Why Fly Thai Intl?

[IMA_FARANG]

I had to book a flight to England with only a few weeks notice. My prefered airline is EVA. Never really had a problem with them. There planes are all fitted with individual TVs and modern seats. I have also flown BA and Quantas which were OK ,but a bit more expensive than EVA.

EVA were fully booked for what seemed like a month ahead. BA and Quantas were far too expensive. The cheapest flight at the time was Qatar and one of the other ones that do a stopover in the middle east. The price was around 27000 baht one way. Thai were 32000 baht one way. I weighed up the cost of a night in BKK and a stopover in the Middle East and decided to go for Thai air. I went to book at the Thai air office in CM as it is just down the road from where I stay.The price went up to 36000. I went back home to book on the Internet and the price was,,,,,,,,,, 108,000 baht one way economy. What the *&^%. I went back to Thai air and payed the 36000 . Thats almost £600 one way.

I had a connecting flight from CM with Thai air. The plane from CM to Bkk was a modern plane with

individual TVs and modern comfy chairs. Not really needed as its only a 1 hour 10 minute flight.

The Flight from Bkk to London was a 747 and was running on time. On boarding you get a little look at first class. Nice! Turn right and were back in the 90s. What a shocker. I did'nt know that they still had long haul planes like this. No individual TVs. Just one big projector screen and tiny 12inch screens in the aisles. The seats were skinny little things with really old looking upholstery. Oh well its was only 12 hours to go. When I took my seat I was 14 feet away from the 12 inch screen that was hanging from the ceiling inthe Aisle. The large screen was directly to my left so I could only see a glare.

Now, obviously I have a choice and I made it. It was the wrong one to choose Thai air. Are all there long haul flights like this ? Or did I just get unlucky? Well after speaking to a few people since Ive been back apparently not. They are apparently having alot of financial problems. This may explain why they have not upgraded all there planes.

I will not book with Thai air for an intl flight again. I will even do a stopover to avoid flying with them. If they were the cheapest, or nearly the cheapest I could understand why the plane was such a crate. They are not!

Just a little funny bit to finish on. The lady in the sit next to me had requested vegetarian food. The Camp steward said that there was'nt any left. He asked her if she could eat normal food? Priceless! She got a tray of fruit for dinner.

Why fly Thai International? Well I fly about twice a year from Athens to Bangkok. Thai has a direct flight, about 11 hours each way. There is also a Olympic Airways flight. Thai leaves at 1630 from Athens and arrives at BKK abou 0600 in the morning, The Olympic direct flight leaves early in the morning, about 0900 I believe, which means I can't get there from Crete on time, and I would have to spend a night in Athens if I took the Olympic flight. There is a Gulf Air flight thru Dubai to BKK. It makes you wait for 12 hours in Dubai outbound and about 20 hours on the return leg. I could also fly thru Istambul, Turkey....the total waiting time in Istambul would be almost 30 hours (waiting time going to Bkk and return time added together). The Thai flight from Bkk to Athens leaves BKK at 0025 and arrives in Athens at 0630 the next morning. Therefore I can catch the 1030 flight from Athens to Crete, and still be there in time to work the night shift that day.

EVA doesn't fly out of Athens. Any other questions?

Edited April 3, 2008 by IMA_FARANG

[samran]

why fly thai?

If you live in LOS, they have the best network. Have always flown them with work over the past 3 and a bit years.

If you add in the AMEX FF awards, UOB FF awards, and a bit of semi-regular travel with Thai (once or twice a quarter), it is easy to rack up annually the 60,000 FF points need for a return economy trip to Melbourne, which is where I'm from.

From a FF perspective, they are extremely easy to redeem, unlike QANTARSE, who I used to have gold membership with.

[wanderer9020]

Well, if ur only up for AVOD or IFE, then , dont fly THAI.But you dont really need IFE if ur flying overnight like from Bkk to Tokyo.I agree, that for long haul flights like BKK- Europe, u really need it, fly Singapore Airlines then, thats all I can recommend.I cant traade the cabin service of Thai Airways, it was always the best, far more than SQ IMHO.

More on Thai Airways, long haul flight with IFE , is on the folowing routes >

BKK-Zurich

BKK-Milan

BKK-FRA or MUNich, (not sure)

BKK-Auckland

BKK-LAX

BKK-JFk

Defintely, Im flying BKK-JFK on THai,or BKK-LAX.

[ClaytonSeymour]

I had to book a flight to England with only a few weeks notice. My prefered airline is EVA. Never really had a problem with them. There planes are all fitted with individual TVs and modern seats. I have also flown BA and Quantas which were OK ,but a bit more expensive than EVA.

EVA were fully booked for what seemed like a month ahead. BA and Quantas were far too expensive. The cheapest flight at the time was Qatar and one of the other ones that do a stopover in the middle east. The price was around 27000 baht one way. Thai were 32000 baht one way. I weighed up the cost of a night in BKK and a stopover in the Middle East and decided to go for Thai air. I went to book at the Thai air office in CM as it is just down the road from where I stay.The price went up to 36000. I went back home to book on the Internet and the price was,,,,,,,,,, 108,000 baht one way economy. What the *&^%. I went back to Thai air and payed the 36000 . Thats almost £600 one way.

I had a connecting flight from CM with Thai air. The plane from CM to Bkk was a modern plane with

individual TVs and modern comfy chairs. Not really needed as its only a 1 hour 10 minute flight.

The Flight from Bkk to London was a 747 and was running on time. On boarding you get a little look at first class. Nice! Turn right and were back in the 90s. What a shocker. I did'nt know that they still had long haul planes like this. No individual TVs. Just one big projector screen and tiny 12inch screens in the aisles. The seats were skinny little things with really old looking upholstery. Oh well its was only 12 hours to go. When I took my seat I was 14 feet away from the 12 inch screen that was hanging from the ceiling inthe Aisle. The large screen was directly to my left so I could only see a glare.

Now, obviously I have a choice and I made it. It was the wrong one to choose Thai air. Are all there long haul flights like this ? Or did I just get unlucky? Well after speaking to a few people since Ive been back apparently not. They are apparently having alot of financial problems. This may explain why they have not upgraded all there planes.

I will not book with Thai air for an intl flight again. I will even do a stopover to avoid flying with them. If they were the cheapest, or nearly the cheapest I could understand why the plane was such a crate. They are not!

Just a little funny bit to finish on. The lady in the sit next to me had requested vegetarian food. The Camp steward said that there was'nt any left. He asked her if she could eat normal food? Priceless! She got a tray of fruit for dinner.

Why fly Thai International? Well I fly about twice a year from Athens to Bangkok. Thai has a direct flight, about 11 hours each way. There is also a Olympic Airways flight. Thai leaves at 1630 from Athens and arrives at BKK abou 0600 in the morning, The Olympic direct flight leaves early in the morning, about 0900 I believe, which means I can't get there from Crete on time, and I would have to spend a night in Athens if I took the Olympic flight. There is a Gulf Air flight thru Dubai to BKK. Gulf Air don't fly via Dubai; Bahrain is their hub. It makes you wait for 12 hours in Dubai outbound and about 20 hours on the return leg. If you mean Emirates they most certainly do not have 12 & 20 hour layovers in DXB - total flight times are around 14/15 hours. I could also fly thru Istambul, Turkey....the total waiting time in Istambul would be almost 30 hours (waiting time going to Bkk and return time added together). Disagree, total flight duration around 13 hours in each direction.The Thai flight from Bkk to Athens leaves BKK at 0025 and arrives in Athens at 0630 the next morning. Therefore I can catch the 1030 flight from Athens to Crete, and still be there in time to work the night shift that day.

EVA doesn't fly out of Athens. Any other questions?

There's also several other airlines you haven't mentioned, but whilst flights are plentiful between HER>ATH>HER, if you're insisting on getting back to Crete in the morning - I guess you're stuck with TG.

[Rinrada]

Had a rather jolly good whizz back to Blighty on Monday with Thai and on this occasion absolutely NO Complaints.

Because KW was using on of her upgrades it was fastrack to the lounge (with her mate who is actually No 3 at Suwanna customs.. ) for a couple of aperis...G&T plus others......and then to the budgie...bit old but again MPR.....

Delightful cabin crew combined with a charming and serene ambience (no bliddy kids or chaves ferting about)great food,good selection of flicks,and lashings of champers,cheeky reds and whites (chilled) singha,changs and Heinees as well as a great selection of "apres le repas" liquers...donk....cant remember wot exactly..... ..but MPrai....

Even Heathrow on arrival ...early...didnt/woznt too bad...and the IRIS scanner even worked.

10 minutes through Immi/customs including K wifees 4 suitcases containing most of Thailands food exports for the month of march.....and we were quickly picked up by our pre arranged cab and orf along the M 25 and back in the local for a end of jolly swallow trying not to think about work...next day...

NOW over 3 quid a pint

All in all..ref the flight...as they say and to repeat.......Smooth as Silk....Luvly jubly.......we wont now be selling our shares ..........

[Fantasteak]

I had to book a flight to England with only a few weeks notice. My prefered airline is EVA. Never really had a problem with them. There planes are all fitted with individual TVs and modern seats. I have also flown BA and Quantas which were OK ,but a bit more expensive than EVA.

EVA were fully booked for what seemed like a month ahead. BA and Quantas were far too expensive. The cheapest flight at the time was Qatar and one of the other ones that do a stopover in the middle east. The price was around 27000 baht one way. Thai were 32000 baht one way. I weighed up the cost of a night in BKK and a stopover in the Middle East and decided to go for Thai air. I went to book at the Thai air office in CM as it is just down the road from where I stay.The price went up to 36000. I went back home to book on the Internet and the price was,,,,,,,,,, 108,000 baht one way economy. What the *&^%. I went back to Thai air and payed the 36000 . Thats almost £600 one way.

I had a connecting flight from CM with Thai air. The plane from CM to Bkk was a modern plane with

individual TVs and modern comfy chairs. Not really needed as its only a 1 hour 10 minute flight.

The Flight from Bkk to London was a 747 and was running on time. On boarding you get a little look at first class. Nice! Turn right and were back in the 90s. What a shocker. I did'nt know that they still had long haul planes like this. No individual TVs. Just one big projector screen and tiny 12inch screens in the aisles. The seats were skinny little things with really old looking upholstery. Oh well its was only 12 hours to go. When I took my seat I was 14 feet away from the 12 inch screen that was hanging from the ceiling inthe Aisle. The large screen was directly to my left so I could only see a glare.

Now, obviously I have a choice and I made it. It was the wrong one to choose Thai air. Are all there long haul flights like this ? Or did I just get unlucky? Well after speaking to a few people since Ive been back apparently not. They are apparently having alot of financial problems. This may explain why they have not upgraded all there planes.

I will not book with Thai air for an intl flight again. I will even do a stopover to avoid flying with them. If they were the cheapest, or nearly the cheapest I could understand why the plane was such a crate. They are not!

Just a little funny bit to finish on. The lady in the sit next to me had requested vegetarian food. The Camp steward said that there was'nt any left. He asked her if she could eat normal food? Priceless! She got a tray of fruit for dinner.

Why fly Thai International? Well I fly about twice a year from Athens to Bangkok. Thai has a direct flight, about 11 hours each way. There is also a Olympic Airways flight. Thai leaves at 1630 from Athens and arrives at BKK abou 0600 in the morning, The Olympic direct flight leaves early in the morning, about 0900 I believe, which means I can't get there from Crete on time, and I would have to spend a night in Athens if I took the Olympic flight. There is a Gulf Air flight thru Dubai to BKK. It makes you wait for 12 hours in Dubai outbound and about 20 hours on the return leg. I could also fly thru Istambul, Turkey....the total waiting time in Istambul would be almost 30 hours (waiting time going to Bkk and return time added together). The Thai flight from Bkk to Athens leaves BKK at 0025 and arrives in Athens at 0630 the next morning. Therefore I can catch the 1030 flight from Athens to Crete, and still be there in time to work the night shift that day.

EVA doesn't fly out of Athens. Any other questions?

If I find myself in Athens I may well fly Thai again. As I fly from London and have lots of choice I will not fly Thai from there.

[Fantasteak]

Had a rather jolly good whizz back to Blighty on Monday with Thai and on this occasion absolutely NO Complaints.

Because KW was using on of her upgrades it was fastrack to the lounge (with her mate who is actually No 3 at Suwanna customs.. ) for a couple of aperis...G&T plus others......and then to the budgie...bit old but again MPR.....

Delightful cabin crew combined with a charming and serene ambience (no bliddy kids or chaves ferting about)great food,good selection of flicks,and lashings of champers,cheeky reds and whites (chilled) singha,changs and Heinees as well as a great selection of "apres le repas" liquers...donk....cant remember wot exactly..... ..but MPrai....

Even Heathrow on arrival ...early...didnt/woznt too bad...and the IRIS scanner even worked.

10 minutes through Immi/customs including K wifees 4 suitcases containing most of Thailands food exports for the month of march.....and we were quickly picked up by our pre arranged cab and orf along the M 25 and back in the local for a end of jolly swallow trying not to think about work...next day...

NOW over 3 quid a pint

All in all..ref the flight...as they say and to repeat.......Smooth as Silk....Luvly jubly.......we wont now be selling our shares ..........

How do you remember any of it? I like a sherbert now and again and again and hic gain, but if I drunk that much I would,nt be able to recall it like that. You sure it was,nt just a drunken dream?

[Rinrada]

As it happens I passed on the second Drambuie.......one apres "le petit dejeuner "...is enough...

[Bonio]

I was flying Thai once a month until 2003. Then they changed their schedule and I moved to their competitors. Since 2003 I have used Thai on a few occasions for long haul and was not impressed. V. expensive and poor quality. Shabby is the word that springs to mind. I think the quality of their stewardesses has slipped as well. I think TG's standards have dropped over the last few years and I do not even look at their flight options now when sorting out my flights. Long haul to UK I use Etihad- most comfortable business class in my opinion altho' Abu Dhabi airport could do with a lick of paint. Convenient for me from Bkk into MAN & I like a 2-3hr stopover.

Long Haul to Europe every month I use China Airlines - not great but business class is very cheap and the direct flight to AMS is very convenient for me.

In Asia short haul I use the no-frills stuff but unfortunately not TG if I can help it.

[troy04]

the advantage of thai air that they are flying directly - so you pay for a convenience.

just in february my partner fly Bkk-Lhr return open ticket with BA for 39k baht - booked diretcly on their website. Agents were offering this same flight for a 2k more. Advantage of flying with BA that on international flights they give 32kg hold baggage allowance

there are other airlines flying direct, depens the destination country, germany, switzerland, etc.

when u sign up for frequent flyer program some airlines give you a 10kg extra. even if you dont fly enough to receive other advantages. For example Emirates, also i heard Thai.

cheers

[bkk_mike]

Personally - I fly Thai because I need to go direct.

That means Thai, BA, Qantas or EVA.

I flew BA in economy ONCE. and vowed NEVER to fly BA economy ever again. (I'm over 6ft, and the leg room is virtually non-existant - I had to lift my torso up with my arms in order to get my legs into a position where I could get my feet under the seat in front.)

Even if they were cheaper I wouldn't fly BA.

If you're under 6ft, they're probably fine.

I've never tried EVA, so they might be better, but I can actually sleep on the plane in Thai, and I'm used to the lack of IFE nowadays. (Although I will admit, until I flew Thai, I didn't think any airline still had long-haul planes with no IFE in economy, let alone business when I first flew with them back in 1998.

However, IFE is very dependant on the route you're flying with Thai. i.e. London, Paris, Frankfurt, you have some old clunkers. Japan, and the direct flights to the States all have IFE in economy. (and some of those planes even have premium economy).

If manufacturers could deliver planes on time, Thai would be using A380s to London this year. As it stands, it will be 2010.

(And I'm not likely to switch to EVA any time soon - I have my gold card on Thai, so have had free upgrades to Business a few times, not counting the free upgrade you get each time you requalify for the gold card.)

[gregchambers]

I had to do a quick run back to the UK about ten days ago and there were NO cheap flights (usually use Etihad at around 30k baht), so ended up on Thai at an extortionate 47k - shabby as someone else said, ancient seats and even poor food selection; on the way back, the TV in our section was shot. Worse yet, the mighty amount of vibration on take-off did for my computer... well, only the external power supply as it turned out but I had a day worrying about adding 25k baht to the bill for a new portable. On time, more or less, and one of the hostesses had the hots for me despite my marriage ring! Convenient timings for me to and from London, plus a lot quicker than Etihad with a stopover on route, but the latter had absolutely delicious food and continuous movies on the seat back LCD. Gulf Air, though, is by far the worst airline I have been on, hopeless on time and once even changed the airport stopover.

[lomatopo]

Now, obviously I have a choice and I made it. It was the wrong one to choose Thai air.

OK, so you made the wrong choice, big deal. Move on.

I confess I did not read your post as it seemed like nothing more than a whinge and a vent. I am forever amazed that people have all the resources necessary (Internet: travel forums, trip reports, fare comparison, seat expert, etc.) to make hugely informed decisions about how to spend their money on public transportation, but they opt out, are unsatisfied and then seem to want blame someone. Clearly you've identified the culprit by glancing at the mirror.

[shawndoc]

I fly out of LAX. I've never flown Thai Airways, as they are always 30-40% more expensive, and I don't mind a slightly longer flight.

I've flown, EVA, China Air, Cathay Pacific, JAL, and United.

Eva right now is my favorite. I used to love their Evergreen Delux class, slightly more expensive than economy, but nicer accommodations. They've either since downgraded it, or I've just been unlucky the last few trips with which passenger layout I've gotten. But even just plain old economy, they're my favorite.

Worst was the United planes, with Cathay Pacific nipping at their heels for last place for flight amenities/friendliness of their flight attendants.

Eva was absolutely fantastic when I had to extend my stay in Phuket due to the Tsunami. No paperwork hassles, no issues at all with rebooking. Just gave them a call and it was all taken care of.

[operator]

I'm also a great fan of Eva. Have flown BA to Bangkok and back but never again with them, mainly to do with the attitude of the cabin crew. Some wag on the pprune website is saying people are calling the new T5 terminal Hotel California. You can checkin any time you want but you can never leave.

[Prakanong]

I just flew them as I had a gold card voucher for an upgrade so paid economy and flew Biz Class between Singapore and Heathrow last week and had a night in Bangkok.

I did get upgraded to First Class from BKK-LHR so that was pretty nice

Back in Biz Class was not bad but one of the Hosties heart was obviously not in it and it showed big time.

[kangeroo]

while i think a lot of seats are small on a lot of planes, i really think that some of the people that complain about the seats and conditions on the plane need to have a good look at themselves in the mirror . mayby a drop in a few KILOS are in order .

cheers

[FLL-BKK]

Any opinions on THAI LAX-BKK in business class? From my research, it seems to be fine - modern A340-500 with latest IFE and what appears to be decent food in Royal Silk Class. I still think Cathay Pacific is the best (in Business and First Class) but I had an opportunity to use Star Alliance miles for my travels next month.