6 hours ago, Jedi888 said:

WTF, they waited several years for the plane deliveries to ADD 1st class, and now so soon they want to remove it??? The King ask them to add it in, and they did. This airline is still not being managed right, still messy. 

 

From what I heard it's pretty much empty most of the time. I'll find out next week when I fly. I know from seat selection that it was half full when I booked - all the window seats were already reserved - so I'm gonna be pissed off if there's not people in them when I get on board.

 

They added it back in on 3 planes apparently, that's it - 8 seats per plane on just 3 planes.

Failed experiment? Many airlines are abandoning first class for some reason - I guess they want the extra space to fit in like 1 more business class seats.

 

The middle eastern airlines have decimated the long haul industry - which is kind of surprising - who wants to sit in Dubai or some other place in the middle of the night for multiple hours waiting for a connection when you could be flying direct? Penny pinchers, that's who.

13 minutes ago, ukrules said:

The middle eastern airlines have decimated the long haul industry - which is kind of surprising - who wants to sit in Dubai or some other place in the middle of the night for multiple hours waiting for a connection when you could be flying direct? Penny pinchers, that's who.

Penny pinchers? It's usually no cheaper, it is a preference.

Some people, myself included, prefer breaking the flight. I don't want to sit on a tin can - even in business - for 12 hours straight. Flying Emirates to the UK you can usually choose a stop of 90 minutes or so, you are hardly waiting around for hours.

I used to fly direct: Thai, then business on BA. Since the first time I tried Emirates and did the stop I have never gone back to direct. Done Emirates, Etihad, Oman, Gulf. All of them available with short stops and often you can even have a free overnight night stay in the city if you want. And generally those airlines are just better than any of the direct competition, especially in business.

Something tells me you've never done it.

Anyone know how many of the world's top 20 airlines have first class cabins (as a distinct product and in addition to business class)?

1 hour ago, ronnie50 said:

Anyone know how many of the world's top 20 airlines have first class cabins (as a distinct product and in addition to business class)?

Around half of them, but usually limited to certain aircraft, and definitely diminishing.

On 9/24/2025 at 5:11 AM, NanLaew said:

I didn't specifically label you as a Thai basher (they know who they are) and like yourself, with certain aspects of life here, one just has to take it in stride.

 

I'm not a TG basher... they 'tick the box'... nothing more really - most airlines are similar, some such as Qatar better etc... But they are not direct if thats what you are after.

 

My Gripe with TG is the ROP membership - having built loads of points, spending them is extremely difficult and the tax on the award seats is ridiculous....

 

... Compared to Emirates and Etihad their ROP membership is appalling.

 

 

All of that said: This is about 1st Class seating... and I think it makes sense to get rid of it.

39 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

My Gripe with TG is the ROP membership - having built loads of points, spending them is extremely difficult and the tax on the award seats is ridiculous....

 

... Compared to Emirates and Etihad their ROP membership is appalling.

Yeah, Cathay is the same. Really hard to ever use the points for a biz class seat. Same with Korean. 

In the case of ME airlines, there is intense competiton for customers and loyalty - it's a really crowded field now compared to 20 years ago - so maybe that's why they are a bit more generous in giving up seats for points.

55 minutes ago, ronnie50 said:

Yeah, Cathay is the same. Really hard to ever use the points for a biz class seat. Same with Korean. 

In the case of ME airlines, there is intense competiton for customers and loyalty - it's a really crowded field now compared to 20 years ago - so maybe that's why they are a bit more generous in giving up seats for points.

 

The ME Airlines couldn't make it any easier... 

Choose the flights, use your points or cash+points... its so simple and can be done so easily online.

 

TG - you have to book a year 330 days in advance and then you'll be extremely lucky to get the seat you want, and then the Tax is about 60% of a ticket with an ME Airline anyway !!! (Wife just managed to get crappy Airmiles flights and BKK-UK-BKK and the tax alone was 26,000 baht !!!)..

... its as if their business model is to try to make you avoid using points as much as possible....

 

 

 

 

 

 

20 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

... its as if their business model is to try to make you avoid using points as much as possible....

I think you might be closer to the truth than you suggest..

On 9/26/2025 at 2:22 AM, ukrules said:

The middle eastern airlines have decimated the long haul industry - which is kind of surprising - who wants to sit in Dubai or some other place in the middle of the night for multiple hours waiting for a connection when you could be flying direct? Penny pinchers, that's who.

 

Those of us who use provincial airports have to stop somewhere.  Having just got off a 1 hour 25 minute flight followed by an 11 hour 45 minute one, I can assure you that splitting the flights in the Middle East into roughly equal portions is a much more preferable option for me.