BACKGROUND Thai Airways has established a “light premium” service, Thai Smile, which serves domestic as well as regional routes within three hours on the TG code. This new brand will fly only short- to medium-range aircraft and the furthest that it plans to reach is India. The first aircraft it received was an A320 and this is currently serving Macau. Business Traveller was on the delivery flight that took off on June 30 at 1230 from Airbus’s facility in Hamburg for Bangkok via Dubai.
CHECK-IN To depart from the Airbus facility was a unique experience. Immigration and customer officers were specially called in to process our papers, and as there were no other passengers to serve, everything took very little time – about 20 minutes. When we reached the waiting area, we had more than an hour to kill but the only entertainment was the vending machines for snacks and a coffee machine. Fortunately, there were many power sockets so we made use of the time by charging our gadgets.
For an actual flight, Thai Smile offers the same baggage allowances as Thai Airways (20kg for economy and 30kg for business), and Smile Plus, the front end, comes with lounge access in addition to a wider seat pitch and better food.
BOARDING The flight, numbered TG8929, was ready for boarding at 1145. As it wasn’t a commercial flight, we got to choose our own seats, and I had the fourth row, in what would be the Smile Plus business class cabin. The one noticeable feature of the cabin is the overhead storage compartment – it is very spacious and can easily fit in two small, wheeled trolleys.
THE SEAT Configuration is 3-3 throughout, but the first four rows (first three on domestic flights) feature the business class product called Smile Plus, which has a wider seat pitch at 33 inches. Only two of the three seats on each side will be sold and, with the armrests lifted, will provide ample space to stretch out.
The seat is upholstered in an ethnic stripe pattern and fitted with a brown leather headrest. The colour theme is much darker than one would expect from such a cheery and whimsical brand. In front of every seat is a magazine compartment above the tray table, and there is also a seat pocket. According to Thai Smile’s chief executive Woranate Laprabang, the brand will eventually have its own in-flight magazine, but for now, Thai Airways’ Sawasdee is stocked.
WHICH SEAT TO CHOOSE? Smile Plus will provide more room, but even at the back of the cabin not all seats are made equal. The pitch of those after row 42, at the emergency exit, can be as small as 28 inches. When I sat in those for a test, my knees were touching the back of the seat in front of me and if a passenger in front of me reclined, it would be really uncomfortable.
THE FLIGHT Given that this was a delivery flight, the experience was unusual. We were served pork knuckle, sausages and sauerkraut as an appetiser and then Asian-style fish with rice and Western-style chicken main courses. On actual Thai Smile flights, the back end is served sandwiches and soft drinks, while Smile Plus enjoys full-meal service that comes with a hot entrée as well as wine and coffee. It took us six hours to reach Dubai for a two-hour stopover and another six for Bangkok, which was a little long as the seat wasn’t designed for such a long journey (even though each of us got to occupy a whole row to lie down).
However, for a short-haul flight the cabin would certainly be adequate. To demonstrate the brand’s fun image, we were given an experience of games on board, including a quiz and bingo. According to Woranate, each Thai Smile flight is to have a 10-minute “fun time” before landing, to introduce to passengers commercial products that they might be interested in. But he emphasised that this was not a channel for auxiliary revenue.
ARRIVAL We touched down at Suvarnabhumi at 0840 and went through the usual immigration process. By 0930, my luggage was collected.
VERDICT This is a decent product, but according to what we have been told by Thai Airways, Thai Smile is only 20 per cent cheaper than its legacy airline parent. As such, it may not be as competitive as it intends to be. If the new brand is trying to attract younger customers, it will need to install power sockets or USB ports, not to mention in-flight connectivity.
FACT FILE
PLANE TYPE A320
SEAT CONFIGURATION 3-3
SEAT WIDTH 18in/46cm
SEAT PITCH 33in/84cm
SEAT RECLINE 5in/13cm
PRICE A mid-October round-trip ticket between Bangkok and Macau is THB8,715 (US$277, changeable at a fee of THB1,000/US$32 or THB2,000/US$64, valid for three months), and THB12,400 (US$394) for Smile Plus (business) cabin
CONTACT www.thaismileair.com
Reggie Ho
