[Anonymous]

[MartynSinclair]

I have only been able to verify this offer from a collegue who is travelling BKK – LHR – BKK, but he confirmed that Thai have a special offer, flight awards at 50% of usual mileage. He is travelling to London for 93250 miles in F. I am not sure whether it works LHR-BKK-LHR and whether it is limited to accounts registered in Thailand/Asia.

I hope that this is useful to somebody.

[JamesMoloney5]

The problem with Thai is that they rarely pro-actively inform their ROP members about these offers. I am very active on the ROP website and am on the booking website two to three times a week but I don’t see these offers.

And anyway, their Business product to LHR now is just ridiculously expensive (THB130,000 return BKK-LHR) that I have given up flying them long haul. Their F class product now is only as good as a lot of other Business class products.

[AsiaTraveller]

I could not agree with Mr. James Moloney more. I fly Thai 2 or 3 times a year LAX-BKK, and the company is extraordinarily poor at marketing the few offers they come up with. I have not heard a thing about this offer. I can also tell you that their Business Class is not even close to being worth the extravagant premium they ask compared to, for example, Cathay’s product and other “lie flat” seating arrangements on other carriers. I wish TG would wake up and smell the coffee and start treating their loyal customers a little better, but it appears that will not happen.

[AirKlongtoey]

The offer from TG is only for Gold members and only for this year. They sent a letter a few months ago to me with the information and conditions, so in order to get the offer you should be Gold member and it is true that until 31st December 2010 you can get 50% flight awards (not upgrades).

Hope this clarifies a bit this issue.

[JamesMoloney5]

Thanks for that………………I have been a Gold member for about 7 years so it is odd, but not surprising, that I did not receive the letter. In this age of the internet one would think it would be less expensive to e-mail the offers and then direct the customer to a page on the website.

Again, just a sign of the dark ages that Thai management seem to live in……

[wisi1965]

I am a Gold Member and just checked the Thai Website and made a test booking BKK – ZRH – BKK for November and it came back with 130,000 miles per passenger.
No sign of a 50% discount for Gold members!!

[AirKlongtoey]

I forgot to mention that you can only get the 50% discount asking the redemption by phone, not through Internet booking. I do not have the card with me as there may be other conditions to follow, but I remember this one well.

In any case I agree with some of you that TG management had serious issues, but since they have the new President there are some minor improvements, but still far from how SQ or CX handle things.

At the end you should “find” your way around Royal Orchid Plus system to get much better benefits than Krisflier, especially when you are Gold member.

[Deleted User]

the only part of the comments I dissagree with is the standard of the First product on the LON-BKK route. Simply superb. The rubbish that some of the cabin crew have to put up with, like one passenger throwing his toys out of the pram for the crew addressing him as Mr. Instead of Sir!!

The Thai crew are just like all the Asian crews, polite and nothing is too much bother, they serve their passengers, the passengers do not have to fit around the crew!

The service and the hard product in the F cabin are of the highest quality. Agreed business and economy, would miss at all costs.

As for the offer, could in be that you had to be based in Thailand to benefit.

[JamesMoloney5]

I am based in Thailand….for the last four years………………..! Thai are just very bad communicators – they are really lacking in this basic marketing skill and this is reflected in the responses to the original post. If you want to find out something you need to lift the phone, which is ridiculous!

Every other airline puts their best deals on their websites because that is the least cost method of selling the product, especially if you are discounting it in the form of a special offer. But with Thai you always have to call them to find out the best deal on offer, and a phone call will produce a better deal than the website on at least 50% of occasions, in my experience anyway.

As for the F product on LHR-BKK, I agree with you re the crew, the service and the overall experience – I especially like the way you can call a few days in advance and discuss the menu and order something that is not on the regular menu. However, I disagree with you on the quality of the hard product – very dated now. The space and privacy is very poor.

The F product on CDG-BKK is contemporary and in line with Thai’s competitors on the major European routes and the Royal Silk product on the same route is excellent. My six return trips a year are to Dublin so I have to connect via a major European gateway and I now use Paris (on the rare occasion that I can afford the now very high fares), happily avoiding the dated old rubbish they offer on the LHR route.

They are talking about dry leasing another eight B777’s – I think they need to get a move on with this if they are to keep bottoms on their seats.

[AirKlongtoey]

I found the card that Thai sent me a few months ago. This is a card that mentions “Exclusively for Gold Members in 2010”.

Inside they have a Chart with the miles you need to claim the award ticket and it is only a one-time round trip redemption valid for all Gold Status members or an Award nominee.

Travel must commence during 2010. It is mention that you can book only by phone and it is not limited to residents of Thailand, although I may assume that as the former post mention a bad communication means that maybe they never sent this card to Gold members outside Thailand ???

Myself I got it, although I have not yet found the way to claim for this award, but I hope to do it before the end of the year.

On this kind of awards, I must say that TG beat all the others as being more generous with yearly upgrades and extra awards. Another thing is to get an award ticket in the dates you wish.

[donkeyasia]

Yesterday I got my secretary to call TG (we are in Bangkok) to enquire on the offers available. She was told that none were left as the amount of miles used by members had expired and the offer was no longer valid. This was a Thai male on the line. I called after this and handed the line to my secretary after determining that the lady who answered knew what I was talking about. In 15 minutes she had explained the booking procedures, and had emailled me with the flights available for BKK-CDG in early December. This afternoon to tell me that one of my dates had come up as vlaid and did I wanyt to book it now. She offered to hold the booking for 48 hours. first chance I get I will hire her for my customer services team. Typically extreme levels of interest and competence in Thailand, especially Government owned companies and institutions.

[Passepartout56]

Every year, and for a number of years now, Thai Airways have had a promotion for all its Gold ROP holders worldwide. Originally it was tied-in with the members birthday but no longer.
The current promotion has being operating from 1st January and ends 31st December 2010. This special award can be used one time only, for yourself or an award nominee (ROP members will know what that means). It is of course subject to availability and is most certainly available from the UK and must be booked by phone through Thai reservations in London.
The flight LHR-BKK-LHR costs 92,500 miles in Royal First Class; 65,000 miles in Royal Silk Class and 35,000 miles in Economy Class.
Incidentally, I got my invite to take advantage of this offer back in January and the letter was posted in Hong Kong not Bangkok.
I would advise ROP Gold card holders to phone Thai in London at the start of each year to find out what the latest promotion is since I have taken advantage of their most generous promotions for at least six years now.

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