Part 4: BKK-TPE
After landing in BKK, I stopped at the TG Royal Silk Lounge in the C terminal for a quick snack and then headed to immigration. Each line was at least 50 people long, and it took at least an hour to pass through. (Doesn't TG give out fast-passes to C customers? Shouldn't SQ?) I finally hopped in a taxi to the Grand Palace.
I won't go into my time in Bangkok other than to say it wasn't my favorite city. I am sure that if I had seen the right places, I would have liked it better. But to me, it seemed to have all of the bad things that China has—pollution, traffic congestion, disdain and cheating of foreigners, etc. But in China, not only do I speak the language, but every annoyance also reassures me that there are still opportunities for improvement, and I'd love to do business in China and be a part of that improvement.
I took a taxi back to BKK at around 8 PM, planning on spending the night at the airport. I knew the TG lounge closed at 1 AM, but I had planned on checking in and sleeping somewhere in the terminal. I had visited the transit counter right after I disembarked from my flight earlier in the day, and they told me that while they couldn't print my boarding pass, the check-in counters at Departures could. I needed my boarding pass to get into the terminal so that I could stop in the lounge for a late-night snack and then sleep somewhere safe. So, around 9 PM I went to the business class check-in and was promptly refused. They could only process same-day check-ins, and I would have to wait until 5 AM the next day to get my boarding pass. When I asked, they said there was nothing they could do to get me past security and immigration. I asked if there was anything at all they could do, and they just kept explaining the situation in circles. (Why can't I check in? Because your flight is tomorrow. Is there anything I can do to get past immigration? No, you need a boarding pass, and you can't get that until tomorrow. Is there anything you can do for me? No, you need a boarding pass.) This reminded me a lot of the customer service I experienced in China, and it is extremely frustrating. Even the supervisor at the business class check-in counter just said there was no way that I could check in the night before my flight.
I tried to go to the ticketing counter to buy a refundable ticket for a flight that night just to get past immigration, but I was told that if you refund a Thai "refundable ticket," you lose 2000 Baht (about $65) of the ticket value. So, I went back to the business class check-in. By this time, I had talked to about 4 different check-in agents, and all of them had refused me. Finally, I found one who suggested I go to the "flight manager" at desk J21. I went, and I was told he was on break for another 30 minutes. After another long wait, he came back, and was able to check me in in about 5 minutes. I glided through immigration and headed straight for the TG lounge where I napped until 1 AM. Then I found a place on the floor in some remote part of the terminal and fell asleep, using my dirty laundry bag as a pillow. I was so tired that I didn't even have to take Ambien.
This experience with TG was also extremely disappointing. Only a few of the check-in agents knew I was on award travel, so their apathy can't be attributed to their knowing I wasn't a paying customer. I would hope that TG management would be absolutely embarrassed that I was bounced around customer service hell for 3 hours.
I woke up around 5 AM shivering from the cold air in the terminal and headed to the TG lounge for a shower at 5:15 AM. After the shower, I slept for another few hours until right when my flight began boarding.
Friday, December 21
TG634
BKK-TPE
Aircraft: Boeing 777
Seat: 12A
Scheduled Departure Time: 7:25 AM
Scheduled Arrival Time: 11:55 AM
Once on board, the experience was pretty good. The seats were transpac-quality. I think they were the same basic hardware, with a few modifications, as my SQ LAX-SIN flight. I got a good two hours of sleep and had a decent, if oily, lunch of pork noodles and shrimp shumai. The flight landed at TPE's third-world-country terminal 1, which was reminiscent of airport terminals in small Chinese cities.
My only previous intra-Asia business class experiences were with UA (from NRT-HKG and ICN-NRT), so I am not speaking from a lot of experience here. But I was thoroughly disappointed with the service and product I received. Unless I have tens of millions of dollars in the bank, I wouldn't ever pay for intra-Asia C. And I probably will do everything I can to ever avoid flying TG again, since the lack of customer service exhibited by what should it its best check-in agents, at the C counter, was so frustrating.
As I write this, I'm sitting in the TPE SQ SKL waiting for my flight to ICN. I had an awesome time in TPE. I'll post more about it in my next installment.