16 hours ago, rooster59 said:

11.6 billion baht compared to a 2.1 billion baht loss the year before.

hahahahahahhahaahhahahahahahahahahahahahaah

GOOD  PLAN clearly  working..............someone must have a very nice bank  acc./car/house/watch

11 hours ago, Cadbury said:

This airline is an embarrassment to it's nationality.

oooh  I  dont  know about that

My BIL is a TA executive. They haven't had their bonuses for about the last 4-5 years. A lot of revenue goes to the "hidden chairmen"! Starting at the highest of highest.

Don't blame Thai Airways. Keep in mind that the airline has no control over the  military's administration use of the airline as an adjunct transportation service and employment opportunity for senior military officers.
TG is obliged to pay rent to the military for the use of military owned airports. It is also assessed fees by the government. The airline has no ability to fight its being used as a cash cow.
 
It is relatively easy to slash the losses. Let the airline pay reasonable access fees, let the airline dispose of the unprofitable aircraft models and  stop flying on some routes. Let the airline adjust its  staffing to match its competitors.
 

Sent from my CPH1727 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

As most of us understand, the Thais are ill-equipped to compete in global markets. They cannot run businesses properly without Foreign management and oversight.

 

The only profitable Thai businesses are the ones that keep all foreign competition out and have a captive market to themselves. 

 

Thai business = uncompetitive 

17 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Rehabilitation tip #1. Offer competitive prices.

Tip #2. Make sure your staff is friendly, like most of Thailand.

Tip #3. Try to make sure bags do not take 30 minutes or longer to arrive on the belts.

Tip #4. Sell the airline to a private company, so it can be run properly. 

Tip #5. Upgrade your equipment more often. Clean and new sells.

Took the family to Bali recently, flew Thai return because it was the only sensible choice  cost/flight duration wise. The service matched your #1 thru #5 perfectly. Cheapest by far once all costs were factored in; staff was friendly, they love kids, luggage was on time, why privatise unless you want to fly cattle? brand new 787 out, recent 777 back.

14 hours ago, bowerboy said:

Classic example of where they are probably going wrong.

 

I fly 2 to 3 times per month around Asia Pacific with 50% of that being in Business Class.

 

I will only use Thai as a last option for 2 reasons:

 

1. Their Business Class is completely unpredicatable with no clue as to whether you will get a lie flat seat or not.

 

2. They change their IFE about every 6 months. Meaning if you fly them regularly then it’s the same movies again and again. 

 

I can pay less less on most other airlines for Business and be guaranteed that I will get a lay flat seat and good, regularly updated IFE.

 

i accumulate all of my frequent flyers on my Thai card and generally only fly Thai Business or First Class using points (their Gold Card is very generous and flights always available).

 

So essentially I give my real money to every other airline and then use Thai only for free flights. I am certain most frequent flyers would be the same as me and I also believe that frequent business class flyers are where airlines make their money.

 

Add to that the buses to and from the aircraft and the high prices and it is a no brainer. I can say hand on heart that Singapore Airlines economy class is better than Business Class in most Thai aircraft (better meals, better IFE, walkway rather than gate, marginal difference in seat and food).

 Well Gold perhaps good now but historically a nightmare of ridiculous rules. 

 

Simple example, about 18 years back. My Thai son has a 'mixed' name his first name is very Thai, his family name is a very common very western name. When I tried to add his name as a family member to my gold card (at their office on Silom Road) I was told by the very arrogant and loud your man 'cannot, Thai doesn't like mixed names like this' then he claimed 'cannot because mixed names are illegal.'

 

I gave up at that office, at their office at Sanam Luang all done in 2 minutes.  

 

Another time at a Thai office I was fixing the documents to get a bus class ticket on gold points to S'pore and return for myself and my son (then 16 years old and sitting with me quietly in the Thai office). I had well in excess of the points needed.

 

Eventually the girl gives me 1 ticket with my name. I ask where's the ticket for my son? Girl says cannot. I ask why girl says 'maybe he will disturb the other bus class passengers'.  In reality I had previously seen many kids in bus class. 

 

I went to the Thai big office Viparwidee Rangsit Road and complained, I got the extra bus ticket on points within 5 minutes along with arrogance and no apology. 

 

In the same time period service in bus class very hit and miss. 

Edited March 3, 20197 yr by scorecard

I have not flown with them for years, they have a high price reputation why would I plenty of other airlines who compete against each other, Thai seem to choose not to compete with other airlines, the Thai Government will bail them out, its run for them primarily anyway so the thing is if they want to show a profit send people back to school to show them how to do their sums to make it profitable, make me want to fly with them, attract me at the moment others are trying harder.

23 hours ago, LomSak27 said:

This was really a good airline back in the 90’s. It is stunning how far it has fallen.

I think same can be said for Thailand in general.

Just a few months ago Thai air was saying they needed new airplanes. How can they afford them ????

18 hours ago, Searat7 said:

I think there are 9 A-340’s left because the government bought one for PM to use. They should not be allowed to purchase new planes until they sell the old ones. A bigger problem though is that they are in dire need of a CEO who is from the airline industry and has turnaround experience but he would have to have a free hand to make big changes.

Ain't gonna happen; they like the mess it is already and don't want it changed !

I have often wondered about how much they lose on all the free seats they are obliged to hand out. Numbers never seem to be posted. Not sure about blaming rising fuel prices (always a popular excuse) as oil prices were at a pretty low level last year

5 hours ago, nong38 said:

I have not flown with them for years, they have a high price reputation why would I plenty of other airlines who compete against each other, Thai seem to choose not to compete with other airlines, the Thai Government will bail them out, its run for them primarily anyway so the thing is if they want to show a profit send people back to school to show them how to do their sums to make it profitable, make me want to fly with them, attract me at the moment others are trying harder.

Problem is their business mentality.

 

With all real airlines, seat pricing is determined by the load factor.

More demand the higher the price. The primary consideration is getting the aircraft fully loaded, thereby maximizing the ROI, aircraft cost, staff and jet fuel.

 

TG, like many Thai businesses in point of fact, have this perverse logic, that if you can't fill the plane, you simply increase the unit price.

 

Which is fine if you are running a monopoly, but modern aviation is a competitive business

IIRC, after the 2.x Bn THB loss, the new big boss 'vowed' a return to profitability within a year.

 

Seems he was exaggerating then... and that's without the fallout from Rolls Royce that never was politically correct to investigate (never quite know where that might lead to in LOS).

 

I suppose 'surpassing incompetence' is too strong an expression?

 

 

 

Edited March 3, 20197 yr by MisterPenguin

On 3/2/2019 at 12:55 PM, geriatrickid said:

Don't blame Thai Airways. Keep in mind that the airline has no control over the  military's administration use of the airline as an adjunct transportation service and employment opportunity for senior military officers.

TG is obliged to pay rent to the military for the use of military owned airports. It is also assessed fees by the government. The airline has no ability to fight its being used as a cash cow.

 

It is relatively easy to slash the losses. Let the airline pay reasonable access fees, let the airline dispose of the unprofitable aircraft models and  stop flying on some routes. Let the airline adjust its  staffing to match its competitors.

 

Yes. And how many generals, submarine officers, airforce officers are on the board. Tongue in cheek of course

On 3/2/2019 at 4:00 PM, phkauf said:

Because Thailand (not specifically Thai Air) has failed their US FAA audit again, they are not allowed to have direct flights to the US and they also are not allowed to code share with US carriers. So their Star Alliance partner United cannot book a ticket using Thai flights. So if you fly to or from the US, using a US carrier you will need to use an airline other than a Thai airline. 

Thailand's failing of US FAA audit puts the country in the illustrious company of Bangladesh and Ghana - something the generals should be very proud of.

Thailand's failing of US FAA audit puts the country in the illustrious company of Bangladesh and Ghana

And I think "Philippines Airlines ?