Thai Airways Serves Up Another Cold Meal

[Payboy]

Thai dishes fail to fly

By Amornrat Mahitthirook

Thai food is one of the most popular in the world, but THAI food, by Thai Airways International, has got a solid thumbs-down by international flyers.

The poor quality of the food served by Thai Airways International (known by the acronym THAI) tops the list of complaints among passengers using the national flag carrier, according to the airline.

The list of passenger complaints for April, which recently reached Transport Minister Theera Haocharoen, pits the airline's meals at the top of the five most common complaints.

"What passengers complained most about were meals which did not live up expectations, especially on outbound flights from Bangkok. That was followed by complaints they did not receive special meals as requested," the survey says.

In-flight entertainment was second on the list of areas where the airline could improve, followed by attitude and performance of cabin crew, baggage handling on arrival, and defects or malfunctions of cabin equipment.

No in-seat TVs on aircraft was the second most common complaint. Passengers were also not happy with crew who were impolite or unwilling to perform their duties, it adds.

The airline compiles complaints and commendations every month. The April version is the latest report available.

Some ministers complained about THAI's in-flight service during the cabinet meeting last week, Adm Theera said. The minister said THAI must do better.

THAI president Apinan Sumanseni admitted to the problems and said THAI is trying to improve all services, which could take about three months.

Bangkok Post 26.06.2007

[bendix]

Now, I'm usually the first to jump to the defence of my chosen homeland, but in this instance there is nothing to say. Thai Airways is - frankly - pisspoor.

[chinthee]

What's wrong with pastry puffs and fake orange juice. Jeez, some people are so hard to please.

[TAWP]

Now I haven't flown with them for a few years, but back then it was fine...has it gone sharply downhill or are people expecting some expensive high class cousine on a small tray?

Edited June 26, 2007 by TAWP

[Florin]

Haven't flown them for a few months, I do agree with the lack of entertainment, but I don't see why people would go nuts over their food, at least the Western offering seemed fine and plentiful every time...not to mention FREE ALCOHOL! I've seen some pretty messed up people fly in and out of this country, if TG is bad what can one possibly say about any American airline, Air France, SAS, Austrian (paid food on European flights, weeee), Iberia, etc. etc. We all know that once you've flown Singapore Airlines, Asiana or one of the two major Japanese airlines everything seems complainable in comparison, but come on, they can't ALL be like that.

[Gumballl]

I've flown Thai quite a lot during the past couple of years (from LAX and JFK). Usually the food on the flights to BKK is pretty good, but not as spiffy on the return flight. The free drinks are wonderful, and I have never had trouble getting extra; I just hop out of my chair and head for the galley. The flight attendants have never been a problem... always with a smile.

On the Airbus 350 (-500?) each passenger has their own mini-LCD screen with on-demand video. I'm not sure what the complaint is about in this case.

I can only surmise that passengers expect the same when traveling from BKK to KL, HK or wherever in the "local" vicinity, and that is just not going to happen. The smaller aircraft cannot offer the same amenities as the larger ones.

Want to board a bad flight?... fly United (from Narita to Seattle). During a period of turbulence, all passengers were required to remain seated. Flight attendants were adamant about this. Yet the same attendants were wheeling up and down the aisle their little cart with duty-free items. I came very close to causing an incident with one of the old hags (attendants) when my daughter (who was only 26 month old) needed to have her diapers changed. The attendants would not let my wife take my daughter to the toilet. Yet at the very same time, here comes the duty-free crappola.

[samtam]

Does this report refer to Business & First Class food? (I've never flown on Thai long distance, on B & FC, but when I do, it will be at the pointy end.)

[dekka007]

During a period of turbulence, all passengers were required to remain seated.

Standard issue......dont see what your problem is with this. The crew can continue working during periods of turbulence because:

1) They are trained to an extent on working in LIGHT turbulence.

2) They are insured as crew so if injury occurs. You injure yourself during turbulence some people will take the airline to court.

3) Not all passengers are able to walk safely during light turbulence - old, a few too many G&T's.

4) Turbulence may increase at any time to dangerous levels while you are changing your babie's diaper resulting in severe injuries to yourself and your child.

5) The crew will cease ALL service if conditions deterioate or forecast conditions are indicating moderate/severe turbulence.

.... ..... .....

Now with respect to Thai airways service - agreed dropped from excellent 5-7 years ago to average verging on below average.....Aircraft are old - all cabins, First,Business,Economy require updating to bring inline with other carriers. Not to mention the aircraft themselves needing replacing.

Free Drinks...........well yes as expected with 99.9% of non budget carriers. Always makes me laugh in cattle class that poxy little wine glass they give u when u order wine 2 sips and i mean 2 sips and its finished. just flew them yesterday to shanghai got 2 mini glasses of wine offered total 5 sips - no joke. Food average Thai affair...you would expect the Thai food out of their homebase would be above standard. wrong.

Flight Attendants...........misreable and dont want to help - very routine service - no smiles - and for gods sake dont interrupt their set routine of peanuts,drinks,hot towel,food,drink........they dont like it when u ask for something out of their routine.

Will i fly them again...yes only because forced to in certain situations........give me: CX,SQ,Jal,ER,QR,BA,LH anyday.

I do hope they get their sh*t together soon..its an embarrasment for a national carrier.

With regard to pointy end service try QR/BA/SQ to see how it should be done. Pointy end travel does not come much better than that

Edited June 26, 2007 by dekka007

[PeaceBlondie]

Of course, on a domestic flight like BKK-CNX two weeks ago, all I expected was a cold snack. However, both outbound from BKK to Moscow and return, I got my usual excellent food. Only outbound did they try to foist some crappy Thai food onto my tray, and when I complained that I couldn't eat it, they gave me the good food. Best airline food I ever had was on THAI, coming back from Singapore, prawns - yumm. And, free wine. Thai is the only Star Alliance member that doesn't give me the requested fruit plate, but I don't need it because their Western cooked food is superb.

I wonder if the complainers are Thai nationals who have far more discriminating taste than I do, who hates the crap? I know, Thai food is the most famous and desirable fine cuisine in the world, blah blah blah, but in my opinion, to me, for my mouth, it's crap. Great country, though.

[Meerkat]

Does this report refer to Business & First Class food? (I've never flown on Thai long distance, on B & FC, but when I do, it will be at the pointy end.)

F has gone down so sharply in the last six months that I've switched where I can. No more caviar, no more wine-lists (the FA said that it was because of the no-advertising laws being introduced, but when I showed her that there was still alcohol listed in the duty-free booklet, she admitted that it was a cost-cutting measure), and the quality of both the food and wine has dropped. I've heard that long-haul amenity kits are now worse than the kind you'd get on Virgin in Y. The usually wonderful crews are a lot less attentive than before, and I suspect it's because they're sick of the complaining...

Minor points I know, but added up it shows a degradation of service that TG can ill afford, especially with SQ and CX rolling out their new premium products.

[Payboy]

i've been flying thai for 25 years and all i can say is - the food's gotten worse, the cabin crews have become older, most of their planes are now rattling at take-off and the entertainment never existed.

that nud_e dancer on the dubai-chennai flight has upped their entertainment rating a bit though!

[Scott]

I used to fly almost exclusively on THAI; now I haven't flown on them for several years. They just go bad. It seemed to me that I could just as well fly by budget carriers in the region and then catch a decent airline at a major hub.

Now, I almost always fly Singapore Airlines. Excellent.

It doesn't matter much to me on the short flights, but the long hauls, service, entertainment and food are important.

[chinthee]

i've been flying thai for 25 years and all i can say is - the food's gotten worse, the cabin crews have become older, most of their planes are now rattling at take-off and the entertainment never existed.

that nud_e dancer on the dubai-chennai flight has upped their entertainment rating a bit though!

Yes, all jokes aside, I'm also a long time ROP member, and there has been a delcine for years now. I remember when Thaksin was first elected (I think) he proclaimed they were the worst airline in the world in some sort of public way to shake them up. Probably someone here remembers that better than I do.

Anyway, as has been discussed here before, those of us based in Thailand who do lots of traveling, want to keep gold status, and don't want to hoof it to Changi for a connection to fly the world's best airline just kind of grimmace and bear it.

[peter991]

I flew BNE (Brisbane, Australia) to BKK on Thai's direct flight a fortnight ago and flew back BKK-BNE via SYD) last night.

Another old Boeing 747-300 each way (I was hoping for a Boeing 777 with in-seat entertainment). Old plane, non-smiling staff, very average food, lousy service (how can cabin attendants hide/sleep for most of the flight?).

The only reason I fly Thai is their direct BNE-BKK flight. It will be Singapore Airlines from now on. At least they replace their aircraft (on average) every 2 years.

Peter

[Anthony_Mustang]

[Want to board a bad flight?... fly United (from Narita to Seattle). During a period of turbulence, all passengers were required to remain seated. Flight attendants were adamant about this. Yet the same attendants were wheeling up and down the aisle their little cart with duty-free items. I came very close to causing an incident with one of the old hags (attendants) when my daughter (who was only 26 month old) needed to have her diapers changed. The attendants would not let my wife take my daughter to the toilet. Yet at the very same time, here comes the duty-free crappola.

To be fair to Thai nobody is a as good as Singapore Airlines and you have to fly Air Ubekeztan to find someone worse than United.

I've flown Thai a few times on short flights and they have always been very good. Looks like though I will have to fly Thai from Sydney to Bkk in Sept/Oct (Rugby World Cup seems to pushing up prices) in order to get a cheap flight and I am not looking forward to one of their old 747's with no IFE.

[keemao]

I fly thai every 2 months SYD-BKK-SYD. For the past 2 years I have been told that next month they will have new planes for this route..........never happens. IFE is shit, food is average (same menus for 2 + years.) and the FA's are far from attractive!!

There is a big BUT here...................I can change flights at no costs, book a flight and fly same day and on the plane if there are free seats (always) I get 2 or 3 seats for myself. I take my own whiskey (JW blue label) and the FA's give me some mixers and a bucket of ice.......now that's cool. I have noticed that once the FA's know you you can pretty much do what you like, eat extra food etc.

I am always a little tipsy when leaving the plane ...customs love it!!!

I always threaten to change but I guess I am happy supporting the national airline, just wish they'd replace the planes soon.

[dekka007]

I take my own whiskey (JW blue label) and the FA's give me some mixers and a bucket of ice.......now that's cool.

Not a brilliant idea mate, You can get jailed / fined for that and banned from travel on the airline and alliance partners. not to mention the crew allowing it will get fired. But upto u - you never know who your sitting next to on the plane and a crew/pax might just take offense........

But good luck with it

[phazey]

Flew TG to Melbourne a few months ago with family. No complaints at all, nice comfy seats (a plus in cabbage class), in seat tv/entertainment - a nice varied choice of food, friendly cabin crew and all the beer i could manage (which in 9 hours was an awful lot). This mirrored in the return flight too.

I spose the other bonus of flying Thai for me is the 75% discount the wife gets on all flights

[keemao]

I take my own whiskey (JW blue label) and the FA's give me some mixers and a bucket of ice.......now that's cool.

Not a brilliant idea mate, You can get jailed / fined for that and banned from travel on the airline and alliance partners. not to mention the crew allowing it will get fired. But upto u - you never know who your sitting next to on the plane and a crew/pax might just take offense........

But good luck with it

I always know who I'm sitting next to as does the FA's.......never been a problem for me.

My point is if u are known to the crew or are a frequent flyer, you get great service.

I think you are the only person that seems to take offence to this.

so good luck with it

[dekka007]

I always know who I'm sitting next to as does the FA's.......never been a problem for me.

My point is if u are known to the crew or are a frequent flyer, you get great service.

I think you are the only person that seems to take offence to this.

so good luck with it

Agreed Frequent flyers sometimes achieve better service.

Do I take offense to someone drinking their own bottle of whiskey on a flight where the amount you are drinking cannot be controlled by the crew - actually i do

Having had to deal with a situtation exactly like this that led to a member of my crew being attacked by the drunken guy who demolished his own bottle of duty free vodka with his scrambled eggs /bacon in the morning and the resulting inflight diversion.

I dont agree with this being allowed

And anyway it is an offense to drink your own alcohol on a flight or indeed be drunk on an aeroplane air navigation order...etc.

Just friendly advice suggesting it aint a brilliant idea whether or not u know who the crew are or who is sitting next to you..

Edited June 26, 2007 by dekka007

[canuckamuck]

I’ve only flown Thai 4 times, for some reason each time I expected a great experience, and each time I found it to be average at best. Singapore and Cathay have set my expectations too high.

Thai is however far from the worst: We flew Air India on what must have been the original 747, seats were only shoulder high, headphones/overhead lights, didn’t work, no in-flight movie, nice aroma too. Air China had a brand new plane with personal screens, but only played a 15 minute loop of old news and then some shopping crap, on a 10 hour flight!

But the worst was Pakistan International but it was partially our fault. Our secretary booked us on PIA from BKK to Lahore through Islamabad. The flight up was normal enough; their airports are fairly stone age though. But the return trip, was not a straight shot back to BKK (we found this out too late) They took us to Islamabad, then all the way to Hong Kong! where we were scheduled to stay on the tarmac for 2 hours. I guess they didn’t want this group running around the airport for 2 hours. And then we went back to Bangkok.

This was a 12 hour journey, complete with three Mullahs getting up and giving a call to prayer twice during the flight. We were a little less than pleased.

[wileycoyote]

It doesn't matter much to me on the short flights, but the long hauls, service, entertainment and food are important.

I agree with Scott,it is long-haul flights that are most important as you are a captive audience.

The worrying aspect is that although Apinan Sumanseni said improvement could take 3 months !

Is this "Thai -time" ,how long will it actually take to be implemented .

For example purchasing and installing individual video screens for the whole fleet could take up to 9 months.

The inclusive tourist market are already booking for 2008,other carriers particularly Taiwanese and Middle Eastern are offering better services for a similar price,so people will naturally vote with their feet!

Leading to further loss of revenue

No wants an 11 hour nightmare,so

1) Improve Food

2) Improve Attitude of flightcrew ,after all the passenger pays their salary

3) Offer individual videos screen in all seats ,not just First & Business,

If you want to make money ,

first of all offer an Economy Class Plus Cabin (and not at a stupid $760 add on to your existing paid fare per sector) .

It is TG's choice,often the carrier airline is the new passenger's first encounter of Thai being different ,

please make it a pleasant one !

Wiley Coyote

[soic]

I don't understand it myself. I've flown a lot worse, and recieved a lot worse treatment. I truly enjoy the Thai air flights. I've flown Delta to the States, where the ladies are almost of retirement age, they're crabby and act like everything they do is a burden. I've also flown Air France, where they basically treated me as nonexistant. It may be my nationality that is a problem to them there. I speak a smattering of French and try to use it out of courtesy, but it seems like the moment that they figure out that I'm American, it goes downhill from there.

As for Thai Air, I've flown economy and 1st class on numerous occassions. I chose to always fly 1st class now, it's affordable and for me, the service in both classes is spot on. I've never seen a friendlier crew, on average. I travel frequently and have for a number of years. If people expect 1st class treatment in economy, they're fooling themselves.

Try flying some of the Russian, Ukrainian, Moldovan or Hungarian lines. When we fly our company charter from Kuwait to Iraq, they give us a bottle of water, and a ziplock baggy with a pack of wafers, an apple and a bag of chips. Yeeee Haaawwww! When I flew Russian, everyone had their feet tucked under the seat to their immediate left or right, you could put them in front of you.

We've all become too spoiled, and we all want what others have, but we want ours free... :

[tartempion]

Last time I flew Thai was 16 may 2000 business class bkk-fra.

I do remember because it was the most crappiest business class flight ever.

There's a lot worse: correct, there's also a lot better, I take a lot better for a lot less.

(Qatar business to Europe 67k baht, Ethihad 76k.

[midas]

To be fair to Thai nobody is a as good as Singapore Airlines and you have to fly Air Ubekeztan to find someone worse than United.

I've flown Thai a few times on short flights and they have always been very good. Looks like though I will have to fly Thai from

I consider FINNAIR to be wrose than Thai, Air Ubekeztan or United

[dekka007]

Qatar business to Europe 67k baht

Agreed this is the best value business class available today from and to bkk from europe and the new premium class only terminal in Doha is a dream to use.

QR Business class puts Thai to shame and a lot of other national carriers as well. oh and a very generous frequent flyer scheme.

[soic]

Last time I flew Thai was 16 may 2000 business class bkk-fra.

I do remember because it was the most crappiest business class flight ever.

There's a lot worse: correct, there's also a lot better, I take a lot better for a lot less.

(Qatar business to Europe 67k baht, Ethihad 76k.

I flew Qatar Air from Dubai to BKK, I had to fight for an hour to get on the plane. they overbooked it and told me to go sit in the chairs and I probably wouldn't fly. I reminded them that my booking was a month in advance, and that I WAS flying. I was polite but firm... I've never flown Qatar and had a TV screen taht worked. Thank goodness about the booze... I was able to get sauced and forget that the plane stank and nothing worked. The crew was nice though... I choose Thai everytime over Qatar.

[Ping]

Those MD-11s were awful - cramped and uncomfortable and the difference between a truck and a Rolls Royce for the flight crew. Only about 200 of them built (a commercial failure). Most of them are now banging around as cargoes. Last scheduled flights from Thai were to Australia. Thankfully, only three airlines remain flying them on regular (scheduled) routes; Finnair, KLM and TAM (a number of charter companies are still using them. (Trivia - The King has flown on a Thai MD-11)

[qwertz]

I always found food and service good on Thai Air.

Wish I could say the same about the passengers in economy.

They must be the loudest, rudest and most demanding crowd ever to blight an airline.

Which is why I avoid flying with them wherever possible.

[soundman]

This was a 12 hour journey, complete with three Mullahs getting up and giving a call to prayer twice during the flight. We were a little less than pleased.

Down right dangerous.. All the passengers suddenly turning in one direction could have catastrophic consequences on the planes load & balance parametres.

Soundman.