Thai Airlines - Good And Bad

[jimmym40]

I've noticed that many posters recently had negative comments about Thai Airlines. I am a part of that group. Please if you would, post here what/why you've switched airlines instead of flying with Thai. I also noticed there were many GOLD members jumping ship - me included.

I would like to gather all comments here and send to management in Thai airlines to give them some feedback.

[tartempion]

Last time I flew Thai was BKK-FRA 16 or 17 may 2000, business class.

Previous flights were LH, SWISS and BA economy, these flights had better/newer planes better food/service, better seats than the so-called business class seats on their then-old B747's.

I subsequently flew Qatar out of CDG, the best airline on my list.

But since I travel to BRU 2x year I now take Etihad BKK-AUH-BRU, they are just ok in cattle class.

[GizmoBKK]

Service with Thai has always been good on board (not better than with most other airlaines though). But my serious concern is:

1) Price

According to my company’s regulations, we have to choose the cheapest airline. Thai Air has become so expensive that I haven’t used it for business purposes for about three years! Other star alliance airlines (e.g. Austrian) or LTU/Air Berlin are significantly cheaper with flights to Germany for instance. And service of Austrian is excellent and their seats very comfortable.

2) Mileage Redemption

Doing traveling on miles is always complicated. Usually I observe still many seats are available on a flight, but the budget for redemption seats already used up. Within the last 4 years I have done one flight on mileage redemption only.

[laphroaig]

I used Thai as much as possible always like their aircraft and service. Unfortunately now their prices seem out of line with the rest of the market. I would still fly with Thai if the difference were to be up to NZ$200 but it is more than $500 different to the cheaper airlines now (QANTAS and Royal Brunei)

Cost is my reason

T

Edited July 21, 2008 by laphroaig

[tw25rw]

I have recently started using them (though I had used them occasionally before). I fly LHR-SYD twice a year and TG have very reasonable business class fares. Combined with the fast track and lounge facilities at BKK and they are the best option. I do wish they would bring in premium economy so I can save more money though.

[jrbkk64]

I've noticed that many posters recently had negative comments about Thai Airlines. I am a part of that group. Please if you would, post here what/why you've switched airlines instead of flying with Thai. I also noticed there were many GOLD members jumping ship - me included.

I would like to gather all comments here and send to management in Thai airlines to give them some feedback.

Which Thai Airline do you mean? Thai Airways, Thai Air Asia, Nok Air, One Two Go, Orient Thai, PB Air and I am sure I have forgotten 1 or 2 ( a new one called Krabi ...... is planning to start later this year).

Of course I know you mean Thai Airways or TG. I have used them a lot since 2000 because I am based here and most of my travel is within Asia. In terms of flight frequency and times I really have no other options unfortunately. Someone mentioned Qatar Airways and Austrian Airlines; they really are MUCH better than TG although especially QR some times uses old aircraft (till the 100's of new ones arrive I suppose). Etihad is also ok and so are Swiss and Finnair. Within the region and for long haul I can also recommend Asiana, SQ and ANA.

[allcladrad]

I stopped using them several years ago because of the cost, their mileage program was not as good as others as well.

Recently I flew them on an awards ticket from one of the Star Alliance. The service was good and the plane and seating were fine. My complaint lies with the management, I sent two requests for information and received zero replies.

Almost like it is two companies, the professionals, flight management and the amatuers, the administration.

I am going to guess that the administration will corrupt flight management and customer service will be a historical phrase soon.

[GizmoBKK]

Now here is my latest experience with Thai Airways:

In the past, whenever I wanted to go for mileage redemption, I felt I was too late and that the limited number of seats available for redemption were already gone (though "normal" seats to pay for were still available en mass).

Now I wanted to be smart and book my flight to Germany 3 months in advance. My intention was to buy an economy ticket and get an up-grade to business class on mileage. Guess what: now seats for redemption are not released, YET! They say I could buy the economy ticket and wait and see if up-grades will be available; no guarantees though.

This is ridiculous!

I thought frequent travelers are considered A customers and treated accordingly. Apparently not.

Consequently I have chosen now LTU/Air Berlin for my trip. No up-grade, but 10,000 Baht cheaper. Thai Air can have my Royal Orchid Card back.

[allcladrad]

As a follow up on my over charge for fuel. After four attempts to reach anyone, I received an email from a Thai agent in Hong Kong, requesting the usual nonsense that they have in their compurter. I faxed it along and have yet to hear from them. They did indicate that I was due a refund. No apology, no explanation and as yet no refund.

It will be interesting to see, 1. If I do receive a refund and 2. if it is in baht or HK dollars as they know I live in Thailand. Because I know already my bank will not honor a check written outside of the province.

[Florin]

My main issue with them is also price...they are ridiculously more expensive (at least in Economy) than other, often better, airlines.

Also, their website is awful when it comes to finding out available flights and pricing them...they often don't list the lowest available fare (which you DO get if you call their callcenter to book!) and have no support for weekly flight views, thus making any bookings on non-daily flights a major pain if you don't know their exact schedule.

[zorro1]

I always fly Thai to Sydney they usually cheapest and have a Gold card and star alliance is a huge bonus when I flew in Europe recently. However just today I booked a flight with Emerits $620 return to oz Sept 16 INC TAX. frigging amazing and still seats available

Edited August 20, 2008 by zorro1

[wileycoyote]

I might have to move back to TG,as they are only airline that connects to Chiang Rai with European inbounds without changing to Don Muang

[jimmi]

I am a Royal Orchid gold card holder. I have not travel with then with them for about two years now. I have many times been refused the benifits of a gold card holder. These were little things too. I once tried to check in a small "third bag" and had to pay extra, but I have a GOLD card, you pay. Several times I tried to board at the same time as the first class and business class passengers, and was held back. All times I produced my Royal Orchid GOLD card but was still refused. Now I agree there prices are way too high. I have also seen Thai people with silver cards get upgraded, and Farangs with gold cards are not. I will not use them any more. Kiss this frequent gold flyer good bye.

[peter991]

Used to fly Thai Airways PER-BKK or BNE-BKK as they had a non-stop service. But, the standard of planes was too hit and miss - sometimes a new plane, often an old one. Now I fly Singapore Airlines - two hours on the ground in Changi Airport is a small price to pay for a near new plane and good service.

Peter

[MART]

I like their service on board very much but:

1. using their website is just a big pain

2. most of their planes are a bit old which I am OK with but then one wonders why they are that expensive

3. being expensive in 2008, it's gonna be even worse next year. Last time I looked for their fares, tickets which were to book for about 700-800€ this year already cost 1700€ for flights in 2009 (april-may)

4. Last but not least: very poor ground service. I've always seemed to annoy them when asking for anything. And they once claimed to never have received boarding cards which I had sent to their Frankfurt office in order to have them credit miles on my ROP-account. Quite unlikely to happen in Germany...

I've booked a LTU-air berlin ticket for the first time, I cannot tell yet if I am going to like it but at least it was almost half the price I would have paid with THAI. And I signed up for a top bonus service card which allows me to have 30kg luggage and costs only 40€/year. A service I would never ever get with THAI.

[gzu88bv]

1. using their website is just a big pain

You speak my mind. I always thought I was too dumb to deal with their website.

I recently flew EVA Air to VIE. Good seating especially the window seats on both ailes, but make sure not to book near lavatories.

Food was not really my liking outbound, but coming back was European stuff I enjoyed.

[robbiecia]

Their website is a complete nightmare!

Checked a few airlines in april for bangkok-london

singapore,malaysian, and BA were quoting 40-60K return

Thai were quoting me nearly 200K and that for economy!!!!!

Went with singapore airlines.....worth the 2 hour transit in SP

The gf hates their cabin staff because of their reputation for looking down on thai travellers

[Captain Chaos]

Was an ROP gold card member when residing in BKK - nowadays a PPS Club / KrisFlyer gold card member on Singapore Airlines - of course the FF card you hold/use doesn't prevent you flying on the other airline but it does indicate my desertion of TG in favour of others.

My biggest gripe with TG is price on regional routes, where the age of the fleet is absolutely scandalous compared to local competitors such as SQ or CX, and yet their prices are very similar. If they were cheaper then it might be OK.

I do fly TG biz class quite often long haul to Europe to be fair, as their prices are often significantly lower than flying direct from Changi on SQ ... but even then I spend quite some time checking and re-checking what aircraft is on the route in question - the risk of getting an old clunker is still unacceptably high on some routes.

Short version: tell Thai Airways they need a comparable fleet to the competition to justify comparable pricing.

[technocracy]

I have officially abandoned them following the infants fares they wanted.

But they were already on a slippy slope before that.

The long and the short of it is they are rediculously overpriced for the service they provide.

There website as mentioned previously is a joke. You can't even but online a ticket departing from Laos. Air Asia and Lao Air manage it so I don't see what the problem is.

There cabin staff on occasions have been stupid - such as no wanting to give me and immigration card for my wife regardless of how many time I told them she IS NOT Thai she is Lao!

I was a Gold card member also but no more and won't be flying with them again.

So I am looking for to my flight to the UK and back next month with Singapore Air and a nice stopover in Singers thrown in for good measure.

[tw25rw]

For all TG's failings, their webpage is a million % better than EVA's...

[torrenova]

I fly mainly BKK-LHR perhaps a couple of times a year and now in economy. I've been a Thai card holder for years but a member of others as well.

Until about 2 years or perhaps slightly longer ago they were in line with everyone else and so a direct flight with usually passable food overnight was great. Then you had to fly out on TG916 which is their day flight which I did not like but at perhaps Bt8-10k cheaper it was a done deal.

Last year they were Bt16/18k over Etihad so I flew Etihad. Last month they were Bt20k over Etihad so I flew Etihad. Now I hate stopping off but Etihad have good equipment with video on demand and great food. Turn around is quick as well.

How the heck TG can charge such a premium for their outdated craft without back of seat entertainment is just commercial suicide.

[think_too_mut]

A month ago I flew TG646 and the plane was brand new. No wonder the crew distributed passenger survey envelopes 1 hour before landing.

The machine was HS-TJS, less than 2 years old.

New Thai Airways B-777 HS-TJS

So new, that it had "Electronic devices off" sign instead of "No smoking".

The seats were beautiful but still short of even better (no laptop power plugs, the seat under your knees can not be adjusted).

The entertainment system was - I don't know I only watch flight progress - but it was very nice, almost like Google earth.

The food and drinks were usual rubbish, junk lunch had chicken skin and was inedible. Service with ANA/JAL is so much better. ANA or JAL serve small bottles of good champagne in economy. 3 of those would be 50$ in a bar. The food is restaurant quality (comes on a hot stone pad, almost sizzling).

Japanese planes are consistantly new (although not as new as this HS-TJS).

IMO, just in food and drinks and service Japanese carriers are worth 150$ more.

Ironically, that is how much cheaper ANA/JAL are!

[meandwi]

When they resume the JFK to BKK I will use them. But until then, it's Cathay Pacific.

[keemapoot]

I was a ROP gold member for years, but I too have just fallen off the gold and onto Silver because I reduced my flying last year on Thai significantly. On international routes they are more expensive and not worth it as noted. I will miss the lounge access but that is all. I'm flying other airlines now.

On domestic flights, now that budget carriers are failing, Thai is sometimes the only option, and fares have gone up a lot domestically too.

Regarding award travel, I used points a few months ago for long haul flight to and from America. It was a nightmare finding a seat and I had to pay over 20,000 Baht in fuel surcharge. Award travel is a thing of the past, not only on Thai but on all airlines as they face tough times.

Sadly, flying just ain't what it used to be.

[ilyushin]

Myself I use TG as much as possible. I will spend money to travel on an airlines that has a great maintenance program and not try to save a baht on a not so airworthy alternative airlines like China Airlines, Korean Air, etc... All airlines have problems, but see what you get for your money, not what the money gets you.

Complain all you want and all the cheapos change airlines, gives me a better selection of seats.

Fly High on Thai!

Edited August 22, 2008 by ilyushin

[Cuban]

Joining the flow.

I still travel with Thai, although that has only meant two flights (one regional) within the past 12 months, prior to that I would do 5 return trips (long haul) a year. For the cost of a ticket in any class compared to the likes of Eva or the Middle Eastern airlines TG does not give value for money.

Agree with comments above about ROP points redemption - this should encourage custom - I has not done that with me.

Although staff are very polite - they seem to suffer from the Thai trait of not giving anything away. First class standards have dropped in recent years - less choice in wines - no caviar and removing the bar overnight.

There must be data on ROP members and the flights they take to build their airmiles - when there is a drop in member spending do they respond with offers to entice people to fly more or fly more with them, no. Just the same mail shot with package TG holiday deals. There is so much truth in the marketing line 'it costs more to get a new customer than keep an old established one' - but like many companies where the business process is separated from those with face to face contact the long term repeat custom is lost.

Eva's web site is easy to navigate - I like their feature that sends SMS texts free of any charge with details of arrival and departing flights, nice touch.

When I flew with them (only one return flight last year) I joined the EverGreen program and they have followed up with emails and surveys - I have the impression that they have their marketing program in order and the air crew are very cute.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

I used the BKK-JFK direct route a couple times and it was great. This now stopped, but as I needed only one such trip to secure Gold status I really did my best to fly Thai to New York... Well, forget it. The options included a United flight through Tokio (Star Alliance miles) but NO WAY am I flying any US based carriers as service is completely horrific; elderly FA's just oozing vibes that they really don't want to be there and be serving you.

So the other alternative was flying to LAX and then on to NY.. Never mind the LAX-JFK flight, just flying BKK-LAX was already a lot more expensive than Cathay all the way to New York through Hong Kong.. And needless to say, Cathay is a far better airline than TG. So for less money I got a flight that was not only better but also far more convenient.

TG truly lost the plot over the last 6 months or so.

[GeorgeW]

There must be data on ROP members and the flights they take to build their airmiles - when there is a drop in member spending do they respond with offers to entice people to fly more or fly more with them, no. Just the same mail shot with package TG holiday deals. There is so much truth in the marketing line 'it costs more to get a new customer than keep an old established one' - but like many companies where the business process is separated from those with face to face contact the long term repeat custom is lost.

How very true. Their current pricing is very shortsighted. They're losing a ton of money due to high fuel prices and need to do something to reduce their loses. They chose raising their prices to such a level that they will alienate many of their existing customer base. It will also mean they will likely have a lot of half-empty planes going out. I personally think they'd be much better off limiting the price increases to a minimum, flying full planes, and keeping their best customers happy so that the profits will return when the fuel prices come down. With their strategy though THAI will likely not benifit much when the good times return.

TG truly lost the plot over the last 6 months or so.

I completely agree. TG has gone downhill in a very short period of time. I don't see the need to use them anymore unless necessary. Just from the comments here in this thread with the number of people deserting TG I think they are in for a very rough ride ahead as they've likely already alienated half if not more of their good customers.. They probably have the worst management in the airline industry and seriously need to get rid of their simple-minded president and management and replace it with people who have a brain and use it.

[basinboy]

I've booked a LTU-air berlin ticket for the first time, I cannot tell yet if I am going to like it but at least it was almost half the price I would have paid with THAI. And I signed up for a top bonus service card which allows me to have 30kg luggage and costs only 40€/year. A service I would never ever get with THAI.

No need to pay anything with TG ROP silver entitles you to 30KG and silver is easily obtainable.

After getting pissed off with Qantas last year (if you think redeeming award flights with Thai is difficult, you should try Qantas).

Now I am Gold card with Thai and no complaints, again Gold was achieved faster than with QF. I have redeemed three award flights in the last year, no problems, maybe I was jus lucky. I know the aircraft on BKK LHR tend to be older 747's but the twice daily MEL - BKK service uses only the newest 777's, and the flights are usually at or near capacity, Qantas do not even fly direct MEL - BKK, not enough demand.

Fares ex Australia are usually competitive, and I think cabin service is very good.

[tw25rw]

No need to pay anything with TG ROP silver entitles you to 30KG and silver is easily obtainable.

After getting pissed off with Qantas last year (if you think redeeming award flights with Thai is difficult, you should try Qantas).

Now I am Gold card with Thai and no complaints, again Gold was achieved faster than with QF. I have redeemed three award flights in the last year, no problems, maybe I was jus lucky. I know the aircraft on BKK LHR tend to be older 747's but the twice daily MEL - BKK service uses only the newest 777's, and the flights are usually at or near capacity, Qantas do not even fly direct MEL - BKK, not enough demand.

Fares ex Australia are usually competitive, and I think cabin service is very good.

When you attained *Gold, did you use the free upgrade return flight? If so, were there any complications to it?

I'm hoping to get *Gold late this year and get a cheap business flight LON-SYD next year.