Thai Airways Review

As promised yesterday (or two days ago, depending on what time zone you're in), I said that I would write a review of the flight from Brussels to Bangkok.  As today would probably be the last day I could do it before forgetting, here it goes. 

In the quick post I wrote before boarding, I mentioned that my flight over here would be the first flight on an Asian airline that I've ever taken. I'm no stranger to long-haul travel, having amassed over 30 crossings of the Atlantic over the past 12 years simply to go from Belgium back to the US.   The benefit of having done so many of these lengthy flights is that you learn more or less what to expect.  I took my first trans-Atlantic when I was 18 years old, and the most I remember about it was how slowly it went.   Nowadays, my expectations are more or less established, and I walk onto one of these flights with the mind set  that I'll be sitting for more than eight hours without break.  

 Unfortunately for me, I've only flown in economy class, and this trip was no different. So with this part out of the way, I can focus on what long haul is like on an airline that prides itself on its product and customer care.    

The service itself was superb.  The flight staff paid high-attention to detail and were keen on being attentive to passengers needs.   Prior to the first meal service (lunch), hot towels and drinks were passed around to passengers to freshen up and relax.  As I like to have a bit of alcohol while flying, I was pleased to see that they were serving spirits directly from large bottles instead of the tiny airplane bottles that are normally used.   They passed again to top off whoever needed a re-fill prior to the meal service. 

The meal was one of my favorite parts.   The food wasn't Thai-inspired but rather drew from different parts of Southeast Asia.  I had the chicken masala which came with cabbage salad (odd choice to serve on an airplane), camenbert cheese, and glazed beniets for dessert.  This was probably the best airline meal I've ever had.  

We had wine with our lunch which was again served directly out of a regular-sized bottle.  We were served into wine glasses made from real glass and the cutlery was made out of metal; another first.  The staff went around five times during the lunch service offering refills and finished with a round of tea and coffee once the trays had been cleared.   Overall, the service met my expectations.  

About an hour and a half prior to landing, we were served breakfast.  It was hands-down the best airline breakfasts I've been served.   Most US airlines will serve a cold, moist pastry along with sugary yogurt and undrinkable coffee as breakfast  on the tail-end of an eastbound trans-Atlantic.  Normally, I just have coffee and some orange juice and amp myself to push through the next day on two hours of bad sleep.  Thai Airways, on the other hand, served a proper, Paleo-inspired (!!!) breakfast.  I had bacon, scrambled eggs, spinach and roasted tomato along with an optional croissant plus juice and coffee.   I was blown away.    

Breakfast

While all this sounds good with the service meeting my expectations and the meals drubbing my assumptions about the limits of airline food, I did have a few critiques on other aspects of the flight.   

For one, the seats and allocated legroom were too small.  The aircraft we were on (a Boeing 777-300 ER) is used by Thai Airways exclusively for long-haul service.   The seats were narrower than most airlines I've been on and the pitch (the distance between the start of your seat and the start of the seat back in front of you) was merely 32 inches.   This, combined with the narrow seat, made for a cramped feeling throughout the flight.  Additionally, there is a foot rest under each seat which was more annoying than helpful. 

Nathalie and I gambled a little bit on our seat selection (and this is a little pro-tip for all of you travelers out there) by choosing the window and the aisle seat on a row of three seats, leaving the middle one open to whoever wanted to take it.  We bet that no single traveler, facing the choice between window, aisle and middle seat, would choose the middle seat between two strangers, leaving the seat between us free.  Our gamble paid off, and during a 10.5 hour flight, we had three seats for two people, which helped compensate for the smaller individual seat.   Thanks to this travel hack, we were able to get about 4-5 hours of sleep; not bad.  

The other thing that stuck out to me were the other passengers.  Now I know this isn't Thai Airways' fault, and they did a great job handling them, but the flight was probably 90% European and most of them were on the older side who haven't picked up the finer nuances of international travel.  There was a lot of needless complaining to the staff who were doing everything in their power to satisfy their clients.   Half the flight ordered a special meal, and I'm assuming its because they were afraid of spicy food (I got a chuckle out of that).  I wonder how they're eating here in Thailand? At one point, I'm fairly certain someone lit a cigarette as the air carried that signature odor and there was a large group of flight attendants standing around looking scolding towards one person for a little bit during the night.  

When the plane landed, half of the passengers began to clap.  I've only seen that a couple of times in Europe when flying on a charter flight and once when I was a kid landing in Washington D.C. (If I recall correctly, it was because we had a rough landing with the plane bouncing up and down on  the runway before finally stopping).  I thought it was a little strange, but in a way fitting given everything else we had experienced.

In the end, I was impressed with Thai Airways.  If I could recommend one thing, it would be for them to improve the width of the seat and extend the legroom just a tiny bit.  I'm looking forward to flying back with them in September (or even somewhere else within the region) and will be employing my hack again to get some extra space.