June 4, 2004
TG 634 TPE-ICN Lv1250 Arr1615 Boeing 777-200 HS-THE
I arrived at Taipei’s rather ancient terminal one around 10:30am, and headed to the Thai’s check in counter. Trans-Asia Airways is the handling agent for Thai, and the agent was rather dull, but efficient. There was only one person in front of me, so wait was minimal. I asked for a window seat and soon received a lounge pass as well. The TG lounge was operated in cooperation with Trans Asia Airways as well, which is located in the public area. It has no window and minimal food selections of sandwiches, Chinese buns, sliced cakes, and light snack, with a self-service bars. There was no computer at all. I stayed a little bit before looking at the newspapers stand and soon headed to the restricted area. Our gate was A5 this afternoon and the inbound flight arrived early from Bangkok. We parked next to China Airlines’ Boeing 747-400 (B-18206), Airbus A340-300 (B-18807 from HNL), and B-18802 heading to Bangkok. The flight was about 50% full in business class and economy class was rather full, as Seoul becomes a very popular destination for Taiwanese due to the influence of Korean soap operas and music in Asia recently. Boarding began at 12:27pm and the cabin was clean and bright, but the 2-4-2 seating arrangement is pretty cramped for business class. Fortunately I had both 12K and J to myself, and the F/As were great in assisting with carryon bags. A choice of apple juice, orange juice, and water was offered, with menus, headsets, and choice of newspapers. Hot towels were also offered prior to takeoff. Door was closed early at 12:46pm, and we pushed back a minute later. We took off from Runway 05 at 12:57pm. Flying time was two hours and seven minutes. We climbed up to 37,000feet and the routing was a simple TPE-Jeju-Gwang-ju-Incheon.

Seat belt sign was turned off at 1:01pm and linen was placed on our tray five minutes later. Appetizer trays were passed out with the first round of beverage trolley. A three-course meal was served on this relatively short flight and I think the portion is a bit smaller than expected, but the three-course meal is nice. What Thai needs to work on now is variety. Here is the wine list and menu transcript!
Wine List
Champagne
Lanson

Red Wine
Chateau Jayac Les Gravieres 2001
Savigny-Les-Beaune 1999

White Wine
Rully 1999
Montagny 2000
Linnkoepfle grand cru Gewurztraminer 2001

Taipei to Seoul
First Course
Goose Liver Mille-feuille, Marinated tomato, Cuttlefish Salad
Self-descriptive – the cuttlefish salad was served with a spicy tomato sauce.

Main Course
Pork Tenderloin with Pumpkin in Red Curry, Steamed Rice, salted egg, Chinese broccoli (Medium Hot)
Or
Stir-fried beef tenderloin with broccoli, Chinese yellow noodles, carrot
I had the beef entrée, which was okay, but it could use a few more strips of beef.

Assorted breads, crackers, butter, cheese
Breadbasket had white or wheat rolls, and fresh garlic bread. A wedge of white cheese was pre-plated at the bread plate with crackers.

Dessert
Tiramisu
Tea, coffee
Espresso, Cappucino
Dessert was served separately and Tiramisu was rather nice.

For entertainment, a variety of short subject programs was shown in the personal television system, and no fancy AVOD, but three channels of cycled short programs, and sky map was available. For economy, an episode of “Fraiser” and an interview with STING were shown in the mainscreen, along with various Thai’s exercise, duty free and promotional videos. Sky Map was shown at all other times. It was a nice day to fly and had a beautiful view of Korean resort of Jeju and the west coast of South Korea. Duty free service began at 2:07pm. Although the F/As were not offering beverages until asked, they were okay friendly. Descent soon began at 2:39pm and we landed at Runway 33R at 4:04pm Seoul local time (Seoul was an hour ahead of Taipei). We parked at gate 40 at 4:15pm. We parked next to a SQ 777 9V-SVD from Vancouver, and we saw an Air China’s A319 B-6023, Asiana’s Boeing 747-400 Combi HL7413, and Asiana Star Alliance painted Boeing 767-300. I stayed overnight at the brand new Hyatt Incheon airport hotel, which was located within five minutes car ride from the airport. The shuttle service ran from 5:30am till 10:30pm daily and we have to wait at Bay 13B. You will find an English bus stop. I was upgraded to the regency club floor and had a nice room with a view of the airport and Runway 33R and L. The airport was really busier than I thought. The restaurant was quite nice with an International menu. The Hyatt hotel was a bit more expensive but I feel it was worthwhile. Northwest and Korean Air (overseas base) F/As and pilots stayed at this Hyatt hotel.