CaliforniaSteve

My wife and I took the 725AM flight from BKK to TPE on the 5th of December. The one good thing was a switch from the 2-3-2 business class on an old 773 to the 1-2-1 configuration on a 77W, although the seats had seen better days.

One thing that grated was having to take a bus to the plane. It’s the national carrier, flying from its capital city and flying to Taipei and Seoul, both capital cities, and you make people ride a bus?

But the worst was the food. None of selections looked appealing on the menu, so I selected the dim sum, figuring it’s pretty hard to mess up dim sum enough to make it inedible. It was barely edible. Worse, they served some kind of fruit yogurt with it and I’m pretty sure it gave me food poisoning. We had an extended (11 hour) layover in TPE and I spent most of it either vomiting or having explosive diarrhea (and sometimes both at the same time) in the EVA lounge.

The funny thing is that the experience on the other Thai leg of our trip (SIN-BKK) was pretty nice. It was a two or three week old 789 (1-2-1) and the food, while not memorable, did at least not poison me.

It’ll take a lot for me to get back on a Thai flight again.

SilverChris

Not sure what capital cities have to do with bussed to/from the plane. If Bangkok wasn't the capital city would that somehow make it acceptable?

I love it when people get food poisoning midway through the trip and immediately pin the blame on airline food they didn't enjoy. The fact that you encountered symptoms of food poisoning so soon after getting of a 3 hour flight makes me sceptical that you got it onboard the BKK-TPE flight. It's possible, but unless you consumed absolutely nothing in the preceding 2 days, I don't think it's fair to assume TG's food is the sole possibility.

TG's food isn't great, but it's certainly not the worst among major airlines. If average food with solid hard products on intra-Asia hops aren't enough to satisfy you, then I'm convinced there's very little that can please you.

restlessinRNO

But the OP does raise a valid point IMO. Suvarnabhumi airport does use bus transport to the plane far more often than other major airports, which is annoying.

CPH-Flyer

Have you ever been to Frankfurt or Munich?

timster

I'm beginning to wonder why they built the frigging airport. They could just bus pax from the airport bus terminal to the plane !

Nowadays if I have a choice of another airline flying the same route in/out of BKK, I will take that airline, knowing that they will almost certainly use the gate for its intended purpose, unlike TG.

BinSabai

Food poisoning from a yogurt consumed 2-3 hours ago??? very strange!

timster

" Symptoms from the most common types of food poisoning will often start within 2 to 6 hours of eating the food. That time may be longer or shorter, depending on the cause of the food poisoning. "
https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/001652.htm

BinSabai

thanks for the medical briefing

my comment targeted the yogurt, which is a normal packed diary. never heard that someone got food poison from one

Lament

Never heard of a break in the cold chain ?

Kacee

Or flown KA in or out of HKG?

restlessinRNO

The point I am making, is that in my flying experience, Suvarnabhumi airport uses bus transport to the plane more frequently than most other international airports. Other members may, based on their individual flying patterns, feel differently.

og

Reiterating earlier posting, if you think BKK is bad, then try FRA - and a whole lot of other airports where the “national carrier” is relentlessly served by the bus.

BinSabai

yes I feel differently.
BKK: over 80% arrivals and departures on normal gate for me, int and domestic
FRA: over 50% of short haul with bus

BinSabai

then you would smell it! I have sometimes yogurt with recommended consumption days passed several days already; you can easily tell from the smell whether it is still eatable

a lot of food poisoning could be avoided if people actually smell or taste the food they are eating

timster

My recent experience:
TG int @ BKK: 80% bus inbound; 60% bus outbound (mostly 777, A350 .. does A380 use gates more ?)
Other airlines (SQ, BR, EK, FD, QF) @ BKK: 90% gate in and out