ROYAL FIRST CLASS ON THAI (REALLY)
 

On the UA board, I just read a thread about traveling with a senator's wife...who received priority treatment over their elite FF's. The poster was annoyed and rightly so. But I had an experience last November that continues to fascinate me, and I wasn't the slightest bit annoyed.

I arrived at the airport for a BKK-LAX flight on Thai to find that my seat in the first row had been changed to the fourth row, which I don't like because it is too close to the bathroom. Anyway, I was gracefully told "sorry, the flight is full", and I wasn't going to be able to change it back. Expressing anger is inappropriate in Thailand, so I just lived with it.

I was one of the first to board, and there was a very senior flight attendant dressed in a Western-style uniform rather than the typical Thai uniform. She greeted me, took me to my seat, and I could tell she was a little nervous. Several other passengers boarded and took their seats. Then a bunch of guys in government uniforms boarded, and began stowing a ton of stuff in the overhead bins. Then several Thai men and women and three Western-Asian kids boarded, all speaking English. Finally, a woman boarded, and all the Thai passengers stood up as she took her seat and I could feel, on their parts, a mix of pleasure, delight and pride...all at the same time. I asked one of the flight attendants who she was, and she responded with pride, "she's a princess".

Once she was seated, we took off. Nobody was sitting next to me; every other seat was taken except for the one across the aisle...the window seat was occupied by another Thai woman who didn't look all that impressed with what was going on. I was the only 100% Westerner in F, although the kids were clearly half-western.

The Western-uniformed flight attendant had been assigned exclusively to the family, however, when any of the flight attendants approached the first row, where she was seated, they dropped to their knees (I only wish a few UA flight attendants were there to see it). To keep this as short as possible, as the trip unfolded, I found out that she was Princess Ubolratana (Ubolrat for short), daughter of the kind of Thailand, traveling to LAX, where she lived, with her three children.

Shortly after takeoff, she got up, went to the bathroom (one had been closed off especially for her) and put on the Thai sweats that had been provided at each seat. (No matter what she had on, I can assure you, the princess always looked great. A very attractive woman). On her way, she greeted some of the passengers who weren't traveling with her; several got on their knees when she approached, the woman sitting across from me didn't. The overall atmosphere again was one of complete pleasure and delight at being with her...no one seemed to be fawning. And the Princess was friendly, smiling, upbeat and quite approachable, as I found out when I got up to use the bathroom to change into the sweats. The one that was not blocked off was occupied, and Ubolrat was in front of "her" bathroom, talking with her Thai "ladies-in-waiting". I was standing there, waiting, when she looked and me and pointed to her bathroom and said, "Use this one." I kinda hesistated and she said, "yeah...go ahead, you can use it." So I did. Smiles all around.

The royal party had a completely different kind of service than the rest of us (obviously)...the food was more Thai and served on different tableware. Her kids were totally normal kids...watching movies, tossing pillows...

The flight stopped in KIX, and the Princess was the first off, as everyone again stood. Re-boarding at KIX, things became a little less Royal...there was no special flight attendant to serve the family. All the seats were taken; the one next to me by a Thai man who was on his way to some convention in Alabama. This time, I stood up as she boarded (after a few drinks in the lounge, I was totally into the whole scene), and he said, "Oh no, you don't have to do that, it's only for Thai people." He said he had never flown with a member of the royal family before, and he seemed as pleased and thrilled as the rest of the passengers to be traveling with her.

After we had a few Scotches, my new Thai friend started talking about the Princess...how she had left Thailand to go to M.I.T., met a Westener, married him, moved to L.A. and how, because of this, the king never let his other kids go to college out of Thailand. He told me she was in the process of a divorce because she had found him with another woman, and how stupid he was for blowing the marriage...he had been treated as a royal in Thailand and had been able to do a lot of business there. We drifted off to sleep.

In the morning, we landed in LAX and it was quite a change to see the Princess with her kids, back in the Western world, waiting at the baggage carousel for her luggage, just like the rest of us, and then being escorted off to secondary customs inspection, unlike the rest of us.

Waiting for my connection in the UA lounge, I ran into the woman who had been sitting across the aisle from me...she was a Thai diplomat traveling to the U.N.---and I asked her why she didn't get on her knees when the Princess was speaking to her. She said that she saw no reason to..the Princess was not on an official trip, and that she had left Thailand and lost her "royal" title many years ago.

Anyway, long story, but most memorable flight of my life (I was once on a flight with some mid-range British royals and believe me, they could learn a lot about dignity and decency from Ubolrat) and I would sit in the fourth row for the rest of my life to have the pleasure of seeing the whole Thai royal thing in action again. I have been back to BKK four or five times since, and every time I read in a magazine or newspaper something about the Princess and her kids, one of whom is a budding concert pianist. I hope I see her again. She's hot.

Really fascinating report!! I've always found the Thai royal family to be pretty interesting and seemingly very descent people (no, I don't know them personally-- haven't even seen them in person except in passing motorcades).

Last month, I visited the late Princess Mother's (the King's mother) house north of Chiang Rai, near the Burmese border. It was truly amazing to see how simply see lived. Notwithstanding the size of the house, grounds, etc., her private living quarters were extremely modest. She apparently spent most of her time studying astronomy and gardening and spent a lot of time pressing flowers and "adopted" the area in which she resided, initiating programs to reduce/eliminate slash and burn agricultural techniques.

I read an article about the Princess of whom you write earlier this year and was quite surprised to find out that she was living in L.A.

[This message has been edited by HKG_Flyer1 (edited 05-10-2001).]

She lives at LAX?

Sorry, couldn't resist... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/tongue.gif

Very interesting report. Enjoyed it very much.

Yeah...she sleeps on a pull-out at the "Royal" Orchid lounge. Sorry, meant L.A.

Fascinating report.

But to quibble a little : though this lady was born a royal princess and is one of three sisters of the crown prince of Thailand, she is no longer considered a royal at court. Her title is ... Mrs. Jensen, having previously married (against the King's and Queen's wishes) a certain Dr Jensen of San Diego. The Jensens have been going through a particularly messy divorce.

That said, one of the 3 Jensen children, is a gifted musician and delighted her grandfather with a concert she gave whilst in Bangkok.

Great report MEX1K - welcome to Flyertalk!

[This message has been edited by kyklin (edited 05-10-2001).]

Fascinating report. Coincidentally, Matt Lauer was in Bangkok today, walking around the Royal Palace, interviewing one of the Princesses (whom I now realize is one of her two other sisters -- very pretty).

Too bad for Dr. Jensen. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

Might be kind of hard to live with a princess used to such Royal treatment -- literally, but who knows what their story is?

Matt made a big thing of emphasizing how affectionately revered and loved the King and Thai royal family are by the Thai people.

Yes, the King is truly revered in Thailand, for he is indeed a very good and concerned ruler (in the constitutional monarchy sense). However (and robbiefields take note), one must be very careful about discussing anything in regards to the King while in Thailand, any act that can be construed as lese majeste is a criminal offence. This is taken very seriously by Thais. Even speculating on the line of royal succession can be punishable.

In all the years that I have gone to Thailand, every Thai I've met had nothing but kind and affectionate words for the royal family. So I'm surprised that the lady in the flight from BKK to LAX did not curtsy to the princess.

Mex1K-- superb report... what an experience. Apart from this specific flight, how would you rate Thai's F overall?

Hi Gaucho:
I'm more of a convenience oriented guy than a service oriented guy, which I why I take that flight, but if I were to rate the service, I would say not in the same league with CX and SQ, but uniquely Thai. The Europe-Thailand flights are better for some reason than the trans-Pacific. I've had some amazingly good (and super-spicy) Thai curries on several flights.

Fansinating report. A friend of mine, had told me this story once. His father travelled on Thai a while back many years ago. He was in F class with a bunch of other passengers, when about 10 military officers, including a few generals, boarding the plane. They instructed EVERYBODY in the F class cabin to get out of their seats and move to C class. That particular flight, C class was already full, and the FAs ushered all the F passengers into Y class. Of course, my friend's father was quite unhappy with that, and never flew on Thai again.
Apparently, at the time, Thai airways was still owned by the government, and generals were given priority over all other passengers. They could just board and take over other people's seats. This was many years ago, and I'm sure things have changed. But it quite an interesting story.

TG still hasn't been fully privatised, but they are showing signs of beginning to move in that direction.

Back in 1979 or abouts, I was not able to schedule a return flight from Manila to LA, and had to stay over another nite along with several other people.

THe shoe lady was on the flight and had 1st class all tied up. Apparently all other coach passengers had to be cleared a couple of days before. There were empty seats available in coach, that stayed that way!
Perhaps, it was for the better.

Just to add my own story of a distant brush with Thai royalty: I had the pleasure of staying at Chiva Som some years ago. This resort is located very close to the King's summer palace. While there and sitting on the beach, my waiter rushed to tell me that the gentleman I had just seen walk past me with two men following was the King, simply out for a stroll on the beautiful beach. I, too, was warned that no negative comments were ever to be made regarding the royal family, but that apparently there is a son who is quite the playboy. All told to me in hushed terms, of course!