Braniff

Arriving for my flight at BKK

I arrived in Business Class from Phnom Penh and, for the first time ever, I experienced an arrival into a bus gate at BKK. Down the stairs I went and was very happy to see a Thai agent standing there with my name who quickly whisked me into a little van to go to the terminal where we switched to the good old buggy.

We drove seemingly from one end of the terminal to the other until we finally arrived at the central premium security point where we quickly cut through everyone – including presumably first class passengers leaving from Bangkok!


Royal First Class Lounge

I was then escorted to the nearby Royal First Class Lounge. This was in the evening with all the European flights leaving and I was shocked to find the lounge nearly empty. Nothing special to report about the lounge – I found it fantastic as always.

I had a club sandwich and the ketchup / chili sauce / mustard came in those little aluminum sacks – I seem to remember them earlier coming in little jars – but I could be wrong.



I especially like the fact that one of the lounge ladies always escorts me to the flower store to buy my box of orchids – I am by no means there on a very frequent basis but someone there comes up to me every time and asks to take me there. Fantastic!

With no longer needing time to clear security at the gates, they now seem to escort you from the lounge to your flight when your ticket says your flight is departing. We left the lounge at midnight for a 00:05 departure!

Thai now seems to have all of their buggies on the lower level, so it’s only walking now to the gates. Hopefully not by coincidence, they seem to have arranged all of their European flights to depart from gates right by the lounge.


First Impressions of the new F cabin

I was expecting some sense of “awe” at the new cabin. I did not experience that at all. In fact, I found the cabin small and claustrophobic with these 8 walled off “suites.” They removed all the overhead storage bins to try to alleviate the claustrophobic feel of the cabin but that creates other problems.




No Storage Space

Your only real storage space is a coat closet that’s built into the aisle wall of the suite. It’s useful for hanging up your regular clothes if switching into the PJs. (And being able to close the suite doors while changing is also useful.)

However, I would argue that very few F pax travel like that. We all bring more than average carry-on’s. A flight attendant suggested I place it under the buddy seat, but to me it looked like you would not be able to convert the seat to a full bed then. So reluctantly, the crew offered to store my bags. I was in a window seat so I could at least throw my papers, books, medicines in the space between the suite and the windows/wall – but if sitting in the 2 center seats, I don’t know what one would do.






A very angry looking Thai person

After I had sat down, a Thai lady came up to my seat and literally stared at me for an extended period of time and would then walk by several times and give me dirty looks. I found this strange – if bemusing. Later in the flight, a flight attendant told me that she felt that I was in her seat – as she apparently always sat in that particular seat (1K).

I had my boarding pass issued at the airport in Phnom Penh and had requested to change my seat to a window (there were none available at time of reservation). The immensely helpful person there said that 1K was available but it was blocked by Bangkok. She called Bangkok and after 5 minutes, the seat was released to me. If these things are related, I guess the regular Thai person had never had that happen to “her” seat.


Pre-take off service

Warm towels were handed out to everyone. Then the Dom was served – I notice they’ve recently started serving it like SQ does, i.e. a big show of pouring it with one hand at the bottom of the bottle to your glass while making sure the label was in your face. A refill was also offered. This was followed by the menu being distributed and next a good choice of newspapers and magazines. An amenity kit and slippers were already in the seat at boarding.

All the flight attendants serving F introduced themselves by name and used my name throughout the flight.



The Suite & IFE

Aside from no storage space, the suite is fine once inside of it. I did not observer any special wear and tear.

The seat can be maneuvered into just about any imaginable position through a special detachable remote control (which oddly enough bears the insignia of Jet Airways – how difficult is it to reprogram that!). You can place it in the bed position at the touch of a button – i.e. no flip-over needed.





The suite has doors that close to the aisle. They are however locked in open position upon boarding and the crew has to release them – which by no means they do at their own initiative. The doors do tend to get stuck as well. There’s a privacy board that can be raised and lowered between the 2 center suites.



There’s a buddy seat across which appears quite nice relative to many others I’ve seen.




There’s a huge TV screen built into the “front wall” of the suite. I found the IFE difficult to operate. Constantly had to reconfirm your choice... The wire to the remote was stiff and always wanted to reel itself back forcefully. So the slightest inadvertent movement could send it flying back and whatever you were watching was off – I started trying to tangle it to something else to keep it in place. The entertainment on offer was very disappointing – both in quantity and quality. I remember TG having been better in the past.

They provide you with a cheap/fake version of Bose headphones – certainly an improvement but by no means the real thing.

There’s a charging outlet – but for some reason it’s located by the buddy seat – not the main seat.

There’s a ventilation outlet you can control but it’s awkwardly located in the fixed wall of the suite. So, you almost need to keep your seat more upright than you’d otherwise do to counteract Thai’s habit of keeping the cabin too warm.

The crew kindly prepared the bed. Thai provides both a light blanket and a thick duvet. The crew used the thick duvet as a sheet. I guess the seats are hard as a bed. Of course, Thai also offered their cheap PJ’s, which were handed out prior to take-off. The best test of the bed is the fact that I slept for over 7 hours straight, which is not usual for me.


Taste & Wine

The meal service started very promptly after take-off. They pulled out the thick and heavy tray table for you, had a full size table cloth and set it up individually.







The menu was:


Can’t comment much on the food as I only had the caviar – I’d eaten in the lounge and was pretty full. For breakfast, I asked for a mix from several of the choices offered and was told that was not possible. Hmmm.






Late into the flight, I asked for a glass of champagne and was told they’d run out of Dom Perignon. The Bollinger they offered was truly horrible. And the Pouilly Fuisse was one of the worst I’ve tried. Their wines have truly gone down.


Last Comments…

There’s a large F toilet in the centre front of the cabin. On my two occasions going there I was told both times by the crew to go the business class WC. It seems the crew wanted the F WC for themselves. I of course did not listen to that.

There’s a bar area set up between F & C which seemed to be well stocked. I think the noise level may however bother folks in Row 2 of First Class even though it’s not directly behind it.

The crew handed out hot towels after landing - never seen that before on any airline.

I can’t really comment on the crew more than I already have as I slept for most of the flight.

I did take a few photos which I hope to have someone help me with uploading.

pansted00

Thanks for the report, although it is not very encouraging regarding TG's improvement in service, which I had hoped for with the introduction of the F suites .
Look forward to the pictures.

kan148

Thanks for writing the TR. Did you have to request to be picked up at the gate when you arrived from Phnom Penh flight? Or, are those Thai agents are there just to help F passengers in general? I'm taking TG930 later in the year. Looking forward to see some pictures.

BKKROP

Hi braniff, what a great TR, obviousl;y we are the same age, both have problems with technology I felt like a total idiot recently, I bought one of those new pads for one of the team and it was on, so I picked the youngest person in the F lounge and asked them to turn it off. Truely was a sad and pitiful expression that appeared on the youngsters face.

Agree about the seating, those middle suites are a going to be a problem. Interesting comment about the seating, I wanted different seating too and the comment came back to me that the seat was protected. That is like a red flag to a bull to me, like you I got the suite I wanted. I await the photos now, regards

NYCWahoo

A Great report ^

Can't believe they said no to you when you requested a "mixed" breakfast. *gasp* In fact, last night I was on TG F, I couldn't decide on breakfast and the FA suggested that he will get me half Asian bfast and half western. Hmm, sounds like a lazy flight attendant to me.

BKKROP

Hi kan148 They will have the names of all the F paxs on cards and will pick you off one at a time as you deplane. They prefer to hold back the business/ economy passengers on the plane, look after you as you depart and get you out of the area quickly. regards

Braniff

Thank you for your kind comments. I have added some pictures - it was actually much easier than I thought it would be. They are a mix of my flights to and from Bangkok. This is my first picture report and I will do better next time with what I shoot.

kan148

Thanks for the reply. Looking forward to flying TG and look around BKK as I've never been there before. Only have 4 hours layover tho.

pogonation

Thanks for the good TR Braniff. It is a shame that there are a lot of negative comments on TG's service at the moment. Hopefully they will sort this out as soon as possible!

jackrussellterrier

First of all thank you very much for taking the time to compile a very comprehensive trip report.

My first ever experience of "First" was Thai about a year ago on their 747 fleet to LHR.. Since then I "left" Thai and now am very happy with long haul business class on Cathay Pacific. I have enjoyed the Cathay first seats (a regional upgrade) but not the full first service but actually am quite happy with the J lay flat seats and the service (ok no great champagne etc but still a professional product). So my point is my experience of Thai First was not that great despite the Spa which was a nice extra and from your TR I am not convinced to try it again.

It seems to me that Thai still don't have it right? Would you pay (again) for Thai first class?

Once again a great TR. Thank you.

BKKROP

I catch CX up to HKG, I love the herringbone seats and their service, and if you are happy with them , I can understand, their service is great. The new NRT-CDG service though is brilliant compared to CX service, and the London TG 747, I would highly recommend you try it. I haven't tried the new TG business yet on this plane, but it looks very comfortable. Having flown 4 other sectors on the new 773, the crews are getting the hang of them, maybe that corded remote will forever cause them trouble, carry on luggage is now being sorted and they seem to have the bedding issue under control. I buy on price and have little loyalty if the other product is better and cheaper and my experience is that CX is more expensive than THAI.

pWei

IMO, it'll probably improve once they get more used to it.

brunos

I mostly pay for my flights and travel extensively HKG-Europe. I would take any day CX J compared to TG F because it is nonstop and cheaper. Plus, I have access to CX F louge as I am OW emearald. Sometimes (actually quite often) it is not cheaper. But TG F is still slightly better than CX J IMO. It iw way better than TG J, but that is not the proper comparison.

When SQ J is cheaper than TG F, I have no hesitation to take SQ (with a transit in SIN rather than BKK on TG). SQ business suite is great and SQ is reliable with better consistent service than on TG F. OK, I dont get Dom or Bolly, but the seat/avod are better and I dont have to worry about equipment change and other TG uncertainties. And the whole booking experience is a breeze and reliable.
TG just can get too many things wrong. When they get their act right, I will reconsider, but when I hear that they use mattresses as blanket, and that the blanket is still a miserable one...

NoY

From LHR-BKK-LHR, TG F is (generally) a real bargain these days. c£2400 all-in for a r/t is excellent value and credits 300% miles to BDs DC (until it becomes Miles & Less of course. I fly TG F on a mixture of paid (by me/the business I own) or redeem from DC miles. Flat bed, Dom or Bolly, decent catering, nice service and no connection - yes please! It offers a better service/product/price ratio IME than other direct, non-stop F options (e.g. Brit Air, QF). Still, the less pax that agree with this all the more seats (at these prices) for me ^......and yes I AM prepared to suffer the potential (tho unlikely) equipment swaps that get mentioned here sooo much. On many r/t on this route I honestly haven't had this happen....yet

brunos

You are lucky. exHKG fare is over €4000 and €4325 exCDG.