Thai Airways rated as world’s best economy airline

[hobobo]

15 hours ago, Naam said:

please wear reading glasses.

 

Read the original from Skytrax, with or without glasses

[Dustdevil]

2 hours ago, Kerryd said:

 

I imagine a large part of that would have to do with the "via Dubai" part. Emirates is subsidized by the Dubai emirate and as that is their home (/hub) probably pay a lot less for landing/gate fees (and fuel) than Thai does.

There may be other charges/fees involved as well that.

 

For example, in 2008 I booked a round-trip business class ticket on Philippines Air from Bangkok to Vancouver (via Manila of course). As I was going to Canada to pick up my father and bring him to Thailand for a holiday, I booked him a round-trip business class ticket from Vancouver to Bangkok (via Manila).

I flew to Canada, picked up dad, we flew together back to Thailand, then he flew home to Canada on his own at the end of the vacation.

 

His ticket was 9,000 baht more than mine, despite it being the exact same route, same class, even the same seats ! It had to do with the fact that my "trip" originated in Bangkok, while his "trip" originated in Vancouver. Didn't matter that I booked both tickets at the same time (from Thailand). It had to do with where the "trip" started from.

I lived in Dubai and the Dubai area for nine years. Emirates not only subsidizes its airline to the hilt (which is why they're the only airline that wants to buy A380s by the dozen and equip them with cabins that cost $40,000 one-way) but it's strongly suspected that they forge all the customer review cards. Sitting in Emirates coach is nothing special, not any better than some of the best (UNsubsidized) Delta flights.

[yooyoo]

16 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Indeed... However, for some the direct route would be worth the additional cost. 

 

Thai have a direct route to Frankfurt...  In business (or First) many would not like to be woken up 6 hrs into a night flight, especially in First where its more like sleeping in a bed and a decent nights sleep can actually be achieved. 

 

IF Emirates had the 'non-stop' routes they would be better hands down, but would they still have the same cost saving compared to Thai ?

 

It's not quite comparing apples with apples when making a comparison of non-stop vs flights with a stop. 

 

 

You make a valid point..   

[Dustdevil]

6 hours ago, Kadilo said:

Of the direct economy flights from
London Thai is generally the cheapest other than when EVA are doing a promotion. BA is generally the most expensive and the worst I have experienced.


Sent from my iPhone using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

Agreed about BA. Even 25 years ago on a BA flight I felt like I was some unwelcome Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's court...although I'm sure King Arthur would have been far more gracious than the BA flight attendants.

[SOTIRIOS]

....with so many categories....seems they all won some award or other.....

[dbrenn]

Thai Airways has this annoying habit of bussing passengers to the gate from aircraft parked in a remote part of the airfield. Happens a lot, particularly on flights that arrive late in the day.

[eeyang wah]

I'll believe it as long as it doesn't include British Airways in that list. What a joke. 

[Henryford]

"Economy"? Thai is one of the most expensive airlines

[Shackleton123]

Excellent! I like Thai Airways. Well done to the staff.

[moojar]

Yep, I quite like Thai economy class - better than Qantas and Emirates, the other two 'direct' choices I have.  

 

Thai are one of the few that still have 9 abreast in their 777 economy class, where most have gone to 10 abreast.  The 10 abreast 777 airlines include Emirates, Qatar (undergoing conversion now), Air NZ, and soon Cathay.   

 

From my home port I get the luxury of the 747, real "old school" economy, but with seat back entertainment.  Other Oz ports get the 787 with 9 abreast in economy, which is a hell of a squeeze.  I would avoid that one.  

[FredNL]

Currently, Thai Airways ran out of brown envelopes.

[Belzybob]

14 hours ago, Thechook said:

The planes don't even dock at the airport, you have to get a bus and climb up into the thing.

I had a win on my last trip, airbridge both on arrival and departure. Mind you that was on the sixth trip of the past couple of years, all the others involved at least one airport bus tour.

[oldhippy]

11 minutes ago, moojar said:

Yep, I quite like Thai economy class - better than Qantas and Emirates, the other two 'direct' choices I have.  

 

Thai are one of the few that still have 9 abreast in their 777 economy class, where most have gone to 10 abreast.  The 10 abreast 777 airlines include Emirates, Qatar (undergoing conversion now), Air NZ, and soon Cathay.   

 

From my home port I get the luxury of the 747, real "old school" economy, but with seat back entertainment.  Other Oz ports get the 787 with 9 abreast in economy, which is a hell of a squeeze.  I would avoid that one.  

After my experience with 3-4-3 in an Emirates 777, I will make sure never to book a 777 again without first checking the seating.

Believe me, it is unbearable!

As for the 787 (nightmareliner), have they yet fixed most of the technical deficiencies of the design?

 

[Kerryd]

8 minutes ago, Henryford said:

"Economy"? Thai is one of the most expensive airlines

 

The award was for having the best economy class "cabin", not for being the best economy class airline. It seems, from the millions of surveys Skytrax received, that people like Thai Air's economy class cabins better than other airlines. Doesn't mean they are cheaper. Could mean that people like the seating arrangements, the decor, the entertainment, the food and the service better when flying Thai (in economy class) than other airlines.

 

I flew Thai (economy class) way back in 2006 or 2007 and it was pretty decent. Had worse for sure but it was better than Air Canada or Lufthansa. JAL was pretty good too.

[oldhippy]

5 minutes ago, Kerryd said:

 

The award was for having the best economy class "cabin", not for being the best economy class airline. It seems, from the millions of surveys Skytrax received, that people like Thai Air's economy class cabins better than other airlines. Doesn't mean they are cheaper. Could mean that people like the seating arrangements, the decor, the entertainment, the food and the service better when flying Thai (in economy class) than other airlines.

 

I flew Thai (economy class) way back in 2006 or 2007 and it was pretty decent. Had worse for sure but it was better than Air Canada or Lufthansa. JAL was pretty good too.

I guess that after 75 replies, it is too late now for WEBFACT to correct their misleading thread - title.

"Economy airline" should be replaced by "Economy class".

 

[baboon]

18 minutes ago, oldhippy said:

After my experience with 3-4-3 in an Emirates 777, I will make sure never to book a 777 again without first checking the seating.

Believe me, it is unbearable!

You're not kidding. Get a seat in the middle and be prepared to sit there with your arms above your head for the entire flight. I would rather stay in the bog for the duration...

[car720]

Seems strange criteria when Qantas,  the worlds safest airline, is near the bottom of the list,  though I will say that their service stinks.

I am not sure if being one place behind Garuda is a great recommendation for Thai Airways.

[oldhippy]

5 minutes ago, car720 said:

Seems strange criteria when Qantas,  the worlds safest airline, is near the bottom of the list,  though I will say that their service stinks.

I am not sure if being one place behind Garuda is a great recommendation for Thai Airways.

..... Garuda, the only big airline ever to be banned by the EU!

 

[baboon]

2 hours ago, Dustdevil said:

I lived in Dubai and the Dubai area for nine years. Emirates not only subsidizes its airline to the hilt (which is why they're the only airline that wants to buy A380s by the dozen and equip them with cabins that cost $40,000 one-way) but it's strongly suspected that they forge all the customer review cards. Sitting in Emirates coach is nothing special, not any better than some of the best (UNsubsidized) Delta flights.

Really? I'm not in any position to argue, but literally every American I have talked to about flying has told me that US carriers are the absolute pits - the worst of the worst.

[Sheryl]

Astonishing that Korean Airlines and Asiana are not listed among the best for economy class - both  are way better than TG. i can only assume they were not among those surveyed and that the filed examined was not exhaustive.

[baboon]

2 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

Astonishing that Korean Airlines and Asiana are not listed among the best for economy class - both  are way better than TG. i can only assume they were not among those surveyed and that the filed examined was not exhaustive.

Korean Airlines? Pah, give me Air Koryo anytime...

[ujayujay]

19 hours ago, Naam said:

the "downside" is that i am flying next week Emirates first class to Frankfurt via Dubai and pay 23,000 Baht less than Thai charges for business class. go figure!

Read the Story....it' about economy class....ok, understand, you fly 1 Class, impressing

[Sooo Upto Me]

I'm flying end of month to UK with Malaysian Airlines. Should be interesting. ?

Actually booked over 3mths ago only 20,000b return, Good deal I thought.

[oldhippy]

2 minutes ago, Sooo Upto Me said:

I'm flying end of month to UK with Malaysian Airlines. Should be interesting. ?

Actually booked over 3mths ago only 20,000b return, Good deal I thought.

Don't forget to pack your GPS, just in case.

 

[taharkin]

20 hours ago, Lammbock said:

Nice to see our national carrier being on the upside again. I like to fly with THAI.

showing my age--recall flying a thai air domestic  DC-3 (is that possible?) from chiang mai to knon kaen thirty years ago and getting beverage service before we left the gate.  like first class on a US airline...

[Kerryd]

14 minutes ago, oldhippy said:

After my experience with 3-4-3 in an Emirates 777, I will make sure never to book a 777 again without first checking the seating.

Believe me, it is unbearable!

As for the 787 (nightmareliner), have they yet fixed most of the technical deficiencies of the design?

 

 

I always check what planes are being used on my flights and plan accordingly. As I normally book my own flights I can (usually) pick my seats when I am booking the ticket. If I'm using an agent for some reason, I will tell them which seats I want and get them to reserve them when booking the ticket(s).

 

Personally, if I'm flying economy, I prefer to sit in the aisle seat, 2nd row, left side of the plane, preferably the right side of the aisle. You always get on/off the plane on the left side which means you are close to the door (more important on arrival than departure). The first row has more leg room but often has the TV on the wall and is where they put the "baby bassinets". Also, there are normally bathrooms and a galley between economy and business class so you are close to those as well. 
I also prefer to get out of my seat to let others in/out of theirs, instead of having to crawl over top of other people who try to guilt you for invading "their" space or set their space up to try and make it near impossible for you to get through. Too many @@@@heads on flights these days.

 

I tried sitting in the "emergency exit" row seats on some planes, near the back. I recall the one flight, there were only 2 seats in that row and they "reserved" them for people that looked like they could handle getting the door open in an emergency. It was great !

Until we landed that is. I had already packed my stuff and filled out my arrival card and was ready to go before we touched down (at Don Muang back then). We landed, the seatbelt sign went off, I stood up..............and the 300 people ahead of me all stood up as well and most of them decided that then was a good time to start packing up all their crap and re-organizing their bags and checking their make-up (etc, etc).

Holey arthritic turtle derby Fatman ! It took me nearly 40 minutes just to get off the plane !!!  Then I still had to deal with the mass of people between me and the Immigration counters !

 

Next flight (same airline) I got the 2nd row aisle seat. From the time we arrived until I was outside the terminal that time was just over 35 minutes (only had a carry on bag each time). From then on I always go for that same seat if possible (if flying economy).

 

It's the little things that can make the difference between a decent flight and a "flight from hell". That and choosing a good airline. I also learned (the hard way) to always check for "code share" flights and see which airline is actually flying the route I'm taking.

Booked a Cathay Pacific flight (Bangkok to Vancouver) one time. Flew Cathay to Hong Kong and changed planes. That was when I discovered the Hong Kong to Vancouver leg was "operated by Air Canada". Quite possible the worst in flight experience I've ever had, mainly due to the pathetic (unionized) cabin crew.

China Air, JAL, Korean Air, Philippines Air - I'd take any of them (again) over an Air Canada flight, even if I have to pay more. I'd even take an Air India flight over an Air Canada one (it's no coincidence that Air Canada ranked 29th in the world on the Skytrax survey. Scarier is the fact that Air Canada was the top ranked North American airline !!)

 

 

 

[baboon]

9 minutes ago, ujayujay said:

Read the Story....it' about economy class....ok, understand, you fly 1 Class, impressing

I bet $500 on the ticket is simply for the 'Look how much better I am than you' factor in a lot of cases...

[DipStick]

5 minutes ago, Sooo Upto Me said:

I'm flying end of month to UK with Malaysian Airlines. Should be interesting. ?

Actually booked over 3mths ago only 20,000b return, Good deal I thought.

 

5 minutes ago, Sooo Upto Me said:

I'm flying end of month to UK with Malaysian Airlines. Should be interesting. ?

Actually booked over 3mths ago only 20,000b return, Good deal I thought.

I have flown HK-KL-LHR return with Malaysian four times in the last 18 odd months, admittedly in business class but every flight has been magnificent. The U.K. leg on the A380 is one of the most comfortable and quiet flights I have ever taken, the food fantastic and cabin crew brilliant. It also helps that MH use T4 at Heathrow, instead of the circus known as T3.

as for pricing, I can get almost 2 business class seat on MH for the cost of one on CX, and yet both are in the OneWorld set up so I can claim mileage on my CX card with MH.

For those knocking Garuda, I suggest you take an International  flight with them now, yes they did have their problems but have certainly turned themselves around

[spidermike007]

20 hours ago, Dobredin Ghusputin said:

So, this review is credible, but the one showing Suvarnabhumi among world's worst airports isn't.

 

 

 

Correct. Skytrax is very reliable, and consider the industry standard. That incredibly obscure list, that showed Swampy as one of the worst, was a poorly compiled piece of crap. Not that I think Swampy is a great airport. But, it is definitely not one of the worst. I have seen some pretty awful airports in my days! 

[music065]

IMHO "Economy Airline" doesn't describe Thai Air at all. 

 

Sometimes I wonder whether these articles are proofread by first language English speakers. So many come off as written by an intermediate ESL student. 

Edited June 23, 2017 by music065