Tokyo to Bangkok
We woke up fairly early and skipped the expensive although excellent breakfast at the PHT and started our journey to one of my favorite cities in the world Bangkok. We booked the airport limo bus through the hotel as it was another painless process. Once on the bus we circled Shinjuku for a little bit before we hit the highway and soon enough we were at NRT.
The check in process was a breeze as we were flying in first and we were given a “fixer”? who ushered us through security but sadly not immigration. The line wasn’t long thought and soon we were staring at the NRT layout. This being ANA land I knew they had a suites lounge somewhere, where that was I had no clue so I gambled and ventured towards 4F. I walked right by the United Lounge looked at it and kept walking even though our flight was parked right next to it. Eventually we found the lounge and were granted access.
The lounge itself provided excellent tarmac views. The food was alright and when I say alright remember I just came from the FCT a few days prior. My biggest gripe was the washlet had no happy face button, thus I would not be happy. We stayed for 45 or so minutes and ate, drank a bit and then my wife wanted to be closer to the plane so we had to slum it up in the United First Lounge by our gate. This lounge made me sad but there was a good wireless signal and they had chairs so I guess that’s good?
View from the United Lounge:
I could spot the tail number (HS-TGZ) from the lounge and I knew I would be getting a retrofitted first class cabin although I wouldn’t believe it until I sat down in the actual seat. During by booking period all I wanted to fly was the A380 and I decided to book the late flight out of NRT that got us into BKK at close to 11pm. Our friends in Bangkok wanted meet up and our only option was breakfast. Personally I wanted to see them but I wanted to visit Healthland and blow through the menu like I did to the drink menu in the FCT. Alas it was one or the other, breakfast with friends, or best massage I’ve ever had…ah to have such problems. As luck would have it the earlier flight opened up so now we’d get into BKK at 3:30pm. We would be able to grab dinner with friends and then get a massage the next morning.
It was time to board, and not knowing how Thai would board this flight we just stood like first class lice.
Stereotypical TR shot:
Boarding was called and we walked on before anyone so I could get a shot of it empty:
The thing about this cabin is; I’m not really sure about the middle single seat or the color choice. Even though it was 10am the cabin was dark. Maybe I am Lufthansa color blind but it’s not for me. Don’t get me wrong I was gracious to be flying it.
Seat:
The load was 3 of 9 and the purser told us we could sit wherever we wanted, he suggested that we sit in the ‘honeymoon’ seats and after last night’s shirako episode my wife decided against that. I picked 1K and my wife sat in 2A as 1A was occupied.
For those of you that missed my legs and needed an update:
We were soon airborne and menus were handed out, drinks and lunch orders were placed and then served.
Amuse Bouche:
Table set up:
Bread Basket:
Appetizer:
Soup:
Main (very good)
Prawns close up:
Fruits and cheese – but you could have figured that out:
Lunch was over, service was a tad flawed but I was on vacation and I wasn’t paying for it so I didn’t care but my drinks weren’t filled, plates weren't cleared when finished, little things really but I’m not a petty person again and extremely grateful to be able to do this type of trip. After dinner we had a little over 5 hours to Bangkok so I fired up some breaking bad and watched that until we landed. Overall the hard product was good, seat was nice, IFE screen was very nice although I just watched the moving map, but the colors don’t work for me. The soft product could use some refinement but it’s Thai and you already knew that. Next up will be most likely be a series of quick reports as we spent less than 24 hours in both BKK and SIN.