Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus - Good experience Biz class BKK-PER - HKT - BKK + massage inflight + one sour note

Bagged 2 biz class seats for only 37,500 miles each earnt by credit cards with Thai recent offer from BKK to Perth, bargain.

Nice surprise to find out it was new A330-300 with latest new seats with a massage button!!

Everything was good and this compares well with SQ.

Only one sour note spoilt a great experience and that was that we had booked 2 front row seats but was told at the gate that they had changed. Could not understand why but hey ho was happy with 2 seats together in this new plane with good seats. Then when my companion was in the bathroom, the plane door was closed and this TIP, Thai Important Person, sat down next to me and as I was telling him he could not sit there, I noticed his seat number on an economy ticket stub, 46a. He was sure he was sitting there with an arrogent smile.

Dressed as only the Thai military know how and completely different to my other Thai passengers. I went to complain and was told its ok he has gone. I sat back down and then he walked past with his junior rank friend and sat in the two seats we had booked at the front!

What was really noticable was that the crew avoided this guy as much as they could, in complete contrast to the attention they paid to their other western and Thai passengers.

It did not end there, when we landed there was some shouting and sure enough he wanted to make sure he was off the plane first to save his face and never mind the other passengers he pushed aside.

I hate these parasites, as aptly described by Wallop, and this is reason I will not pay to fly Thai biz or First. If you earn an upgrade or free ticket with points ok but these guys intimidate the staff and demand upgrades not only for themselves but their cronies also.

I am sure I am not the only one who feels this way and just wish that Thai would realise not only lose valuable revenue for these seats but also premium passengers, like myself, who will not stand for this and use another airline, SQ, in my case.

So it is great to be able to say good things about Thai but spoilt by these mafia types who greatly damage Thai.

Which leg was this incident?

bkk-per

Let me tell you my own experience when it comes to TG's miraculous last minute upgrades ( for Thai Hi so's only, not for us farangs full fare paying Gold card holders).
On my last CDG-BKK flight in 1st class, I checked in online just 2 hours prior to the scheduled departure time ( I was staying at the CDG Sheraton). The seat map showed only another passenger besides me in 1st class.
Yet we ended up a full house( 10 pax) in 1st class, although business class clearly wasn't anywhere near full, so no justified op-ups , and guess what : all the extra F class passengers ( the ones not showing up when I did the online check in) were Thais .....
When I did ask the wonderful purser about this odd situation, he was sincere enough to answer : " Please don't ask".

bkk-per

I'm surprised.. I thought it would be the other way around. If business/first was full, would they try and intimidate someone into swapping for their economy ticket?

I can understand that TG are in a difficult position with these people, but they do have to show ID, and if they were to demand payment from the army for upgrades and be backed by people in high places, the TIPs would have to get back in their box.

That's terrible... Not a good look for TG...

Cheers,

AG. :-:

Let me tell you my own experience when it comes to TG's miraculous last minute upgrades ( for Thai Hi so's only, not for us farangs full fare paying Gold card holders).
On my last CDG-BKK flight in 1st class, I checked in online just 2 hours prior to the scheduled departure time ( I was staying at the CDG Sheraton). The seat map showed only another passenger besides me in 1st class.
Yet we ended up a full house( 10 pax) in 1st class, although business class clearly wasn't anywhere near full, so no justified op-ups , and guess what : all the extra F class passengers ( the ones not showing up when I did the online check in) were Thais .....
When I did ask the wonderful purser about this odd situation, he was sincere enough to answer : " Please don't ask".

That is outragous, I feel sorry for the Thai staff who have to deal with these cretins.

Anyway must go as flying to LHR biz with SQ where this disgraceful behaviour does not happen.

Come on Thai get a grip of this business damaging practice.

This is nothing new with TG, it's been going on for years. People who fly TG in F think they are booming, as the F cabin is regularly full, especially ex-BKK.

I feel sorry for the crew and groundstaff when these a**holes give it the big one, as there is not a lot they can do.

Earlier this year I flew BKK-FRA and while being escorted from F checkin to immigration an hour before the flight I asked and was told there was 5 in F on our flight. We boarded and there was indeed only 5. Then this party of 4 locals arrived on board at the last minute and hung around at the back of the cabin in front of the toilets. One of them had an F BP but there rest had Y.

The F pax collared the senior crew member who them disappeared into the galley and came out with the pax manifest. He then pointed out what were the empty seats and they all went and sat down in the seats. :rolleyes:

The really annoying thing with this lot was the crew were a bit lax in serving pre take-off drinks so were rushing. As a result they came around to collect the glasses before we had finished as we were pushing back. However, this group didn't like this and words were exchanged, the upshot of which was the crew member disappeared into the galley, came back with the Dom and refilled their glasses. :mad: The guy sat in 2K was annoyed with this and complained to crew, who shrugged their shoulders as if to say 'sorry, what can we do'. He rightly pointed out that if crew have to collect glasses at that time due to safety procedures then it doesn't matter who they are, the same applies to them. He was right of course, and they should have told them to Foxtrot Oscar, but they were put in a very awkward position.

In fairness although TG is one of the worst for doing this, they are far from alone. MH do it a lot as well, as they have similar types of idiots in their country. When I used to fly KL they used to be a PITA with filling the front cabin up with crew family and friends, generally after doors closed as well.

In fairness although TG is one of the worst for doing this, they are far from alone. MH do it a lot as well, as they have similar types of idiots in their country. When I used to fly KL they used to be a PITA with filling the front cabin up with crew family and friends, generally after doors closed as well.

Agree, TG is not the only airline, it goes on in almost every airline. It's not restricted to those with Royal Kingdoms either.

I've been given upgrade favours on SQ and BA through friends.

With TG it just seems to be a lot more rampant and in your face, but this kind of preferential upgrade goes on every day of the week in other airlines.

This upgrade situation would explain the disgraceful behaviour I witnessed last September when flying First from BKK to FCO.

I had been told when we were in the First lounge that there were only my husband and myself plus two other passengers in 1st on the flight to Rome. However, after the doors closed a Thai family of 2 adults + 2 children appeared in the First cabin. I didn't think too much about it and assumed that they were probably related to flight crew and were lucky enough to have been upgraded. However, a couple of hours before we landed in FCO, the male passenger started abusing the (male) flight steward (in Thai) in an extremely loud and aggressive manner. The abuse lasted for more than 5 minutes (it woke up all four of us fare-paying passengers) and I felt like getting up and telling the man doing the abusing that everyone else had paid full price for their tickets and didn't appreciate having to put up with his boorish behaviour.

However, I didn't do so because I didn't know whether he would have spoken English.

I'm now thinking that this was most likely a military type rather than a relation of some crew member. Usually, one finds that family members are happy for the upgrade and don't create any fuss whatsoever.

I know it's not related but it just makes me that much more irritated that the Gold Upgrade Certificate this year for Gold cardholders is practically useless! Why bother with anything - I wonder how many Gold cardholders who received these Certificates have actually been able to use them at all - only a handful it would seem.

You can only imagine what the FA's and cabin crew in general are thinking and saying under their breaths about these pax.

I mean to abuse the crew and wake paying F passengers is just plain rude and totally inappropriate!

Cheers,

AG. :-:

The really annoying thing with this lot was the crew were a bit lax in serving pre take-off drinks so were rushing. As a result they came around to collect the glasses before we had finished as we were pushing back. However, this group didn't like this and words were exchanged, the upshot of which was the crew member disappeared into the galley, came back with the Dom and refilled their glasses. :mad: The guy sat in 2K was annoyed with this and complained to crew, who shrugged their shoulders as if to say 'sorry, what can we do'. He rightly pointed out that if crew have to collect glasses at that time due to safety procedures then it doesn't matter who they are, the same applies to them. He was right of course, and they should have told them to Foxtrot Oscar, but they were put in a very awkward position.

.

The main reason for this and other incidents where they want to be first off the plane or any other bad behaviour is the need to demonstrate how important they believe they are in front of their other cronies, Thai crew and Thai passengers.

They want to show the rules do not apply to them and show a big face. In a country where face is sometimes more important than money, if you have lots of ill gotten gains. We are talking about military mafia types with low inteligence levels, I know, I have met a lot of them.

This is in contrast to middle and hi so Thais who want to learn about the world, speak English or another western or Asian language and know how to conduct themselves. They have the money to buy their own tickets and do so.

The mafia types just want to demonstrate their intimidation skills as they cannot compete in the real world. These people are scum and yes other countries have them but not to the level here.

I know a lot of Thai people who are embarresed and angered by these parasites doing so much damage to their own country.

Nero fiddles whilst Rome burns !!!

I thought that that the privilege extends beyond the military to all elected officials and to any senior civil servant (agreed, many of them are past military). When the new Prime minister took office he made some public statements that such perks would be reduced and not granted anymore to officials and their family travelling for leisure (only on official business). Clearly he could not have such policy implemented. Just a casual observation on my last visits to the F lounge early October. In the evening we were only 2 caucasian for several TG European departures (while there used to be many more pax before the finacial crisis); all the others were Thai families. On the return transit, the F lounge was allmost empty. We were supposed to be 2 F pax to ZRH but the F cabin filled with Thai males, their wives/children being accomodated in C. However, I must admit that on the segments I flew, the "upgraded" Thai pax (some looking very "military") behaved quite properly and politely.
I agree that most airlines have some upgrading policy for VIPs and Staff. But they widely differ in terms of how extensive/automatic it is. Many airlines try to keep their F cabin "exclusive".

I thought that that the privilege extends beyond the military to all elected officials and to any senior civil servant (agreed, many of them are past military). When the new Prime minister took office he made some public statements that such perks would be reduced and not granted anymore to officials and their family travelling for leisure (only on official business). Clearly he could not have such policy implemented. Just a casual observation on my last visits to the F lounge early October. In the evening we were only 2 caucasian for several TG European departures (while there used to be many more pax before the finacial crisis); all the others were Thai families. On the return transit, the F lounge was allmost empty. We were supposed to be 2 F pax to ZRH but the F cabin filled with Thai males, their wives/children being accomodated in C. However, I must admit that on the segments I flew, the "upgraded" Thai pax (some looking very "military") behaved quite properly and politely.
I agree that most airlines have some upgrading policy for VIPs and Staff. But they widely differ in terms of how extensive/automatic it is. Many airlines try to keep their F cabin "exclusive".

I know this is no place for a political rant, but Abhisit should be renamed Abhishit, since he is so full of it....
How can you expect someone who became who he is now, solely thanks to a corrupt and inept governance system , to change it....
The new TG president is a former Minister, i.e a Thai politician... U get my drift ... The worst is still to come
Back on topic, we both know that AF also does fill its 1st class with relatives of the pilot and AF staff, but at least these people have the decency to behave thesmselves and show some decency unlike the Thai hi so imbeciles.

When Imelda Marcos (First Lady of the Philippines, 1965-1986) was in the mood for a light supper at her favourite French restaurant or thought she needs another pair of shoes, she confiscated a whole PAL-DC10 exclusively for her and her entourage to fly to Paris, London, NY or wherever.

That meant Philippine Airlines had to take that a/c out of rotation and cancel all affected flights.

So all you full F-fare paying gold status pax be happy and humble that you are tolerated as a nuisance side load.

Do you think TG is swapping a/c on a 2-class (or 7442) route for a 7443 or A340 just to accommodate some Thai VIPs appropriately? Wouldn't surprise me. That would be an additional reason for so many a/c changes.

;););)

Back on topic, we both know that AF also does fill its 1st class with relatives of the pilot and AF staff, but at least these people have the decency to behave thesmselves and show some decency unlike the Thai hi so imbeciles.

Indeed. As AF is reluctant to discount its F class (not so great anyway) and has set new outrageous award levels, the F cabin is primarily reserved for AF staff, family and friends. But at least they behave as they do feel privileged to travel in that small cabin.

Are there any Thai lurkers out there who can spill the beans as to what happens ?, it would be nice if someone did an expose about this.

Culprit lists would be great even if by private message.

Some pain for Thai initialy but then pain needed before this can be cured, so better for Thai for the future.

Interesting to hear from any Thai people and what they think about this. and the people who do the intimidating.

Are there any Thai lurkers out there who can spill the beans as to what happens ?, it would be nice if someone did an expose about this.

Culprit lists would be great even if by private message.

Some pain for Thai initialy but then pain needed before this can be cured, so better for Thai for the future.

Interesting to hear from any Thai people and what they think about this. and the people who do the intimidating.

Bkkman ,

Sorry no hard feelings, but how can you expect Thai people to come out and express their disgust at this situation when they are the sole beneficiaries of the corrupt system. Those imbeciles have been thriving on the system and have had their ugly noses up the trough for so long that they no longer understand what is right or wrong( provided they have enough synapses to ever make a difference ) .
I have been living long enough in this country and have been patronizing TG long enough to know that they just tolerate us as paying guests , but deep down still consider us as walking wallets with no brains.
You will pick up the irony when it comes to who has brains...

Reading this thread, I was wondering if THAI holds back on selling out the front cabin completely in order to accomodate these people?

And if not, and the front cabin is full, how do they handle these people? Do they ever try to remove (or downgrade) fare-paying passengers up front to accomodate these VIP/TIPs?

Reading this thread, I was wondering if THAI holds back on selling out the front cabin completely in order to accomodate these people?

And if not, and the front cabin is full, how do they handle these people? Do they ever try to remove (or downgrade) fare-paying passengers up front to accomodate these VIP/TIPs?

I can't imagine TG would downgrade fare paying pax for these types... Would they?! :td:

Cheers,

AG. :-:

Reading this thread, I was wondering if THAI holds back on selling out the front cabin completely in order to accomodate these people?

And if not, and the front cabin is full, how do they handle these people? Do they ever try to remove (or downgrade) fare-paying passengers up front to accomodate these VIP/TIPs?

Surely not but funny you should raise this as I have had many experiences over the years when I was told that biz or first was full. I did find it hard to believe on many occasions.

Bkkman ,

Sorry no hard feelings, but how can you expect Thai people to come out and express their disgust at this situation when they are the sole beneficiaries of the corrupt system. Those imbeciles have been thriving on the system and have had their ugly noses up the trough for so long that they no longer understand what is right or wrong( provided they have enough synapses to ever make a difference ) .
I have been living long enough in this country and have been patronizing TG long enough to know that they just tolerate us as paying guests , but deep down still consider us as walking wallets with no brains.
You will pick up the irony when it comes to who has brains...


Agree with most of what you say but there are some exceptions, I have met many Thais who are truely nice people and the only reasons they do not come forward are fear and a sense of what foriegners would think if they knew what really goes on, even though some of us, like you and I, do.

Reading this thread, I was wondering if THAI holds back on selling out the front cabin completely in order to accomodate these people?

Interesting question. As you surmised from my posts, I just did a HKG-ZRH-HKG in F. I planned to have my wife come from HKG to BKK in F and break my journey and spend a couple of nights there. Impossible to get a ticket for her (at any fare), eventhough EF still showed 4 or more unassigned seats day before trip. So she staid home. On a flight that she could not buy, there were indeed an "invasion" of Thai VIPs (the lounge attendant said that there were only a couple of reserved F seats). So TG lost some revenue by "blocking" free seats.

Reading this thread, I was wondering if THAI holds back on selling out the front cabin completely in order to accomodate these people?

And if not, and the front cabin is full, how do they handle these people? Do they ever try to remove (or downgrade) fare-paying passengers up front to accomodate these VIP/TIPs?

After reading all these posts I think TG does it the following way:

Let's take an example: The TG 7443 has 325 seats in Y. They are called "protected seats" in the reservation system. Then there is another number, called "saleable seats". The second number is higher as it takes into account no-shows based on historical data and other factors. As long as the number of saleable seats is not exceeded, the flight is still not considered overbooked.

Now for the F-cabin they do it the other way round. 10 protected seats but, e.g., only 6 saleable seats. That means when 6 seats are sold the system shows F fully booked. The seat map on the other hand can not be changed so easily and has still 10 seats total. 6 assigned, 4 unassigned.

And than the phenomenon happens that you have a "fully" booked cabin but still (in this example) 4 unassigned seats.

(I know for sure that LH, and I think most all other A/Ls also, keep the numbers for protected and saleable seats in F class the same to make 100% sure not to inconvenience a top tier customer. You cannot upgrade from First.)

There must have been some ugly incidents in the past with some "special" people with Y tkts who could not be accommodated appropriately. It wouldn't surprise me if some TG employees lost their jobs because of one of these parasites. I don't even want to picture the rant in the Y (or C) cabin these folks staged.

So just for the peace they devalue F class. That's Thai; just keep the face.

:(:td:

We are doing our first TG (and first F) flight from LHR-BKK ... are we likely to come across this on this routing?

We are doing our first TG (and first F) flight from LHR-BKK ... are we likely to come across this on this routing?

Highly likely. I have experienced it myself several times especially when I pre-booked seats 1A/K. Those so called VIPs and their entourage usually travel in groups and loves messing up the seating pattern and cabin tranquillity. You may also find their young children (traveling home or back to their boarding schools) in premium cabins (first and business).

p.s. There may be less of these VIPs on the day-time flight ex-LHR.

Well any society has to decide how to split the goodies. The fact that a plane has three classes suggests there's going to be some degree of unfairness. In the west, the goodies are allocated to the ruling classes based on the payment of money, which the ruling classes seem to be very good at accumulating. In other societies, the goodies go to those who hold the right jobs in the Army, or the Government, or perhaps who were born into the right family. But as long as people don't get an equal share of the goodies, I'm not that convinced that any one system is that much fairer than another.

"Life is unfair. Kill yourself or get over it." (Black Box Recorder)

We are doing our first TG (and first F) flight from LHR-BKK ... are we likely to come across this on this routing?

Hi caz, you sure will, but any airline you choose will do the same to you. Every country has these problems. In my country, politicians can travel free, aircrew who are being repositioned travel up front too, VIPs and celebs on contra are there too and but regardless the worst offenders are staff. If staff are not bad enough, the problem is complicated by FF's who jam up the availability with award seats. It's becoming a nightmare caz, then they insist you pull the shades down and sleep, my advice is to have a sponge bath and a cup of tea before boarding:(, regards bkkrop

...the problem is complicated by FF's who jam up the availability with award seats. It's becoming a nightmare caz, then they insist you pull the shades down and sleep...
I shall be making a return LHR-BKK trip in F on a redemption and I promise I won't pull the shades down and sleep during daylight hours.

I shall be making a return LHR-BKK trip in F on a redemption and I promise I won't pull the shades down and sleep during daylight hours.


You may well have to put the shades down. One western passenger was arrested arriving in BKK for not doing so because he inconvenienced somebody being part of the so called "Thai royal family" - the most appalling breed on the planet on whom the whole corrupt Thai system of clientelism is built on.

Sorry for this post. Behuman stopped posting on FT and especially on the TG and Thailand forum quite a while ago. But this thread is so amusing and I am so delighted that TG and Thailand appear to loose some of their glamour in the general FT community opinion. I may well be back having considered TG and Thailand in the lowest possible rank a couple of years ago already (it is not about being part of the real dirty third world, but about masking it by lying to customers and investors). Time may prove me right.

That's why it is called ROYAL First and ROYAL Business class!

You may well have to put the shades down. One western passenger was arrested arriving in BKK for not doing so because he inconvenienced somebody being part of the so called "Thai royal family" ...
I'd like to see them try. I am transiting on to Vietnam, so they'd need to arrest me in international space.

Some weeks ago when H.M. was in hospital on every TG flight (domestic and international) at least the first row was blocked for "official use". Just imagine what will happen when all "officials" will be travelling while the unspeakable will take place .

I suspect that when that happens, availability of premium cabin airline seats will be the least of Thailand's problems.

Good to see the same old stuff on Friday's TG917 from LHR.

I was one of the last to board and the pax in 1A was clearly upset and was remonstrating with the senior crew. I clearly heard him mention having booked his seats 'months ago' how it was a joke and when the crew said they would put it in their report he told them not to bother, as they will be flying someone else next time.

His partner was sat in 2K (so they had not just been moved, they were opposite sides and diferent rows now) and there was Thai couple sat in 2E & 2F not taking any notice of the discussion. It was pretty obvious the guy remonstrating had booked their seats 'months ago' and the Thai couple had come along and got them booted out of the seats so they could sit there. You can understand why the guy was upset.

When the lady in 2A arrived the crew asked her would she like to swap to 2K to move the guys partner behind him. She agreed but when they crew asked him he said forget it, still fuming.

It was quite an eventful flight. We ran out of Dom before push back, as they had the grand total of one bottle loaded, and when serving the caviar the crew forgot to lock the trolley when he went to get a drink from the front and it went flying down the cabin and crashed into the toilet door. :D

Honestly, I am glad, and at the same time--sad ,that this thread has been started. The reason is that I have stopped flying with TG for this very incidence. I feel insulted when I am a paying premium class passenger and has to be seated next to free loaders who were full of DYKWIA attitudes. Unfortunately, those free loaders usually do not know what social decency are-- always unreasonably demanding and obnoxious.
What do I do? I vote with my wallet ever since and have never flown with them again for many years. Not only me, but also do I ask my travel manager not to give any dimes (or Satang) to TG. Perhaps, it may have caused some troubles as I have to transit via HKG (as you may have guessed, I am a royal customer to CX who treats me truly well), it is well worth it.
For some posts asking why no one has reported this issue to the management/government, actually I am quite certain that everyone involved is well aware of this fact, but this problem is more complicated and that they have to uproot the system that has been corrupted for so long.
And for that very reason,I have given up....

Good to see the same old stuff on Friday's TG917 from LHR.

I was one of the last to board and the pax in 1A was clearly upset and was remonstrating with the senior crew. I clearly heard him mention having booked his seats 'months ago' how it was a joke and when the crew said they would put it in their report he told them not to bother, as they will be flying someone else next time.

His partner was sat in 2K (so they had not just been moved, they were opposite sides and diferent rows now) and there was Thai couple sat in 2E & 2F not taking any notice of the discussion. It was pretty obvious the guy remonstrating had booked their seats 'months ago' and the Thai couple had come along and got them booted out of the seats so they could sit there. You can understand why the guy was upset.

When the lady in 2A arrived the crew asked her would she like to swap to 2K to move the guys partner behind him. She agreed but when they crew asked him he said forget it, still fuming.

It was quite an eventful flight. We ran out of Dom before push back, as they had the grand total of one bottle loaded, and when serving the caviar the crew forgot to lock the trolley when he went to get a drink from the front and it went flying down the cabin and crashed into the toilet door. :D


....now I am really looking forward to our Honeymoon start on the TG917 in Jan - I have 2E & F booked ...guess I need to check in early and run only the flight!

I dont like 2E&F; I think best seats for a couple are 1A&K.
Do internet checkin. It does not provide the BP but my guess is that it confirms that you will be there and should honor your seat selection.

I dont like 2E&F; I think best seats for a couple are 1A&K.
Do internet checkin. It does not provide the BP but my guess is that it confirms that you will be there and should honor your seat selection.
Different people have different preferences. If I were travelling with someone I'd want to be in adjacent seats (i.e. EF).

This photo isn't perfect, but it shows 1A taken from 1K without wide angle lenses or anything. There's quite a gap between the two seats and you'd need to share your conversation with the rest of the cabin of you were of a chatty disposition.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2250/2244187423_c1c6b4bd58.jpghttp://www.flickr.com/photos/blackwych/2244187423/sizes/m/in/set-72157603858958249/

....now I am really looking forward to our Honeymoon start on the TG917 in Jan - I have 2E & F booked ...guess I need to check in early and run only the flight!

As brunos says, do internet checkin. I would also take a print off confirmation, and board early. ;)

I dont like 2E&F; I think best seats for a couple are 1A&K.


I would disagree, if you want to be next to each other anyway. The only reason for a couple to choose 1A&K would be if they both wanted window seats or the two centre pairs had gone, and even then as Mr H's picture shows, it's still a distance.