CeeGee

I travel to Thailand two or three times a year, LHR-BKK with Eva usually in PL.Looking at my next trip using various search engines I am going to have to pay about £1760 for the dates I want.However, a lot of the same searches are showing up Thai Airways for approximately £40/50 more.
Given that they both depart LHR about the same time, they both use the SAS lounge at Heathrow, if you had to choose, which one would you go for? (FF points are not really an issue here).
I have read generally poor opinions on Skytrax about Thai and have only used them on domestic routes,so I am not certain what to do.Their website is limited (lie flat beds?, food?).Anyone have any direct comparisons, Thanks

coolfish1103

Well, when you return from Bangkok, the lounge in Bangkok that Thai owns is way better than the one EVA uses... so you should take that into account as well. Also, BKK is Thai's base, so if any problems occur, it will be resolved on an easier note than EVA. Therefore, it runs down to whether you think £40-50 is worth it in comparison to what I just listed.

jimbo99

Worth checking out the TG forum if you haven't already - I remember this came up a while back. Its been along time since I did LHR/BKK.

All I can say is I've met quite a few refugees from TG on EVA recently. Various complaints - food, FAs, availability. I can't compare the lounges since I haven't been to the TG once since the move to the new airport. I think the EVA one is fine enough, though nothing special. It is rather warm though.

TG have more flights - 14 a week, compared with EVA's 6. For me this would be a more significant factor. I don't like EVA's long daytime flight that gets me back into LHR in the evening. With Thai you can use night flights both ways. A choice means it works better for connections, too.

ionlyflyupfront

The service on the old thai is awful but if you can get the new which I have just flown its superb a way beter than PL, not being a gambler I would opt for BR but also consider this, the Thai lounge is bloody superb and well worth checking in at BKK 6 hrs before to fully enjoy

KosraeTV

Personally I like TG over EVA but I do not fly your route. I did have a problem on TG a week ago. They swapped out a new plane and put us on an ancient plane that must have been 20 years old and had crap for service. I pay for up front out of pocket and got put on a plane where the seats barely reclined and was falling apart. I was not pleased. If you get a new(er) plane then TG is hard to beat in my opinion and their schedules are great going into BKK. Their lounge is fine but that is not a major attraction for me. Schedule, comfort and service is what counts and TG usually is pretty good.

For example... going over I had lie flat bed pretty much and great room and comfort, coming back I was cramped and the service stunk. Food, well all food on airlines is pretty bad but TG's is acceptable compared to others.

But I have to say 1 bad plane / flight / FA's out of about 8 this year is not too bad. Also I heard they had a mechanical problem with the original plane and had to put an older / back up into service.