Thai Airways Faces Backlash Over Business-Class Seat Fiasco

[malibukid]

5000 baht voucher for a 100,000 baht fare.  typical.  i will never fly with them.  rude and  arrogant service. 

[malibukid]

4 hours ago, sammieuk1 said:

My experience of Thai Airways customer service is, the customer is never right end of story with your email is barred also 🤔

this goes for everything else here in LOS

[suspectdevice]

4 hours ago, daveAustin said:

Don’t blame him, I would be pissed too forking out for biz and not being able to relax. Even cattle seats recline! By not immediately assuaging this guy with a full refund, it could cost them a lot more. 

Had the same issue with Emirates(in economy). There was a Japanese guy sitting directly behind me and he was massive, like a Sumo Warrior! I couldn't recline my seat even a millimetre because oh his size, which was agony for me as i had slipped on wet tiles in the hotel, doing my back in. The staff had no sympathy for my discomfort and when i made a written complaint to Emirates, their reply was akin to "tough". I have never flown with Emirates since. Qatar much superior in customer care.

[natway09]

Points taken on comments above but something does not gel here.

Business class seats on Thai do not recline or lie flat. I do not believe.

 

[Sydebolle]

Thailand had one of the best airlines 40 years ago, but yeah ...... that was 40 years ago. I have not flown TG for many years as I had it with delays, HiSo-nose-up staff on the ground and in the air apart from being usually the most expensive carrier out of Bangkok. 

Domestically any dog <deleted>-carrier is better than TG and internationally there are so much better alternatives on offer, so why bother - really, why bother? 

They now brushed up the P&L by selling B744 and A380 and will got and buy new toys by whoever offers the biggest kick-backs. Call Rolls-Royce for guidance; they know how to deal with the semi-divine Khon Thais when it comes to selling ........ 

[chuang]

Just give them some money like SIA did ...

[Dialemco]

Thai needs to reinstate its overseas offices and improve its customer relations so that complaints may be resolved fairly

[malibukid]

2 minutes ago, Dialemco said:

Thai needs to reinstate its overseas offices and improve its customer relations so that complaints may be resolved fairly

the closed their office up here in Chiang Mai, no wonder

[zhounan]

The first thing I asked myself was why do we need to know the name of the "victim"? Did Khun Treerat Sirichantaropas by any chance pay the "journalist" for publicity?

[NanLaew]

5 hours ago, ezzra said:

I had to call Thai office in Bkk to get re-booked as Australia's Thai office are unreachable...

 

I had to call Vienna from the UK because Austrian customer service doesn't have any other phone number.

[Jonathan Swift]

6 hours ago, gargamon said:

Only has himself to blame. Why fly Thai Airways when there's many better airlines to use, EVA for example.

Thanks for the stυpid comment of the day. It boosts the collective IQ of the rest of us. Blaming the victim are we? Do you do the same for women rape victims, blame them? He paid for a service in good faith. Doesn't matter what his choices were in hindsight. He paid for it and is entitled to get his money's worth. If Thai Airways is an abject failure in providing the accommodation he was entitled to, and compounded the issue with failed customer service, then they owe him reasonable compensation. That is the law of the land in most countries under consumer protection laws. I sued the booking agency Priceline in small claims court for Thai Airways's refusal to refund a $165 ticket though they were legally required to do so, it cost Priceline $1,000 to settle directly with me from their home office in the US. During Covid NOK Air promised a cancellation refund that they never delivered on. Rather than have my credit card claw back the money, I sent a letter to NOK's office in Bangkok informing them that they would be sued, in the eyes of the press, and the money was in my bank within a few hours. Sometimes you just have to complain effectively to the right people, and sometimes you have to bring out the big guns. If Thai Airways does this all the time then it's about time they publicly got a bloody nose. Or perhaps a broken nose at this point. The rest of their victims deserve as much. Lost business is lost revenue, and the bottom line is: it's always about the money. That's the motivation you have to use on big companies that abuse customers. You, gargamon,  need to get out more, or go back to high school and learn about how the world really works. Focus on consumer rights. Or you can continue to post stυpid comments to satisfy your need for attention while the rest of us laugh. . 

[Chelseafan]

4 hours ago, DUNROAMIN said:

You only have to end a few minutes on the internet to find out Thai Airways has declined in service and affordability over the last few years. Once a great Airline now cr*p.

 

It was never a great airline but marginally better than BA.

 

[trainman34014]

6 hours ago, ezzra said:

Thai have grown so big now, too big to remember how to provide the basics services, while every few days you read

how Thai are selling and buying new fleets of  planes in the billions...

 

Just recently had to jump through many hoops trying to re book my business class return from Melbourne to Bkk

endlessly waiting on the phone to speak to customer's service, unfortunately Thai is the only regular direct flight

from Melbourne to Bkk, (other than Jetstar) and not a fan of a stop-overs...

 

 

 

They lost the plot when they seperated with Scandinavian Airways; been very mediocre since then at best, mainly owing to very poor Thai Management.   Gave up flying with them many years ago and would never go back !

[trainman34014]

9 minutes ago, Chelseafan said:

 

It was never a great airline but marginally better than BA.

 

Back when Thai were good, 25 years ago and more, they were very good.  Britsh Airways haven't been any good since the days of a Fleet of Brtannia's !

[CHdiver]

11 hours ago, 2long said:

There has to be more to this. I smell some exaggeration. 

Was it one faulty seat, or more seats that never recline? Surely the plane cant have been designed to have non-reclining business class seats and if it was, then we would have heard of it before (from others complaining).

I get the feeling there's another side to this story, and maybe the customers expected more than he deserved.

Do you mean he toght the seat shoud have bent over backwards?

 

Usually you do get a lie flat seat, some old seats have lie flat at an angle. 

[OldChinaHand]

4 hours ago, Peterphuket said:

Not always, 15-20 years back they where much better.

They were a wonderful airline way back when.  But of course they did not have to earn a profit.  Now they are a public company they have to cut corners.

[richard_smith237]

5 hours ago, 2long said:

There has to be more to this. I smell some exaggeration. 

Was it one faulty seat, or more seats that never recline? Surely the plane cant have been designed to have non-reclining business class seats and if it was, then we would have heard of it before (from others complaining).

I get the feeling there's another side to this story, and maybe the customers expected more than he deserved.

I think the customer just expected a working seat after paying a premium

for business class - anyone would complain about that.

[Scottie12]

I remember the days when they were run by ex SAS Scandinavians and were a great airline.

[Khyron]

4 hours ago, Yagoda said:

In my personal ratings, Thai is at the bottom near Southwest and Jetblue.

 

But those two daily flights to Frankfurt? 11 hours direct? Priceless for me. Get off the plane, get a room, go to an FKK, then next morning 9 hours to the USA via Iceland Air (loads of hot blondes there)

Oh come on now, why insult Southwest by comparing them to Thai. I always know what I am getting by flying SWA, 2 free pieces of luggage, never been disappointed by them. Thai, on the other hand...

[Celsius]

2 hours ago, malibukid said:

5000 baht voucher for a 100,000 baht fare.  typical.  i will never fly with them.  rude and  arrogant service. 

 

Unlikely he paid that much. My business class seat to Canada was 80,000b with EVA

[john11k]

Never heard such a pack of moaners. !

As for “ cattle class “  typical snooty expression. !

sit down , watch a film , read a book ,   Get on with it princesses. !!

[soi3eddie]

7 hours ago, ezzra said:

I had to call Thai office in Bkk to get re-booked as Australia's Thai office are unreachable...

Since covid started, I have always called the Thai airways Bangkok number to book, rebook and change flights. Never, even during the worst of covid shutdowns, was there a problem getting through or getting the expected service. Since then, they have closed most other offices worldwide - for walkins - at least. +66 2 356 1111. Using Skype, calls are very cheap (or even included on monthly plans).

[brianthainess]

6 hours ago, 2long said:

There has to be more to this. I smell some exaggeration. 

Was it one faulty seat, or more seats that never recline? Surely the plane cant have been designed to have non-reclining business class seats and if it was, then we would have heard of it before (from others complaining).

I get the feeling there's another side to this story, and maybe the customers expected more than he deserved.

Can you not see the Photo ? There is no way those seats could recline. Even worse you'd have to sit bolt upright.

[JohnAllan]

6 hours ago, 2long said:

... I get the feeling there's another side to this story, and maybe the customers expected more than he deserved.

There most often IS another side!

 

Perhaps Thai would care to give ITS version!

[proton]

3 hours ago, Dialemco said:

Thai needs to reinstate its overseas offices and improve its customer relations so that complaints may be resolved fairly

 

in 2007 bought a one way ticket UK- BKK, I had a visa. After buying it TG sent an email saying I would not be allowed entry with a one way ticket. They would not respond to emails asking why not and never answered the phone. Had to go all the way to London, Abermarle st office. No other customers there, phone ringing not answered, they did not know. They had to call Heathrow TG staff who said no problem, when asked about the email they claimed the rules must have been changed. Incompetent, lazy and infuriating

[2long]

1 hour ago, brianthainess said:

Can you not see the Photo ? There is no way those seats could recline. Even worse you'd have to sit bolt upright.

I feel that the photo is a stick/file image of the cabin and it looks to me like all those seats recline flat or almost flat.

I have not seen the Thai guy's pics or complaint. Has anyone else on AN/TV seen this?

 

All I'm saying is that it's unclear from the report exactly what the issue was. If he's complaining on behalf of himself and his clients, then are we talking about multiple seats? And if multiple seats, is it a malfunction (compensation deserved) or bad design (wouldn't we have heard of this before) or something else?

[scorecard]

4 hours ago, malibukid said:

the closed their office up here in Chiang Mai, no wonder

Maybe AirAsia has set the new model - customer not allowed to contact the airline by phone or by e.mail or whatever.

[Toby1947]

Definitely makes you wonder about their important maintenance schedule. Knowing what a fiddling nation they represent.

[JCCR6]

THAI lost my loyalty when they did a bait and switch with their ROP miles. They stopped for hotel awards due to being under administration. They’re now posting record profits and haven’t brought back hotel awards.

They now charge for exit row seats like a low cost airline. Service has gone downhill. 

 

 

[Puccini]

13 hours ago, gargamon said:

Only has himself to blame. Why fly Thai Airways when there's many better airlines to use, EVA for example.

 

On what days of the week does EVA fly from Bangkok to Shsanghai?