Thai business class versus United First
 

Trying to get a comparison of Thai business class versus United First for two upcoming trips to Asia from the West Coast. Would appreciate hearing which one is preferred.

Where are you flying to, which routes? $ or miles? What's important to you for the flight? I would say TG will have better service but if your aim is to sleep their C seats aren't full lie flat so for sleeping the UA seat is probably better.

The service on THAI cannot be beat. Great experience. Their Business Class seats are not that comfortable, they do not fully recline but slant. UA in F has fully flat seats. Service is hit or miss. I would take UA for the comfort of the seat. If you can take THAI in F, definitely take that over UA.

It would be helpful to know your routing and the type of aircraft on the routing.

If you are flying out of LAX, the TG flight becomes a one-stop flight sometime this year.

Second ryan182's comment: please tell us what route you're thinking about taking on TG. I have done the LAX-BKK 795/692 nonstop (Royal Silk C class and Econ; no F) and I have flown F and C flat-bed non-inclined seats on UA. The C class seats on TG LAX-BKK are similar in personal space to UA C beds but if you can't sleep on a slant, you should take UA. There's just no comparison to UA F suites; the UA F suites have a lot more space, both in terms of length and width of the bed as well as space to spread your stuff out, and little cubbyholes to store stuff that you want at arm's length rather than in the overhead bin.

Having said that, if you're OK to sleep inclined, I'd take TG. First, TG will be way cheaper: about $5K for an UNRESTRICTED fare vs. UA's $8K or whatever their transpac C/D/J fares are going for these days. The UA F fare will be 5 digits. The food on TG is actually good, the FAs strive for gracious service and the alcohol is better. So is the IFE: there is a lot of cool and different programming from Asia, Indian subcontinent and the middle East. You're gonna need it on that marathon flight.

I fly TG every few months & have for 20 years or so. As others have said, UA's hard product is better. TG crews in business are often quite good, but overall I'd rather fly UA any day of the week.

Im with terminalc on this. TG is ok but the cabin is aging and the planes are tired. staff is very friendly and attentive but the seats are inferior vs. uniteds wide body international first or business. uniteds narrow body planes they fly intra-asia are like a domestic us flight and any asian based carrier beats that experience any day of the week.

I did the TG LAX-BKK flight. I'd take UA over it in most cases. For the TG flight the service was just OK, the seat just OK and the timing of the flights was better because it was non-stop but that's about it. Without the non-stop "advantage" (and I'm not convinced that it always is such) I'd shy away from TG in business.

I know your specific question is about Thai biz vs. United first, but with the direct LAX-BKK flights going away, Thai First on a mixed itinerary might be an option if you connect through NRT, for example. If that's the case, Thai first is worth taking a look at, and I'd especially recommend flying Thai F out of Bangkok. Their lounge, spa, and other F class perks in BKK are great and in some aspects unique. I've gone out of my way to plan award itineraries around TG F Class availability out of BKK.

My last first cl flight was syd to sfo. Seat was great but FAs just didn't seem to care about good service. Over 90 min to post take off drink. This was preserved so things may have changed.

Where is there to stop that's "on the way"?

And UA's aren't? :confused:

Even with the redo for F and C, they're still the same crappy and dirty planes UA's been flying for years.

I was under the same impression that TG was no longer flying to the US at some point in the near future (can't remember when the LAX flight was being terminated).


Well it looks like the stop is going to be ICN. When was that decided? I thought the flight was being discontinued.

It was announced as such a few weeks back, at the end of January. They're switching to a 772ER for the route.