Thai Airways Among World's Top Ten Airlines in 2024

[terryofcrete]

5 hours ago, proton said:

In my top three of never use again, the others being Qatar and KLM

Is Qatar on that list ? My eyes aren't the best these days.I always use Qatar to Thailand... recently though, I think the food has disimproved.

[Olsworth]

Thai airways is at number 33 on skytrax top 100 awards, where did they get placed in the top 10 from, 2023 they were number 40 

[suestra29]

I put Thai Air in the same category as Ryan Air, Easy Jet and KLM. 
Non of these I will ever fly with again. 

[spidermike007]

Skytrax is alot more credible. Thai is NOT a top ten airline. I've flown on them many times including a recent trip from Paris to Bangkok and although I didn't have any complaints, it was nowhere near top 10 in service or amenities. 

 

Business class might be a different story on some flights, but unfortunately I did not fly in that class. 

[Sig]

19 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

Nah, you'll find that most of the bashers rarely fly at all. People that do will know they are not that bad. I did have a period of about ten years or more not using them at all then I went back and I can say they are much improved.

 

I've said it many times on here before, but I travel fairly frequently and Thai are my choice for regional travel and I would say they are one of the best regional airlines. Usually fairly modern planes (with the odd clunker on certain lower priority routes), perfectly acceptable food and decent service - nothing to complain about at all. Their ground services are also decent, check-in is always well manned at Suvarnabhumi.

For long haul, no, definitely not as their IFE is poor and they are not a patch on the Middle Eastern carriers. If flying business class long haul then it is a double no. When I worked for a Thai public company many years ago the CEO always flew Thai business. I had to do a trip to the UK with him and I persuaded him to come with me on Emirates. He was astonished, he couldn't believe the difference - and that started in the lounge and the chauffeur service - his eyes were opened. Having said that I still see him on Facebook flying everywhere on Thai.

Anyway, the bashers can bash, regionally they are one of the best. 

I can agree with you re regionally. But this article was claiming worldwide. That, I find dubious.

[Sig]

1 hour ago, terryofcrete said:

Is Qatar on that list ? My eyes aren't the best these days.I always use Qatar to Thailand... recently though, I think the food has disimproved.

You'll be happy to hear that Qatar Airways made it on the list - number 5! 🙂

Edited July 19 by Sig

[maddermax]

I just tried to book flights to Phuket for next week. Tried the Thai Airways site with different browsers. Locked out. Then tried with the App on my phone - same again.

So I thought I would try the call centre in Bangkok. Hanging on for 20 mins with no answer.

So just how do I book a flight with Thai Airways??!!

[suestra29]

9 hours ago, Georgealbert said:

Earlier this year Piyasvasti Amranaf, an independent director of Thai Airways, posted data which shows that Thai Airways in 2023 was the world’s highest profit margin making airline, as Thai Aiways is reportedly charging the highest margin on its ticket sales among all airlines.

 

Doesn’t mean it is profitable at all. Just means the put the biggest margin on their tickets sold or not sold at those prices 

[Georgealbert]

8 minutes ago, suestra29 said:

Doesn’t mean it is profitable at all. Just means the put the biggest margin on their tickets sold or not sold at those prices 

 

8 minutes ago, suestra29 said:

Yes agree, I was replying to another poster and put up the information that was posted online by a Thai Airways director, who was boosting about the listing, as shown.

[VBF]

21 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

Nah, you'll find that most of the bashers rarely fly at all. People that do will know they are not that bad. I did have a period of about ten years or more not using them at all then I went back and I can say they are much improved.

 

I've said it many times on here before, but I travel fairly frequently and Thai are my choice for regional travel and I would say they are one of the best regional airlines. Usually fairly modern planes (with the odd clunker on certain lower priority routes), perfectly acceptable food and decent service - nothing to complain about at all. Their ground services are also decent, check-in is always well manned at Suvarnabhumi.

For long haul, no, definitely not as their IFE is poor and they are not a patch on the Middle Eastern carriers. If flying business class long haul then it is a double no. When I worked for a Thai public company many years ago the CEO always flew Thai business. I had to do a trip to the UK with him and I persuaded him to come with me on Emirates. He was astonished, he couldn't believe the difference - and that started in the lounge and the chauffeur service - his eyes were opened. Having said that I still see him on Facebook flying everywhere on Thai.

Anyway, the bashers can bash, regionally they are one of the best. 

Nice comments.

I stopped flying Thai some 20 years ago when (IMO) they really went downhill both in service and VFM internationally.

I used to fly Thai from UK, then onto Phuket using my Thai air miles which eventually ran out.

 

I transferred my business to Ethiad, then Emirates.

 

Haven't done much domestic flying recently, but in 2020 at the the start of Covid I HAD to buy a Thai ticket to London because Emirates weren't flying.

 

So in my PERSONAL experience from 2020, a DIRECT comparison on an A380, Business Class gives Emirates 10/10 and Thai 6/10 for:

Ground service

Aircraft configuration

Inflight service

Food quality / choice.

 

i shall continue using Emirates / Ethiad; but if  I fly domestically in Thailand, I've had good experiences on Air Asia and Nok Air...but a long time ago.

[Mickboy]

Depends on the crew, I have had some bad experience with male crew members one even threw a beer at my mate and it hit the dining tray and went over him.

[hollywood998]

So why don’t they refund the members they scammed.

[terryofcrete]

6 hours ago, Sig said:

You'll be happy to hear that Qatar Airways made it on the list - number 5! 🙂

Thanks but I don't see that ....?

[josephbloggs]

15 hours ago, Georgealbert said:

Earlier this year Piyasvasti Amranaf, an independent director of Thai Airways, posted data which shows that Thai Airways in 2023 was the world’s highest profit margin making airline, as Thai Aiways is reportedly charging the highest margin on its ticket sales among all airlines.

 

I know you are just reporting what you find and so I'm not shooting the messenger. There are no middle eastern airlines in there at all. Emirates posted a record $4.7 billion profit last year, so pretty sure their margins must be decent. Other ME airlines too.

[Homburg]

10 hours ago, maddermax said:

I just tried to book flights to Phuket for next week. Tried the Thai Airways site with different browsers. Locked out. Then tried with the App on my phone - same again.

So I thought I would try the call centre in Bangkok. Hanging on for 20 mins with no answer.

So just how do I book a flight with Thai Airways??!!

Possibly you just encountered today's little Crowdstrike outage blip?  

 

 

[GinBoy2]

In all honestly, you are in a metal tube, for what at worst 15 hours of your life. 

 

The food is something equivalent to a low class cafe, you'll live.

 

Get the lowest priced flight you can on Bucket Airlines, grin and bear it through those hours in the air, the extra $1000 you might have paid for an extra glass of champagne isn't worth it

[richard_smith237]

On 7/18/2024 at 8:30 AM, n00dle said:

On 7/18/2024 at 8:28 AM, josephbloggs said:

Cue the bashers....

 

 More like cue the realists or anyone that has actually flown Thai

 

Agreed... 

 

The reality is Thai is not in the top 10, neither is it in the Top 20.. 

 

Thai Airways is 33rd out of 100 in the World Airline Awards... 

 

https://www.worldairlineawards.com/worlds-top-100-airlines-2024/

 

 

 

In fact, Thai airways is not in the top 10 of any of the various ranking systems that come up.

 

https://www.flightright.com/blog/best-airlines-world-ranking

 

https://kintetsu.com/news/worlds-top-100-airlines-2024/

 

 

 

That said - Thai Airways does get a lot of unreasonable 'bashing'...    It perhaps doesn't deserve that...  up until the point that a nationalistic article is waxing lyrical about something very average being amongst the best in the world... 

 

Its an OK airline... not great, neither is it bad.

The only reasons I flight is because of the ROP air-miles I get from CreditCard usage... 

Otherwise the choice is down to price vs standards. 

 

To Japan is cheaper than ANA and JAL / and better than the Budget Airlines which I avoid.

 

Regionally - Its better than the other Asean Airlines (with the exception of Singapore of course).

 

Heading West towards Europe - Its neither here nor there compared to BA / KL etc..

 

Lufthansa is better....   

 

Turkish... Qatar, Emirates, Gulf, Etihad are significantly better.

 

 

One of the things none of us meaure is how well an airline responds to an issue - then we find out how good an airline truly are.

 

I've had a couple of points of comparison.

- Qatar Took 5 months to refund after cancelling due to covid. 

- Turkish refused to pay compensation for a delayed flight - I had to go through an ombudsman, then they paid. 

- Emirates paid out quickly after a delayed flight - hassle free.

- Etihad refused to pay for damaged baggage, rejected the claim from an ombudsman (leaving no option but to file legal charges for damaging a $300 case - which I wasn't going to do and they knew that - I never flew them again).

 

Thus - some airlines are better than others, but based on the response when something goes wrong - I would argue Emirates have been by far the best based on experience. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[richard_smith237]

6 minutes ago, GinBoy2 said:

In all honestly, you are in a metal tube, for what at worst 15 hours of your life. 

 

The food is something equivalent to a low class cafe, you'll live.

 

Get the lowest priced flight you can on Bucket Airlines, grin and bear it through those hours in the air, the extra $1000 you might have paid for an extra glass of champagne isn't worth it

 

Each to their own... some see value where others see extra cost.

 

Cheapest tickets at the moment to BKK to the UK are with Air India and Air China...   feel free to grin and bear it through those hours in the air and in transit.....   Or spend a little more and go with Emirates, Qatar, Turkish, Eva etc.. 

- break up the flight with a stop over - chill by the pool for an hour, have a nice dinner, sleep in a comfortable bed, get up and go again refreshed... 

 

 

 

[Patong2021]

I comment as a Star Alliance Gold  passenger and Skyteam member.; Thai is ok. Same quality as Air Canada, Air France, KLM, Swiss, Asiana. I use on domestic and flights to Hong Kong  and Japan. ANA, Singapore  and Eva are better and I use them for international flights. Thai is the only full service airline that services Thailand domestic routes, providing enhanced  checkin, baggage and lounge service. Bangkok Airways   doesn't come close now.

On 7/18/2024 at 1:30 AM, n00dle said:

 More like cue the realists or anyone that has actually flown Thai

 

Yup. try  BA, AA, UL, LH and TG comes off as wonderful. At least Thai people are nicer.

[Fortean1]

Thai used to fly to America.  We took one flight nonstop from LAX to Bangkok.  We flew economy.  Service and food was good, but the price a little high.  I think this was 2008.

Our first trip to the U.S. in nine years was last year, the summer of 2023.  We flew Korean Air from Bangkok to South Korea, then non-stop to Washington, DC.  Our son paid for the business class trip, quite pricey I thought.  Fully lying down seats was OK, but I do not sleep well on planes.  Who does.  Our return four months later was also on Korean Air from Las Vegas to South Korea to Bangkok.  Cost was $1,000 in economy.  Middle row seats with one seat not occupied.  We each had aisle seats and a vacant seat in between.  Wheelchairs for my wife and I.  More so for my wife of 50 years, who is Thai.  I couldn't keep up on my own as those wheelchair guys and gals are wickedly fast.  In South Korea the wheelchair pushers were too few.  Guy asked if I could walk.  I said a few hundred feet was OK.  No wheelchair.

 

Terry

( a few miles south of Hua Hin )

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.

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[Photoguy21]

Would suggest you check this list out by Skytrax they don't have the same opinion.

https://www.worldairlineawards.com/worlds-top-100-airlines-2024/

[simola]

555

[Sig]

On 7/19/2024 at 6:46 AM, terryofcrete said:

Thanks but I don't see that ....?

Your chart is for some sort of weekly profit scoreboard from 2023....
I got the info from the Travel and Leisure (where the article said their info was from) website regarding top international airlines for 2024 - nothing about profit....

Edited July 20 by Sig

[Deserted]

Seems like a PR stunt more than anything else. How many were asked? How many answered honestly. Thai Airways are good but top 10 is pushing it a bit. Top twenty maybe