Budget air travel in 2023 vs 2018: trip to Cambodia cost me US$350 five years ago and took 12 hours. Now?

Tourism may have bounced back after the pandemic, but air travel is still suffering lingering effects, and travellers are paying the price

A travel writer compared a flight from Bali to Sihanoukville with a similar one taken from Sydney in 2018 to highlight the current reality

Reading Time:3 minutes

Tourism may have bounced back after the pandemic, but the airline industry is still suffering lingering effects, and travellers are paying the price. A budget air travel trip in Asia, to Cambodia, highlights the current reality. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 7:15am, 30 May 2023Updated: 10:16am, 30 May 2023

A year ago, at the start of the post-pandemic travel boom, when sharp price rises in oil sent air fares through the roof, I saved US$1,500 on a trip from Asia to Europe by buying a patchwork of flights on budget airlines using online travel agent Kiwi.com.

The savings were substantial but the journey took nearly two days, and most of it was without sleep. Afterwards I felt terrible for weeks and promised myself never to fly long-haul on budget airlines again.

This month, I had to break that promise after accepting an assignment in Sihanoukville, a Cambodian coastal city popular among Chinese tourists for its casinos, freewheeling attitude, and high-rise condos and hotels, nearly all of which are Chinese built.

The last time I travelled there, in 2018, it was with AirAsia. I started in Sydney, Australia, and had a two- to three-hour stopover in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The journey took about half a day and cost nearly US$350.

Chinese-built hotels under construction in Sihanoukville, Cambodia. Photo: Shutterstock

This year, I began the trip in Southeast Asia and therefore assumed the journey would be both cheaper and faster. I was wrong.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x