Anyone flown in and out of Heathrow on THAI recently? I have a family summer vacation and looking at the non-stop options. I know EVA does it and are cheaper and have a decent reputation, but I am only seeking RECENT experiences flying the 'Smooth as silk' airline.

 

Thanks

Flew Bangkok London Christmas day on Thai

Simply has to be the worst flight in around 500 sectors involvong London to Bangkok via hubs or direct

 

Awful absolutely shocking. Would take me half an hour to type why

 

Didnt even have the minimum amount of flight attendants on duty

7 hours ago, Chivas said:

Flew Bangkok London Christmas day on Thai

Simply has to be the worst flight in around 500 sectors involvong London to Bangkok via hubs or direct

 

Awful absolutely shocking. Would take me half an hour to type why

 

Didnt even have the minimum amount of flight attendants on duty

 

That's Christmas for you.

 

Anyway, since you seem to know these things, what's their minimum staffing numbers anyway and how many did they have on your flight?

5 hours ago, JustinT said:

Thai is absolutely the worst.  EVA is 100 times better.  Especially in business class.  Sorry for you guys in cattle class on any airline.

 

When did you last fly Thai and when did you last fly EVA?

On 3/22/2025 at 5:11 AM, NanLaew said:

Anyone flown in and out of Heathrow on THAI recently? I have a family summer vacation and looking at the non-stop options. I know EVA does it and are cheaper and have a decent reputation, but I am only seeking RECENT experiences flying the 'Smooth as silk' airline.

 

Thanks

Asking on AN about Thai Airways is just asking for nonsense from people who don't fly or who had a delayed flight 17 years ago and "vowed never to fly Thai again" like other airlines don't have delays.

Can't help you personally as never done TG to the UK and it is 20 years since I did EVA - I always go Emirates or other Middle Eastern carriers. However one of my clients flew out here on Thai on Monday. I know she had a horrid flight as there was a crying baby right next to her but I'll ask her tomorrow what her objective opinion was of the flight experience, baby aside.

I flew Thai TG916 BKK to LHR on 22nd March. Was booked in economy but got upgraded to business at the gate due to the cancellation day before due to fire closure of LHR. Never ever been upgraded for free on Thai (normally upgrade with mileage). The service and food was excellent on this totally full flight (older 777-300ER) that departs Bangkok about 13:00hrs and arrives in London about 19:00hrs same-day.

 

Returning on Thai TG911 LHR to BKK on 29th March, I was in economy. This was one of the three newer 777-300ERs that have the first class seats. Again, service from Thai, even in economy was excellent. No complaints from any of the people seated nearby. TG911 is the better Thai flight, in my opinion, as it departs 11:50am and arrives in Bangkok around 06:00am which suits me. Food was excellent for economy (2 meals) and entertainment OK as this plane has the new system - bring your own headphones for better sound. Big and clean toilets.

 

Thai still Smooth as Silk in my opinion. I'll add some pictures of business class food below (it was actually too much food). Now serving caviar (at least on BKK-LHR). I'm flying Thai business again to London next week and totally looking forward to the flight.

 

 

On 4/9/2025 at 7:01 PM, NanLaew said:

 

That's Christmas for you.

 

Anyway, since you seem to know these things, what's their minimum staffing numbers anyway and how many did they have on your flight?

 

Nothing to do with Christmas lol............seriously I'd be here for hours detailing how bad it was

 

One example geezer beside me pressed overhead buzzer few hours into flight . Eventually some snarling miserable looking bint turned up and he asked for an orange juice very politely,,,,

 

Her response

 

"At the back go and help yourself"

 

Shocking disgusting absolutely never again

As an aside I am planning my own 4 week trip to the UK  from June 2 - 30th.

 

I have checked most other popular options both direct and non stop ( Eva , Emirates , Qatar , Ethiad )   

 

They are all quoting around the 35,000 mark , give or take a thou or two.

 

Thai Airways , for the same thing is quoting 1819 dollars ( 60,000 baht for economy )

 

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Denim said:

I have checked most other popular options both direct and non stop ( Eva , Emirates , Qatar , Ethiad ) 

 

The airlines you mention are neither direct or non-stop except EVA.

 

1 hour ago, Denim said:

Thai Airways , for the same thing is quoting 1819 dollars ( 60,000 baht for economy )

 

I don't know what site you were on but the page you have shown seems strange.  No regular Thai airways ticket has a baggage allowance of 20 kgs (23 is the minimum for this route in Economy Class) and booking these flights direct from TG would currently price at 43,520 THB (or 1,294 USD equivalent).  I realise prices fluctuate and this is still more expensive than you mention for the other airlines), but if the site you're using is that far out I'd be checking elsewhere.

 

 

(Hope I've got the date/times right?)

2 hours ago, Chivas said:

 

Nothing to do with Christmas lol............seriously I'd be here for hours detailing how bad it was

 

One example geezer beside me pressed overhead buzzer few hours into flight . Eventually some snarling miserable looking bint turned up and he asked for an orange juice very politely,,,,

 

Her response

 

"At the back go and help yourself"

 

Shocking disgusting absolutely never again

 

So, no knowledge of their cabin crew minimum staffing levels.

 

Thought so.

The first few times I went to Thailand, I used EVA.

One time, I paid £420  (economy) return, which at the time was cheap.

But I got tired of the flight times. Leaving LHR in the evening was alright as it gives most of the day to get there with no rush. I used to fly out in November or December, so once again the evening take off was good as I could get to LHR in daylight.

What I came to dislike and hence why I stopped using was the landing time and Thai Airways.

The flight is supposed to land about 4pm (from memory, could be slightly out on this)

Anyway, the flights I was on always landed late, and the baggage always seemed to take a long time.

Meaning getting to the hotel gone 7pm. When friends do the same flight no delays WTF!?!?!?

 

On one trip I wanted to go to Udon Thani first, so I looked around. Rather than EVA then have to book another flight I found Thai did a multi-city ticket, so I booked. Cost more than EVA but less hassle. LHR to BKK then onto Udon.

Take off at 12.30 pm on the A380 was nice, and by 1pm the next day I was walking down to road from my hotel in Udon.

 

Since then, I like the 12.30 pm take off from LHR. Gets me into BKK early, which I like.

 

 

16 hours ago, treetops said:

 

The airlines you mention are neither direct or non-stop except EVA.

 

 

I don't know what site you were on but the page you have shown seems strange.  No regular Thai airways ticket has a baggage allowance of 20 kgs (23 is the minimum for this route in Economy Class) and booking these flights direct from TG would currently price at 43,520 THB (or 1,294 USD equivalent).  I realise prices fluctuate and this is still more expensive than you mention for the other airlines), but if the site you're using is that far out I'd be checking elsewhere.

 

 

(Hope I've got the date/times right?)

 

 

Yes, I tried again this morning and also got a similar price 43,570 return ( quoted in Baht )

 

Yesterday I could not access the local Thai Airways website  ( tech glitch )  and ended up at the Thai Airways American website which is probably why the price was quoted in dollars .

 

When it comes to non stop flights there are now only 2 airlines offering this ....EVA and Thai. I have flown both and found them pretty similar with EVA slightly better. However , this year I was looking for more comfort in economy class and the middle eastern airlines use the Airbus 380 double decker which have better seats . The trade off is that you have 1 stop en route. But it is only about an hour so tolerable.

Ethiad even offer 1-2 free nights hotel accomodation in Abu Dhabi so you can break the journey and have a rest half way. However , not much to do there so probably won't take that option.

 

The term  ' as an aside '  means that what follows is related to but not a direct response to the original question , which is why I started with it.

Others might be contemplating a similar trip so I thought any additional information on available options might be useful.

26 minutes ago, Denim said:

When it comes to non stop flights there are now only 2 airlines offering this ....EVA and Thai.

....and BA from LGW 3 times a week.....if you can put up with either of those.

2 hours ago, Denim said:

 

 

Yes, I tried again this morning and also got a similar price 43,570 return ( quoted in Baht )

 

Yesterday I could not access the local Thai Airways website  ( tech glitch )  and ended up at the Thai Airways American website which is probably why the price was quoted in dollars .

 

When it comes to non stop flights there are now only 2 airlines offering this ....EVA and Thai. I have flown both and found them pretty similar with EVA slightly better. However , this year I was looking for more comfort in economy class and the middle eastern airlines use the Airbus 380 double decker which have better seats . The trade off is that you have 1 stop en route. But it is only about an hour so tolerable.

Ethiad even offer 1-2 free nights hotel accomodation in Abu Dhabi so you can break the journey and have a rest half way. However , not much to do there so probably won't take that option.

 

The term  ' as an aside '  means that what follows is related to but not a direct response to the original question , which is why I started with it.

Others might be contemplating a similar trip so I thought any additional information on available options might be useful.

No issues with offering the obvious alternatives and I have availed myself of Qatar on a few personal trips post-covid. Their coach service is a good example of economical, no-frills travel when needs must but I'm not a big fan of their service or their hub airport. After cutting my teeth almost half a century ago in the middle east oil fields, I prefer to pass over them at around 30,000' these days.

2 hours ago, Upnotover said:

....and BA from LGW 3 times a week.....if you can put up with either of those.

They offered really good fares when the service started, probably to get the seats filled. I haven't checked if they still do, but apart from lack of connectivity with LGW, I didn't like the times.

21 hours ago, NanLaew said:

 

So, no knowledge of their cabin crew minimum staffing levels.

 

Thought so.

 

 

 

I'll go again and answer you I was in the rear economy cabin big section obviously. No pre food snacks or drinks....no real issue to be fair some airlines have stopped it anyway but somewhat surprised to be fair on a  national carrier on its "premier" route

 

Food comes out on aisle section opposite us, Start serving I wasnt the only one looking around thinking wheres our side !!  Guy on centre section but on our aisle side asks across across wheres our flight attendants (re food)

 

Polite response from one of the two girls (sorry sir we are short crewed tonight)

 

They wind themselves down the front of the cabin reverse back up obviously reload on food and start on our aisle

 

 

On 4/10/2025 at 1:57 AM, josephbloggs said:

Asking on AN about Thai Airways is just asking for nonsense from people who don't fly or who had a delayed flight 17 years ago and "vowed never to fly Thai again" like other airlines don't have delays.

Can't help you personally as never done TG to the UK and it is 20 years since I did EVA - I always go Emirates or other Middle Eastern carriers. However one of my clients flew out here on Thai on Monday. I know she had a horrid flight as there was a crying baby right next to her but I'll ask her tomorrow what her objective opinion was of the flight experience, baby aside.

Well I did ask them. They both said it was "very average" and that the IFE was appalling with a lack of selection, they couldn't believe how bad that was. But service was ok. 

 

 

 

Not been on TG for 18 years, having read this made me have a look at the Thai Air prices these days, could not get thier website to work so gave up.

59 minutes ago, proton said:

 

Not been on TG for 18 years, having read this made me have a look at the Thai Air prices these days, could not get thier website to work so gave up.

I think that's a you problem. Website works just fine, exactly as it always does.

 

 

That's economy is it, almost 46k, glad I spent the extra on Eva premium economy next week. 

8 hours ago, proton said:

 

Not been on TG for 18 years, having read this made me have a look at the Thai Air prices these days, could not get thier website to work so gave up.

Meanwhile many, many other people can.

 

Amazing THAIland, eh?

5 hours ago, NanLaew said:

Meanwhile many, many other people can.

 

Amazing THAIland, eh?

 

Still can't get it to work, not booking with them anyway at their prices and terrible food.

12 hours ago, proton said:

That's economy is it, almost 46k, glad I spent the extra on Eva premium economy next week. 

Economy yes.  And you pay the same again if you want to come back.

1 hour ago, Upnotover said:

Economy yes.  And you pay the same again if you want to come back.

 

Can't be right, 46k each way? you would have to have more money than sense it's only just over 65k return on Eva premium economy

40 minutes ago, proton said:

 

Can't be right, 46k each way? you would have to have more money than sense it's only just over 65k return on Eva premium economy

I think it's just that day but those are the prices for one way.  Normal price is lower, but still high compared to others.

14 hours ago, NanLaew said:

Meanwhile many, many other people can.

 

Amazing THAIland, eh?

 

The other day it was down and it wouldn't work at all for me either.  Hence if you read my first post I finally got the Thai Airways American site up and it quoted in dollars around 60,000. 

 

The next morning I tried again and the Thai site worked fine and I was quoted 43,570.

 

The day before I tried with 4 different browsers but there was a tech problem Proton must have checked around the same time.

On 4/12/2025 at 9:48 AM, josephbloggs said:

Well I did ask them. They both said it was "very average" and that the IFE was appalling with a lack of selection, they couldn't believe how bad that was. But service was ok. 

 

 

 

Appalling it was virtually non existant

As I said earlier in thread certainly over 500 sectors involving London Bangkok and that flight was the worst ever

When you consider of the 31 airlines I've flown solely on this route (maybe 32 now after China Eastern) include Biman Lot Aeroflot Tarom Balken even China Eastern thats some statement of how shight it was

1 hour ago, Chivas said:

 

Appalling it was virtually non existant

As I said earlier in thread certainly over 500 sectors involving London Bangkok and that flight was the worst ever

When you consider of the 31 airlines I've flown solely on this route (maybe 32 now after China Eastern) include Biman Lot Aeroflot Tarom Balken even China Eastern thats some statement of how shight it was

Excellent.  Get's my vote every time.  The first thing I look for is the off button.  The last thing I want on an airplane is to be "entertained".

1 hour ago, Upnotover said:

Excellent.  Get's my vote every time.  The first thing I look for is the off button.  The last thing I want on an airplane is to be "entertained".

Are you a rawdogger?

9 minutes ago, josephbloggs said:

Are you a rawdogger?

Yes.  In both original and current meanings.