Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus - Emergency Exit Reservation for LH*G?

Dear All
I have a Reservation on Thai from nrt to fra via bkk.
Being LH SEN (where you can pre reserve Exit rows) I wondered about the following.
When I look on the seatmap of either TG677(Nrt-bkk 15okt)/ TG920 (BKK-FRA 15okt) and the same on TG921 (19okt) and TG640 (BKK-NRT) 20okt
I realise that some people must have been able to pre reserve the exit seats on those flights

So I called Thai FRA, NRT and HQ and asked if I can reserve them and all said, no they can only be assigned at the apt.

So from your experience is this true? or what do I need to do in order to prereserve the exits? Where do I need to call? Is it only for TG Gold or also LH*G
Regards
Kiez

Not sure whether it works for ROP Gold now, but definitely not for other *G.

TG*G cannot prereserve exit rows on TG flights regardless whether you are in Y or C. So it is no for LH*G. However getting to the airport early has allowed me to get an exit/ bulkhead row seat 100% so far. Mayb that has something to do with being TG*G I don't know.

Enjoy!

On my last TG flight a few months ago, those emergency exit seats actually had stickers to the effect that they were reserved for the crews. Even the overhead bin above those seats have such stickers. It was a 747.

You may be able to reserve a bulkhead row if you're booked as a code share operated by TG with another *A airline, e.g., LH or AC. I had flown segments on AC flight no. code share operated by TG and AC reservation "Q" a message to TG for me for a specific seat request and they sometimes returned confirmed. If you are booked on TG, then I'd say no luck based on my personal experience. *G means nothing at TG and also based on what I read here, even TG ROP Gold does not mean very much.

Hi,
After being offered choice of exit window and bulkhead on my last Bkk MAD flight in exchange for my middle seat I declined. These are bad seats. In fact TG economy is a whopping 34 inches seat pitch so plenty of leg room ( Im 6 foot 4). After last week's op up from Y to c on return mad BKK leg , I got ready for my BKK LHR trip yesterday. As usual, once at the gate in BKK [I] went to change my original seat which was a H seat. I was told " you are gold card member so we give you 4 seats" So I had row 62 all for myself. Slumber on 4 y seats sure beats the C class seats anytime. I only stayed 12 hours in London and checked in an hour ago. I was asked to check in at the f class counter and was again given 4 seats in y ( maybe it's the yellow polo shirt). Hope no one else decided to change seating in the meantime. So although I get a bit cranky sometimes at some of Tg's 'Thai' logic, overall ROP gold has been worth its weight. Hope they come out next year with a level beyond gold.
Cheers!

I was told " you are gold card member so we give you 4 seats" So I had row 62 all for myself. Slumber on 4 y seats sure beats the C class seats anytime. I only stayed 12 hours in London and checked in an hour ago. I was asked to check in at the f class counter and was again given 4 seats in y ( maybe it's the yellow polo shirt). Hope no one else decided to change seating in the meantime. So although I get a bit cranky sometimes at some of Tg's 'Thai' logic, overall ROP gold has been worth its weight. Hope they come out next year with a level beyond gold.
Cheers!

Great to hear that! It's sounding more and more like they are finally giving preferred seating to ROP Golds. Last week on two out of four flights I got 4 seats to myself due to my ROP Gold card, one of them was well over 90% full. A third flight only had a few empty seats and the one next to me was empty. The fourth flight I declined getting 4 seats to myself as I purposely wanted a seat near the front in order to clear immigration quickly.

I couldn't agree more in hoping they come out with something above gold, hopefully which will include F lounge access, though they need to get the food back to where it was first. The end of the year is coming up and I keep looking out for any announcements. If not, next year will be a dead year for me ROP earning-wise.

Guys, please bear with me for this silly question. This new thing to TG*G holder on TG sounds nice, I never had 4 seats to myself ever on TG but my question is:

How do you stop other passengers sitting down in one of your 4 seats?

3 seats I can imagine you can sit in the middle but 4 in the middle row if you sit in E then another person could just sit down in seat G?

Surely if they do then you can try speak to the flight steward/stewardess but if it was the flight steward/stewardess who brought over another passenger cos that person has enquired if there are any other seats which he or she could spread out a bit then what do we do?

While sitting in 23E I have seen a few times pax asking if they could move from say fr 25E to 22B specifically cos there was a spare seat. The answer was yes and as a result the guy that was in 22A (maybe a FF? maybe a *G? maybe a ROP*G? don't know..) lost his empty seat/ space he thought he would have (Not that he paid for it of cos but that's not my point).

I hope whatever benefits we are starting to get at check in as ROP*G will be carried forward onboard otherwise there is just no point.

How do you stop other passengers sitting down in one of your 4 seats?


I suppose it depends what you want to do with your four seats. If I'm just going to sit, there's really no need in my opinion to have four. Two will do nicely. If I request four it's likely because I'm exhausted and would like to sleep on the flight, laying down across the four seats. In this case, once the flight is airborne and the fasten seatbelt sign is turned off, I immediately lay down and try to get some sleep, and I can safely assume nobody will try to disturb me and sit down in any of the seats I'm occupying. So the only point I have to worry about someone trying to sit in one of the seats is before taxiing/takeoff. When I board (and I don't wait till the very last minute in these cases), I pull up the middle armrests and sit across both of the middle seats, with arms spread rather wide. I've only had one occasion where someone tried to sit in the seat next to me. She was a Thai lady and mentioned her seat didn't have a tray table. Well, already the passengers were asked to fasten their seatbelts and she shouldn't have had her tray table down anyways, if she did have one. But I told her it was because in her seat the tray table was located below the arm rest, but she refused to listen. Finally I mentioned I specifically had all four seats reserved for me by check-in, and one of the F.A.s overheard this and directed her to another seat which had a normal tray table. I've had lots of people looking around for a seat to change to on many of my flights but nobody besides that one ever made any moves. Perhaps I'm just lucky. I do always eat before my flight in these cases so I don't need to sit up to eat my dinner and worry about someone coming around then and trying to sit in my row.

One other thing I do is to place some magazines or other seat pocket materials on the two aisle seats after I sit down. If anyone walks by looking for a new seat, they'll likely assume that seat is already occupied and the occupant is in the restroom.

I always request a row of four seats near the back of the plane. Getting a row near the front, is just asking for trouble.

Hi kinchai,

I can't answer your question directly but maybe I may tell you about my previous experiences.

Some months ago I was in 47G on a flight BKK-FRA. 47F was empty and 47DE was taken by a German couple. There looks were, by Thai standards, very substandard to phrase it nicely.

I placed my blanket and pillow on "my" empty seat and later I put my book and drink on the table of 47F. In the meantime the "lady" on 47E had already confiscated the 47F pillow. As she snatched also my pillow I got I little bit annoyed.

Then she started lying down on 47E AND F and put MY F-table up. Her (dirty) hair was already on my armrest. I put the table down again and put my stuff back. At one point her twit got fuming. Made her get up, took my stuff, threw it on me and sat down at 47F! He spoke German but what he said was very arrogant like: "Now you see how it works!!"

I took a deep breath and thought to myself "I will show you how it works, indeed."

Then I took a minute to relax and went upfront to approach a (female) F/A. I explained to her that there are some unruly pax next to me. She asked if I want another seat but I declined politely and just requested everybody in his/her assigned seats. She sad "one moment" and to my surprise she just walked by the low lives and vanished in the back. After a minute she returned with 3 (!!) colleagues, all female. I was hiding behind the lavs watching the scenario from a save distance. I couldn't hear was the women were saying to these people. But I can tell you one thing: Never ever mess with a Thai woman!!

It just took seconds and the crap was back in its seats. I didn't even give them a glace through out the whole flight.

3 weeks later I was flying FRA-BKK and had booked 47G again. At check-in I was surprised my BP said 50D. I inquired with the agent and he said the TG manager had moved me. He called him and handed me the phone. I was told I am now in 50DEF because 47F was already taken. Actually I don't like row 50 because it has only 33" pitch and row 47 has 34.5", but the manager is Thai so I said "Thank You Very Much".

Just after boarding a F/A approached me and said I should move to 50E so no-one is going to intrude MY 3 seats. So I assume the crew was informed.

Last month I flew FRA-BKK-CNX in C. At the check-in at FRA I got the BD for the domestic leg: 4B (Blue Velvet class on 7442). Just before boarding the flight to CNX the gate agent took my BP and said: "We changed your seat to 4J". After boarding I knew why. Someone was already in 4A and 4K was empty.

So it looks to me TG is pretty much aware that I am a guy who does not like to socialise with fellow pax.

I don't know if it is because I have gold status or just because most of the times I find the right approach to get my requests across.

I just got another Y to C opup on an international flight, making that two in just one month, compared to none in my prior 200+ TG metal flights. Also had another flight with four seats to myself, and one flight that was nearly full with the seat next to me blocked. Whatever is causing this preferential treatment, I'm loving it. With 23 international TG flights this month and 20 next month, it makes a huge difference getting either upgraded or seats blocked on nearly every flight.

Although i am Gold Member i am always early on the airport. Because i want an Exit seat , I fly mostly CDG-BKK-CDG, Seat 31 is mostly occupied, i think mostly Thai friends or so.
So most of the times always 43C. But still the tray in the chair makes the chair little narrow. Ok i have room for my legs, but always pax waiting for to go to the toilet. No i will book mostly the two seaters at the back of the plane. You can not take that seat on line because i is mostly reserved for a couple.
But no problem, really i prefered this seat more then an exit seat. Yes i have more weight then other people, around 100 kg.

But, most of the times i ask at the counter if the plane is full, and then if it is overbooked. If the answer is yes, i ask very friendly, If you need my seat, no problem, you can upgrade me to bussiness class. Because i was very very friendly, you get lots of things organized. So i got upgrade to bussiness class.
Last week i was flying MNL-BKK, the plane was overbooked, 15 people were waitlisted. At the Gate , yes, they upgraded me to bussiness class. Since i have my Gold Card with Thai airways it gives ne good benefits. But if you are nice to the Thai, no problem.

One day in economy class, i got as breakfast the Orange Confiture, awfull tast, I ask the steward for other flavor, after 3 minutes he came back with confiture from the bussiness class.

I am Dutch, but i prefer to have with the asian airlines, the service is great, better then the KLM