Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus - Why is TG403 late all the time?!

I'm just wondering if anyone has any idea as to why this flight's been 15 to 45 minutes late almost 70-80% of the time for the past few months?

my girlfriend was on that flight last week. over ONE HOUR LATE. She missed the last MRT and had to pay for a taxi, plus midnight surcharge :( definitely not happy about it.

my girlfriend was on that flight last week. over ONE HOUR LATE. She missed the last MRT and had to pay for a taxi, plus midnight surcharge :( definitely not happy about it.

And how does this answer OP's question?

I'm just wondering if anyone has any idea as to why this flight's been 15 to 45 minutes late almost 70-80% of the time for the past few months?

This planes arrival into BKK also shows delays, must be the flow on, and there is always something to fix up. As this is the first flight out to SIN each day, afhstingray girl friend plane was really delayed, she better ask for compensation:D

afhstingray girl friend plane was really delayed, she better ask for compensation:D

I think that afhstingray should rather investigate where his girlfriend really was... :D

And how does this answer OP's question?

and i suppose your post does? :rolleyes:

my girlfriend was on that flight last week. over ONE HOUR LATE. She missed the last MRT and had to pay for a taxi, plus midnight surcharge :( definitely not happy about it.

I think you're talking about TG401. That's the night flight, not the morning flight I'm talking about, But it appears both have been running late almost everyday for as far back as a few months!

Honestly in your case I would actually go to the trouble of submitting a claim to TG to cover the difference between the cab fare and the MRT. It's not the money, its the principle. If the delay is not due to something outside the airline control, they should foot the consequential bills. Maybe that would get them to improve their ops.

I guess folks need to beware in case they are planning on cnx at SIN and incoming on one of these flights.

but is there any regulation that entitles one to claim for the fare difference?

but is there any regulation that entitles one to claim for the fare difference?

Maybe, maybe not. In Asia, I'd lean with the sentiment there probably are no laws that require TG to pay for anything at all.

It's rather the goodwill on the part of the airline to man up and accept responsibility for their failure in delivering the pax at the scheduled time. Again, if it's a weather or ATC related issue (JFK anyone?) then I would understand but BKK-SIN is neither congested, nor has any weather issues that could cause such delays, often prolonging the scheduled flight time by 30-50%.

TG is usually very good in taking care of pax during IRROPS and delays that lead to missing cnx based on my own experiences.

is it late departing or just late arriving?

It seems like the airlines here in the US have learned to grossly overestimate flight times so they can claim early or on-time arrivals. Maybe TG just needs to adjust the scheduled flight times.

Maybe, maybe not. In Asia, I'd lean with the sentiment there probably are no laws that require TG to pay for anything at all.


At least I know in Europe, with air passengars rights that are one of the most strictest in the world, there is no compensation unless "the delay exceeds three hours and then only in limited circumstances."

http://ec.europa.eu/ireland/contact_us/faq/air_travel/index_en.htm#3

I know it is rather irritating that the flight is delayed, especially if it resulted in one missing a separately booked flight connection that is tight and non-changable / refundable.

But in my view, by allowing passengars to claim the difference between the cab fare and public transport fare due to a delay potentially opens a floodgate for legal law suits (if based on regulation) / abuse (if based on goodwill).

For instance, I could claim the fare difference due to the delay even though I always take a cab home as it is more convenient. Where do we draw the line to determine who actually uses public transport in the event there is no delay? How long should the delay be before one is entitled to the goodwill? What about those who use their personal cars?

What if the flight on which someone's mother-in-law from hell arrived an hour earlier. Is he entitled be compensated for the early arrival, as he has to bear an hour more of suffering. A little of a stretch but just to show the kind of floodgate it could potentially open.

So that is why I am curious, which country has legal regulation that stipulates the airline must pay the public transport / taxi fare difference due to a delay?

i believe they have stopped those regulations in europe now, all payouts are frozen pending an appeal by the airlines

At least I know in Europe, with air passengars rights that are one of the most strictest in the world, there is no compensation unless "the delay exceeds three hours and then only in limited circumstances."

http://ec.europa.eu/ireland/contact_us/faq/air_travel/index_en.htm#3

I know it is rather irritating that the flight is delayed, especially if it resulted in one missing a separately booked flight connection that is tight and non-changable / refundable.

But in my view, by allowing passengars to claim the difference between the cab fare and public transport fare due to a delay potentially opens a floodgate for legal law suits (if based on regulation) / abuse (if based on goodwill).

For instance, I could claim the fare difference due to the delay even though I always take a cab home as it is more convenient. Where do we draw the line to determine who actually uses public transport in the event there is no delay? How long should the delay be before one is entitled to the goodwill? What about those who use their personal cars?

What if the flight on which someone's mother-in-law from hell arrived an hour earlier. Is he entitled be compensated for the early arrival, as he has to bear an hour more of suffering. A little of a stretch but just to show the kind of floodgate it could potentially open.

So that is why I am curious, which country has legal regulation that stipulates the airline must pay the public transport / taxi fare difference due to a delay?

To be clear, I'm not talking about compensation directly for the delay, especially due to weather or otherwise outside of the airline control, rather compensation due to consequential domino effect caused by a delay fully whit in the airline control.

Over the many years of flying I had a few instances where I have claimed such expenditure. I was Platinum with what was known back then as NW, pre DL merger for many years and on one particular flight there was a 3 hours delay due to crew exceeding legal hours. This put my arrival to well after 1:30 AM in to a deserted ONT. This of course meant I was left with ZERO choices for ground transport as the franchise Hertz location there would close at midnight and my rental was automatically considered no-show.

Long story short, my only option to get to my hotel that night was through a full fledged limo at exorbitant prices and after waiting another 1 hour as there were no cabs to be found at that hour. Of course I contacted the Platinum desk with the receipt and they offered to compensate the ride, the car rental no-show charge and some travel voucher for the inconvenience of it all. Guess what? This made me an even more loyal customer and I stayed with NW to the very end before the DL merger.

Was NW required by law to provide any of this compensation? Absolutely not! But they took responsibility for their failure and made a loyal customer happy. Similarly, is TG required by any laws to pick up the tab for the difference between an MRT fare and a cab? Certainly not! But it is an opportunity for TG to tell this particular customer that they take responsibility for their operational problems.

Any kind of goodwill is always open to abuse but the airline has to balance it off with keeping cutomers happy. The airlines have an opportunity with every goodwill situation to create loyal customers. There has got to be no better way of turning a potentially negative experience in to a very positive experience with some small and fair compensation in such situations.

is it late departing or just late arriving?

It seems like the airlines here in the US have learned to grossly overestimate flight times so they can claim early or on-time arrivals. Maybe TG just needs to adjust the scheduled flight times.

It's all over the place. Late both getting out and coming in. Most of the times they make up a bit of it on the way due to tail wind probably but some days are just ridiculously delayed.

Departure is scheduled: 08:00 UCT and arrival is scheduled for 11:15 UTC:

http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/899/screenshot20110114at103.jpg

The last BKK-SIN (TG401) waits for a few connecting flights coming into BKK, so it's most often delayed. It's probably works better for TG to wait, rather then have lots of connecting passengers at hand for overnight layover. I know this, as I have frequently connected from TG 319 (BKK-KTM) onto TG401. I have made the connection even when the ex-KTM was delayed by an hour, the scheduled connection time being 75 mins.

The plane and crew of this flight overnights in Singapore. The morning flight departing late form Singapore might be related with crew rest periods.

The morning flight departing BKK may also be waiting for connecting flights, for all you know. But no first hand experience there. But I'd see no reason to delay the first flight of the day, as that cascades into other delays later in the day, and connecting passengers can always be put on the later flight if their inbound is delayed substantially.

Was NW required by law to provide any of this compensation? Absolutely not! But they took responsibility for their failure and made a loyal customer happy. Similarly, is TG required by any laws to pick up the tab for the difference between an MRT fare and a cab? Certainly not! But it is an opportunity for TG to tell this particular customer that they take responsibility for their operational problems.


It is certainly a very nice gesture.

Unfortunately, there are may not be so many of such airlines anymore, since everyone's focus seems sadly more to be on the bottom line instead on customer satisfaction.