TG London - bangkok Business Class

[SingaporeSteve]

Just a word to the wise for any of you that fly business class on TG between London and LOS. This could also apply on any route where they fly 747's.

 

last week, I had to fly to London for an urgent meeting and left on the Monday afternoon flight from BKK-LON. Aircraft was one of the few upgraded business class aircraft. Basically the difference is that you get 50" legroom, personal TV and a leg rest with a decent seat recline. If you are flying on a old configuration aircraft you get 40" legroom, no leg rest and crap recline as well as no personal TV, although you can get little Sony handheld video.

 

The only problem is that TG only have a couple of ugraded aircraft and its difficult to tell where they flying on a given day however if you have some inside knowledge you can tell. For people with flexibility, this might be important. When booking your ticket ask the agent how many rows of seats there are on the upper deck. They can pull up a seat map and tell you. If there are 8 on the upper deck, its the upgraded product. if there are 10 its the old product. This changes from day to day and flight to flight however TG forward plan their aircraft movements so the seat maps are accurate unless they have last minute technical change.

 

The flight back from LON, which was the overnight flight was old configuration. However as the flight went tech with a broken windscreen ::, we had to overnight in a hotel and then flew on the a different aircraft the next day (leaving the scheduled AM departure to Bangkok with our old aircraft). Given that this new plane had 16 fewer business class seats, many were upgraded to first class

 

Hopefully TG will get their act together sometime soon and get rid of this old product as it is trully crap....

 

Cheers

[Nervous_Dog]

While i ;love getting Thai Points, inmy opinion, and the wifes, it is almost better to fly cattle class on Singapore than business in Thai.

 

I fly twice in January Bangkok - Sydent return, first time on a DC 10!!!! Next on a 747 - 300

 

Both times when things didn't work the staff urged me to complain to Thai management as they were tierd of passenger complaints!

 

Food is ok though.

[samak]

i have also observed this, but got lost to predict.

thanks for the advise, how to find out.

they have also different business class on the MD 11 planes. i have no clue, how to predict. there are also different First class seats (some with full recline and the old one, which are worse than many business class seats of good airlines).

[thalenoi]

Unfortunately, I had the same experience on BKK-FRA, old 747 may 2000, the lousiest business class fligth ever. I had two old-type seats for myself, but could not lift the armrest between the chairs to get a decent nap. The meal was a tentative of international food, they should have sticked to decent thai food.

 

I was forced to fly TG cattle class in a hurry 15 dec 2002, did not see much of a difference between both classes.

I avoid flying TG all together. Unfortunately Thai businesses have no clue of how to fidelise clients (not just Thai businesses btw), Swiss is not doing better, try to email them to formulate a complaint like I did last month. I will not fly Swiss neither... :onfire: Any one left???

[buffalo_bill]

Thalenoi,

 

all 747 BKK-FRA are supposed to be newer type with reduced number of seats and upgraded furniture. In case of breakdowns you might come across an older type. On 5 trips = 10 sectors last year all 747 were new style.

 

Complaining about Thai or other biz classes makes no sense without specifying which plane you are talking about. Thai biz class on their A330 is an absolute winner , 777-200 total crap. A310 again acceptable.

 

In comparison to the competition Thai biz and first are probabkly a little less sophisticated if you think of Singapore Airlines or Cathay , but there is also the aspect of what you pay for your ticket. First from FRA are usually sold with an average discount of 45% on the IATA price, SA will never do that. So after all the value for money is very good and the food always brilliant.

 

Bbill

[Guest]

BBill,

 

I second this. I made the FRA . BKK route many times on TG biz class and as long as it was a 747 is was always great. The old MD-5 should be avoided though...

[fatbastard33]

SingaporeSteve wrote:

"last week, I had to fly to London for an urgent meeting and left on the Monday afternoon flight from BKK-LON."

 

If that was the 14.00 from BKK-LON on Monday 3 February I was also on that flight. Got an upgrade (at check in) from Economy to Business. I was the fat guy upstairs in the front row on the right hand side (looking forward) who was trying to drink the plane dry. (Always remember that if you paid £250 for your ticket and drink £250 worth of booze your flight was free).

 

Shame we could not have met up for a few little drinkies.

 

Cheers

Fatbastard 33

 

 

[chilli13]

vouw small world of sanukers ain't it ::

[SingaporeSteve]

FB - I think I saw you on the flight - I was in the emergency exit seat upper deck left hand side (with the empty seat next to me, kindly blocked by check-in agent to keep it free). if I am not mistaken was it you that was trying to change seats and sit on the left hand side?

 

Cheers

[SingaporeSteve]

Jimmie Blonde - The DC10 you refer to is actually an MD11 although its splitting hairs trying to work out the difference between the two. I am sure the nice man at McDonnell Douglas would say there are huge differences but I am not so convinced.

 

Either way the MD11's were due to be retired and sold off when TG took delivery of two more 777's last year however they have kept them because of rising demand. Its a real shocker of a plane but dont expect any upgraded product soon as they are still due to be put out for retirement.

 

Cheers