Thai Airways: A Downward Spiral of Service, Accountability, and National Pride

[Gknrd]

Personally I throw away those air miles BS , and go with the lowest fair.  I know a guy the fly's on business and his company pays for the same airline for him to travel ,and he cashes in on the air miles when he goes on vacation with the family. Me, I fly allot and go with the cheapest fair and forget the air miles. I used them once and it was a royal pain. Not worth it for me. 

[richard_smith237]

15 minutes ago, Gknrd said:

Personally I throw away those air miles BS , and go with the lowest fair.  I know a guy the fly's on business and his company pays for the same airline for him to travel ,and he cashes in on the air miles when he goes on vacation with the family. Me, I fly allot and go with the cheapest fair and forget the air miles. I used them once and it was a royal pain. Not worth it for me. 

 

Kind of agree...    Air-miles are great when they can be used...  

But, I don't chose my flight because it will earn me airmiles - I do so because its the ideal option for me.

 

With TG - the Airmiles are all from credit card use (and so far we've had 3 return flight to Japan, so pretty good, but its just hard to secure the Airmiles booking on TG - thats the issue there).

 

With Emirates...   The Airmiles are useful to 'lower the cost of the flight' with Miles+Cash.

 

With QatarAirways... I was able to lower the cost of a flight from the UK to Switzerland (with British Airways) using Avios (transfering from QatarAirways to BritishAirways).. what would have been about £1000 (or more) cost £130 after all air-miles were used up.

 

 

As with your mate... flying a lot for work allows the miles to tot up.....  Using the Airmiles with Emirates / Qatar / BA is extremely easy.

 

TG really could do with making using the Air-miles easier.

 

 

[Sydebolle]

I worked for TG and was very proud about that. In 1992 then, Chatichai Bunya-ananta - the sitting CEO - was retired as he reached 60 years of age (but would have been willing to continue). Once he was out of the way, the goons of the Ministry of Finance and some zero brainers with lots of gold all over their "rent-a-cop" uniform took over. 

In no time these absolute ignorant idiots turned an international icon and ambassadorial pride of Thailand into a 7/11 without a cashier on the way out. Everyone helped himself, corruption was abundant and the prestige brand "Thai Airways International" went down the toilet. Every engine and aircraft manufacturer could sell some stuff to TG, without coherent planning on anything as long as the "crème de la crème" could enjoy the fleshpot of the national carrier. 

Low Cost Carriers came up and the Middle East woke up in the dunes of the sand and started doing professional aviation business at market-relevant pricing, excellent service level, reliability and quality. They, unlike TG, understood that "Customer Service is an attitude and not a department". 

Chatichai is no longer among us as he would cry 24/7 and so does the team of my generation looking back on where TG came from - a very successful venture between SK (Scandinavian) and TH (Thai Airways). From the 60s to the 90s - a sparkling star, top product with top people. Today it is an expired flint of an extinguished candle rather than a sparkling star and closer to the bottom than any other carrier of relevance in the region. 

THB 300+ billions of bankruptcy resulted in TG clocking THB 10 billion "profit" while WE (Thai Smile, a 100% TG owned LCC) was sent into free fall with THB 20 billion and disappeared at the end of 2023. Nobody has a clue, where all that money came and comes from - for sure not revenue in flying happy passengers around the globe. 

What a pity for what had been done in previous decades; close the shop and start anew again, with professional (foreign) management as the local boys, proven for the last 30 years, are unable to manage a break-even operation, a reliable and thoroughly through-planned timetable with passenger orientation and a product which is worth the (expensive) airfares those goons are publishing off their shiny desks at the head office at Viphavadee-Rangsit. TG = tomorrow go, possible one point to start working on ;-) 

[john donson]

it was great, for all the cronies that flew for free, business class and their extended family.. probably that gave them good reviews in return... overprices, outdated, outclassed

[soi3eddie]

4 minutes ago, Sydebolle said:

What a pity for what had been done in previous decades; close the shop and start anew again, with professional (foreign) management as the local boys, proven for the last 30 years, are unable to manage a break-even operation, a reliable and thoroughly through-planned timetable with passenger orientation and a product which is worth the (expensive) airfares those goons are publishing off their shiny desks at the head office at Viphavadee-Rangsit. TG = tomorrow go, possible one point to start working on ;-) 

 

A great post from experience. Sadly, too much loss of face to even consider a qualified and proven foreign manager or CEO to manage THAI. Are THAI still selling meals served at airline seats in their HQ at Viphavadee I wonder? A bit like their "puff and pie" brand and other waste of resources I expect. 

 

[Somjot]

I am shocked about all that negativity here with some people even stating, that Lufthansa is better than Thai Airways.

 

I understand that everybody has his personal experiences and the way we recall those experiences is very much influenced by the emotions we had at that time.

 

For the last quarter century, I have been flying with Thai Airways from Munich to Bangkok and back at least three times a year and I always loved it.

 

Most important for me, it was a direct flight, and it was 25 minutes from my home in Munich to the airport and a little bit more than one hour from my house in Pattaya to Swampy.

 

Sure, Qatar and Emirates have better airplanes, but I can't say the food was much better and I hated the stopover, running through those airports or waiting in some lounge feeling lost.

 

As I have learned to speak, read, and write Thai over the years, I always enjoyed the conversations with the air hostesses on Thai Airways and generally spoken they are the most courteous and friendly staff.

 

The Lufthansa staff on the other hand side Always makes me think, that they would be great mistresses with their own dungeons of pain.

 

Like many of you I fell in love with Thailand and last year I finally sold everything in Germany and moved to Thailand permanently as I always felt more like home in here then in my birth country.

 

And that is exactly how I have been feeling every single time when boarding a Thai Airways plane and sitting down in my business class seat – HOME.

 

 

Now take me down to Pattaya city, where grass is legal and the girls are pretty, oh won`t you please take me home. 

 

 

[soi3eddie]

12 minutes ago, Somjot said:

For the last quarter century, I have been flying with Thai Airways from Munich to Bangkok and back at least three times a year and I always loved it.

 

That flight may be considered the creme de la creme of THAI flights.

 

[Almer]

Pre Covid i always went EVA now i always go Emerates, 

[Almer]

You carry hi-so and all there families for free in premium seats, this is how it all ends up, in tears.

[richard_smith237]

46 minutes ago, Somjot said:

For the last quarter century, I have been flying with Thai Airways from Munich to Bangkok and back at least three times a year and I always loved it.

 

47 minutes ago, Somjot said:

Sure, Qatar and Emirates have better airplanes, but I can't say the food was much better and I hated the stopover, running through those airports or waiting in some lounge feeling lost.

 

47 minutes ago, Somjot said:

The Lufthansa staff on the other hand side Always makes me think, that they would be great mistresses with their own dungeons of pain.

 

 

How do you know - for the last 25 years you have been flying Thai Airways....   your comparison is imagined.

 

 

 

Your post reads more like someone likes Thailand so much they just love everything Thai...  and thats great for you, but it does distort your frame of reference when it comes to anything critical of Thailand.

 

Its rather apparent that Airways have not evolved with the competition - they're not a terrible airline by any means, but a lot of the 'long haul' competition just does it better now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[persimmon]

Before Covid I used Etihad LHR - BKK with a short stop over in the ME . After Covid , I couldn`t find any convenient flights ( most had very long stops ) so had to fly Thai . I like the non-stop flight - much better than having to disembark , get on a bus to the terminal , rush to join the queue for pp control etc . Only problem was the price £ 1100 yikes !

No complaints apart from the food which was poor - there were lots of raw , uncooked veg in my meal - inedible !

[Somjot]

2 hours ago, soi3eddie said:

 

That flight may be considered the creme de la creme of THAI flights.

 

 

You are most likely right, as we all know, who else was living not far away from Munich.

[Somjot]

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

How do you know - for the last 25 years you have been flying Thai Airways....   your comparison is imagined.

 

 

Do you really think, I would pretend my experiences with the other airlines and lie about their food?

What would I possibly gain from that?

 

During Covid Thai did not offer any flights for some time so I tried Qatar and Emirates and Lufthansa too.

 

I even wrote reports about it in another forum but same Nickname.

 

But yes, I love Thailand. There is a good chance I am biased.

 

But you allege that I lied, just because I do not share your opinion.

 

Not cool.

 

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Your post reads more like someone likes Thailand so much they just love everything Thai...  and thats great for you, but it does distort your frame of reference when it comes to anything critical of Thailand.

 

 

 

[Lorry]

8 hours ago, daveAustin said:

Never really had an issue with them over the years, guess I’ve just been lucky, but fully understand it could all go tits up if things go wrong. Main plus for me is direct and departure/arrival times being good. 

Same here

[bangkok19]

Here in Australia we've not much choice for DIRECT Syd to BKK flights.

Only QF and TG.

Of course AirAsia and Sh*tstar fly Syd to Phuket but I don't go there.

I was flying TG Business class for years and had no problems until around 2006 when I was able to fly Emirates Business Class for $1,100 cheaper. Better planes (A380) and much better service however Emirates ceased flying Syd to BKK in June 2019 (unless of course I want to pay QF prices in a QF plane).

I refuse to fly QF for several reasons as well as the ones that have been widely documented since the recent departure of the Leprechaun (C.E.O).

On the bright side, as from April, TG will start flying Syd to BKK using the newish A350's so with newer planes there might be a newer 'attitude'.

[MrNatural]

I highly recommend the reading of the Wikipedia page about Thai airways, particularly the history and the "corporate affairs". It explains a lot and does not suggest a bright future.

[bluejets]

16 hours ago, The Old Bull said:

I think Thai Smile cancelled the senior discount?

Not Thai Smile but Thai Airways after the takeover.

Just did some bookings for domestic flights and nowhere was the usual concession rate for the wife's mum.

Always was before.

 

In Aus I see they have resumed flights to Perth in WA.

Waiting for them to resume to Brisbane in Qld.

Currently we have to take extra domestic flights within Aus and stay in hotels just to get a non-stop flight to Bkk as we did previously.

Extra $1500.00 ....ouch!!!!!!!

Flights from Brisbane were always full so no idea what is going on there.

Contacted them but only answer was " no current plan to resume Brisbane-Bkk flights".

[Highlandman]

17 hours ago, chiman said:

Was 100% committed to Thai for many years starting back in 2005.  After they lost FAA certification and were no longer allowed to land at American airports, I felt unsure of their safety.  Further, flight after flight the condition of the planes degraded with broken screens, seats, all around visual lack of maintenance.  If they don’t maintain the interior of the plane, how do you think they are doing with the engines?   And now, all those planes sitting in the heat since covid?  No thanks..  It’s sad.. Thailand is one of the most visited countries in the world and Thai airways could be shuttling people in all day long..  Hoping United opens direct flights one day, they are aggressively expanding into the Asian market.  

 

Hopefully an American carrier will one day serve Thailand again, but I can't really see it happening.

 

Thailand, Vietnam and all SE Asian countries except Singapore are considered as "leisure" or "visiting friends and relatives" markets, with minimal business travel (even though Thailand has a lot of multinationals in the country, but they're managed through local or regional offices) hence most SE Asian flights operate on thin profit margins.

 

Recently, United started flying to Manila, but the Philippines is also the country of origin of millions of American residents. Their diaspora is huge.  Singapore is the only other SE Asian country with direct flights to the US operated by an American carrier. 

 

India and China have many flights to the USA primarily due to their huge diaspora. Business travel, particularly in the case of China is another factor, but is dominated by the ethnic Chinese diaspora.

[Highlandman]

4 hours ago, bluejets said:

Not Thai Smile but Thai Airways after the takeover.

Just did some bookings for domestic flights and nowhere was the usual concession rate for the wife's mum.

Always was before.

 

In Aus I see they have resumed flights to Perth in WA.

Waiting for them to resume to Brisbane in Qld.

Currently we have to take extra domestic flights within Aus and stay in hotels just to get a non-stop flight to Bkk as we did previously.

Extra $1500.00 ....ouch!!!!!!!

Flights from Brisbane were always full so no idea what is going on there.

Contacted them but only answer was " no current plan to resume Brisbane-Bkk flights".

 

Why would you do that when you can just get on a Singapore Airlines flight and transit through to Bangkok?

 

An alternative is getting on a 6am flight to Sydney and catching THAI or Qantas to Bangkok. Both flights leave around 10am ish. Thai's second flight to Bangkok, which resumes in March, leaves around 250pm, so that would make it even easier.

 

I am sure they'll resume flights to Brisbane once they acquire more aircraft and assuming there are no calamities that might prevent that from happening in the meantime, such as a new "pandemic".

 

I think there is a reasonable chance they might resume flights to Brisbane by the end of the year.

[Highlandman]

7 hours ago, bangkok19 said:

Here in Australia we've not much choice for DIRECT Syd to BKK flights.

Only QF and TG.

Of course AirAsia and Sh*tstar fly Syd to Phuket but I don't go there.

I was flying TG Business class for years and had no problems until around 2006 when I was able to fly Emirates Business Class for $1,100 cheaper. Better planes (A380) and much better service however Emirates ceased flying Syd to BKK in June 2019 (unless of course I want to pay QF prices in a QF plane).

I refuse to fly QF for several reasons as well as the ones that have been widely documented since the recent departure of the Leprechaun (C.E.O).

On the bright side, as from April, TG will start flying Syd to BKK using the newish A350's so with newer planes there might be a newer 'attitude'.

 

Sydney to Bangkok is served by Air Asia as well, but I don't think I'd fly with them. Strangely, Air Asia stopped flying Melbourne - Bangkok almost a year ago.

[CANSIAM]

14 hours ago, Hanaguma said:

Did a few VERY long haul (Hong Kong to Toronto nonstop) trips in the past 6-8 years on Cathay Pacific. Good service, lots of attention and drink flowing smoothly, easy on the eyes flight crew as a bonus.

 

Flew Scare Canada once from Tokyo to Calgary.   Once.   Wide hipped battleaxes slinging hash at the cattle, window shades down please! as soon as meal service was done (the better to keep the sheeple asleep and not demanding service), lots of noise and gossip from the galley that precluded getting any rest.  Never again.

Air Canada is offering Vancouver to Bangkok non-stop '16 hours' Dec. - Apr. Far too much time to clash with 'Battleaxe' flight attendants - nice not to transit but no thanks........ 

[UbonEagle]

Agree with so many comments on here about service, bad attitude, outdated IT…

unfortunately I’ve persevered with them over the years for the direct flight convenience from Australia but only a last resort these days 

 

[marin]

22 hours ago, Perhaps2more said:

Now Thai staff are moving to Eva and bringing with them the same bias service. Not to worry if you are Caucasian or non-Asian. Thai airways' main principle was to bring in guests to Thailand but not for their lowly Thais. 

No they are not, and you simply seem to have made this up.  

[richard_smith237]

15 hours ago, Somjot said:

 

Do you really think, I would pretend my experiences with the other airlines and lie about their food?

What would I possibly gain from that?

 

During Covid Thai did not offer any flights for some time so I tried Qatar and Emirates and Lufthansa too.

 

I even wrote reports about it in another forum but same Nickname.

 

But yes, I love Thailand. There is a good chance I am biased.

 

But you allege that I lied, just because I do not share your opinion.

 

Not cool.

 

Fair enough....   I haven't alleged that you lied because I don't share your opinion...

 

I questioned your post becase your bias shone through and you became defensive and posted about how great Thai-Airways is and that you fly them all the time and completely omitted that you actually have a frame of reference having also traveled on Emirates and Qatar in within the past couple of years. 

 

That said, given the frame of reference which with you compare, I still question your judgement as to the quality of Thai airways particularly when comparing it to Airlines which are repeatedly awarded for being 'top in class'...    

 

You fly business class - is Thai Airways Business class remotely comparable to a Qatar Airways Q-Suite or Emirates Flat Bed ?? - I know from personal experience, the answer is a hard no.

 

 

[marin]

5 hours ago, Highlandman said:

Hopefully an American carrier will one day serve Thailand again, but I can't really see it happening.

Why in the heck would you want that. American carriers are awful with add ons for everything these days. The cabin crew are awful would be a polite way to put it. FYI both UA and AA fly to Bangkok. But not the last leg into BKK, that is done via code share. This summer I am flying AA home BKK/SFO but I will be flying JAL via codeshare.  Very happy about his as they have the "sky wide" seat which is the best economy seat in the air. 

[Highlandman]

On 1/30/2024 at 3:56 PM, marin said:

Why in the heck would you want that. American carriers are awful with add ons for everything these days. The cabin crew are awful would be a polite way to put it. FYI both UA and AA fly to Bangkok. But not the last leg into BKK, that is done via code share. This summer I am flying AA home BKK/SFO but I will be flying JAL via codeshare.  Very happy about his as they have the "sky wide" seat which is the best economy seat in the air. 

 

They don't fly into Bangkok. They only code share, meaning you can earn miles on their frequent flyer programs while flying a partner Japanese airline. An airline only flies into a country if their metal touches the ground in that country. Currently, no American carrier offers flights to Thailand.

 

It's interesting how Delta flies to Ghana of all places but not a single American carrier flies to the so-called "first Asian ally" of the United States, which is Thailand.

 

It's basically a snub, indicating that Thailand isn't an important country for the USA in any terms. Not for business, people to people exchanges or even for vacation. 

 

The fact there used to be American carriers flying into Bangkok (albeit never non-stop) but aren't anymore amounts to what is effectively a diplomatic rebuff.

[marin]

22 minutes ago, Highlandman said:

They don't fly into Bangkok. They only code share, meaning you can earn miles on their frequent flyer programs while flying a partner Japanese airline. An airline only flies into a country if their metal touches the ground in that country. Currently, no American carrier offers flights to Thailand.

Which is exactly what I wrote.😜

[rimmae2]

Everyone has different expectations, frequency of travel, preference for non-stop, etc. I stongly prefer non-stop and have sat in the Al Safwa Lounge in Doha and the Emirates FC Lounge in Dubai more times than I can remember in the last 15 years approx travelling from Bangkok to the Middle East and Africa mainly on Emirates and QA. The novelty factor of the 2 lounges wore off a long time ago.

 

95% of the time I travel on Thai Airways as I can travel direct. I am a Platinum member of the airline, always travelling in Business or First Class, but unlike others I don't care about (and don't eat) food on the plane unless travelling to and from Japan and don't drink alcohol. Recently I travelled again on Qatar Airways, 3:00 am departure from Bangkok, endless bus journeys from the arrival flight and to the departure flight in Doha, so 2.5 hours in Al Safwa became 1.5 hours. Whether one sits on the Business Class or First Class bus in Doha the inconvenience is still there.

 

Contrast with 2 R/Ts to Europe, 2 to Tokyo and numerous round trips to South Asia in the last 3 months.............all direct.

 

Personally I prefer the service of the cabin crew on Thai Airways to the airlines mentioned above, whose staff can often be OTT and never leave one alone. 

[brfsa2]

On 1/29/2024 at 2:05 PM, richard_smith237 said:

To be fair in light of my own criticisms of this airline..   that sort of delay is not uncommon at all.

 

A lot of my Emirates and Qatar Airways flights are similar.

 

 

Were you sleeping ?... If not, didn't you point out at the time as soon as they started serving the row behind you?

 

 

Luggage - thats not the airlines fault - but they are accountable for any compensation claim you make. 

 

------

 

While I too have criticism of Thai Airways, I do sometimes thing some criticism are unfair.

 

I recall a number of years ago that I was told to 'go and get a beer myself'...  !!!...

On a flight to Japan - Wife was asleep, I was with my Son (4 yrs old)...  I'd had one beer with dinner, all trays cleared up and we were entering the 'quiet phase' of the flight... I'd not seen an attendant pass through the cabin for about 20-30 mins... I didn't want to get up and leave my Son unattended - so I hit the call button... Apologised when the flight attendant came.."Sorry to bother you, I didn't want to leave my Son unattended by going to the galley... But could I have a beer ?"...    the flight attendant clearly didn't like having the call button pressed and really didn't like the idea of getting me a beer... 

...  I was told that if I wanted a beer, I should go to the galley and ask for one myself... I was shocked by the attitude of the flight attendant. I complained to the Purser, who didn't seem to think there was any issue with this...    

 

That was a shocker.. but that said, mostly the service on all travel in and around Asia is pretty good so no major or consistent complaints there.. just a one off.

 

----

 

Eithad did switch our booked seats (at the Gate) so my Wife and I weren't next to each other - this was so a Pilot and his Wife could sit together in the 'honey moon seats' (two business class seats next to each other) - written complaint that time, no response. 

 

When my sons Pushchair was snapped in half and Etihad rejected the compensation claim that it, never flown then again (and I was a gold card member at the time).

 

So... All airlines have their cra.ppy moments... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes I agree with you on that. Me being too picky with them. Of course it’s normal issues. 
on the good side Thai airways do have kind Thai staff and their good hearts. 
When they skipped my meal I wasn’t asleep, they thought I had already eaten cause my wife ordered baby food and I was eating the remaining baby food, but at least the could ask me instead of just move on. 

[djayz]

Surprised they haven't sued the Thai Enquirer for this condemning article. 😂