Thai dropping Premium Economy LAX-BKK?
 

Was checking LAX-BKK for a September trip. 5x week as another thread has pointed out.

However, no Premium Economy was showing up on booking page. A call to reservations said "many changes were coming and yes, perhaps there would be no PE Economy in September - but we do not know changes for sure." No advice on when to check back except "before September."

Anyone know more? Is business that bad going forward?

*deleted*

TG is likely looking at removing the A345 from the route.

Was that the Los Angeles reservations center you talked to? I think they'd be in the best position to know what is happening (compared to the average BKK res agent that deals with flights all over the route system.)

I was looking at a trip in June/July, and though I wasn't specifically looking for Premium Economy, I did also note that it was not offered at all on my flights.

TG will be removing A345 from service possibly beginning 2H12. Service will also no longer be direct, with 1-stop most likely Seoul or Tokyo.

Too bad, IMO PE was quite a good product at quite an attractive price.

We've seen this plan, but through KIX, before. ;)

Seems this time it could be real.... a friend confirmed that for the new summer schedule this flight will be reduced to 4x weekly and will be flown BKK-SEL-LAX

Any idea which airplane will replace the 345? With the introduction of the 388 and a fair amount of 77W being used, it would seem TG has some spare 747 aircrafts.

Maybe we´ll see TG F to LAX again?:cool: (ok, I may be dreaming...)

Yes, LA res center

FWIW, I just hung up with LA Res center, and they told me they are reducing to 5x/wk for Feb-April, then going back to daily thereafter. Nonstop. According to the rep, there is no change in gauge planned for 2012. Just relaying what I was told.

File my last post under "never mind". I just got off of the phone with Thai in LA. As of May 1st, the BKK-LAX-BKK (794 and 795) are now operated via SEL on the 777-200ER (same flight numbers). The BKK-LAX now leaves at 0730 approx, this shaving a full day off of what ever plans you may have had in BKK. Layover in SEL is about an hour.

TG will now no longer serve the U.S. nonstop. A sad development...

Using the 777-200ER?:eek: And I was hoping for a competitive product...

I don´t see why anybody would choose TG now over any of the other Asian carriers. TG´s main competitive advantage was the non-stop flight, certainly not price and not the hard (or soft) product.

That is too bad and a very big disappointment for me. I had planned on using TG as my preferred carrier beginning this year. I just had a wonderful experience in F from LHR to BKK. While I was no fan of the A340 which replaced the 747 I was originally booked in, the service was impeccable. BKK to HKT was also changed on me from a 747 to a triple 7, but no complaints here.A little over one hour flight but still a hot meal, rice noodles with shrimp and chicken. Was looking forward to PE for my next trip and now that option is gone. The fare was great, basically UA upgradeable fare which is not guaranteed to be upgraded at more comfort than the UA fallback position E+. :mad:

Yes, that's one of the worst things about this change: the loss of the best Premium Economy class (and for that matter, the best economy class in the BKK-USA market too.) The loss of 36" seat pitch and 2-4-2 seating in economy will be missed. I don't like the 3-3-3 seating in the 777's. Many people travel as couples, and it typically means that for seating one is in an aisle or window, and the other is in a center seat. The A330's and A340's are much more desirable in that respect with their 2-4-2 seating.

I was riding on a domestic triple seven last Thursday from BKK to HKT and TG's arrangements are 2-3-2, except of the first row, which was 2-2-2 in C. Compare that with the 2-4-2 on UA, unacceptable. Too bad, we loose the TG option.