Thai-Kiwi

I have only seen complaints that the new premium fare structures are more expensive 🤷‍♂️

I suspect for those that could be bothered, it’d be either leave things ‘as is’ or try and get a full refund and book economy or on another carrier.

PHLGovFlyer

Update: I flew the BKK-HKT flight recently. I was able to pre-select seats in the first 3 rows of the plane at no cost. The middle seats in those first 3 rows were blocked and empty on my flight.

My wife and I had about 65kg of luggage total (12 day trip) to check and we were not charged. The other couple traveling with us had even more weight to check and were also not charged.

We were granted access to the Royal Silk lounge near gate A1. The invitation to the lounge was printed on our boarding passes.

Onboard we were offered a hot meal and soft beverages (no alcohol available at all).

So we got basically everything I expected to get when I originally purchased a Z fare.

Thai-Kiwi

Thanks for reporting back that all went well and as expected from a service/benefits points if view. Mrs TK has a domestic Z/U flight later in the year after an economy longhaul, and lounge access to chill was why we purchased the Z fare.

prathetkrungthep

Fascinating (but more or less expected) that this sounds more or less like what the experience would have been like when this was marketed as business class. IMO this whole thing has been such an unnecessary PR disaster and TG's "solution" downgrading everyone to a PY code pending retrofitted recliners just created even more unnecessary anxiety.

BA_Jfan

I'm at BKK now. There was a dedicated check in desk with an economy plus sign and I had a lounge invitation printed on my boarding pass. Sitting in the lounge now. It's pretty dumpy, and really hot. Food is mediocre and there are very few outlets. Frankly the newly renovated United Clubs put this to shame. I have Star Alliance Gold, so I may have had lounge access cause of that, but an earlier post indicates they got lounge access as well. I don't really care for a meal on a super short route like this, but I suppose the empty middle is nice. Still I would not have paid what I did knowing this is what I would have gotten. When I booked, coach was like USD $30 and I paid around $190 for business. And the flight was scheduled to be operated by a 777. Could have bought 2 coach seats and come out way ahead. Very expensive mistake.

Thai-Kiwi

Is this your first time flying domestically from BKK? The Domestic Lounge Concourse A has never been impressive, and pretty much as you've described it.