Thai Airways A330-300 (Config. 1)

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  • Anonymous
    Guest

    TG252 – KBV-BKK
    Business Class A330

    CHECK-IN
    I checked in online for both myself and my husband. We were connecting through to Bangkok but onto an Emirates flight so this was in all essence a domestic flight. I had no access to a printer so had to go the the airport desk to get my boarding pass. We arrived at the airport at 12:30 but it wasn't until we got there that we realised that check in didn't open until 13:10; this was not made clear when I checked in online, so we hung around for a good half hour before anyone arrived. When they did check us in though it was swift and efficient and with a smile.

    THE LOUNGE
    The lounge is before security so we spent an hour in there as it had little to offer in terms of food and drink. From the lounge it was a good five minute walk to the domestic terminal where you then went through security and entered a large departure lounge where the three departure gates were located.

    BOARDING
    Our flight was due out so gate 4 but as the crowds massed as the boarding time neared they then swapped the gate, without notice, to gate 5. This was accompanied with the boarding announcement for business class, Thai Royal Orchid and Star Alliance Gold, but as we tried to get through the mass of other passengers thronging around the boarding door started complaining as we tried to get to the front, clearly unaware, due to the terrible announcement, that they were actually calling the usual priority passengers to board first!

    We were sent down an escalator to a door where the A330 was waiting on the Tarmac with no airbridge. As we waited a bus arrived and dropped off the passengers who had still been in the Thai Airways lounge. Again this had not been made clear to us when we had entered the lounge, that we would have been bussed to the aircraft. Again yet another mass boarding ensued, with passengers who had walked from the lounge to the gate and those who had been bussed in, scrambling to get on the flight. All told it was worse than any low cost airline boarding scheme; absolutely terrible.

    THE SEAT
    The Thai A330 used on the domestic routes has the old business class cradle seats which are perfectly suitable for a quick one hour flight. Arranged 2-2-2, it has quite a spacious feel and there is plenty of overhead locker space.

    THE FLIGHT
    We pushed back twenty minutes late without any explanation for the delay from the flight crew and were straight from the gate out onto the runway and took off immediately.

    A light meal of Roti pancakes with a savoury filling and lemon tart was served along with tea and coffee.

    We landed twenty minutes late and had to exit the domestic terminal and check in at the Emirates check in desk for our onward flight.

    VERDICT
    We have flown Thai Airways domestic flights before and I don't think we have ever left the gate on time, whereas a rival domestic airline which we have also flown, has always left on time. The whole process from check in, to the lounge, to boarding was portly communicated and organised and was an absolute shambles. The fact that there was no explanation or apology for the flight being late was also not good form, especially as we had to race from one end of Bangkok airport to the other…….that's a long way!

    Review courtesy of Seatplans.com. Original review by user bigglesgirl can be found here

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