I am flying Thai airlines on my way back from Singapore (SIA-BKK-MUC-FRA) and I have to say ‘I am not amused’. Having previously flown Lufthansa, Emirates, Singapore Airlines and Swiss on that route I got some experience in economy and business class from Europe to SE Asia. Having plenty of air miles to spare I opted for a business ticket.
Flying business class there are just some standards you expect for paying so much more. Singapore Airlines and Emirates are great when it comes to customer experience (at least on most flights – had an exception with SIA to Mumbai). So flying another Star Alliance airline shouldn’t differ too much you would think…
Stupid screens
Think again! My flight from Singapore to Bangkok in an older Airbus wasn’t too satisfying. Though the service was o.k., the plane was old and substandard to the above-mentioned airlines. Food and choice were worse than other airlines in economy, the only difference is that the presentation was nicer. Considering real plates, metal cutlery and more space it’s no big surprise.
Despite a flying time of 2.5h they had no movies on the plane. The low quality, low contrast and grainy LCD only left the choice between Beatles in Russia, flight information and another less interesting alternative. So I took the opportunity to sleep, hoping for a better second leg.
Having arrived in Bangkok, the lounge was at most average again (royal silk). Should you do a stopover in BKK take your walking shoes with you as I may have walked about 1.5 km through the terminal to transit. Strangely enough, they have a nice award for having the best first-class lounge hanging on the wall (in the business lounge?!). Doesn’t help though if the business lounge isn’t that great – does it suggest I should try first class next time?!
Now I am sitting in a B747-400 for my 10.5-hour flight to Munich. The plane is old and the experience is even less pleasing than the first leg. Strangely enough, they do not provide power ports on board (they do have the proprietary sockets though). Is it so unreasonable to use a laptop in business class on a long haul flight?! Or do I just have a crappy laptop if my battery doesn’t last 10.5 hours. The offered option was to charge the laptop in the terminal – not helpful when in the air!!! Somehow the combination of an old plane, an announcement about mechanical problems and a worried-looking engineer leaving the cockpit doesn’t leave a good feeling.
I have just been presented with the choice of menu – and experienced another letdown. Three options and one is already out. 25 biz pax on the plane and only 7 meals of what seems to be the popular choice of the 7 people in front of me. 3 options x 7 meals don’t even get me to 25 pax. Either a very unusual flight or unusually bad planning. Somehow, I have the feeling that I will not necessarily enjoy the food anyways. But let’s see later when the food arrives.
It just doesn’t get better. Personal in-flight entertainment is unfortunately not so personal. No on-demand movies, only canned content – a whole 3 (plus one on the crappy main screen) movies… Considering on-demand movies on Emirates or Singapore Airlines – even in economy – this sucks. So if you’re lucky you may get the timing between two movies right. Otherwise, tough luck, you either miss half of it or you have to wait until it restarts. Oh, no pause button and no ad breaks – hence no toilet breaks either if you don’t wanna lose the thread. That feels so last century.
Ended up with little sleep due to not so comfortable seats. Seats don’t recline much and are definitely too uncomfortable for a 10.5h flight. Food was o.k. in the end, but not great – you survive on it. Service was so-so, some of the flight attendants are nice and try to make the best of the crappy plane, others are rather not so nice.
Overall, not an airline I would recommend on a long haul flight. If you have a choice don’t fly it and if you have to fly Thai, check the planes on each leg. They do have the more modern ones and a few are on order, but still fly plenty of really old planes (average age is over 12 years!!!).