LHR/MEL/Europe FF

Well – have read lots of reports about Thai – some good, some not so good and many indifferent. Thought I would give them a try – not least because I haven’t been into Bangkok town before, I was offered two free side-trips to anywhere in Asia (within MPM) and the fare was pretty good.

The flights.

MEL-BKK TG994 01 Sept 0015-0615

Check-in was a mess with a whole heap of people queuing at a combined First/Biz line. A quick trip to the service desk sorted that one out and I was checked-in straight away. TG uses the Qantas lounge in MEL, however this late at night QF only had the Biz class section open so I used the SQ lounge instead. Much quieter there, however they did advised that they would not call the flight.

Boarding was swift – although late. Took around 15 minutes to board an almost packed 747. First was not full - 7 out of 18 seats.

Initial impressions - interesting to see a 747 First cabin configured with 18 seats these days! Purple velour seats – recline about 160 degrees (standard old first class affair) – not too bad, leg-rests not completely horizontal, but could have been worse. I was sitting in 4F (centre, rear of cabin) – which seemed to have a slightly limited recline – but it’s always hard to tell with these things. I did sleep soundly for about 5 hours, so it must have been OK.

Personal service impeccable in kind of a ‘non-interested’ way – but guess they were tired. I would have been at that time of night. Dinner was a light affair – titled ‘Late Night Buffet’. Everything served from the trolley a la ‘old days’.

First Serving

Soup – Spring Vegetable and Bean

Buffet – Poached Lobster Tails; Lamb Terrine; Vol-au-vent filled with chicken a la Reine; Sautéed mixed vegetables

Bakery Items

Cheese Tray, Fruit Tray

Passion Fruit Cheesecake (these were individual)

IFE was by main screen, although there was a choice of 6 titles (in English) to view on Sony DVD players. Head-sets had entered the electronic age, just, and I guess they were on par with BA Club ones.

Second Serving

Fresh Fruits

Fruit Yoghurt and Cereals

Omelette, Scrambled Eggs, Boiled Eggs

Hash Browns, Grilled Back Bacon, Grilled Chicken Sausage, Tomato, Sautéed Mushrooms

Fresh Yellow noodles with Chinese Roast Pork Soup

Bakery Items

Wine list – looked ok – but as I don’t drink wine I can’t tell you much more. Two choices for champagne including Dom 95.

Other thoughts – as this was an older style aircraft Biz class had a pitch of 42 inches. Thai B747 have the galley occupying the right-hand side between doors 1R and 2R – which gives about half a cabin for Biz Class. The aisle was the widest I have ever seen on an aircraft and the Biz cabin (downstairs at least) looked really comfortable – although there were no leg-rests for this flight. I would have been quite happy to sit there for a day-time flight.

Arrival on-time in BKK – all F/C met and escorted to immigration or to the transfer desk, and luggage was carried from the belt to your transport.

Bangkok

Thai provided a limousine to my hotel – the Shangri-La (Priceline for GPB 36) – which I had booked for two nights including the night before I arrived so I could use the room straight away. Lovely hotel. As I had technically missed the first night by checking-in at 0740 I was informed that I had been upgraded. Got to the room to find it already occupied so back downstairs and was upgraded a second time – to an ‘Executive’ something or other – I cannot compare as I never saw the original room. But it has a nice view of the River from the 19th Floor. Spent the morning relaxing and a quick trip on the river to the nearby shopping complex. Back for lunch and then on a tour of the Royal Palace and Temples (including the Emerald Buddha) – I was the only person on the tour as it had been pouring rain all day. This worked out well because we skipped the gem factory and shopping mall that would have added another two hours. Back to the hotel and then off to the night markets before going to the airport at 10.30.

BKK-LHR TG 910 01 Sept 0110 – 0720

Check-in etc all ok – escorted through immigration etc. Toured the various lounges – the new TG First Lounge is now open- it is TINY and has a more limited food selection than the main F lounge, but it was quite stylish.

Full flight – but this aircraft had 14 flat beds (arranged in two rows of 2+2 and the last row of 2+2+2). Seats were not comfortable in the upright position – but were pretty good when reclined even slightly. Sleeping was easy and there was plenty of room to toss and turnif you felt so inclined! Privacy is provided through fixed screens all around each seat. I prefer this type of seat to those on QF/BA which I find are too short.

Dinner was another simple affair:

First Serving

Duck Foie Gras with Brioche
Grilled Marinated King Prawns
Salmon Wellington
Wasabi Mustard with Mayonnaise in Tomato Cup
Port Wine Aspic Jelly

Stir Fried Glass Noodles wrapped in Omelette and Lobster

Fish Maw Soup with Lump Crabmeat and Bamboo Pith (this looked really good – lots of pax had this and it was served with several small bowls of condiments)

Beef Pie (had this as I don’t eat fish and my special meal had been incorrectly ordered so I was offered tiger prawns instead of ostrich steak – this was the smallest pie I have ever seen – served with three carrots – but was OK with ketchup added)

Cheese, Fruits

Bakery Items

French Pastries

IFE included PTVs – but not AVOD. Didn’t matter as I slept for most of the flight before breakfast.

Service again was impeccable, but let down by the ‘service manual’ which dictated that breakfast had to be served 2 hours 40 mins before arrival. Breakfast took about an hour to serve (again, all from the trolley) which left us with a considerable amount of time to all sit and look at each other wondering why we had been woken up so early…

Second Serving

Fresh Fruits, yoghurts and cereals

Paprika Tortilla, Scrambled Eggs, Boiled Eggs

Savoury Beef patty, Bacon, Mushrooms in Tomato Cup, Has Brown Potatoes

Noodle Soup with Fish and Shrimp Balls

Bakery Items

* For pax who prefer a light alternative, ‘boiled rice with garnitures’

Biz class was the new configuration with leg-rests and a 50 inch pitch.

Any questions, let me know.

airoli

Enjoyed reading your report. I hope you had a good time down under and I'm glad to hear that you found your Thai flights to be bearable.

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truly yours. airOli.

Carfield

I guess TG service is fine, but the cabin just needs to be updated.

I guess the F/As must have come in from SYD, so it may explain why they are a bit tired on the MEL-BKK segment. It is a redeye flight... The snack service after takeoff actually sounds better than SQ's similar refreshment service.

Carfield

cesco.g

Thanks for the great report. A couple years back I was on SYD-BKK, that old 747 C-class, upstairs exit row, no legrests. On this 9 hrs. flight I sorely missed them.

A friend of mine based in BKK tells me to this day it is a crapshoot, if you get the new or old F/C config, which he is not exited about.

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

Hmmm - thanks for the comment - maybe I'm just getting too jaded!

Agree with the comment about the 'hit-and-miss' for the seating - although as has been discussed in the Thai forum - the routes on which they are using the new fleet is much more settled these days - London and Frankfurt being the two certainties (subject, of course, to the 'change of aircraft' limitation!)

In hindsight I guess it was not too bad!

Regards

WG

LH747FTL

Nice report!

I flew both F configurations last weekend; BKK-HKT old config (HS-TGL) and HKT-BKK new config (HS-TGT). It was my first time in any real F seat - I just wished I could have continued onto FRA on the return flight instead of changing to Finnair C at BKK...

[This message has been edited by LH747FTL (edited 09-11-2003).]

CharlesMD

Great trip report! I am surprised they woke you up 2:40 before landing for breakfast. Did they have a form where you can pre-order your breakfast before going to sleep? I know they have that on AA and so you can sleep as much as possible. Sounds like you had a blast, although the catering was not as good as BA or SQ F.

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

Forms? No forms here! If you can get the picture of me, on being woken up this far in advance, getting out of my seat - eye-mask pushed up on my forehead, ear-plugs still in, hair standing up on end, pj's on, baggy airline socks - shuffling through not only the First, but the Biz cabin as well, to find the purser to ask why they had to wake us up this early!

'This is not every other airline' he said (in response to my 'every other airline wakes you 45 minutes prior to arrival') - 'this is Thai' (he announced with a beaming smile on his face).

Well - I couldn't be upset after that. I ordered another bottle of Dom which I made a start on during the last stages of the flight.

Needless to say - with the breakfast service taking only one hour, us passengers in First spent the remaining time like characters during an awkward moment on a Simpsons cartoon - sort of looking at each other sideways, then at our watches, then a brief acknowledging smile, then another look sideways!

You get the picture.

Regards

WG

Uli

thank you for the report.
another one joins the club of the non-seafood-eaters

Jet'Dillo

[QUOTE]Originally posted by LHR/MEL/Europe FF:

'This is not every other airline' he said (in response to my 'every other airline wakes you 45 minutes prior to arrival') - 'this is Thai' (he announced with a beaming smile on his face).

Well - I couldn't be upset after that. I ordered another bottle of Dom which I made a start on during the last stages of the flight.


Exactly, how can you be upset with somebody that proud of who they work for?


Needless to say - with the breakfast service taking only one hour, us passengers in First spent the remaining time like characters during an awkward moment on a Simpsons cartoon - sort of looking at each other sideways, then at our watches, then a brief acknowledging smile, then another look sideways!


Overnights are odd like that. I think it's because in the morning we're using to waking up in more private surroundings, doing our own little private morning waking up rituals, but on the plane, you're surrounded by others and basically "in public" and can't.

I would still have to say that waking up at altitude and seeing the sun coming up over the horizon is one of my favorite in-flight experiences.

JD