Understand Now Why Thai Is Most Almost Most Expensive Airline

[hmficc]

Regarding this matter on thai airways

1. from what i hear thai airways still has to many close people in the organization that have highly connected more to the thai government or something similiar that prevents them from making any real necessary changes to the organization

2. Carriers like thai airways and other big names are at the moment losing money due to the fact that their prime money makers ( first class & business ) have heavy declined, some article i read from a CEO of one carriers said the only reason you have economy seats is just to break even and sometimes even then you don't break even at all

3. I gladly thank companies like air asia, for them they help boost tourism more globally by having lower fares. There's a good chance if we didn't have carriers similar to them I don't believe global tourism would have gone up over the last 5 years

4. All airlines bid of the price of jet fuel for future use, sometimes the bid helped them and sometimes it didn't

5. I realize airlines are in the business to make money, and that its a extremely hard business but from the original post it would seem these people are out of touch with reality and lacking a serious business plan.

6. you may have code sharing going on but in most other areas all major carriers are out for market share and to be in the top 5. Thai Airways will not be there even in the short term.

thai airways what a poor excuse for a business.

Thai has very old aircraft with no back of seat entertainment,except for the lax -Bkk flifgt. I have loved that flight as the fly a new aircraft, non stop with a 36" seat pitch in economy. I am 6' 2'' so the exrta room, back of seat entertainment, direct 16 hours, has been worth the 50% extra fare. Now they have cut the mile rewarded by half for this flight. Their new auction promotion is so stupid it is sad. They need to wake up to have any hope of competeing with the new kids on the block. The problem is corruption. They are a failed airline.

[alant]

i prefer to fly 1st when i do my trips to the uk. on my last visit a couple of months ago i flew gulf due primarily to a huge price difference with a little consideration as i used to use them frankfurt to london when i was working in the area.

thai checked my baggage all the way through from chiangmai my case weighed 32kg, no problems. the first gulf flight was a little confusing as the seating configuration on the web did not match the aircraft even though the aircraft was correctly identified, being ramadan alcoholic drinks were forbidden until we were in the air (cant quite work that out).

the second aircraft was leased from jet airways and was pretty good with a huge video screen and not too limited a choice. on the return gulf refused to check the bags through even though they code share and advertise the route and the second leg had no video guide, which i found out was new policy but then there was only 1 film on anyway.

compared to thai 1st class there really is no competition, the bangkok lounges are superb and the service wonderfull. the london lounge at heathroow however leaves a lot to be desired. so far i would only put singapore 1st class in the same bracket as thai so they get some things right.

i know not everyone flies first but it is an area that thai deserve praise for.

[hansnl]

3 months ago I was in Copenhagen.

We checked the flight prices for a direct flight with both Thai Airways, SAS - Scandinavian Airlines System, British Airways and Air France....and Thai Airways was far the cheapest....so no complaints from me

But can anybody please tell me why tickets from The Netherlands/Germany to Bangkok are nearly half the price as tickets with the same companies from Bangkok to NL/D

One Company charges € 399 all-in for a ticket originating in Dusseldorf, while the charge from Bangkok is € 734 all in)

Edited November 29, 2009 by hansnl

[zarzuela]

I haven't flown Thai in ages and don't intend to do so unless they refurbish their ancient aicraft. Step into one of their 747s in Economy and it's like travelling back in time.

I fly frequently to Europe and intra-Asia and don't mind a stopover in Singapore or Hong Kong for a couple of hours. Singapore Airlines offers me great fares, fantastic service and meals and, what personally is most important to me -inflight entertainment.

[theoldgit]

By reading this thread you can see that Thai is cheaper on some routes and more expensive on others. We just flew Thai from Bali to BKK return for cheaper than AirAsia. No complaints for that.

And I have just returned from Bali paying 2,800 Baht with Air Asia for the two of us, whilst Thai wanted 36,000.

I think it all depends on whats available when you book.

I was thinking of going to The UK mid January, Thai wanted in the region of 160,000 Baht each in something called economy.

[SantiSuk]

3 months ago I was in Copenhagen.

We checked the flight prices for a direct flight with both Thai Airways, SAS - Scandinavian Airlines System, British Airways and Air France....and Thai Airways was far the cheapest....so no complaints from me

Yes - they are having to drop the prices significantly on the Europe to BKK routes. My guess is that travelers are deserting them in droves, having realised that you get ancient planes (hellishly uncomfortable lumpy seats) with prehistoric in-flight entertainment. The Middle East indirect carriers with their new fleets have been cleaning up in the last few years.

The premium for a direct Thai flight over the average middle east carrier has however now fallen to £100 to £150, which just about makes the direct flight worthwhile in my view since I can live without IFE and hate the interruption a Middle east flight brings.

Charming Thai staff and sensible baggage allowances are 2 plusses for Thai on international routes. Domestically Thai's prices are a joke and I hope they do not use scullduggery to get Air Asia off the Ubon route. Long live competition.

Emirates have just upped all their baggage allowances by 10 kilos so it's now economy at 30k, business at 40k and 1st at 50k. They're cheaper than Thai and they fly the A380 into BKK.

Agreed - Emirates is the No 1 carrier on the Europe to BKK route and the their A380s are state of the art - enormous seat back choice and power for your laptop even in cattle class. Comfortable seats. Good food with real cutlery on the mid-east to BKK leg.

Their crew are too multi-racial to pull together like a team and don't have the charm of Thai Airways but that's about the only downside, other than the fact they are indirect.

Unfortunately Emirates know they are sh&t hot and their prices have crept up over the last year to the point where they are often the most expensive of the Middle East carriers. Gulf is nearly always the cheapest (with reason).

I tend to agree also with another of the respondents. Best thing is not to get too het up about the minor differences in quality, get the cheapest flight and go with the flow. I will however always give a premium to fly directly - the hassle of going through another two rounds of queuing in the middle of the night is worth paying £150 to avoid for me. I can understand why others would pay even more of a premium for direct flights which is why that premium is typically £200 to £250. Package tourists don't take kindly to indirect flights which is why there will always be a core demand for the direct carriers like Thai.

I agree with the repsondent who expressed dissappointment with the new TA CEO. His interview about nepotism killing business efficiency on BBC World News 3 weeks ago had me cheeing from the rafters. Can this really be the same guy who also wants to kill business efficiency with anti-competitive behaviour? He's an ex Fund Manager and he knows exactly what he would have said about any target company his fund was reviewing that adopted such policies.

[tw25rw]

On the route I most often fly, Thai are always the cheapest option unless I want to spend hours in the Middle East when I should be sleeping. I've never had any complaint against them at all.

[samran]

I agree with the repsondent who expressed dissappointment with the new TA CEO. His interview about nepotism killing business efficiency on BBC World News 3 weeks ago had me cheeing from the rafters. Can this really be the same guy who also wants to kill business efficiency with anti-competitive behaviour? He's an ex Fund Manager and he knows exactly what he would have said about any target company his fund was reviewing that adopted such policies.

One in the same.

I guess people have to realise that he is only doing his job in representing the airlines best interest. If he wouldn't, as a share holder, I'd want him sacked. Pure and simple.

In this case it is the governments responsibility to make sure that the market is competitive and that Thai's monopoly preferences are diminished. It's the CEO's job to run the airline in its best interests.

People should also do a bit more digging into this guys background. Before he was a fund manager he was head of the energy policy agency and was responsible for the deregulation of power supplies in Thailand and was responsible for the establishment of an independent energy regulator. He's good at going up against vested interests.

This bloke has free market credentials backed up by a history of successful industry reform. He'd also be a candidate for one of the best brains in Thailand, and in a debate would probably wipe the floor with most people on a variety of issues, in Thai or English.

So he's going to do his job at Thai and you can bet he's going to do it well. As a shareholder, there would be few better than this man you'd want as CEO.

[sunnymarky]

They are just an inefficent company, period. And theses comapnies only survive with financial support from governments

Edited November 30, 2009 by sunnymarky

[poldebol]

I just checked

Brussels Bangkok Brussels

10 may 2010 Return 21 aug 2010

in EUR

Finnair: 813.76

Airfrance: 989 (High Speed Train from BRU to PAR)

Thai Air: 1224.89

When I started to come to TH long ago, TG was cheap, flexible and good.

Now they are always more expensive, have forgotten what service means and, especially in some domestic offices, treat their customers like dirt.

I have used AirFrance the last 6 times. I think Air France and Finnair are both outstanding.

[djt]

Flying Thai on Christmas Day with the wife, £600 each for a direct flight no complaints from me.

[KarenBravo]

TG needs to adapt fast.

There is something terribly wrong when I get get a round trip flight HKT-SIN for approx. 4500 baht on Air Asia, but see best available fares of 20,000 baht+ fares from Silk Air and Thai Airways.

Don't know where you get your info.

Standard fare HKT-SIN-HKT on Silk Air is about 7900 Baht.

Thai International have no flights at all from HKT to SIN. They lost their landing slots when they gave up the route after the tsunami.