Thai Airways 475, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi (BKK) to Sydney (SYD)
February 8th, 2018
5:50 pm–7:10 am (+1)
Boeing 747 HS-TGF
Seats 1A/K (nose of the plane, first class)
Our intrepid group of four trekked the almost seven minutes to the boarding gate, where boarding had just about completed and the gate agents were ready to devote their full attention to us.
So there was no delay in boarding and going straight to our seats. Of the nine seats in this cabin, the four in rows 1 and 2 were occupied and the five in back were empty. I know it’s a roll of the dice whether you get the nice product or the old one on Thai’s 747s, but this, at least, was the nice one. It’s probably a nicer seat than on the A380.
Being Thai Airways and being first class, it was no more than 45 seconds after I sat down that the flight attendant appeared with a glass of Dom Pérignon for me.
After half an hour of delay—which, to be clear, is really hard to complain about with a glass of Dom in your hand—the plane finally pushed back and headed for the sky.
I took a look at the food menu. The drink list was identical to the one from
our previous flight a few days earlier.
Since it was an overnight flight, I also went to the lavatory—strangely positioned along the aft wall of the first class cabin—to change. Pretty small but perfectly nice.
This placard about federal law surprised me; whose federal law, exactly? When was the last time this plane was on US soil?
When I returned to my seat, or rather the ottoman of my wife’s seat so we could do the companion dining thing, the amuse bouche was waiting for me. Chips and salsa, except the chips were deep-fried oyster mushrooms. This was amazing in a totally unexpected way: the combination of the umami from the mushrooms and the salt from the coating were just delicious.
The flight attendants on Thai seem to have this way of pushing more tasty things on you than you can even manage.
Showtime.
Hot towels! This one is a keeper for my collection of hot towel photos.
Caviar service is way different than our last flight on Thai: the individual tin served on ice in a large shell along with the semicircular tray of condiments was a really nice touch.
Our first courses arrived shortly thereafter. Foie gras terrine with balsamic fig and apple pie, balsamic cream. Nothing against foie gras, but while this was delicious, it was about five times as much foie gras as I can eat in one sitting. The balsamic glaze with the chia seeds on beneath it was really great.
At this point, since I hadn’t had nearly enough wine yet, I switched to the chablis.
Were they going to let us go straight to the main course? Of course not. Here’s some curried pumpkin soup with king crab and crème fraîche. Pumpkin and crab is a nice combination, though this is a bit of a case of delicious plus delicious equals more delicious.
A bit later, our main courses came along, and it was quite a challenge to fit everything on the table.
I had the Samrab Thai, an assortment of dishes including:
Braised pork knuckle in pineapple sauce
Steamed jasmine rice with gai lan
Spicy beef salad with white turmeric
Spicy shrimp chili paste relish with sweet pork and salted egg
Crispy fish, vegetable side dish
And of course, plenty of the fish sauce with chilies I’d become so fond of in the last week.
Overall, a lot of food, almost all of which was really great. I’m not really used to eating my pork skin-on, but it was still delicious.
My wife had the baked Chilean sea bass with vegetarian caviar crust and lobster bisque, spinach ravioli and tomato concassé, stuffed potato with cheese and champignon mushroom, and buttered asparagus and baby carrot.
Again, a lot of food.
Were they done feeding us? Of course not. Here’s this flight’s fruit and cheese plate, which I managed to eat almost half of even though I was pretty full. It’s worth noting that we never got any descriptions of what was in it beyond what the menu described as an assortment.
I really started wondering when the flight attendant brought an already-opened bottle of port and a tray full of glasses as if to offer some to the whole cabin even though there were only four of us. Of course we had some.
After everything else, it was clear that there was saying no to dessert wasn’t an option, so we went for it.
The assorted Thai desserts were all tasty and very much on brand, though the mango sticky rice was still wrapped in plastic and the coconut cream accompanying it was oddly blue.
The lemon pie with raspberry sauce was likewise delicious and we managed to summon the last bits of our combined will power to eat a few bites.
Needless to say, we were ready for bed and the crew quickly provided turndown service for us. A mattress pad and blanket made for a great place to sleep and we passed out for the next six and a half hours.
One of the great perks of flying in first class is the ability to sleep until the last possible moment before landing where there’s still time for breakfast. I slept until about 40 minutes before landing and the flight attendant still offered me my choice of anything I wanted from the breakfast menu. Feeling pretty stuffed still, I went for just a selection of fruit, which was still great.
The coffee was fine, too.
I even had time for an episode of the only TV show that exists on planes.
Pretty soon we were heading over central Sydney and landing.
There had been a bit of a medical emergency at the end of the flight so everybody remained seated for another ten minutes or so while the situation was attended to but then it was onwards!
The review
My first flight on Thai Airways was also my second flight ever in international first class. Having the added perspective of three more years of wonderful flights, I think it’s safe to say that the long-haul first class experience on Thai is about as good as it gets.
If there were anything I would change, it might be to expand the selection of movies, but beyond that, it’s hard to find anything else.
Really, I only wish there were more places I could fly Thai, because this was fantastic from start to finish.