kkl

deangaffney

Dear all,

Thank you for all your thoughtful and helpful replies, particularly MikeInTokyo.

LHR>BKK is a A380. BKK>PER is a 787. I wonder if the 787 could be at a bus gate?

I'll have a chat with my wife about your thoughts and see if notifying Thai Airways of an assistance requirement might be good.

Many thanks. Dean

BinSabai

could be a bus gate or not; same probability as other planes except A380, which I have never seen at a bus gate...

andyptrav

In my experience TG911 tends to arrive on time. The flight time is 11:25 but the last 7 flights have all been under 11 hours. This maybe the reason it has also left around 30 minutes late every day. I know they do this with TG910 so it does not get to London early where it will not be allowed to land before 6am. It seems when the UK puts the clocks back the published flight times increase -- no, me neither.
So don't panic if it leaves a little late, just keep an eye on the fight data while on the plane. In the unlikely event it looks like the plane will be late it is worth telling the crew of your situation and they will ask ground staff to help you. If there are quite a few of you connecting they will also hold the PER flight. With ground assistance 20 minutes should get you to the departure gate. But not your bags so take some essentials as hand luggage.

dsquared37

Based upon my last decade+ of flights into BKK: If I'm on a TG or PG frame there's a 90%+ chance of getting a bus gate.

dsquared37

In reality either could be a bus gate but with a tight connection and bus gate arrival TG will likely have a van waiting for you... at least that was my experience several times (though not for a couple of years). IME the one place TG has always shined is dealing with pax with tight connections.

BinSabai

for me and just limited to TG, It's about opposite for the last 3 years: only 10% bus gate; before that period, the ratio of bus gates was significantly higher and exceeded sometimes 50%

dsquared37

It's very dependent upon where you fly to/from. The preponderance of my travel on those carriers has been regional and domestic and these a/c are typically interchangeable in that capacity. If most of your travel is long haul this will be less of a problem.

BinSabai

I fly a mix of long haul, regional and domestic. Nowadays over 50% long haul. But even on the local and regional I can not remember one bus gate this year!

emcampbe

It’s been a while since I’ve flown TG, but looking at doing BLR-TPE in January. Options I’m getting via BKK are either for a 1:10 connection (to a 777) or a 2:00 connection (to a 787). Note there will be 2 adults, a toddler and an infant. We’re pretty good travelers, though obviously, the kids being with us, particularly on a red eye into BKK, are likely going to slow us down a bit vs. if it was just us adults.

Ideally I’d like to do the shorter connection and earlier arrival, though there are a couple of concerns. One is the chance of getting a bus gate on arrival (for the record, I’m pretty certain just about every inbound from India I’ve flown with TG (from BOM, BLR and MAA) has arrived at a bus gate). Also, the size of the airport if we come in on one end, and depart from the other - and how long that walk would take. Any thoughts on whether its better to just book the later TPE departure with 2:00 connection to be safe?

Also, is there any particular reason other than the standard to want to be on the TG 777 vs. 787? I’m guessing the trade off is the wider 777 seat (they’re still 9 across on TG, right), vs. the better cabin pressure/air on the 787? I also remember flying some TG 777s ex-India that were in pretty bad shape - with interiors that were pretty, er…not clean, with no personal screens, and the overhead screens that were there barely visible.

Any insight is appreciated.

BinSabai

TG634 which leaves BKK at 0725 to TPE is usually on the old 777 while TG632 at 0815 is on the brand new 787-9
so I would rather go for the later flight in order to have more time at the airport even the seat width is one Inch smaller on the 787-9

Thai-Kiwi

I agree with BinSabai. The newer aircraft, and a reasonable 2 hrs connection leaves enough time for all the things an infant and toddler may need at a sensible pace.

It could take 20mins to move to the departure gate if arrival and departure gates are far apart - although, ironically, a bus gate arrival might actually speed things up in that case for you! The walk distance is around 1200-1400m in the very worst case of maximum gate distance.

dsquared37

In edge cases maybe (C8 to E8 for instance) but the international bus gate drop off point at D4 places pax as far from transit security as the furthest jetbridge.

lamphs

Hello. Is there a comprehensive list of TG routes with F? Thank you.

Thai-Kiwi

Not one published by THAI as far as I know - but the list is short in any case, and can vary in type 380/744 for the European destinations and Tokyo. There has been seasonal F as well to places such as KIX, ICN but nothing at present AKAIK.

Long haul: LHR, CDG, FRA, SYD
Med haul: NRT

Sometimes the 744 is used without the F cabin being sold (eg DPS, BOM, DEL) and it is possible to be seated in the F section with J service - usually limited to status holders and 'VIPs' depending on the load.