Austman, you raise a good point about Thai raising its standards. To be honest, there is no real differentiator to be between Thai and Singapore other than S'pore has kept their product consistent. When I flew TG 1st LAX-BKK in June of '98, it was an overnight flight and we got the new 1st bed. When I flew them in 1st again in October of '99, it was the original 1st seat that had been installed back in '90 when they first took deliver of the 747-400's; the "Life vests are located..." sign embroidered in the 1st class footrests was actually wearing away - shabby at the least, inconsistent at the most. Their service is usually impeccable, though.

Seats are expensive, but being cheap is gonna cost more in the long run; all TG can do these days is compete on price; that's not the way to go for a global airline that hopes to grow.

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Willy!