If you’re bored of me complaining about Thai First, you should probably skip this post. Or maybe the rest of this report.

As you’ve probably figured out by now, my final destination was somewhere in Europe. And you must be wondering why I subjected myself to more than one flight in Thai First, when at first sight I thought their seat was a joke. Well, actually my next flight was supposed to be on Swiss, to Zurich. I’ve read very positive things about Swiss, their service and catering is supposed to be exceptional, and their seat is the kind I’d actually like to spend 12 hours in. But thanks to an agent somewhere in Timbuktu who decided to enforce a minimum connection time of 55 minutes at BKK even on an F passenger (I had 50 minutes between the arriving TG flight and the departing LX one), I was to be subjected to another 12 hours on Thai. Which worked out OK as my TG flight from HKG was delayed. Oh well, at least I would finally get some pyjamas.

I was the last to board the aircraft, with a gentleman I’d met in the TG lounge in HKG, who was also connecting to the flight to ZRH. He said he lived between Hong Kong and Zurich, and shuttled back and forth every month. On a variety of EK, QR, TG, LX – in F. And I think he must have still been quite surprised to come across someone my age jetting about in First. Well, his story was even more interesting. I was trying to figure out which I-bank he might be a Director at, and how to suitably impress him to get a job, but lo and behold, he tells me he’s in medical equipment sales. And has a degree in Economics. If anyone’s looking for a new career… here you go.

So anyway, onboard I was in 1E, with 1A, 2A (the best seats according to the internet, neither of which the TG Singapore office could get me), and 1K occupied. The seatmap on expertflyer was actually showing the flight pretty busy – I don’t know why they’d blocked off two seats. They were never used. In fact, I prompty moved to 2K. Don’t exactly fancy having my every move seen by everyone else in the cabin. Y has more privacy than those seats, honestly.

And while we’re still on opinions about seating – I think there are two groups of people. Those who have actually flown First and appreciate the privacy Suites a la EK afford, and those who have never flown in F but complain that they’re not ready to sleep in a coffin yet. I don’t know if they realize that these Suites have doors. That you can open. To get a normal F seat. Me, personally, I don’t like to have people looking at me when I’m asleep in some weird contortion, or secretly drinking Vittel.

Now to the good stuff. Once we were seated, the three crew in First went around introducing themselves to each passenger. The first of many hot towels and glasses of Dom (clearly they weren’t bothered with taxes – as the pre-departure champagne was supposed to be Veuve Rose) followed. I finally got an amenity kit – by Rimowa. Except, they don’t make amenities, so there was an assortment of completely unheard of brands, encased in a miniature purple suitcase.

And then I saw the Purser come out with pyjamas. Just two pairs, on a tray. As if mocking me, she went to every other passenger before getting to me. After a passenger would pick their preferred size, she would return to the galley, re-stock her tray, and proceed to offer a choice to the next passenger. Very nice. ‘What size would you like, sir?’. There was Medium, and there was Large. I had my doubts about this. Airline pyjamas aren’t exactly made for people with my waist size. They’re made for the passenger in 2A. I wonder what sizes she offered him, though at the speed he was eating, he might have needed a bigger size by the time he decided to go to bed.

I decided to go with the Medium size. Thai doesn’t make up your bed for you in First – no mattress or even a duvet (UA had one) – just a flimsy blanket. What I did come back to find, however, was that I would need to hold up these pyjamas with one hand for the next 12 hours if I didn’t want to get arrested for public indecency. Thankfully, the crew had a Small size, which fit perfectly. Had I realized I could get more than one set by trying on different sizes (I got to keep the S and the M), I would have started with XL.

The other thing I was really looking forward to on this flight was the caviar service. This seemed like as good an occasion as any to sample it, and boy was it good. I had a glass (or two) or Dom to wash it down. ‘Would you like your main meal now, sir?’ ‘Actually, I’m sleepy and tired, so maybe I’ll take a nap and eat it later.’ ‘No problem.’ ‘Actually, that caviar was really good, do you think I could have some more?’ And lo and behold, she came out with another full serving. When I refused Dom, I was given vodka – probably the best money can buy. As far as getting one's money's worth goes, I think I did quite well on this leg.



I must have slept for a little bit but realized I had to keep going. This was not one of those times I could chicken out and skip the meal service in favor of sleep. Pronto – table was set again, glass of Dom et al. The thing I love about First Class is they keep filling your glass up, even before it’s empty. Like they should. In fact, I think it should be de rigueur in Business as well, but I digress. Not only was my glass never left empty, but if I was too slow to drink up (as I often am), my half full glass would be replaced with chilled champagne. I was starting to like Thai a little bit now, I must admit.

I’m not the kind of person who would take pictures of airline meals and post them in a trip report, but I just had to on this occasion. The ostrich steak I had pre-ordered was delicious. They actually let you pick the cheeses and fruits you want to eat – none of that one size fits all stuff. Heavenly.



Delicious starters



Ostrich steak - because I love to try new foods, and the lobster had terrible reviews

I’ll admit though that when I woke up 9 hours later, I didn’t have the stomach for breakfast. I finished up my movie – this is the first time I’ve barely been able to watch one film on a 12 hour flight, except the one time on Etihad from JFK, when my IFE didn’t work the entire flight. The entire crew went around asking each passenger how their flight was etc, accompanied by hot towels, of course.

Up next, the maze that is ZRH, and my first time on LX and an Avro 100.