BabyBearNewYork

Hi everyone, my first time posting! I've often come to these forums before to get great info on airlines and flights. Finally decided to become a member as I have a question I am hoping all the Thai frequent flyers can answer.

So - my mom and I are traveling to Vietnam from Mumbai in December. We are on Thai Airways going via Bangkok. I booked her a business seat, I'm at the back of the bus. We are on TG 318/317 (the two BOM-BKK, and BKK-BOM sectors, with the Vietnam sectors different).

For the TG 318/318 flights, Thai uses a 747. Reading these blogs, I understand they've been fairly recently retrofitted with angled flat seats. My issue is - when I called Thai Airways in the US to do her seat allocation, they actually assigned her seat 1A on both flights. When I hung up, I looked again at the seatguru map and saw these are actually First seats. I thought it was a mistake and I had her call Thai Airways in Mumbai and they said, yes, she has the seats, no problem. She of course is thrilled.

While its always nice to get upgraded, I am a little concerned. I hope this was not an error on the part of the system. I just don't want us to arrive at the airport, and they say "oh sorry, that was a mistake, you actually have a business seat and BTW, all the good window seats are gone by now". So - is Thai offering free upgrades to First? I know on Qatar, which I use to fly to India from NYC- sometimes when they operate an A330-300 on the Doha to Mumbai leg, they automatically upgrade pax from Business to First (subject to availability), as the Business Class is not up to the same standard as their long-haul business class (have had that happen to me twice now). Is Thai doing the same thing? My mom is Star Alliance Gold, but I wasn't sure if that made any difference. If its a mistake, I'll get her seat changed to a regular Business seat. I'd love her to fly First, but I also don't want any problems at check in!

Thanks!

Fan2502

Does TG sell F class on the flights in question?

If not than sometimes they use the F seats for J pax, but the service is only J.

BabyBearNewYork

Thanks so much! I think you nailed it - I just checked up and TG does not sell First seats either on the Mumbai-Bangkok or Mumbai-Hanoi flights. That makes sense now. Its exactly what Qatar does sometimes on the BOM-DOH leg when they operate a A330-300 and move up pax to First, but the service is J class.

I'm happy that my mom can enjoy the F seat. Its only a 4 hr 15 min flight so I'm sure the J service will be exemplary!

BinSabai

surprised that TG uses 747 on the BKK-BOM route; never saw any bird with F seats on flights to India

your mom will get F seat, but service will be J; so no Dom and Caviar!

BabyBearNewYork

Yeah, I was surprised too, but that's what the rez says and it was confirmed by Thai both in USA and India. The India agent told my mom they've been using that plane to Mumbai for about a year now.

LOL about the caviar and champagne! Since the flight is a grand total of 4 hrs 15 mins, I hope she'll survive the deprivation