I am based in the central USA, far from any THAI ticket offices. I just became Gold last month, and my account reflected that about three weeks ago. I haven't received any Gold membership materials yet, but maybe they would have answers to some of my questions.

I am ready to book a birthday award for travel to BKK in March, and don't want to delay getting this booked.

The THAI website has an area for booking awards, but only Thai domestic awards. From what I understand, the normal routine for me would be to book an award through the USA reservations office in LA, correct?

I've heard of other people calling a "Gold Line". Is that in Bangkok? Would that be a better way to go? I would actually prefer calling straight to Bangkok if that makes sense, as I believe they might be more efficient. Granted, I'm coming from a position of being jerked around by other airlines trying to get award seats, and having no (known) way of judging availability on flights prior to calling.

Frankly, I have not been impressed with the quality of service provided by the LA Reservations office in the past, and hope to avoid dealing with them if possible.

Does anybody know what fare buckets THAI award travel in Economy, Premium Economy, and Royal Silk come from? Are there any tools (such as the KVS Availability Tool) for viewing the fare bucket availability of award seats?

PM me please if necessary. Thanks!

As long as the flight isn't terribly full, awards seat arn't really capacity-controlled. So you should have no problem securing an award seat, especially on LAX-BKK route in March (off-peak season).

Try calling THAI headquarters at +66 2 356 1111 (it's the most efficient call center)