Bruno, that is the whole TG charade isn't it ?:p
I fly TG F , full fare or discounted over 10 times a year ( either to Europe or Japan) , and I can tell you that every single time, we end up being at least 3 or 4 people more in F cabin than shown when doing i check in 1 or 2 hours before flight time.
TG VVIp's as you call them, leeches as I call them. Most of them get to sit in the F cabin after paying discounted Y fares, can you believe it ?
My nemesis dazz81 will say that i am overly negative, but I just want my money's worth .

I'm not your nemesis lol :P

They are supposedly working in this.... I guess it's still not at all sorted then. I rarely fly in F :)

I used to fly (discounted) paid F regularly between Europe and Asia. Unfortunately TG does not offer deep discounts on my destinations while the product has gone down dramatically; so I have stopped using them for paid travel (not awards) as I find better value and consistency on SQ business class and a few others.
Given the F load factors shown in the presentation slides (well below 50% and probably below 25% with the recent turmoil), it is hard to reconcile those load factors with some observations posted here. So upgraded Thai VIPs are still there in mass. And I do not see how that could change given Thai culture, whatever statements TG presidents make.

Bruno ,

Of course, there will be no change.
Do you really think the Thai leeches will give up so easily on what they think is their god given right ?

Talking about flight loads, there are only 50 pax on our BKK-SYD flight at 2359 tonight. AB 346

Last year in June when flying TG from ZRH to BKK there where 1 F pax, 18 C pax and 70% full in Y on the A346.

I am flying TG again now in June, from FRA to BKK this time. On Seatcounter it looks like C class is sold out, while F and Y is wide open. The LH flight on the same route 2,5 hours later is wide open in all clases. Isnt that kind of strange??

BF:confused:

Hi pansted00, I DO NOT take exception being called a leech, in fact they have become sort after and highly recommended by the medical fraternity, but what I wanted to pass onto you, is this simple truism,

You too can be a leech. Amazing but true.

We are just back from Europe, where we had a great time, thanks for asking, however all this was in First on economy tickets. Thanks also to THAI we got double bonuses for flying in May which we had signed up for, then a surprise doubling up on bonuses because of the downturn. As the flights were open, it was a perfect time to fly, using gold upgrades, the odd 50% mileage point and a standby here and there. Had you checked the seating on the flights that we took, you wouldn't have seen us, our seats were not protected. To answer your next question, the economy tickets from SYD to LHR/CDG/MAD cost around 2000. I can't do the bookings for you, but if you buy the fare at the right price in the RIGHT country, flying *A is a breeze. 10 first class a year puts you way ahead of me and to put it bluntly, I am a little dense, if I can work it out, so can you!!;)

I was obviously not refering to the Gold upgrades or other fully legitimate upgrades, being part of an advertised program .
I was talking about the Thai VVIP's( most of them having no ROP status) who expect to fly F , after having paid a Y ticket, and who show up in the F cabin after the airplane doors have been shut.
It happened to me on countless occasions.

Being industry trained, I am used to this. When I was active, we all did/offered anything to get in the pointy end. Any pollie, celebritiy, the crews naturally and of course we sucked up to the ground staff too. The norm is we would seat them in their allocated seat and once the aircraft was signed off to us, it was payback time.

Now that I pay for my seats and sit there, I understand what goes on. It's an industry perk, same as if you worked for a Telco, you can get your friends free overseas telephone calls, or being upgraded to a suite in a hotel, if you happen to be good looking;)

My friend flew FRA-BKK in "Y" earlier this week (evening flight TG923) and he has flown about 500 flights during the last 10 years, and he had never seen an emptier 747.... he guessed there were 40-50 paxs in Y.....

Guess they are losing USD150K per flight....... Terrible times for TG thanks to Mr Thaksin et al.

It's amazing they are basically running the full schedule. Good on them for not inconveniencing the few pax they do have right now!

I hope things improve quickly for the sake of the staff.

June looks healthy for them, have 2 flights to Europe and both were waitlisted then cleared. Bangkok being used as a transit by most FF. A new promo starting soon will bring the young ones back from the northern cold, they can't stay away for that long. You will find that the airfare and accomodation combo will be irresistable.;)

This is no place for a political opinion, even more so when it is clearly an uneducated one.

Hi BKKROP, your post make it sounds as if what happens at TG is an industry-wide practice and that TG is not different. Do you really believe that CX, NH, SQ, JL, OZ or BA, LH, LX.. have the same policy from discounted Y to F? Even on AF, where staff/family appear to have unlimited access to upgrade to C, they are now quite restrictive on upgrade to F.
I understand that you are an institutional supporter of TG, but defending an obvious TG policy typically found in third-world airlines seems to go beyond call of duty. Frankly, it is very irritating to pay top money as a rev pax and find this Thai VVIP invasion in the F cabin; and of course they get most attention from FAs.

Bruno ,

Nothing more than Thai delusion in full swing .
Ils veulent nous faire passer des vessies pour des lanternes...