Thai Airways B777-300ER (Config.2) Royal First Class

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  • Anonymous
    Guest

    JamesMoloney5
    Participant

    My Aer Lingus flight from Dublin arrived at 14:30 and TG933 was scheduled to leave at 21:40 so I had a lot of time to kill landside at CDG, which is a shame as CDG is a pretty awful airport when it comes to facilities, either landside or airside.

    I used the free train shuttle service to transfer from T1 to T2, which is the location of the ONLY Left Luggage facility at CDG (amazing that they have only one such facility). You cannot take a trolley on to the shuttle train and I had to lug two suitcases and a carry on up to the train platform, which was not easy.

    Having left my bags at the Left Luggage I enquired at Information about the Massage services mentioned on the airport’s website. There are none in the airport. The only one is in the Sheraton Hotel which, technically speaking is in the airport. I paid e120 for a one hour massage, in a strange facility on the fourth floor of the hotel. Although horribly expensive, the massage was very good.

    Having made my way over to T1 again, with my luggage, I checked in at the empty First Class facility and was quickly on my way to the Star Alliance lounge. Immigration was, thankfully, not too busy.

    The Star Alliance lounge is on the second floor accessible by elevator only. First Class is directly behind the reception desk and Business Class is downstairs. The very friendly staff showed me into the completely empty F lounge. I was the only passenger!!

    The Lounge is very comfortable but small. Comfortable seating but not a lot of it. A reasonable, but limited selection of drinks and a buffet of meat cuts, smoked salmon, cheeses etc, as well as crisps and nuts was available. I had planned to eat on board so I did not indulge very much.

    I had time to indulge in some duty free shopping and this just reinforced my opinion of how poor an airport CDG is for an international hub…shockingly poor selection in Duty Free and also bar/restaurant facilities.

    I headed for the aircraft at 9pm and there was nobody at security so cleared that very quickly. On board I was shown to my Suite, 2A. There was only one other passenger in F, in 1K, so I knew the service would be good!

    Hot towel and Champagne followed, along with PJs. Push back was actually bang on time at 21:40.

    When the seat belt sign was switched off I changed into my PJs and when I got back to my seat my Bombay Sapphire Dry Martini was waiting for me.

    Very nice warm nuts were served followed by canapés, and then the best part of the flight…..the Oscietra Caviar, with all the trimmings and ice cold Smirnoff….yummy.

    I know from experience over the last 20 years that Thai allocates half a tin of caviar for every passenger. I also knew that the predicted loading for F on this flight was four pax, but two had not turned up. I asked the very nice FA if I could have the whole tin of caviar and she said “absolutely sir, of course you can”. This was a great start to a lovely flight. When I finished the tin, she asked if I would like more……”woo hoo….more”….of course. So, I had another half tin portion.

    Delicious, served with egg yolk, egg white, sour cream, red onion, and a choice of toast melba or blinis, and accompanied by ice cold Vodka. I am always amazed at how cold they can get the bottle of Vodka. I know the caviar is served early on in the flight so they don’t have to keep it cold for a long time, but it was literally ice cold!

    This was followed by a starter of Serrano Ham, Lobster tail and poached salmon. I then had the Beef Massaman Curry, which was excellent.

    I chose the Grand Cru Saint Emilion from Chateau Berliquet which was great with the beef. I do wish Thai would introduce some New World wines to their F selection. French wine is good but I am a firm fan of a nice Australian Shiraz or a South African wine from Stellenbosch…almost any grape from this region will do!!

    I decided to skip dessert and cheese and to sleep. I asked the FA to make my bed and went to the bathroom. When I returned, two FAs were finishing making up my bed

    The seats are a fully flat bed in sleep mode (as one would expect) and I slept soundly until two hours before landing.

    I declined the second meal and had some coffee and juice instead.

    One of the best aspects of flying F into Bangkok with Thai is the superb service upon landing. This aircraft usually lands on a C pier, normally C7 and it is easily a fifteen minute walk to Immigration. First Class passengers get a buggy ride and an escort through Immigration and then each passenger has his/her own personal porter to take their hand baggage and then collect their checked luggage and escort the passenger to their car/limo etc. Excellent ground services!!

    All told, a very nice flight, as usual from Thai!!


    HongKongLady
    Participant

    Sounds as if you had a great flight and seems it is a First worth trying. I recently do a Cathay First and they too serve caviar although not in quite the quantities you were lucky enough to enjoy. As a huge huge caviar fan I can understand your indulgence. I wish wish wish wish wish BA were fans of it too. But alas I fear that will be no more.


    norbert2008
    Participant

    HongKongLady hold your breath BA in talks with supplier of caviar I spoke to recently…..


    HongKongLady
    Participant

    Norbert2008 thank you for that good news, I will keep my fingers crossed


    JamesMoloney5
    Participant

    HongKongLady Thai has been serving caviar for more than 20 years but only on inter-continental routes. There was talk of a WWF campaign about three years ago to try and have it stopped…friends of the sturgeon…something like that, but thankfully it came to nothing….

    First Class on Thai is a real pleasure, especially if you are departing from or arriving in to Bangkok.

    Sure, it may not be as “perfect’ as Singapore or Cathay but it is charming, comfortable and considerably less expensive.

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