MACH81

Damn I was actually hoping for some Valley Wing inner view! But your room was very nice anyway. Was there a whopping difference in price between the two? Is the SQ lounge as dark as it seems from the pics? thanks!

jacob_m

Singapore-Bangkok, flight TG 404 operated by Thai Airways
Departure: 12:25
Arrival: 13:45
Aircraft: Airbus A330
Class: Royal Silk Class (Business Class)
Seat: 11A

Boarding was announced quite late in the lounge, something like 20 mins before scheduled departure time, and we headed to gate C01 just a short walk from the lounge.
As usual security took place at the gate, but since most passengers had already arrived there was no wait at security. The gate area was rather crowded, seemed like the flight was fairly full, at least at the back.

It took a long time before boarding started which made me a bit nervous since I had a short connection in Bangkok.
At 12.15, just 10 minutes before scheduled departure time, the first boarding announcement was finally made welcoming business class and Star Alliance gold passengers onboard.
Two passenger bridges were in use, I turned left and entered the aircraft through door 1L.
The aircraft in use this afternoon was an Airbus A330 with a much more modern interior than the ancient A300 I flew Bangkok-Singapore. In business class, located between door 1 and 2, there were seven rows with a 2-2-2 configuration. Quite comfortable seats with a decent seat pitch (55”) and all seats also had a PTV.

I quickly found my seat 11A which was the first row of business class, of course bulkhead meaning all hand luggage had to be stored in the overhead compartment during take-off and landing, but on the other hand I got quite a lot of legroom. My jacket was taken and I was offered a pre-departure drink, earphones, newspapers and magazines
The cabin load in business class was around 50%, there was an elderly Chinese woman seated in 11B, but she moved across the aisle as the cabin was rather empty anyway, so I got an empty seat next to me.

It took a long time to complete the boarding, but afterwards nothing happened, when 25 minutes had passed I asked one of the FAs what was going on and why we were being delayed. He looked quite confused, checked the time on his watch and said “no delay” and smiled. Not particularly reassuring…
Five minutes later, i.e. 30 minutes after scheduled departure time, the captain made an announcement telling us we were waiting for fuel, apparently something got wrong with the fuel truck.
Why they couldn’t have refueled the plane an hour earlier and have some marginal for these kind of incidents is beyond me, they had well over an hour turnaround time in Singapore, the flight wasn’t late, and it was by no means peak time at Changi airport. It all felt like poor planning…

By now I was quite worried about my connection, I had a 55 minutes connection in Bangkok and it was not looking good! The main problem was that I was connecting to a longhaul flight to Europe this time, and I knew if I missed it the next possible connection to Europe would not leave for another ten hours. Ten hours wait in Bangkok certainly didn’t appeal to me.
I informed the crew onboard about my connection and they wrote down the details and promised to contact the ground staff in Bangkok once we were airborne. There was also a couple sitting in 11J and 11K and it turned out they were also connecting to the same flight as me.
That was good news to me, I suppose they are more likely to wait for three passengers (especially three business class passengers) than just one passenger.

We finally pushed back 50 minutes late and took off at 1.25 pm from runway 01C, exactly one hour behind timetable.
I was happy to finally be in the air but I realised there would be some running to do in Bangkok if I was to make that connection…

Pics
The Thai Airways Airbus A330 in Singapore
A crowded gate area
The new Thai Airways Royal Silk seat, not bad!
The Royal Silk cabin onboard
Seconds after take-off from Changi airport

Meal service

Once in the air the meal service started with more drinks and crackers.
The menu and drink list were then handed out, the drink list was identical to my previous flight but the food wasn’t.

Pics
The menu and drink list in Royal Silk Class

Here is the lunch menu to Bangkok:

Shortly after the menu was handed out an FA came to take the meal orders for the main course, afterwards tablecloths were laid on the tables and more drinks were offered.
Just like the previous flight with Thai Airways the food onboard was very good, a very decent inflight service for a flight with a flight time of only two hours. ^
How I wish they could offer this level of inflight service on similar flights in Europe...

As started they offered halibut, as main course I chose the grilled salmon, then there was cheese and crackers on the tray and finally they offered a tasty custard cake and coffee and tea.
Several drink rounds were also made, I think I was offered drinks 6-7 times and they had both soft drinks, wine, beer and plenty of spirits on offer, in most cases served from a large nicely decorated trolley.

Pics
Drinks and rice crackers
Appetizer
Main course
Dessert and coffee

Due to favourable winds the flight time was slightly shorter than usual and shortly after the meal service was over we started the descent into Bangkok.
A video was shown about the airport and the procedures for transfer and arrival passengers and then the last glasses were collected and the cabin was prepared for landing.

We finally landed around 2:25 pm in Bangkok, my connecting flight was leaving at 2:40 pm, and as you may know Suvarnabhumi isn’the smallest of airports.
I collected my belongings and got ready for some serious running, do you think I will make it?

jacob_m

Currently working on the next instalment but won't have time to finish it until tomorrow, quite a few pics to upload and another menu to type....

Yes there is a difference! Since they market it as "the ultimate in luxury" there obviously is a price tag attached.
I looked at the rates and the Valley wing was almost twice the price (well +80%) compared to a standard room in the Garden wing. Since the hotel itself isn't the cheapest one around we're talking about a fair amount of money.
I definitely want to give the Valley wing a try though, but on another occasion when I arrive a bit earlier than midnight and have time to enjoy it.

Well there is no natural light in the lounge so it does become a bit dark, but I wasn't bothered about it in any way.

jacob_m

When the aircraft was finally parked it was less than 15 minutes until departure, but I was determined to do my outmost to make it and I kept my fingers crossed the crew had informed the ground staff about my short connection.
At the gate there were several employees waiting for transfer passengers, among those a man from SAS. I had hoped he would have a ‘golf cart’ or anything similar to get to the gate faster, but he just told me to proceed to the next gate as quickly as possible.
A bit disappointed (and a bit confused of why he was standing there) I asked him if he knew which gate it was. It turned out the flight was leaving from gate D3 in the D-concourse, and our flight was parked at the end of the C-concourse, so quite a distance.

I began walking towards the gate, faster and faster, to make things worse they require all transfer passengers to pass through security again, so when I finally got to the D-concourse I had to wait in line for the security check, fortunately there were not a lot of people in front of me.
The last bit I was literally running with my laptop bag and duty free bags and I arrived at a deserted gate D3 with just a few SAS employees waiting very impatiently.
I had a quick look at the gate monitor, my watch said 2.40 pm which was the scheduled departure time, but the monitor still said "final call"! Phew! I made it!

I haven't seen many reports of the SAS longhaul business class product, so hopefully this one should be a bit original to read.

Bangkok-Stockholm, flight SK 976 operated by SAS Scandinavian Airlines
Departure: 14:40
Arrival: 20:00
Aircraft: Airbus A340
Class: Business Class
Seat: 04H

My boarding pass was quickly processed, I got a newspaper from the leftovers at the gate and then hurried up to get onboard. Two passenger bridges were in use, one for business class passengers and one for economy class passengers.
I used the first one and entered the cabin through door 1L where the purser was waiting just as impatiently as the ground staff to close the doors. She had a look at my BP and directed me to the right aisle and my seat 04H.

I did my probably most unglamorous entry ever into a premium cabin arriving almost breathless and all sweaty with an entire cabin looking at me wondering what took me so long.
I was so exhausted that I pretty much fell over the poor guy in 04G and almost emptied his glass of champagne on the floor. Gosh how embarrassing! The people around must have thought I was completed wasted.
Since the doors had still not yet been closed I made a quick visit to the lavatory to try to freshen up a bit. I went back to the front of the A340 where there is usually a lavatory but once in the galley the purser literally blocked my way asking me where I was going. Apparently the forward lavatory is only to be used by crew members. How strange!! Never ever experienced that before on a plane! Oh those Scandinavian unions again…

I got back to my seat and decided it would probably be best to keep a low profile during the next hour or so not to cause more embarrassment.
Another FA passed my seat with pre-departure drinks and said “you look like you really need something to drink”. In fact I really needed a drink at this point! My jacket was also taken.

We finally pushed back 30 minutes late at 3.10 pm, party due to ATC restrictions, and took off a few minutes later from runway 01L. The A340 climbed slowly and made a left turn towards Myanmar and India.
I started wondering if my bag ever made the connection, there were less than 30 mins between my arrival and the time the doors were closed on our flight and they had to unloaded the bag from an A330, bring it across the airport, and load it again on an A340.
The answer came pretty quickly. A few minutes after the seatbelt sign had been switched off the purser came to my seat with a message from the ground staff in Bangkok saying my bag did not make it.
I wasn’t very surprised, but I was very happy getting that message, how professional!! ^
As I was now aware of the missing bag I could proceed directly to the baggage office at the airport to report the missing bag instead of waiting 40 minutes at the baggage belt only to realise my bag was never onboard.

Shortly afterwards the inflight service started with drinks and an amuse bouche which was some kind of canapé with tuna. I had a glass of Henriot champagne to drink, very good!
They also handed out amenity kits, actually each passenger got two amenity kits which were attached.
The first one (the grey one) contained socks, eyeshades and a black bag to put the shoes inside. The second one (the transparent one) contained moisturizer, lip balm and toothpaste and toothbrush. Not bad at all!

Pics
A glass of Henriot champagne and amuse bouche
Amenity kit(s)
Flying over eastern India

Meal service

Next the menu was handed out containing the selection of food and drinks in both Swedish, English and German.
A three courses menu was served onboard and they offered an impressive four choices of main course.
I found the drink list to be so-so, not the most comprehensive in the industry. Only two reds and two whites on offer and a somewhat limited selection of spirits, especially for an 11-hour longhaul flight in business class.

Pics
The menu and drink list in business class

Here is the business class menu to Stockholm:

Several drink rounds were made but I decided to stick to champagne with the meal not to mix too much as I was quite tired and wanted to get some proper rest after the meal.

White tablecloths were laid on the tables, hot towels were offered, and then the meal trays were handed out. As started they offered a green salad and salmon, breads were also served from a basket.
One negative aspect of SAS business class is that they don’t remove the plastic cover from the bowls and plates on the tray, you have to do it yourself which feels a bit cheap (I removed it before taking the photos though).
Next they offered the main course with a choice of four dishes including one vegetarian option, I had the pork fillet served with chateau potatoes. They didn’t take any meal orders as some airlines do while serving the drinks, instead everything had been heated and was served from a cart. They started from the front so it’s best to sit on one of the first rows if you want to be sure they don't run out of your first choice. The food was tasty though!
More drinks were offered and then the dessert cart came through the cabin. As dessert they offered a blueberry cheesecake with fresh seasonal fruit followed by coffee and tea.
They also had liqueurs on the cart so I asked for a glass of whisky but apparently they only had one brand of whiskey which also felt a bit substandard, fortunately Ballantines is one of my favourites.
More tea and coffee were offered and then the tables were cleared and many passengers decided to get some rest.

Pics
Meal service in the cabin
Appetizer and salad
Main course
A pretty Swedish flight attendant serving drinks
The drinks and dessert cart
Dessert, coffee and a glass of Ballantines whisky

The self-service buffet

A really great thing in SAS longhaul business class is that they have a proper self-service buffet onboard located next to the galley just behind the forward business class cabin where you can help yourself to drinks and snacks between the main meal service and the descent.
The selection was most impressive with sandwiches, fruits, pastries, chocolate pralines and chocolate bars. They also had drinks available, soft drinks and several bottles of wine. ^
But best of all they had a coffee machine making lovely espresso, unfortunately it stopped working in the middle of the flight but I got to try at least one cup of freshly brewed espresso.
I got some sandwiches, a pastry and a chocolate bar and brought everything back to my seat together with wine and coffee to watch a movie.
I think there may have been a second visit to the buffet later during the flight…

Pics
The great self-service buffet with hot and cold drinks, snacks, pastries and fruits. Notice the coffee machine to the left!
Freshly brewed espresso, a danish, a tuna sandwich and a Daim chocolate bar from the buffet

The seat and inflight entertainment system

The seat, the “SAS Business Sleeper” was very comfortable with a seat pitch of 61”. When reclined it wasn’t completely flat but ‘lie-flat’, but I still found it very comfortable and got 3-4 hours of proper rest during the flight without any problems.
The man next to me fell asleep and even snoored for a short while, so I guess it must be fairly comfortable to sleep in as well.
The seat was operated from a small silver panel on the armrest with several buttons to adjust the seat to your liking, the seat also had a nice massage function.
A pillow and a blanket were available at the seat when boarding the plane.

Each seat also had a private 10” TV with AVOD (although there was also several monitors in the ceiling showing the flight map most of the flight).
The selection of movies was quite good with around 15 movies, 5 documentaries, 20 music channels with different kind of music (also Avod) and games.
There was a magazine in the seat pocket with a description of the movies on offer and apparently they offer different movies to and from Scandinavia.
I was also happy to find that each seat in business class had a power socket which I made good use of since I brought my laptop on the trip.

This flight was the first ever day flight I have taken between Asia and Europe, so although I got some rest I never actually slept properly onboard, instead I stayed awake during most of the flight.
Somewhere over Uzbekistan/Turkmenistan I got a really interesting view through my window, I have taken a photo of it which you can see below.
It looked like some massive fires on the ground, the ‘fires’ were very very clearly visible even from 34000 feet. I haven’t got a clue what it is, some oil refineries maybe? Anyone knows?

Pics
The seat control
A description of the SAS “Business Sleeper” seat
We're flying over Afghanistan and Uzbekistan according to the flight map
This photo is taken from 34000 feet somewhere over Uzbekistan. What is that? Some kind of massive fire?

Second meal service

Around two hours before landing the second meal was served, this time a much quicker meal service with a choice of chicken or fish (perch), I had the chicken which was served with noodles and vegetables.
On the tray there was also a bowl with fresh fruit, a dessert (lemon tart I think), and the FAs offered drinks followed by coffee and tea.
After the meal they also offered lovely petit fours, for some reason most of the passengers in business class declined those so I asked if I could take two which certainly wasn’t a problem.
More coffee and tea were offered before the tables were cleared.

Pics
Second meal around two hours before landing
Lovely petit fours

Arrival in Stockholm

Just after leaving the Estonian coastline we started our descent into Stockholm, the A340 has a very slow rate of climb and descent which is why it takes so much more time than other aircrafts to climb and descend.
Arrival and transfer information was shown on the screens also indicating the departure gates for transfer passengers. Since we took off nearly 40 mins late from Bangkok it meant we were also somewhat late to Stockholm and some passengers ended up with short connections, fortunately Arlanda is a very efficient airport so I think all passengers made it.
We finally landed at 8.15 pm on runway 26, 15 minutes behind schedule, and taxied to the B-pier of terminal 5. A cool feature onboard is that there are two cameras in the cockpit which you can watch through the inflight entertainment system, one pointing forward and one pointing down, and they were turned on also during the descent and landing so we could follow the whole landing from the pilot’s point of view.
I actually used the video function of my digital camera to record the landing just for fun, let's see if I can upload it somewhere.

Passport control was a breeze as usual and I was one of the first passengers to reach the baggage hall.
Since I knew my bag was not on the flight I went immediately to the baggage office to report my missing bag. The friendly young woman at the office already had a notice about my bag, she told me it had already been loaded on the Thai Airways flight which had just left Bangkok and was to arrive in Stockholm at 6 am the following morning. Great!!
The bag was duly delivered the following day, in the evening as requested. They even called in advance at work to make sure I was happy with the delivery time and would be at home at that time.
The whole process was completely painless and since I didn’t have to wait for the luggage delivery at the airport I actually got home 30 mins earlier than expected. Very appreciated with some jet-lag to take care of.
I was also given a Star Alliance overnight kit since all my toiletries were in the missing bag.

Pics
Flying over the Baltic Sea, the seatbelt sign has been turned on, time to land!
Just landed at Arlanda airport with domestic terminal 4, Skycity and the nice-looking ATC tower

Verdict

SAS is my ‘home airline’ and also the airline where I have status, but I haven’t flown SAS longhaul a lot before, I usually end up on other airlines instead.
Since there haven’t been many reviews of the SAS longhaul product I thought I should post a short summary, on the whole it was an OK flight but with a few a mixed experiences.

On the positive side:
-A very comfortable seat, fairly good inflight entertainment system with cockpit camera, and in-seat power for the laptop which worked great
-A fantastic self-service buffet, the best I’ve seen on any airline!
-Overall good food, four choices of main course is definitely not bad
-Nice amenity kit
-They delayed the aircraft for me and also informed me about the missing bag during the flight. The delivery of the bag also worked almost to perfection.

On the negative side:
-The Henriot champagne was nice, as was the Spanish wine I tried. Otherwise the drinks selection was rather poor. Even Thai Airways offered much better drinks on the SIN-BKK flights as posted earlier.
-The forward galley was completed blocked off for passengers including the lavatory, it meant that only two lavatories were available for all business class passengers on this full flight.
-They did not remove the plastic cover from the plates and bowls on the meal tray which looked and felt a bit cheap in business class.
-No recognition whatsoever of status during the flight (I’m SAS gold) and no use of names

The atmosphere onboard also did not quite feel like business class, it could be due to the origin of the flight with several seasoned/leisure travellers onboard returning from their holiday in Thailand.
Some passengers did a very good amount of drinking onboard, the man next to me had champagne to start with, then I think 6-7 glasses of wine, a baileys, and finally a last glass of wine. He was pretty intoxicated at the end in a not very positive way.
Otherwise on the whole, despite a few negatives, it was a rather nice and pleasant flight.

So I'm back on the ground for now, with another 31900 points in my account and another 13272 miles flown (in just three days), but of course ready to plan my next trip...

Thanks for reading!!

Carfield

Thanks for a wonderful trip report!

I am impressed with the high quality of ground work by TG and SAS... I actually think TG is most impressive in terms of its premium ground service (but my own personal problem goes to its reservation office and inflight service), but that is nice of them to let you know that the bags did not go through.

SAS's meals look pretty good but it is interesting that the cheese plate is already presented at the main meal tray (but I guess it is better than cheese or fruit or dessert course).

LH also looked okay... I am going to fly from MUC to HKG on late December in J, and I guess that's what I should expect for a late night meal, but I have to say that the brunch looks very underwhelming... very economy like... I almost feel that Oasis Hong Kong has a heartier second meal...

Thanks for all the details!

Carfield

Kiwi Flyer

Thanks for the report jacob_m ^

Brings back memories of a transfer at BKK earlier in the year. Other than turnarounds or same a/c through flights, invariably I get flights that are at least 1 concourse apart. Worst though is completely opposite ends of the airport (end of C pier to end of G pier I think) - that is one loooong way to run.

hoyateach

One of my favorite Trip Reporters writes again. I followed the updates as they appeared and was, as usual, delighted be along for the ride. A superlative effort, jacob_m.^

jacob_m

Many thanks for the comments!

I agree on that one, although the main meal was superb (rabbit and goose!) the "brunch" was rather uninspiring.
The portion was very small and it would have been nice with some cold cuts or yoghurt as well, just something more...

I agree, the distances at Suvarnabhumi are absolutely enormous and overall I think the airport is rather confusing. Too many floors and too many signs.
Just the D-concourse, which is basically the central building, is something like 600-700 meters long.

SMART51

Somewhere over Uzbekistan/Turkmenistan I got a really interesting view through my window, I have taken a photo of it which you can see below
I could be wrong but i see the same when i am flying over the east coast of Saudi at night.Those are oil fields.

airoli

Thanks a lot for this report jacob_m . Very well written, detailed and enriched with nice pictures. I especially appreciated the SK longhaul segment as I had been considering them for a transatlantic in C for some time now. Good to see how they are.

FLYGVA

Thanks for this report, is was a pleasure to read it. The pictures are really nice.

I have asked this once a TG flight attendant flying on the A300 from PNH to BKK. There is also such a "counting" in the Y cabin of the A 300 or other planes. They are counting row like on the 747 I was told. I do not know if this is right, but if you look at their seatmaps, is might be true. Rows on the upper deck are 11 to 19 and on the lower deck 22 to 25. If you take the cabin of the A 300 and think of the location of the galley is seem that the C cabin is divided into a first part with the row like on the 747 upper deck and the second part as the lower deck.

A-340 GOT

Jacob_m, just excellent report, really interesting to read. I have not tried out SK new longhaul seat yet, know I really must book a flight ;-)

Maybe I should book an EWR trip.

I can imagine it was sweaty running all over new BKK airport, it is quite big with long distances.

Looking forward to more reports from you.

francophile

Excellent pictures! Thanks!

More Champagne Sir?

Really super report! ^^ Thanks jacob_m

graraps

Fantastic report, great pictures.
I need to check the TR forum more often.
When are you travelling again? ^