Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus - TG "F" and F catering : is it always this odd ?

So, I just did HKT-BKK-LHR and have a couple of service experiences to share in the hope that some of you more regular TG fliers can help explain to a rather bemused traveller what's going on.....

Firstly : LHR-BKK in C on the A346.
Pre-departure drinks were being served, choice of water or orange. Chap next to me asks for a champagne, and was firmly told "regulations at Heathrow don't allow us to serve champagne". Then, being in the front row, we all just lean over and peer into F, where of course, the champers is flowing freely. Steward beats a hasty retreat, with a promise to see if he can find any (he did). Is this made-up excuse used often ?

Secondly : HKT-BKK in the "F" blue velvet seats at the front of the 7442.
The little tray meals (3 breaded prawns with a pot of dip, and a little white rice/cake dessert) were handed out as usual. A few minutes later the steward came around and rather surreptitiously handed the passenger next to me a paper-wrapped parcel on a dish, which, when unwrapped, seemed to contain some rather nicer food than was in front of me. A quick scan of the cabin showed that other, selected, passengers were given the secret parcels too.
What was in these parcels, and why didn't I get one ? Are TG discriminatory in handing out their food ?

Thirdly : BKK-LHR in F on the daytime A346 flight.
This was the oddest of the lot. Started normally with champagne, but just before the doors were closed the captain comes on and explained the plane had gone tech and the replacement part would take an hour to fit. OK, says the CSD, we'll serve you dinner. Tables were set and service began, whilst we were sat at the gate. I was in 1E so had full view of the 1L door, where various blue-overalled workers were doing whatever blue-overalled workers do when a plane goes tech, and of course, they were all watching me. Next hour was a bit of a pantomime : the opening "hot savoury" course (fried rice cracker with prawn dipping) didn't show at all, the cavier course came and went before the chilled vodka arrived, the sorbet course didn't show either, I didn't get any wine at all, and my main course (the specially ordered Tom Yam Kung, which turned out to be dreadful mistake - it was just 4 prawns in insipid warm water) arrived at the moment the captain announced that the defect was fixed and we were ready to go. So I had to wolf it down, table was quickly cleared of all the finery and off we went.
Once we were levelled out, service restarted on the 'half-table', no tablecloth this fine, with the cheese then the dessert and coffee. Don't remember being offered any liquers either.

Second service was more normal, but is this sort of stuff routine on TG ? :confused:

You certainly did experience a few anommolies, however, I have some questions:

- Why did you not ask for the parcel? I would have pulled the TA aside?
- Did you ask for wine with your first meal in F? Again, I would have pulled the TA aside? I find it very strange they began meal service, anyway. I would have told them I would prefer to wait until after take-off. An hour on the ground is not too long...

I am pleased you got your Champagne in LHR, never heard of that, or experienced that with TG on routes I have flown before...

Cheers,

AG. :-:

It is such a thrill when flying domestic on Thai, to enter the cabin of the big B747, I don,t get it often but when I do it is usually on the CNX run. The mystery package sounds like the gift that TG give to it,s special customers, so in a way you could say they are discriminatory. The same thing happens on QF and GA that I am aware of, no doubt BD does the same thing for you in your part of the world.

Yes, it is common practice in Asia to use excuses like the LHR champagne ruse, when running late, a little short of supplies, a staff member down, most times they get away with it, but not this time:)

Can,t say I have ever been served dinner on the ground, other than a lounge, but I bet anything they didn't,t do the same for the hordes behind the curtain. My take would be that they took a gamble and tried to give the First class passengers a First class experience by serving them an entree, and missed out by "that" much. There are some great trip reports out, see the Japan trip report, which shows the food on TG.

I know the feeling, fork out 10K and the blighters stuff it up, I think you have to be more pro active when flying First, If something is not right, you have to fix it up straight away, once the flight has finished, they can,t rewind it and fix the problems.

Champagne issue - Sounds like an excuse because they didn't want to crack the bottle. I've never had a prob with pre-departure champagne.

Secret meal - TG do look after their preferred flyers. What % of people received the special parcel? Wouldn't worry too much about this - if TG wish to provide extra-special service to some pax, that is their right.

Meal on the ground - A one hour wait is nothing, really. Seems like a mistake to try to rush the meal service while waiting at the gate. I think refusing at that time would have been the best option. Maybe the crew was thinking they could get the meal out of the way then just rest on the flight?

If you have a good relationship with a local TG agent, I would be inclined to write about this service experience. On multiple accounts, it seems you have not received the services levels which you had a right to expect.

...

Secondly : HKT-BKK in the "F" blue velvet seats at the front of the 7442.
The little tray meals (3 breaded prawns with a pot of dip, and a little white rice/cake dessert) were handed out as usual. A few minutes later the steward came around and rather surreptitiously handed the passenger next to me a paper-wrapped parcel on a dish, which, when unwrapped, seemed to contain some rather nicer food than was in front of me. A quick scan of the cabin showed that other, selected, passengers were given the secret parcels too.
What was in these parcels, and why didn't I get one ? Are TG discriminatory in handing out their food ?

...

Perahaps those "parcels" were Kosher meals?

Kosher meals are typically served to passengers in a wrapped package and the passenger must break the seal.

When I was PPS on SQ, sitting in Y, sometimes the CSS would come to me just before landing and pass me a package, containing a bottle water and some snacks, in case I get hungry and thirsty on my transit wait..... other Y pax would be looking at me wondering why I get this treatment..... of course I get first choice in meals etc during flight, ..... but its not always that treatment though...

It seems there's lots of problem with the A346. Yours just went "tech", mine had to be replaced altogether! Recent BKK-LHR (Feb 20th) - we were taxiing on the tarmac almost ready for take off, suddenly the captain announced that there were problems with the IFE for the whole flight (and some other electrical problems - and I also noticed that 2 toilets won't "suck" properly) we had to change aircraft. Waited on the tarmac for 3 hours before we got on the new plane, eventually taking off 4 hours late. All the while the captain made announcements twice - in very broken English!

It seems there's lots of problem with the A346.

An interesting comment. I'd never thought of that before. In my hundreds of TG flights, I've only been on the A346 eight times that I can recall, and two of those times went tech and caused a couple hours of delay. I just chalked it up to coincidence until just now. Other than that, only had one other TG flight that went tech, and that was an A330.

An interesting comment. I'd never thought of that before. In my hundreds of TG flights, I've only been on the A346 eight times that I can recall, and two of those times went tech and caused a couple hours of delay. I just chalked it up to coincidence until just now. Other than that, only had one other TG flight that went tech, and that was an A330.

What are the odds? Two of the eight flights of yours had problems resulting in delays - that's 25%. My brother in-law (a TG flight attendant) told me that there's lots of "problems" with the 346 (didn't say anything specific). Knowing how corrupt the management are (with everything from aircraft purchases all the way down to toilet paper), I'm not surprise that the plane has problems, despite being so new (well, only 5-6 years old)

What are the odds? Two of the eight flights of yours had problems resulting in delays - that's 25%. My brother in-law (a TG flight attendant) told me that there's lots of "problems" with the 346 (didn't say anything specific). Knowing how corrupt the management are (with everything from aircraft purchases all the way down to toilet paper), I'm not surprise that the plane has problems, despite being so new (well, only 5-6 years old)

In my many, many flights SYD-BKK-SYD I have never had a delay on the A346... Touch wood!

I guess it can be the luck of the draw!

Cheers,

AG. :-:

I've done countless sectors on TG between LHR and SYD all on the 747 or A346, I've never had the A346 go tech, I wish I could say the same for the 747 and at least on the A346 you know you are not going to get old F or C.

My SYD-BKK was 2 hours late back in August, but had the F cabin to myself with 2 crew who explained that these 346 do have quite a few problems. Excellent excellent service though!

My SYD-BKK was 2 hours late back in August, but had the F cabin to myself with 2 crew who explained that these 346 do have quite a few problems. Excellent excellent service though!

Seems that not many airlines are pleased with the A346s!

Talking about TG F catering. Why is it that TG cannot have some small bottles of olive oil to go with the salad that they serve with most of the F starters?
I just flew TG 601, and they had a nice starter of seared Meguro tuna with some frisee salad, but the salad had no dressing whatsoever. I did ask the FA if she could find some for me, but she came back and said there was none loaded .
.

One hour delay to serve a full meal in F?? Crazy! They should never have attempted that. (or should have given passengers the option to eat later).

For delays around 60 mins the most I have been served in long-haul F (carriers such as CX/LH/LX) has been a full bar service including tea and coffee.

The only time I had a meal served on ground in F was a midnight departure where it was a modified express 'supper' service - they could easily serve that and then we went to sleep after take-off.