Thai Airways Lon Bkk

[tdm]

Hi folks,

Just a quick review which I hope can help when choosing your flights. i flew from london to Bangkok in November and was pleasantly surprised to discover I was on one of the refurbished planes.

The new seatback individual entertainment screen was very welcome indeed in economy with a reasonable selection of movies and music. The service was great, no Jack Daniels but Jim Beam was on offer. Overall a good experience.

However, there is one flaw which will affect taller travellers. I've always felt that economy seats in thai were the most spacious. I am 5'11''. Also I am a fan of aisle seats for several reasons. But sadly, under every aisle seat there is a large box which I assume is the control unit for the screens on the seats in each row. This does prevent you from being able to straighten your legs under the seat in front and it did impact my ability to sleep during my night flight. On the return flight which was in one of the un refurbished planes i felt much more comfortable. So, in nutshell, there are improvements. However if you're taller than 5'11 you may wish to go for a non aisle seat. Having a direct flight with personal entertainment is a bonus and possibly Eva may have to lower prices a bit as I can see TG becoming popular again.

Tony

[tw25rw]

The metal box has been a problem on lots of airlines for years. It's ridiculous that they still put it there and in a big angular box.

Did the seat pitch feel about the same?

I avoid flying economy as it is so tight for me, but I might have to start in future.

[Boater]

The metal box has been a problem on lots of airlines for years. It's ridiculous that they still put it there and in a big angular box.

Did the seat pitch feel about the same?

I avoid flying economy as it is so tight for me, but I might have to start in future.

eva do some really good deals for 800 pound in pr economy, plus ethid do buiness for 1200, or ba if u fly to singapoe, well worth the xtra few quid

[craigt3365]

One tool I use on a regular basis is seatguru.com. Give them the airplane and they will tell you what's up each seat. Saved me problems in advance many times. One reason I like to book directly with the airlines....easier to do seat selections.

[Bpuumike]

Whoever you fly with, just pre-book an emergency exit seat, all the legroom you need (and I'm 6ft 4").

BA and SQ charge extra for this now but well worth it BKK-LHR, don't know about Thai.

[beano2274]

One tool I use on a regular basis is seatguru.com. Give them the airplane and they will tell you what's up each seat. Saved me problems in advance many times. One reason I like to book directly with the airlines....easier to do seat selections.

airline quality have the same thing, also you can check the latest reports of the airlines.

[tdm]

The metal box has been a problem on lots of airlines for years. It's ridiculous that they still put it there and in a big angular box.

Did the seat pitch feel about the same?

I avoid flying economy as it is so tight for me, but I might have to start in future.

Yes I should have been clearer. I have flown to Bkk with many of the airlines including direct, via the middle east and via India. I have encountered these boxes of course but normally I can get at least one leg straight under the seat in front. The boxes on Thai are the biggest I have seen and the most restrictive but as I said only an issue on the aisle seat. I always use seat guru to select my seat and have found ebookers and others very helpful in prebooking that seat in a phone call after my online booking. I have flown Eva Enhanced economy and found it to be extremely good, but generally I'd rather use the extra £300.00 (return price to upgrade) in another way. This site and others have been a useful source of info for me regarding flight options to LOS so this is just my opinion to add to the mix. I will use Thai again if the price is right.

Tony

Seat guru will no doubt be updating their info on Tg's 747 sometime soon.

Edited December 6, 2011 by tdm

[smokie36]

So what you are basically saying is Thai is now the same as every other carrier has been for the last decade?

I'm hardly going to rush. The food is poor and the wine glasses small. Unforgiveable stuff and I was in biz class.

I'll stick to Etihad or Royal Jordanian at £400 for economy flights ta.

[tw25rw]

Whoever you fly with, just pre-book an emergency exit seat, all the legroom you need (and I'm 6ft 4").

BA and SQ charge extra for this now but well worth it BKK-LHR, don't know about Thai.

The one time I reserved an exit seat on BA, they gave it to someone else. And I had to sit behind him and watch him get the crew to do stuff for him like he was an invalid. He seemed spritely enough, so I think he had just blagged his way into my seat.

[tw25rw]

The metal box has been a problem on lots of airlines for years. It's ridiculous that they still put it there and in a big angular box.

Did the seat pitch feel about the same?

I avoid flying economy as it is so tight for me, but I might have to start in future.

eva do some really good deals for 800 pound in pr economy, plus ethid do buiness for 1200, or ba if u fly to singapoe, well worth the xtra few quid

What I usually do now is fly out in business and back in premium economy on EVA. I generally don't use BA for it any more as they market their WT+ product as a junior business class to business people who can't fly business any more rather than just economy for people who want a larger seat, which is what it is.

Edited December 6, 2011 by tw25rw

[smokie36]

The metal box has been a problem on lots of airlines for years. It's ridiculous that they still put it there and in a big angular box.

Did the seat pitch feel about the same?

I avoid flying economy as it is so tight for me, but I might have to start in future.

eva do some really good deals for 800 pound in pr economy, plus ethid do buiness for 1200, or ba if u fly to singapoe, well worth the xtra few quid

What I usually do now is fly out in business and back in premium economy. I generally don't use BA for it any more as they market their WT+ product as a junior business class to business people who can't fly business any more rather than just economy for people who want a larger seat, which is what it is.

You would be better flying Qantas premuim economy. That really is more like biz class without the flat bed seat. Much better value for money.

[tw25rw]

The metal box has been a problem on lots of airlines for years. It's ridiculous that they still put it there and in a big angular box.

Did the seat pitch feel about the same?

I avoid flying economy as it is so tight for me, but I might have to start in future.

eva do some really good deals for 800 pound in pr economy, plus ethid do buiness for 1200, or ba if u fly to singapoe, well worth the xtra few quid

What I usually do now is fly out in business and back in premium economy. I generally don't use BA for it any more as they market their WT+ product as a junior business class to business people who can't fly business any more rather than just economy for people who want a larger seat, which is what it is.

You would be better flying Qantas premuim economy. That really is more like biz class without the flat bed seat. Much better value for money.

I don't like their timings.. I like flying out at night and back in the day so I can arrive in the evening and go to work the next morning.

They are also expensive. I can fly Thai or EVA in business for less most of the time.

[PattayaPhom]

On a side note..ThaiAir are doing BKK-LON return in Jan and Feb for 35,000 inclusive of Taxes...considering Air India was in at 32K and BA at 42K, its a pretty good deal

[irishken]

On a side note..ThaiAir are doing BKK-LON return in Jan and Feb for 35,000 inclusive of Taxes...considering Air India was in at 32K and BA at 42K, its a pretty good deal

that is nearly 900 euro's. that much to expensive for economy from lon-bkk. i have never used thai international flights and at these prices i wouldn't

Edited December 7, 2011 by irishken

[Mosha]

Try westeasttravel.com

[PattayaPhom]

On a side note..ThaiAir are doing BKK-LON return in Jan and Feb for 35,000 inclusive of Taxes...considering Air India was in at 32K and BA at 42K, its a pretty good deal

that is nearly 900 euro's. that much to expensive for economy from lon-bkk. i have never used thai international flights and at these prices i wouldn't

Try reading the post properly!!!....its BKK-LON...not LON-BKK...if your booking in Thailand you pay in Baht and 35K direct to London is a good deal!!!

[tdm]

I just keyed some dates for march lon-bkk return into the usual engines, tg comes up 563 gbp with netflights, eva around 570 so not much in it, sri lankan was 500 with sta travel and a couple of carriers around 550 which ain't bad at all as they say.

[smokie36]

I just keyed some dates for march lon-bkk return into the usual engines, tg comes up 563 gbp with netflights, eva around 570 so not much in it, sri lankan was 500 with sta travel and a couple of carriers around 550 which ain't bad at all as they say.

Good for that route is 450. Better if less but not around Songkran.

[Chivas]

Eva is the same-3 of the 4 aisle seats have the boxes underneath the seats. Its a killer if you're 6 foot 4 inch tall so I wont be switching to Thai anytime soon....

[Chivas]

So what you are basically saying is Thai is now the same as every other carrier has been for the last decade?

I'm hardly going to rush. The food is poor and the wine glasses small. Unforgiveable stuff and I was in biz class.

I'll stick to Etihad or Royal Jordanian at £400 for economy flights ta.

Kindly point me in the direction of Etihad at 400 quid please....

I'll happily pay for your next flight if you show me where its on offer....??

[smokie36]

So what you are basically saying is Thai is now the same as every other carrier has been for the last decade?

I'm hardly going to rush. The food is poor and the wine glasses small. Unforgiveable stuff and I was in biz class.

I'll stick to Etihad or Royal Jordanian at £400 for economy flights ta.

Kindly point me in the direction of Etihad at 400 quid please....

I'll happily pay for your next flight if you show me where its on offer....??

The £400 was referring to Royal Jordanian. Sorry I didn't make that clear. The flight was booked through Travelpack for travel in May 2011.

I just checked a couple of dates and they have flights from £509 with Etihad.

[Chivas]

Why can you never reply directly to the OP on this forum ??

Whatever-when you flew were you on a 747 ?? I recall the news release from Thai re the retrofitted aircraft coming online from December ??

I also read recently that other aircraft had been substituted several times recently ??

[itishothere]

Whatever-when you flew were you on a 747 ?? I recall the news release from Thai re the retrofitted aircraft coming online from December ??

I also read recently that other aircraft had been substituted several times recently ??

I think it must be a work in progress. Looking at the LON-BKK route for mid November to now, there are many days when they are running 1 service a day as opposed to the usual 2. So either demand is down, or more likely, planes have been taken out of service I reckon. When they are back to twice daily, they will have probably completed the job.

[Chivas]

Whatever-when you flew were you on a 747 ?? I recall the news release from Thai re the retrofitted aircraft coming online from December ??

I also read recently that other aircraft had been substituted several times recently ??

I think it must be a work in progress. Looking at the LON-BKK route for mid November to now, there are many days when they are running 1 service a day as opposed to the usual 2. So either demand is down, or more likely, planes have been taken out of service I reckon. When they are back to twice daily, they will have probably completed the job.

You're probably right-these "boxes" really are a pain in the ass though.....

Fortunately I know which aisle seats they are under on Eva, but check in agents really should be pointing out vastly reduced leg room when they are putting people in these restricted seats.

Its simply not good enough to tell people to look on seatguru or wherever in advance. The vast majority wouldn't have a clue until you're sat upright for 12 hours with nowhere to put your legs, but sideways into the aisle.

Edited December 9, 2011 by Chivas

[tdm]

Why can you never reply directly to the OP on this forum ??

Whatever-when you flew were you on a 747 ?? I recall the news release from Thai re the retrofitted aircraft coming online from December ??

I also read recently that other aircraft had been substituted several times recently ??

Yep it ws the 747. I'd read also that the 'new' planes begin in December but they must be introducing one or two as and when they can. I've flown Eva quite a few times and the legroom seems more restrictive on the TG aisle seat. But it's only the aisle seat that has the box as far as I can see. Also during the last week in November Tg cancelled about 5 flights, I believe due to customer cancellations due to the flooding.

Edited December 10, 2011 by tdm