Date Friday 15th February 2008
Airline Thai
Class of service Business
Flight number TG910
Aircraft type Boeing 747-400
Scheduled (actual) departure time 0030 (0042)
Scheduled (actual) arrival time 0620 (0645)
Flight duration 12:36
Distance 5,958 miles
Average speed 473 mph


Departure
I left the Royal Orchid lounge at the C gates and made the short walk to security where there were no queues. I then walked for about 10 minutes to gate C9 where my flight was waiting and already boarding. I was sitting on the upper deck in seat 12A, which is great for the extra storage space by the side, but neither this closet or the overhead bins could take my roller board. Instead this was placed in an overhead locker in the downstairs business cabin. I didn’t really like the idea of this so removed all of my valuables beforehand. Drinks were served and I made myself comfortable.

Routing
We departed from runway 19L, a short taxi from gate C9, and took off towards the south west. We made a right turn and climbed to our initial cruising altitude of 28,000ft. We crossed the eastern half of Thailand, the Bay of Bengal, and crossed the Indian coastline just south of Calcutta (Kolkata). From there we continued across India to the north of Delhi, over northern Pakistan and central Afghanistan, before turning to the north and over Kazakhstan, and then north west across Russia and to the south of Moscow. From there we continued across the Baltic States, the Baltic Sea, south of Copenhagen, and then across the North Sea before starting our descent to the north east of London. Our landing runway was 09L which necessitated an approach path over the northern suburbs of London, before making a 180 degree turn to line up.

Routing of TG910 from Bangkok to London Heathrow, Friday 15th February 2008.


Cabin and seats
2-2
I was seated on the upper deck, and not by the bulkhead this time, so I could reach the magazine rack. The seat was the same design as the previous flight but this was much more comfortable, so I conclude I was unlucky on the Auckland to Bangkok flight. As mentioned previously, the upper deck of the 747 has a nice extra storage closet by the window, which is great for placing your hand luggage inside, and also resting things on top of. The seat also contains a socket for laptops, but mine had to be switched on or reset by the steward.

The latest Thai business class seat, in this case on the upper deck of the Boeing 747-400. Note the huge storage cabinet below the windows, a feature of all 747's on the upper deck.




Entertainment
The same system as the previous flight, but this time it had to be reset before it worked flawlessly. Also, having had a long flight from Auckland to Bangkok, I’d actually run out of things to watch. The selection of films, although high in numbers, didn’t actually feature anything I personally wanted to watch.

Food and drink
Drinks were provided before departure, and I chose Champagne. Orders for the main course were taken before take-off, and as soon as the seat belt signs were switched off service began promptly. No choice of starter, but it was nice consisting duck foie gras rolled with tenderloin, pepper apple and walnut rolled with salmon and pastrami, and cannelloni bean and fennel salad in cabbage cup. There was a choice of 4 main course dishes and I chose the pan-fried Australian veal loin with three peppercorn sauce, roasted potatoes with rosemary and roasted vegetables. Then there was a cheese course of camembert, Danish Blue and cheddar. Dessert was a raspberry and chocolate mousse. Although the starter was very good, the veal was very dry and didn’t feel like it belonged in a business class cabin. The dessert was OK, and it was at least better than the previous flight.
I slept through the middle part of the flight so I am not sure whether any snacks were served, although I didn’t see any evidence of this.
Breakfast was served very early before landing (2 hours and 45 minutes). Breakfast was finished with 2 hours still to go before landing. I didn’t mind this because I was hungry and had slept enough, but I can imagine it would be annoying for someone to be woken that early for breakfast.When it came it was reasonably OK, and consisted of a choice of two types of breads, a croissant and a roll, some fruit, a yoghurt and then mushroom omelette with sausage, tomato and Lyonnaise potatoes. The portions were big enough but it just didn’t feel very good quality. Certainly not compared to the food I’d experienced on Singapore Airlines.

Starter of Foie Gras and salmon


Main course of veal loin


Cabin crew
As usual, very good. They seemed better than the previous flight in that they seemed more organized. They were also very, very polite.

Arrival
After landing at about 0625, it was quite a long taxi to the stand at Terminal 3, and we actually didn’t arrive at the gate until 0645, that’s 25 minutes late. I decided to make my way to terminal 1 via the Flight connections centre. Another way would have been to clear immigration in terminal 3, and then make my way landside to terminal 1. I don’t have much experience of transfers at Heathrow, it being mainly and origin and destination for me, but based on this experience it wasn’t that bad. I had to take a bus airside to the flight connections centre but there were no queues anywhere. I arrived at the Bmi lounge in the international part of T1 at about 0720, with plenty of time to get a drink.

Overall
Although a perfectly acceptable flight, I think Thai lack the final touch which a few other airlines manage, namely Singapore Airlines. I would still fly with Thai again however.