I was headed to New York to attend the Freddie Awards and the day of departure was fast approaching. I was supposed to be flying on Singapore Airlines First Class but my miles hadn’t transferred from Amex in time so It was time to look at another option.
I ended up booking Thai Airways. I was going to use Lifemiles but ended up getting a paid fare for just under $1800 AUD to Shanghai which is pretty reasonable in Business Class.
Thai operate both a 777-300ER and 777-200ER on the route and both are very different, the -200ER have angled flat seats and the -300ER has lie-flat seats with every Business passenger having direct aisle access. Thai was supposed to have the A350 on the route last year but due to CASA it has been delayed to October of this year.
Boarding for the flight started 30 minutes late as the inbound aircraft was late. Boarding was a little bit of a mess with people pushing in but it eventually started and was completed surprisingly fast.
On the window seats, the seating controls are found on the left side. The seats also feature a massage function.
Also on the left of the seat is where the old style IFE remote control is found.
The IFE screens are fairly small and are not touch screen.
The 777-200ER features 30 angled flat Business Class seats in a 2-2-2 configuration. Even though the seats themselves are quite old they are still very well cushioned and comfortable.
During boarding, passengers are offered water, champagne and juice.
The crew also came around the cabin to offer newspapers and magazines.
As you can see the seats are fairly spacious but really lack privacy.
I selected seat 14B and luckily 14A was empty. This was great as the seats have basically no storage so I could store stuff on the seat next to me. Each seat has in-seat power and individual reading lights above and next to your shoulder.
We pushed back shortly after boarding and made our way to the runway, the weather in Melbourne kept changing from raining to sunny then cloudy, this is completely normal for them.
Shortly after our taxi we took off and were headed for Bangkok!
Soon after taking off, the meal service started. Thai don’t offer an A la carte service so on this service, there was a full lunch service and a small meal served before landing. First I had some mixed nuts and a sparkling water with a lemon slice.
Next was the salmon salad which was fresh and full of flavour.
I then had the cooked salmon as the main, it was cooked brilliantly. I think it’s obvious that Salmon is my favourite seafood 😉
The for dessert was a small orange cake with raspberries and cream. My apologies for the quality of the photo.
After the meal service was completed, the cabin windows were shut and the cabin lighting was dimmed for people to sleep.
Thai Airways Business Class amenity kits are designed by Furla.
The feature a dental kit, eye mask, socks, a hairbrush, mouthwash, body lotion, lip balm and ear plugs.
The brand of body lotion is Acca Kappa.
Thai provide headphones but I’d definitely recommend taking your own, these fitted nicely but the sound quality was poor.
On this flight, there’s no bedding available and no pyjamas are provided. I reclined the seat and tried to get a few hours of sleep but it was quite difficult with its angle.
I didn’t end up getting any sleep so decided to stay awake and get some work done and watch a movie or two. Luckily the seats do have In-seat power which is found inside the centre armrest. Interestingly, there are no USB power outlets onboard.
There are 2 bathrooms for Business Class passengers, 1 at the front of the cabin and the 2nd at the back just beside the galley and in front of Economy Class.
The bathrooms are average size and were mostly clean. The front one was quite dirty as I think most passengers didn’t know there was one bathroom at the back of the cabin.
The bathrooms smelt good the whole time thanks to ‘Thé Vert’. It’s quite a refreshing and long lasting scent which is nice.
After about 6 hours of working and watching movies, I decided I needed something to wake me up. I opted for a black coffee and it was accompanied by some biscuits.
After having some coffee, a small pre-landing snack was served. I went with the Fish broth soup with was quite tasty.
Overall
My experience with Thai Airways was quite pleasant. I really want to fly them in First Class and you can do it quite cheaply with miles from Sydney.
I wouldn’t hesitate to fly them again but would try and avoid the angled seats.