You may not be flying to the States, but your bags very well might be.

Maybe he is sleeping somewhere after all the drinks on the flight and FCT, or he was to drunk and he took a flight to somewhere where the Internet does not exist:D

So, you've been to Hoboken NJ?

Sorry folks, I was in Amsterdam. Thanks for the comments - here's the next bit.

The thing about first impressions is that they’re often the right impression. They set the tone for the rest of an experience, and once you’ve made up your mind about something, it’s difficult to be swayed from your conviction.

So you can imagine my sheer horror when I looked at Thai’s First seat. It wasn’t a Suite, not even the UA kind. In fact, I’m not sure who convinced the airline they could market it as an F product. Must have been a few decades ago, when they bought the 747 that was doing the short hop from HKG to BKK. And unfortunately, this was the only way to get around Asia in First, so I had to deal with it.

Now, I was actually quite looking forward to sitting in 1A. Right at the pointy end. One of my friends commented that every time I flew, I moved up front. From Y, to J, to F, to the cockpit of a 777, and I guess this is as much up front as one can get.

Here’s where everything went downhill. I got to check in – tap, tap, tap – printer spews out Thai boarding pass which is torn up by the agent. Now, all I had was this ugly, flimsy UA boarding pass that said ‘F-cabin’. And since topofclimb had mentioned having done the following in his trip report, I figured they wouldn’t have me sent to an asylum. So I asked for a Thai boarding pass. ‘No, you don’t need one - the UA one is good enough’ came the reply. ‘Ok, what about a luggage tag or something?’. ‘No, you don’t need one of those either.’ Who were these people?!

Somewhat dejected, I walked away, to security, and into the maze that I had forgotten was HKG. They didn’t bother telling me which lounge to use or how to get there, and I found myself at the wrong end of the terminal (which was actually the right end as it would later transpire). I walked across the length of the terminal to the Thai First lounge. I’ll refrain from a description, but it should suffice to say that a lounge that doesn’t serve champagne ought to rebrand itself as ‘a-boring-place-to-wait-for-your-flight-while-you-don’t-get-drunk’. It was bright, impersonal, and a small section cordoned off from the Business lounge. Yet again I was the only person there for a good many hours, and the service was truly excellent.

Then I got bored, realized I had access to two other lounges, and went for a little discovery walk. First stop was the nearby UA lounge. The EK lounge was sadly closed, or I would have gone and pestered the staff. Once again at the United F lounge, I was the only person around. Service was excellent, and Piper Heidsieck was being served in copious quantities by the staff. They even had a shower room here which I decided to take advantage of. The food selection was average, as it’s been in all but the Swiss lounge at ZRH (more on that later), so I now see why people rave about EK lounges.

The next stop, naturally, was the SQ lounge, which it turned out was at the end of the terminal I had first walked from. After the trek back and getting lost a little, I found myself in a rather pleasant lounge. Spacious, busy, with some curious eyes wondering what I was doing in there. I guess by this stage, armed with two data points of SQ lounges, I came to the conclusion management had left the word ‘service’ out of the lounge manuals. And the word ‘toilets’. There are no toilets in the SQ SKL in Hong Kong. Go figure. At least they had two different kinds of champagne – Heidsieck and Drappier.

Back it was to the TG lounge, only because I’d left all my things there, and because the lounge dragon had told me my flight was delayed (she didn’t say how much), and I thought I ought to stick around in case they decided I would miss my connection in BKK. There had been an earlier flight from HKG, on an A330 that didn’t have an F cabin. They advised that I stick to my original flight – clearly someone knew that I cared more than just getting to my destination.

The great thing about Thai is that they are living in the ‘70s. Which means that even though their hard product is something I could complain about for the rest of this trip report, their catering and their service are excellent. After complaining to the lounge dragon about the fiasco with the boarding pass, she asked the gate agents to issue me a Thai boarding pass. And then, after waiting forever for boarding to start, the gate agents got the F passengers to skip the J queue.

The service onboard was good, so much so that it was a little over the top. The crew went around bowing and scraping, catering to the whims and fancies of every passenger in the F cabin. I don’t know if ‘cabin’ is the right word to use, given that all that was separating us from ‘everyone else’ was a flimsy curtain. And it was another full F cabin, with some rather loud and obnoxious passengers. But I did enjoy the buggy to the lounge on arrival at BKK.

More on Thai later. In the meantime, I’m afraid this pyjama run is turning into a champagne run or something quite different. Did I mention they served Dom ’02 onboard? Finally something decent!

What prey tell were you doing in AMS???

Knowing you, you probably ate a weird looking cookie and have been stoned out of your head for 2-days.

At least we know you're alive. For the moment. And you're not fooling anyone with that "this is turning into a champagne run" nonsense... I've seen you drink. My sister could drink you under the table. Actually, she could drink me under the table...;)

Judging by your greviences towards flying Thai First Class, I think the thread title has never been more appropriate;)

keep it up!

Something like that. I had too many other things to do than think about FT, and when I eventually got down to doing so, realized I didn't have a European plug adaptor.

Being in Amsterdam certainly explains why he was missing for a couple of days.

I think eightblack needs to be in AMS after the horror trip he just had.

Ung, seriously though, please post at least pj pic a flight. Then we can vote on the best look ;)

That explains a lot. Bet you were doing a lot of window shopping;)

Simon i have seen you drinking, there is nobody repeat nobody who can drink you under the table:D

On my last CX leg the lovely lounge staff even reprinted the BP for me in the lounge once the gate number had been posted, so I could have a proper BP with a gate number instead of an ugly "---". Which looks like some sort of new Asian smiley, but anyway. Looking forward to the rest! ^

Ung1 - I like your style.


^ for a pic of the PJs!

Hence no update:p^