TGflyer

I was going to do a full trip report with photos, however the situation made it almost impossible to take any photos.

Some info

TG910(VVIP - HRH Princess Chulabhorn) Bangkok - London
13 April 2008 01:10AM
Departure Gate: G5
Business Class - Seat 16A (Upper Deck)
Load: 100% full in every single seats in all cabin

Chaos at Curbside
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Entrance Number 1 to Royal Orchid Premium Check-In Zone was blocked as the porters carried the princess' Louis Vuittons and her maids/khun yings check-in. My driver was turned away as he attempted to park near Entrance 1 (obviously the area was occupied by a Maybach and other Royal vehicles). The princess was not present as she enters the airport through the VIP suite underneath concourse G.

Check-In
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There was no queue. I've checked-in online and my request for seat 16A has been granted. The problem arose as soon as the check-in clerk tried to print my boarding card, the system requires that I have to show them the exact credit card I've used to pay for this e-ticket. The problem is I've lost the card and the new card have a different account number.

The check-in lady asked one of the F porters to escort me to the Ticket Office where I endured 40 minutes of waiting. Basically they have to refund me the cost of the ticket and issue me another ticket. It sounds like a simple task but in reality.... nope. About 5 ticketing agents gathered around the one who was attending my case. They have had to made calls to managers and obtained various authorisations. At the end I've got my boarding pass losing 40 minute of the time which I could have been relaxing in lounge or browse through King Power Mall.

TG system for PAX who has paid for e-ticket via CC is appalling. I know this is for security reason but gee!

TIP FOR E-TICKET HOLDERS: NEVER LOSE YOUR CC


After Check-In
Fast track passport control had no queue. The place (concourse D) was packed on my way to the Royal Silk lounge in Concourse E. Air conditioning was "good" but lighting was "dimmed" as usual.

The lounge at concourse E was packed with most passengers from my flight. Although I managed to secure a seat. Food and drinks offered were of TG standard (sandwiches/rolls/japanese premium snacks etc).

At 11:30PM, C & F pax were called for "FINAL CALL" boarding. Unsurprisingly, on arrive at Gate G5 (at the far end of concourse G) we had to walk down the stairs and take the bus to catch the plane which was parking on a remote bay.

From my memory, it seemed there had been a departure ceremony or whatever as I recalled seeing red carpets and flowers all over.

Boarding

Once I stepped inside the plane (the left door behind First Class) I managed to peak inside the F cabin and spotted the princess. She must have boarded the plane for quite a while now.

On arrival at my seat 16A, the FA came around with welcome drink (OJ, champy, aqua) and refreshing cool towel. Menus were then handed out and order for dinner/breakfast taken.

Dinner
- no fish cake served for strange reason
- first course: some salad and scallops and white wine
- main course: thai green chicken curry (same offered in Y) and white wine
- third course: cheese & fruits + port
- dessert: chocolate moouse and tea

Service
It must be because the flight is VVIP that all FAs looked very pretty. Service was also very good through out the flight.

Seat/IFE
I watched the water horse (kiddie movie) before reclining the seat to an almost "flat" but not completely flat and not all the way adjusted (if you understand what i mean, reclining too much in sleep mode always make me slide off the seat while sleeping). Managed 6 hours of sleep.

Breakfast
Exactly 2 hours before arrival the cabin light were switched on and the FAs came around with tray of juices/milk/water. Breakfast was as follow:
- assorted fruits
- croissant and other breads i can't remember their names
- yoghurt
- main course: english breakfast or thai noodle
- tea or coffee

Arrival
The plane touched down on time, however we were delayed by the Princess. The plane was parked at the gate near where SQ A380 was parked. We had to wait about 15 minutes before allowed to get out of our seats as the princess deplaned. Her Maybach (she is a Maybach fan I guess, lol) was already waiting on the tarmac. I guess there's no immigration/waiting for her.

For poor peasant people like me, I had to walk 10 minutes to the passport control which was absolutely packed. Even the Fast Track lane was beginning to fill up by the time I arrived.

My bags arrived rather quickly (this is TG and i was in T3, opposed to BA T5 ).

Conclusion

TG handled the VVIP flight quite smoothly. Apart from having to catch to bus to get on the plane and waiting for the princess to get off the plane, I think they've done a pretty good job.

Service in Business Class was great once again as usual. The food still leaves a bit to be desired.

All in all, I had another good flight.

thai_traveller747

Thanks for your review, and what a flight you had!

Obviously you had a pretty hectic flight becuase of your VVIP. Nonetheless you were still able to enjoy your C class flight.

As for you loosing your credit card, thats an absolute no no if you are travelling on a e-ticket. But still it was a bit silly for you to have to wait around for 40 minutes and like you said, that 40 minutes could of been relaxing in the lounge or Duty Free shopping.

Please do post more trip reviews. I look forward to seeing more!

thai_traveller747

moocherx

Do you think they demand pre-booked F passengers to reschedule when a Royal chooses to travel?

JohnSIN

Nope, I had the privilege of having a F flight to London with a Royal.
I was originally booked on 1A but decided for a 2K for some reason i have now forgotten.

The princess (not being Thai nor leaving in Thailand, I would not be able to recall her name, however, the in-flight supervisor told us that we had the princess flying with us), was seated in 1A and her minders, one elderly gentleman and one elderly lady were seated in row 2 and 3. Light load on this flight.

The cabin crew was definitely a top VIP crew. I can't really agree that they were particularly pretty stewardess, but very experienced, charming, affable...in short, old hands.

Boarded the plane using the air bridge and as I walked to my seat, saw the door on the right of the aircraft opened and a mobile staircase attached. Seating at 2K, I could witness the arrival from the right, a motorcade with police cars, bikes, and a black car (not very good with cars). A huge entourage comes onboard including what I would imagine was the princess' mother. A military uniform is taking some pictures and the crew and myself watch in awe as they part ways and Princess settles in her seat.

The crew go about their service. However they cannot walk in front of the royal and would therefore stop briefly at row two, kneel down, and then walk on their knee to the princess to serve her. Not being able to show their back to the royal, they then backtrack, still kneeling until they reach row 2, stand up and bow before returning to their normal business.

Service was excellent as usual on TG F and you could tell that the crew was definitely a VVIP set of crew. Upon arrival, myself and an Australian lady seated in 3K were asked to remain seated in our seat while the princess was allowed to disembark first. Arrival in London, she used the airbridge and did not have a car, just a small delegation waiting to escort her. I did not see the back of her and went on to customs.

Definitely a great memory of a TG flight. And to answer the initial question, I think that as long as the load is light, F passengers are not asked to take another flight. I would imagine they are probably blocking the seat next to the princess. 1J & 1K were empty. The flight was a 747 old config B7442.

BKKROP

Hi TGflyer, that is a bummer isn't it? the credit card thing, I was in SYD and I was carrying a MEL-BKK c Eticket and decided to get my office to phone the MEL office and pay the difference up to first, which at that time was on discount via BNE and cheaper than an upgrade. It was a stupid thing to do in hindsight, but I was running out of time, and didn't want any hassles on checkin.

Well, as you know, I created a mountain of problems, for starters I didn't know how or who paid for it. What was going to be a relaxing interlude in the lounge turned into a nightmare. In this case common sense prevailed after what seemed like an eternity, BUT it taught me never to do it again.

Never had a Princess on a flight, never anyone famous, only ever had "fallen" business leaders returning home, and I have often thought, they have spent all the investor's money yet they are still in denial. regards bkkrop

rolcouz

People do lose their CCs, it happens. Does anyone know if Thai have any procedures to change the entered CC number, except for reissuing the ticket, which seems fairly ridiculous? I'm not thinking about on check-in but if the card is lost some time before that.
With Royal Brunei Airlines you can show your CC at any sales office before the flight and they will check it, then no need to show it at check-in. Or you can sign an indemnity form, I believe.

BKKROP

Most airlines and many businesses have this policy and it is a sure fire way to beat credit card fraud for large ticket items sold over the phone or internet. I believe it's one of those things we have to do, to allow us to continue to do business and to protect our own credit and our cards. When you print off the ticket, there is one page that says you need your cc as proof at the check in. It's very clear with TG, I know QF and SQ have the same policy, in my case I made a mistake, I should have known or remembered and we were able to correct it. regards bkkrop

IndyDavid

Thai's credit card policy is infuriating and patently absurd. It's hugely inconvenient because people lose their cards, cards get stolen, cards are cancelled all the time... and it's futile since it does nothing to prevent fraud. The person who stole the card can just present the stolen card (or the numbers) at check-in, just as they did to fraudulently buy the ticket in the first place.

We never travel abroad on holiday with the full complement of credit cards we'd have with us at home. I could never have guessed that TG would program their ticketing system to completely block printing of boarding passes without the card itself. I had my passport, my visa, my U.S. driver's license, other credit cards, the e-ticket itinerary... I was obviously the person who purchased the ticket and intended to travel. All useless.

You're lucky Thai made it work for you. We managed to call home and get someone to go into our house and look up the number. Thai agents don't need to see the card, they just need to type in the 3rd set of 4 numbers (e.g., if you card is 4123-4567-8901-2345 they need to type in "8901"). They only did this once, on initial check-in, not on check-in for the return.

David

moocherx

Thanks for your story JohnSIN. I really enjoyed the image you portrayed of the subservient crew in honour of the Royal.

What made me laugh in a way is that half way through, I remembered that the owner of the house I live in in BKK (the landlord, I suppose), is an ex-officer who is the prime escort of Princess Sirindhorn - can I say my favourite? - and so it would be hilarious to accidentally meet him on a flight with said Princess, and chat to him about whether he can put a new air-conditioning unit in my bedroom!

Thai-Kiwi

I think many thais would reject your analysis of subservient - perhaps deeply respectful. If this behaviour is a part of what thais want to do, so be it.

But it certainly some thai cultural practices values can seem over the top to a western viewpoint (as some/many western culteral/social norms seems screwy to asian).

UAL Traveler

Thanks for the report, TGflyer. I like your style: economical prose, with a hint of a flourish. I'll echo the above sentiments, and ask that you keep the reports coming!

TG certainly protects its own, but when it comes to some VIP 'foreigners', they are sometimes quite a bit more laissez-faire. Take the case of Tiger Woods' visit about a decade ago (when he was also awarded an honorary PhD). Woods, who is half-Thai, landed in BKK, and the plane was inundated by reporters before Woods could even get up from his seat. A TG friend who also went on board told me that Woods was so upset by the deluge, that he reflexively put his hands over his face in a defensive posture. Apparently, TG felt that none of this was a breach of protocol. I was not a personal witness to any of this, but it sure must have been spectacle to nearby pax.

moocherx

As I writer, I'm capable of choosing my words carefully enough to be appropriate in their context. Definition-wise, subservient can mean "compliant and obedient to authority" - I'm sure you'll agree that being obedient to authority is precisely what they were doing in the case of serving a Royal. And rightly so.

That aside, after many years living in Thailand I still find it a little unnerving when served by people on their knees, which is the required method of serving in a Bangkok club I'm called to visit from time to time. Mostly, this is through sheer gratefulness I don't have to do it - as I don't think I'd be able to get up so easily these days! And it might have been an easier custom in the days before nylon carpets.

Thai-Kiwi

I agree! Even 20+ years ago during my 'Thai' wedding ceremony, much forgiveness was granted to me for my inability to sit with my legs properly crossed - I had to do it the female way (tucked behind me to the left or right).....and jiggle around every 5 mins or so. My new relatives must have thought something was wrong with me.....