reserve a seat (otherwise it's whatever's available at check-in). There was no queue for my flight, but a long queue for the Vietnam flight leaving 30 minutes earlier. After check-in I decided to have something to eat at the one cafeteria-style place before going through security. It was crowded. I should have waited, as there were plenty of places to eat after Immigration. The lines were short to have my passport stamped, and Singaporean passport holders can go through a gate that scans their passport without any need for official oversight.
There's a large sign telling you if your flight's gate is open. There's not a lot of point going to the gate much before then as all you do at the gate is queue up to get on board - there's nowhere to sit and the gate is chained off until roughly 35 minutes before take-off. Tiger seems to have only one type of aircraft and you have to walk from the gate and climb the steps to the aircraft - there's no airbridge. The seating is six across separated by an aisle. There was food and drink for purchase.
Anyone who thinks the men of Udon are handsome would have had their illusions shattered by the passengers. There was only one male I gave a second glance, and I think he was Chinese.
Arriving at Udon Thani I knew I was back in Thailand. Arrivals was a mess. Again, it was a walk from the aircraft to the Immigration area, which was staffed (around 200 passengers on the plane) with a single officer. Other Immigration officials were standing around but processing passengers obviously wasn't in their job description. There were about 20 passengers in front of me when I joined the queue (lots of people seemed to stop off at the lavatories first - silly them). A couple of minutes after I joined, an Immigration official who was walking around making sure the Thais all had correct documentation told them to form a queue at a second booth. There was a rush to join that queue. By the time I arrived to have my passport stamped (20 minutes later), the first person in that new queue was still waiting. No immigration officer had turned up to start processing them. This Is Thailand, as they say.