BinSabai

does anybody know the status of the retrofit schedule? which aircrafts are already completed?
I am on a A330 twice next month...

spk

Only 3 aircraft is planned and all have been refurbished. They retrofit these 3 aircraft now because they were equipped with ill-fated Koito seats in economy and they were forced to replace the economy seats anyway. The rest of A330s are using seats from Zim which does not have the same certification problem.

BinSabai

thanks!
could you provide the registration numbers of the airplanes as the Wiki with the seat configuration is not updated...

kittiyut

My (educated) guess would be the first 3 (with Trent engines) that were delivered; HS-TEN, HS-TEO, HS-TEP

Karan

Hey,

From an interview of the TG VP for commercial strategies to ATW he siad,
Thai is progressively upgrading the cabins on its Airbus A330s—three of 15 aircraft have been completed so far, he said. Five more are scheduled to be finished next year

So atleast it looks like 8 will be having this product by end of next year, along with the some 77Es getting refurbsihed and addition of PY in them..

BTW, does anyone have the Seat config...How many J and Y seats in the new Refurbsihed 333s

Regards/

Karan

BinSabai

Looks like J seats are reduced from 36 (6 rows, 6 seats each) to 31 (3 rows with 5 each and 4 rows with 4 each)
Y remains at 263 seats

kkl

Jon222

Is there an overview anywhere of which long distance Thai flights have full flat seats in biz and which don't?

Was more than a bit disappointed booking C for ARN-HKT trip this Christmas and spending 11 hours in reclining seats... (Should have researched of course, but just assumed, as ARN-BKK and OSL-BKK have been full flat for years). Luckily the return flight HKT-FRA had full flat.

SKT-DK

Guess this is not really belonging in a A330 specific thread, as TG does not send its A330 fleet on long-haul (long-haul being Europe in this case).

But on this topic, to be fair though, the days of recliner seats on TG are gone, and what is left is angled lie-flat or full flat. That said, like a number of airlines, TG has been suffering from the 787 fleet's engine issues grounding a number of planes so the fleet is very stretched, presumably leading to this occasional substitution. I think the seasonal Europe-HKT flights are likely low on the prioritisation list for TG (if something has to give), and thus they have recently on occasion been operated by the older 772ERs (angled) rather than the normal 77W (lie-flat).

Thai-Kiwi

To answer your first question, there is no overviw anywhere AFAIK. Some routes appears to be least affected by equipment changes than others eg LHR, CDG, FRA.

THAI’s diverse fleet means that even for long haul, there is a chance a 747/773/772/772ER all of which have ‘angled flat’ business class seats, could be used to replace the 380/77W/359/788/789 and their flat seats.

BinSabai

I think European destinations are out of reach for 773, so you will not seen those there
However I think A330 could also be used for flights to Europe, but as mentioned, TG use them for short to mid haul
There are now much unplanned aircraft swaps than in the past with the exception of the mentioned problems with the 787 engines. Once this is solved, I expect even less swaps

SKT-DK

I guess they could in theory, but suspect they might struggle with either the distance or with being economical (or both) if fully loaded with cargo and pax on European routes.
In any case, I am quite happy that TG keep the angled-flat 330s on regional/mid-haul routes ^

buffegg

Just upgraded to business PER-BKK over the xmas holiday for this year.
Expecting to see a 2-2-2 layout, but this confused the cr@p out of me.
Glad I came across this thread as even Thais own A330 aircraft information page and seat guru are not showing the new layout.
Usually, prefer direct aisle access i.e middle seats over having a window seat.
Looks like with the new config can have both! Have snapped up 15A.
Flying the A350 via MEL to SYD on the way home as they still persist with the olf 747 J to SYD.
Will be interesting to compare the two new services.
Welcome any other feedback or tips for anyone who has flown in the new config!
Even with keeping a close eye on the travel forums I'm still amazed how many quirks I found out when booking tickets.

**EDIT** Any advice of choosing a window i.e 15A vs a more centred 16J? It looks as if 16J might have more footspace?

buffegg

Looks like it is now, now sure when, but is showing on my flight over the xmas holidays.

maerim

Following review may be useful:

https://spin9.me/2018/07/27/review-t...yal-silk-a330/

Seat choice is up to the individual in my opinion. I tend to go for 12 or 14 A, B on 330 if travelling alone; if with my wife she likes A or B, so I sit in the centre.

However, following above is not always a good choice. Flew back from Nagoya on A350-900 today and was assured on check in that there were no young children in BC. Ended up being 3, one of whom was very noisy in the lounge and was in the seat in front of me; fortunately he slept most of the flight, until mother changed his nappy in the seat.

I like both the 330 and 350-900 in BC, but seat choice depends on neighbouring passengers, not just whether there is a cm of extra leg room.