Tata group owned Air India, has entered an interline partnership with
Bangkok Airways. This will enable passengers to book with Air India and connect
to 10 destinations in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia on Bangkok Airways’ route
network via Bangkok, Hong Kong and Singapore.
The scope of the agreement between the two airlines includes Inter Airline Through Check-In (IATCI) implementation, which enables guests to receive their boarding passes at the first point of departure for all the travel sectors on a single ticket, and have their baggage checked-in through to their final destinations.
Air India guests taking connecting flights on Bangkok Airways will also receive complimentary access to Bangkok Airways’ Boutique Lounges and Courtesy Corners at available airports, regardless of the cabin class they fly. Air India and Bangkok Airways have also entered a Special Prorate Agreement, which allows both carriers to file ‘through fares’ on routes covering each other’s networks.
Air India guests can connect to the following points in Thailand through Bangkok Airways: Chiang Mai, Lampang, Sukhothai, Trat, Koh Samui, Phuket, and Krabi. The points outside of Thailand include Luang Prabang in Laos; and Phnom Penh, Siem Reap in Cambodia. In addition to the Bangkok gateway, Air India guests can also choose to fly to Koh Samui via Singapore and Hong Kong. Air India operates daily flights to Bangkok from Delhi and Mumbai, to Singapore from Delhi (twice daily), Mumbai, and Chennai, and thrice a week to Hong Kong from Delhi.
This will offer more options to passengers from India who are thronging ASEAN by the droves and are a lifeline to a few destinations which have traditionally relied on Chinese tourists. Bangkok Airways is a boutique airline with a hub at Suvarnabhumi Airport and has had operated a daily flight to Mumbai in the past. The airline has boutique lounges for every passenger and a “Blue Ribbon Club” for business class passengers and thus the marketing around Air India passengers, irrespective of class of service being able to enjoy the lounge. Bangkok Airways had a long-standing relationship with Jet Airways in the past which was a codeshare and involved placing Jet Airways code on flights to eleven destinations beyond Bangkok to places in Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia while Bangkok Airways placed its code on Jet Airways flights to Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Goa and Chennai.
Interline agreements are the most basic of agreements that two airlines sign. It is a commercial agreement to handle passengers across airlines on same itinerary but allows passengers to check-in their luggage to the final destination and get boarding passes till the final destination.
You can now order Network Thoughts baggage tags and/or book marks!
Follow NetworkThoughts on Twitter, Facebook, Telegram and YouTube.
For advertising opportunities, get in touch via the Contact us page