Bali 2014 – Aeroplan Sale: Thai First MUC-BKK – PART 2 of 5

Bali 2014 – Aeroplan Sale: Lufthansa First/Business YYZ-FRA-MUC + FCT & FCL – PART 1 of 5

Bali 2014 – Aeroplan Sale: Thai First MUC-BKK – PART 2 of 5

Bali 2014 – Aeroplan Sale: Thai “Economy” BKK-DPS and Thai First Class Lounge BKK – PART 3 of 5

Bali 2014 – Aeroplan Sale: In Bali and the Kupu Kupu Barong Resort – PART 4 of 5

Bali 2014 – Aeroplan Sale: EVA Airways Royal Laurel TPE-SFO, Centurion Lounge SFO, and being detained because of EBOLA! – PART 5 of 5

---

Thai First Munich MUC – Bangkok BKK

I’m going to start by saying that I realize every single complaint here is ridiculous, over entitled, and ignorant of the real world. Nonetheless, I am a “Premium Travel” blog, and my job is to explain how to get the best value for your money (and points). All these petty complaints detract from that value.

Today I was on a newly configured 747. Like Cathay Pacific, Thai puts their First Class cabin in the nose of the plane on the bottom deck. The two seats in row one are in extremely close proximity, because they’re where the plane curves inwards at the nose. Today I was at seat 3A.

The Seat

The seat is a suite, except it lacks a closing door like what is found on Singapore and Emirates. It is well finished, with pleasant colours and wood finishing. Interestingly, the table, which is huge, is actually made of wood and is extremely heavy. I’ve never seen a real wood table on any other airline, which is usually just laminate. Seems like a bad idea in terms of weight and fuel costs.

The seat is hard, and I didn’t find it very comfortable, even after a thin mattress pad was placed on it. Further, the suite was very narrow, and the seat controls didn’t allow for very much precision, which added to my discomfort. All in all, it was an OK seat, but I’d rather a reverse-herringbone business seat than Thai’s First Class suite in terms of comfort.

The Service

This is where Thai failed. When you’re in First Class, paying $15,000+, you expect pretty darn good service. On this flight, the cabin attendants were rude, absent, and unresponsive. Whenever I asked for something, be it a glass of water or a refill on champagne, it was always met with a role of the eyes and a “sure, ok.” Throughout the flight, they were completely absent. Other than the meal service beverage cart, they did not pass through the cabin seeing if passengers needed a refill. Not once. Last, they were completely unresponsive to the call button. When you’re in First Class, it’s OK, and even encouraged, to press the call button when you want something. Typically on Asian carriers you’ll have a response time of under 10 seconds in First Class. On Thai, there was no response. And I pressed the button multiple times. So I had to schlepp through to business class to find a flight attendant who could help me. This is completely unacceptable in a First Class cabin.

Worst of all, when I tried to sleep, the cabin was absolutely boiling. Every single person in First Class was sweating bullets and opening their PJs up. I asked the cabin crew if they’d turn the heat down. The response was ‘no.’ Not even an apologetic ‘no’, but a firm one. I’ve never had an issue with an airline lowering the heat before, and because of their negligence, I could barely sleep in the puddle of sweat I was making.

The Food

To the point, it was bad. Except for the caviar service, which to be fair was excellent, the rest of the food was bland and uninteresting. Heck, the food on the economy class flight from BKK-DPS was miles ahead of this catering. I’ll let the pictures do the talking… again, this is First Class catering.

Conclusion

This was an extremely disappointing product. There was an issue with every aspect of it. The seat was meh, the service sucked, and the food was extremely disappointing. Even the PJs were ugly! The best part of the flight was the Rimowa Amenity Kit, which is awesome. I would not take Thai First Class again, nor would I recommend it for anybody. EVA Airways/Singapore/Asiana/and other business class products beat Thai First, which is quite a shame. I hope my experience was a one-off, but the fact that so much was wrong leads me to believe that it’s just a bad product rather than a one-off bad experience.