klang180

Hello

My partner and I intend to fly to Bangkok probably on Thai Airways in February this year. I am 6ft2 and both nervous flyers and have been informed that the A380 is more forgiving of turbulence than the 777-300. I am also told the upper deck and seats in rows of two, which sounds very nice for me as it would enable me to stretch out slightly more.

However it appears that the A380 appears to do the early route 11.50am - 06.15 whereas the 777 is the later 21.35-16.00 which is surely preferable as it would allow some semblance of sleep.

Does anyone know if this is always the case or is it worth me looking around all the dates we can make (roughly 2 weeks from 4th Feb) to see if the A380 does the later trip? Is it even worth going for the A380 or is the 777 better anyway?

Thanks very much in advance.

BinSabai

what kind of class you plan to fly, cattle, biz, F?

I recall that there was a certain period, when the A380 did the nightflight (or what you call the later flight). I guess this was mainly done to avoid that they did not have three A380 serving three European cities at exactly the same time, which caused some operational issues with just 6 aircrafts of this type. But guess demand is stronger for the nightflight ex BKK to LHR than for the day flight, so that they prefer to schedule the A380 BKK LHR midnight to morning and LHR BKK late morning to early morning
But you never know whether they are going to switch this (this would mean let the A380 do the later flight ex LHR) as they have ongoing operational problems and have to replace the A380 occasionally with a 77w on all three routes...

Thaikwai

BinSabai, If Klang180 is referring to upper deck seats in rows of two, I would guess he is flying in Royal Silk. In which case, I would take the 21:35 flight so you can get some sleep. There is virtually no difference between the A380 Royal Silk and the 777 Royal Silk seating, and I can never sleep on the lunchtime A380 out of London,or Paris, leaving me grumpy as hell arriving in BKK at 6am. The 21:35 flight however, means you have only a late afternoon, early evening couple of beers, glasses of wine, before its bedtime again.....nice.....

BinSabai

Thaikwai
TG has on its A380 also cattle class seats in 2-4-2 on the upper deck...so that's why I asked to clarify class flown
I think you get those upper deck seats in economy only from a certain fare category; lowest fares will not qualify, even with status

you are right that leaving any European destination in the evening is better for your day-night rythm. However during all those years I have learned to adapt also to flights out of europe at noon and sleep normally 5-6 hours on the afternoon flights

wordchild

i like the noon (ish) flights from Europe ( if flying F) , a decent lunch , good wine and then a long afternoon nap; whats not to like? my rules are 1) make sure i have a car to pick me up at the airport on arrival and 2) dont go to bed until at least 9 pm on the day of arrival into BKK; after that i am normally ready for the office the next day and back to Thai time after 3/4 days.

BinSabai

I actually go from a F or J flight arriving at 0600am from Europe after a shower direct to work. If flying F I just have to make sure that I am sober from the DOM and Bordeaux until I arrive at BKK....actually a piece of cake in comparison to the red eyes from BKK to Japan or Korea, where I have to go for work after much less sleep...

SK AAR

Reverting to the Q from the OP. I doubt that there is any notable difference between A380 and B773 in respect of turbulence etc. You will be fine on the B773 as well so take the evening flight ex. LHR if this suits you better.

Personally, I would take a evening flight ex Europe to BKK any day rather than the dreadful early afternoon TG flights

klang180

Thanks everyone, seems like it would be difficult to secure the 2 seats in the upper deck in Economy anyway (sorry should have pointed that out). Wish we could go royal silk as that looks amazing but alas we're on a tight budget and would rather spend the money on stuff whilst in Thailand than on one (admittedly very nice) flight.

Thanks for all of your posts, i think if it isn't going to be the A380 on the night flight then maybe Eva Air is the better option as it is very similarly priced and I hear it is superior.

kittiyut

Yes, for Biz BR is, IMHO, superior to TG in almost every aspect - The seat, the food, the amenities (you get a Rimowa and Jammies!), and to a certain extent, the service.

BinSabai

in Y, the upper deck of the A380 is certainly superior with the 2-4-2 seating
otherwise for Y it does not matter whether TG or Eva...

klang180

Thanks this is pretty much the case for all Y i suppose but i think there are ways to get a little bit more comfort depending on who you go with. I hear the upper deck on TG is so hard to come by though so think I might be on to a loser trying to get it, shame as it looks like it could almost be as good as PE on EVA!

SKT-DK

If in Y, then I would say go for whichever schedule and price that suits your needs the best - I doubt there is going to be any significant difference between BR and TG in Y.

SK AAR

You are way overthinking the benefits of being on the A380 upper deck. It is Y so hardly any difference in terms of comfort etc (and it is certainly not BR PE class/seat)