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Thailand Airlines Comparison
Updated 2nd Sep 2026
Thailand's domestic flying is shared between six airlines a traveller would realistically choose from, plus a seventh that runs a single border route. What separates them is less the route map than which Bangkok airport they use and what their cheapest fare quietly leaves out. Four of the six include no checked baggage at all on that fare.
The comparison below is built from allowances, inclusions and airports, because fares move and the rules behind them move a good deal more slowly. How domestic flying here works, as opposed to which carrier to pick, is covered in the guide to domestic flights in Thailand.
Who flies domestic in Thailand now
The six are Thai Airways, Bangkok Airways, Thai AirAsia, Nok Air, Thai Lion Air and Thai Vietjet Air. All six filed scheduled domestic flights in the Department of Airports' own movement records for January and February 2026, as did a seventh, Ezy Airlines, which is dealt with at the foot of this page.
Those records cover the Department of Airports' own 28 airports and not the six run by Airports of Thailand, so every network they show is a floor rather than a total. Within them, Thai AirAsia reached nineteen of those airports and Nok Air eleven, while Bangkok Airways appeared at Krabi Airport alone. That last figure is an artefact of the file rather than a small network: Bangkok Airways owns and operates Koh Samui Airport, Sukhothai and Trat, and its airports are not in it.
The two full-service carriers, Thai Airways and Bangkok Airways, include a checked bag in their cheapest fare. The four low-cost carriers include none. On those four a bag is bought on top of the fare, so two headline fares are not comparing the same thing.
The names that are history
Twelve of the eighteen airlines with a page on this site are not flying today, so a name remembered from an earlier trip may no longer be bookable. Thai Smile flew its last services on 31 December 2023 and was absorbed into Thai Airways the following day, with twenty A320s transferred across. Orient Thai Airways stopped on 9 October 2018 and its operating licence was suspended indefinitely, reported two days later; the One-Two-GO brand it had absorbed stopped flying in 2010.
PB Air suspended all flights in November 2009. Kan Air suspended operations on or about 20 to 21 April 2017 after its last flyable aircraft was grounded, and has not been confirmed operating since. Nok Mini ceased in 2014.
Three more have not been confirmed closed. Happy Air suspended operations around 5 February 2015 and again around 19 April 2016, and a suspension is not the same as a closure; Solar Air's defunct date is disputed between sources; Thai Regional Airlines is not confirmed to be operating.
Three of those twelve never carried a scheduled passenger at all. Thai Eastar Jet was announced in 2019 and never launched, and Thai Summer Airways was announced in 2018 or 2019 and never started scheduled service. Really Cool Airlines lost its operating licence on 20 February 2026, according to the trade publication ch-aviation, having never flown a scheduled passenger.
AirThailand lost its licence on the same day, in the same report. It had rebranded from Asia Atlantic Airlines in April 2024 and was based at Suvarnabhumi, and it has no page here. Every airline this site covers, current and closed, is on the airlines index, which groups the closed ones under a separate heading.
Which Bangkok airport each airline uses
Bangkok has two airports and they are not interchangeable. Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) carries Thai Airways, Bangkok Airways and Thai Vietjet Air, which is unusual: Thai Vietjet is the only low-cost carrier of the six based there. Don Muang Airport (DMK) is the low-cost base, with Nok Air, Thai Lion Air and, until 1 October 2026, all of Thai AirAsia's Bangkok domestic flying.
Thai AirAsia suspended its remaining Suvarnabhumi domestic routes on 15 July 2026 and moved that flying to Don Muang. It returns to Suvarnabhumi on 1 October 2026 with three destinations only: Chiang Mai, Phuket and Krabi. Until then, every Thai AirAsia domestic flight in Bangkok goes from Don Muang.
Even after 1 October the split is lopsided. Thai AirAsia's Don Muang operation covers 22 domestic destinations against three at Suvarnabhumi, so an international arrival at Suvarnabhumi connecting onto most of its domestic network still means crossing the city. Earlier in 2026 it had already dropped Suvarnabhumi service to Buriram, Chiang Rai, Khon Kaen, Hat Yai, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Surat Thani and Udon Thani.
Bangkok Airways uses both. Its main domestic base is Suvarnabhumi, it has flown from Don Muang to Koh Samui since 29 October 2023, and it has had a Don Muang lounge since November 2025.
Where an itinerary lands at one airport and leaves from the other, transferring between Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang is a separate ground journey that has to be planned into the day.
The six carriers side by side
Every allowance below is the airline's own published figure, in kilograms per passenger, read from the airlines' sites in August and September 2026. Allowances change, so check before booking. Thai Lion Air's Saver, Value and Flexi fares apply to bookings and travel from 4 August 2026, and the older fare table was still shown alongside them.
| Airline | Fare families | Checked baggage on the cheapest fare | Cabin baggage | Seat selection | Loyalty programme |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Thai Airways |
Economy Saver, Standard, Flexi and Full Flex, then Premium Economy, Premium Economy Plus and Royal Silk | 1 piece, 23 kg | 1 piece, 7 kg | Selectable online | Royal Orchid Plus |
 Bangkok Airways |
Economy and Blue Ribbon, plus a U Fare for Thai university students, lecturers and staff | 20 kg | 1 piece, 7 kg | Check at booking | FlyerBonus |
 Thai AirAsia |
Low Fare, Value Pack, Premium Flex, Premium Flatbed | None on Low Fare; 20 kg on Value Pack | 2 pieces, 7 kg combined | Chargeable on Low Fare; a standard seat is included from Value Pack | airasia rewards |
 Nok Air |
Nok Lite, Nok X-Tra (Comfort), Nok MAX (Delight) | None on Nok Lite; 15 kg on Nok X-Tra, 25 kg on Nok MAX | 2 pieces, 7 kg combined | Check at booking; online selection closes 4 hours before departure | Nok Fan Club |
 Thai Lion Air |
Saver, Value and Flexi, for bookings and travel from 4 August 2026 | None on Saver; 15 kg in 1 piece on Value, 25 kg in 2 pieces on Flexi | 1 item, 7 kg, which may itself combine two bag types | Three paid seat products; dearer if chosen on board | CabinClub |
 Thai Vietjet Air |
Eco, Deluxe, SkyBoss | None on Eco; bought separately. The airline publishes a checked allowance only for SkyBoss, at 30 kg | 2 pieces, 7 kg combined; 10 kg on SkyBoss | Premium seat selection included with SkyBoss | SkyJoy is Vietjet's scheme, and its terms exclude flights operated by Thai Vietjet |
What the cheapest fare leaves out
The clearest split in that table is checked baggage. Thai Airways and Bangkok Airways both include it in their cheapest fare: one piece at 23 kg on Economy Saver, and 20 kg on Bangkok Airways Economy, with 10 kg for an infant on both Bangkok Airways cabins. The other four include none, so a bag is bought on top of the fare or dealt with at the desk.
On the low-cost carriers a bag appears at the next fare up: 15 kg on Nok X-Tra and on Thai Lion Air's Value, a fare family that applies to bookings and travel from 4 August 2026, and 20 kg on Thai AirAsia's Value Pack. Thai Vietjet is the exception in that column: it publishes a checked allowance on its own site only for SkyBoss, its top fare, at 30 kg plus one golf set to 15 kg, and it publishes no fare-by-fare figure for Eco or Deluxe.
When the bag is bought matters too. Nok Air's extra baggage is dearer added after booking than with the ticket, and Thai Lion Air charges a higher rate at the airport than in advance. Bangkok Airways requires prepaid domestic baggage to be bought at least four hours before the flight by phone or ticket office, or two hours before it online.
Thai Airways changed its domestic checked allowance from a weight system to a piece system for travel on or after 2 March 2026, announced the previous November. Its own baggage page still shows the older weight table alongside the new piece table, so it is possible to read that page and come away with two different answers. The piece table is the one that governs travel now.
What 7 kg of cabin baggage actually covers
All six allow 7 kg of cabin baggage, and the 7 kg does not mean the same thing six times over. On Thai AirAsia, Nok Air and Thai Vietjet it is the combined weight of a cabin bag and a personal item. On Thai Airways and Bangkok Airways it is a single piece, and on Thai Lion Air it is one item that may itself combine two of a cabin bag, a laptop bag and a handbag.
Dimensions are 56 x 36 x 23 cm on the four low-cost carriers, and 56 x 45 x 25 cm including wheels and handles on Thai Airways. Bangkok Airways is the only one of the six whose limit changes with the aircraft: 50 x 36 x 23 cm on its ATR 72 turboprops against 56 x 36 x 23 cm on the A319 and A320. Thai Vietjet raises the cabin allowance to 10 kg on SkyBoss.
The cap on a single checked piece is 32 kg on Bangkok Airways, Thai AirAsia, Thai Lion Air and Thai Vietjet, and 30 kg on Nok Air. Thai Airways caps an economy piece at 23 kg and 158 cm total dimension, and Thai Lion Air caps the passenger at 45 kg in total. Bangkok Airways attributes its 32 kg limit to an Airports of Thailand directive and requires a heavier bag to be repacked.
Seat selection and loyalty status
Seat selection is the least consistent column in the table. Thai AirAsia charges for a seat on Low Fare and includes a standard seat from Value Pack, Thai Lion Air sells three seat products and charges a higher rate if the seat is chosen on board, and Thai Vietjet includes premium seat selection with SkyBoss.
Nok Air's own pages disagree with each other on whether basic seat selection is included on its cheapest fare, so it is worth settling at booking instead of assuming either answer; its online selection closes four hours before departure.
Loyalty status changes the baggage answer on one carrier: Nok Smile Plus status adds 10 kg to every Nok Air allowance, and the airline's own baggage table carries a second column for it. Whether any of these schemes is worth joining is a separate question, and the guide to frequent flyer programmes in Thailand covers it.
Lounge access, and which fare it comes with
Bangkok Airways includes lounge access on its cheapest economy fare. The airline's own blog, in an article dated 9 November 2025, describes the Boutique Lounge as complimentary to all Bangkok Airways passengers on domestic and international flights, with no additional charge.
The airline lists five Boutique Lounges, four of them on the domestic side: Suvarnabhumi domestic and international, Chiang Mai, Don Muang and Phuket. Samui is not on that list, at an airport the airline owns, which is worth checking before an itinerary is planned around one. There is more on the airline and its lounges on the Bangkok Airways page.
The other lounges on this page work differently. Nok Air runs a lounge at Don Muang, but access attaches to loyalty tiers and seat products and there is a walk-in charge, so it does not come with a ticket. Thai Vietjet includes lounge access with SkyBoss, its top fare, carrying the airline's own qualifier that it is available at some departure airports.
Ezy Airlines, the seventh name
Ezy Airlines has no page on this site and one route that carries passengers, from Hat Yai Airport to Betong International Airport (BTZ). It opened on 27 June 2025 and restored commercial service to the border town after nearly three years. Its aircraft is a Cessna Grand Caravan 208B EX registered HS-EZY.
Press reporting also describes an Ezy service between Hat Yai and Surat Thani. In the Department of Airports' own records for January and February 2026, every Ezy movement filed at Surat Thani carried no passengers, scheduled and non-scheduled alike, and Betong is the only Ezy service in that file on which anyone travelled.
What the airline does not publish is the practical problem. Its public website is a single page carrying an email address, a security e-book and social links, and it publishes no route list, no schedule, no booking engine and no baggage allowance. Three routes it had announced from Chiang Mai, to Mae Hong Son, Pai and Nan, were shelved in August 2026 over an airport charge the airline says it cannot afford, and no new launch date has been announced.
For anything beyond Betong the choice is still between the six above, and the first decision is which Bangkok airport the itinerary uses. If you are booking Thai AirAsia around 1 October 2026, the AirAsia newsroom announcement of 27 August 2026 is the one to re-read, because the Bangkok airport changes on that date. Whichever airport that turns out to be, the Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang pages cover the airport itself.
