jacob_m

This was another flight I was very much looking forward to, to try out the fabulous Jet Airways suite on the Boeing 777-300ER.

Thai Airways has three Boeing 777-300ER aircrafts leased from Jet Airways and these are operated on only two routes: Bangkok-Tokyo and Bangkok-Paris.
I was really happy when I managed to find award availability in First, on one of these two routes, and on a day that actually fitted really well with the rest of the planning.

Boarding

The fight to Tokyo was to depart from gate C10, at the very end of the long C-concourse, so quite a walk from the central transit area.

At the gate passengers were directed either to the right or to the left of the gate podium depending on class of travel.
Business/first (and Star Gold I believe) were directed to the right, the area closest to the passenger bridge, whereas economy class passengers were directed to the left.
I guess it speeded up the boarding process a bit.

Boarding started at 7.45 am, 25 minutes before departure, with priority boarding for first/business and Star Gold, which happened pretty much automatically as we were the ones sitting closest to the door.



I was one of the first passengers to get onboard and was warmly greeted at door 1L and directed to my seat. As usual I had pre-booked my favourite seat 02K, for the third time during this trip.

Another benefit of boarding early is that you get a very good chance to take some photos of the cabin without disturbing the other passengers and the crew too much.



The cabin itself gave a really excellent first impression.
It felt very fresh and modern, private and luxurious, but without exaggerating it.
The closest I have come across so far is the Emirates first class suite. As for the design the Emirates and Jet Airways suites are rather similar, but the Emirates suite is much more extravagant whereas the Jet Airways suite is more minimalistic.

There is no overhead storage in First, so all hand luggage has to be stored under the ottoman in front of the seat.



As I had settled in my seat one of the FAs arrived at my seat, welcomed me onboard, addressed me by name and asked me if I wanted something to drink before departure.
By now you probably know the answer. I started already 6.50 am in the lounge with my first glass of bubbles, so why not continue in the same manner...

In a minute a glass of Dom Pérignon 2002 was delivered to my suite together with a hot towel.

I also asked the FA if she could take my jacket, I was actually slightly annoyed nobody had offered to do it so far, something that could definitely be expected in first class.
Well it turned out the reason was that I had a private closet in the suite, so there was no reason for them to take it.
Wow!! So cool!! I have never experienced anywhere quite like that before.

International newspapers and magazines were also offered in the cabin and the crew distributed slippers and an amenity kit to each passenger.

The amenity kit was the same as offered on the outbound flight, a rather nice purple Rimowa bag.
The amenity kit included the standard stuff but also some toiletries from La Maxima in Paris including a small bottle of eau de cologne.
Not quite the brilliant amenity kit I got in Emirates first class (leather bag and Bvlgari toiletries), but still one of the better ones I have got over the years.
And the Rimowa bag itself was pretty fun!



A few minutes later the purser arrived at my seat to greet me and welcome me onboard.
This was a nice guy who himself made this a great flight. A really funny and talkative man who really genuinely cared about his passengers.
He asked me about my nationality, my reason for visiting Thailand and we also talked about the aircraft and the cabin.
Quite interesting to hear his comments and reflections!

Some of the staff onboard were just as new to the cabin as me. One of the female FAs in first class had her very first flight on the Jet Airways aircraft and really had to struggle to find everything and figure out how everything worked.
In many aspects it is a rather advanced cabin.



Before departure the safety demonstration video was shown as usual.
Strangely they showed exactly the same video as is shown on all other Thai Airways flights, the problem was that the seats shown in the video were simply not available onboard.
Showing where you would find the lifejacket on a standard Thai B777 or A330 was of very little use on this flight where business class had a herringbone seat configuration and first class had the suites.
But probably it was too expensive to produce a new video for just three aircrafts.



There were eight seats in first class on the Boeing 77W, five were occupied on this flight.

Bangkok-Tokyo/Narita, flight TG 676 operated by Thai Airways
Departure: 08:10
Arrival: 16:00
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER
Class: First Class
Seat: 02K



Pushback almost right on time at 8.15 am.

The captain also welcomed us onboard and announced an expected flight time of just over 5 hours, quite a bit shorter than the 7 hours on the Tokyo-Bangkok leg.



We finally took off at 8.30 am from runway 01L.
The weather this morning was very nice and the initial climb provided a very nice view of the Bangkok area.



Post-departure drink

After the seatbelt sign had been switched off the curtains between business and first were closed and more drinks were offered in the cabin.
Naturally another glass of Dom for me!



The menu

Next the menu was handed out, placed in an exotic folder. The folder also included the drink list.

On the flight to Tokyo breakfast would be served just after take-off, the main meal for the flight.
An hour before landing in Tokyo a second smaller meal would be served.



Here is the menu for the flight to Tokyo:

The meal service

Hot towels were offered and a white table cloth was laid on the table.
The table in the first class suite is really huge and as the ottoman can be used as a visitor’s seat two people can easily dine at the table, and it won’t feel cramped.



A cold breakfast was served first with some fresh fruits and yoghurt.
Preserves were also offered followed by bread rolls, toasts and croissants from a nice bread basket.

Coffee, tea and fruit juices were offered by the FA.



There were three choices of hot breakfast, basically a western option, a Thai option and a Japanese option.
To try something different I decided to try the Japanese option with cod and rice rolls. It was very nice!

More coffee and champagne were offered as well as Japanese green tea.

As I was nearly finished the friendly purser passed my seat to check if everything was OK.
I told him I had chosen the Japanese cod and thought it was quite nice, a refreshing change from the standard western egg and bacon.
His response to this was that his eggs would actually have been different, and he even offered to prepare a second main course for me, if I wanted to try something else.
A nice offer, but I was actually started to feel rather full.

My table was eventually cleared and I tried to fold away the table, but did not manage.
I asked the FA to help me, but she did not manage it either.
At the end we had to ask a third person for assistance, it was actually really tricky.

The seat

The Jet Airways suite is easily one of the best aircrafts seats I have ever tried.
It is comfortable, spacious and private, it has plenty of facilities and storage, and it has a great attractive minimalistic elegance.

There are eight suites on the Boeing 777, two rows with a 1-2-1 configuration.



The Jet Airways suite is also the only seat/suite I have tried so far with a private closet in the suite (and those of you who have read my previous trip reports will know I have tried a fair few different seats by now).
The closet had three hangers and space for 2-3 items. It also had a built-in lamp.



For the ultimate privacy the Jet Airways suite also has sliding doors that can be closed if you want to get some sleep/rest without being disturbed.
The doors are not extremely high, as a regular adult if you stand up close to the door you can see what is going on on the other side.
However if you lay or sit down the doors provide an extremely private feeling.



The seat itself was very comfortable and can be reclined to a fully flat bed, 83” in length, supposedly the longest bed in the sky (or so I have read).



The seat control

The seat and all the lights in the suite are controlled from a suite remote control placed on the seat panel. It can also be detached from the panel.
Interestingly when turning it on the first thing you will see is the Jet Airways logo, they have not removed all traces of the original aircraft owner.



The remote control worked pretty well and offered a rather advanced range of seat adjustments as well as seat massage.
The only thing it could not do was to open and close the sliding doors in the suite, that had to be done manually...