Taxi From Airport

Tiger Muay Thai Review

Taxi from Airport

 

I used Tiger Muay Thai's (I'll just use the acronym TMT from here on) advanced booking taxi service.

I didn’t have to pay beforehand, however did email TMT a few days before my flight

was to arrive in Phuket. I emailed info@tigermuaythai.com and was answered by Martina. I gave her my arrival time and she confirmed via email that a taxi would be waiting for me upon arrival. (At first there was a small mix up, as I had sent a partial copy of my eticket to Martina which stated my departure time from BKK and arrival time in PKT, and subsequently she booked my taxi to arrive in Phuket Airport at the departure time of my flight from Bangkok… either she was legitimately confused or someone in the office was just fuckin around with me, I'm not sure J, however I had the issue quickly cleared up with another email).

FYI: It takes about 48 hours to receive an answer to any email sent to TMT, which I think is quite a long time.

After collecting my luggage, indeed there was a driver waiting for me with my name on a card outside (not in the arrival waiting area of the airport but rather just after it, upon exiting). He was friendly, helped me with my bags and took me straight to TMT (although he asked me if I wanted to stop and eat first which was very nice of him). The drive took about 50 minutes.

Speaking to several people at the camp who had arrived without booking a taxi, they told me that they had paid around 600 Baht for a taxi from the airport. So you are basically paying a 33% premium for the certainty of an honest taxi driver, although the airport was full of drivers that I'm sure are also fine to use.

Flying in

Tiger Muay Thai Review

Arrival

Flights to Phuket:

If you are arriving from Bangkok, the easiest way to travel to Phuket is via air travel.

The main domestic airlines connecting Bangkok to Phuket are Bangkok Airways, Thai Airways and Air Asia. (You can also use the airlines Orient Thai Airlines and Nok Air which seem also cheap but I don't have any info about them).

Flight time is about 85 minutes.

Air Asia consistently seems to be the cheapest (not counting special limited promotions of the other airlines), as they offer a no frills flight (the Asian equivalent of Easy Jet).

Even so, if you aren’t scrounging every penny, I recommend you add a few hundred Baht and fly Bangkok Airways. I paid 2,090 Baht (including all taxes) for an afternoon flight to Phuket (a Monday in mid September). That comes out to approximately $70 USD which isn’t bad.

The reason I was so pleased with their service is because they offer the use of their airport "Boutique Lounge" which offers free wireless Internet, free soft drinks, ice coffee and sweet Thai snacks, along with a vast lounge filled with comfortable chairs to use while waiting for your flight. The flight I was on also offered a tasty looking sandwich; however I had already eaten at the airport food court so didn’t eat it (Burger King…last sin before training).

I've never flown Thai Airways, however when choosing which airline to use, I found their price to be around 50% higher than that of Bangkok Airways!! Maybe their stewardesses are prettier? Who cares, Bangkok Airways is my choice for now.

Miscellaneous airport info:

Airport Domestic Flights Food Court offers a Dunkin Donuts, Mcdonalds, Burger King and Popey's, alongside a bar, a juice shop, a coffee and sandwich place and an Asian Ramen style fast food joint (don’t remember the names, sorry). Last place to fill up on junk before you start training.