Although THAI are Star Alliance, which is no good for Avios collectors, they do offer some of the cheapest fares from the UK to New Zealand other than the Chinese carriers. Back in the golden days of the BMI Diamond club and credit card, I used to fly Thai a lot. One of my favourite First class flights was with Thai. I fondly remember being driven along in a buggy from the gate to immigration feeling like waving like the queen as I went past everyone else!
THAI have also had a rocky road with IATA after concerns about certification standards in Thailand but this now seems to be resolved. They are upping their game considerably at the moment with the purchase of new aircraft and have just started flying their A350 from London. So are they worth another look?
Thai Airways A350 starts on the London-Bangkok route
Competition is very stiff on the Bangkok-London route and oversupply means that prices have been some of the best value business class tickets to be had from London. THAI has responded by moving their more modern A350 onto the London route from 18 September for one of the flights.
THAI’s A350 business class is laid out in 1-2-1 meaning everyone gets aisle access, unlike BA. The seats don’t look as stylish as some of the more modern herringbone designs but they do the job. They fulfil all my basic business class requirements of direct aisle access, a flatbed and offer reasonable privacy even in the middle seats.
The A350 has replaces the B777 THAI previously used for its overnight TG917 service. They will still use the A380 for the TG911 daytime departure from Heathrow’s Terminal 2. There are 32 seats in Royal Silk Class (Business) on the A350 which are 21-inch wide and recline a full 180 degrees. Also in business class are extra-large overhead lockers, fast Wi-fi and 16-inch personal touchscreens.
TG917 departs Heathrow at 21:25 daily, arriving at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport at 15:00.
TG911 departs Heathrow at 12.30pm daily, arriving at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport at 05.45am.
THAI Airways B787-9 with new business class seats
THAI have just taken delivery of their 7th Dreamliner with its new B787-9. The aircraft has a new business class seat unlike the other 6 B787s which have the BE Diamond seats similar to American Airlines B777-200 but in a 2-2-2 configuration. The new seats are the standard Cirrus herringbone seats that are found on many airlines such as Finnair, AA, Qatar and Cathay.
THAI have also installed 787-9 the newest in-flight entertainment system of its kind, the Panasonic system eX3. The Inflight Wi-Fi will be high speed as well.
This first 787-9 Dreamliner will operate its first commercial flight on the route from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and Phuket from 23-30 September 2017, then from Bangkok to Singapore from 1 October – 15 November 2017. After the delivery of the second 787-9 aircraft, THAI will operate flights from Bangkok to Auckland and Taipei, Taiwan beginning on 16 November 2017.
The use of the B787 on the Auckland routes makes this a strong contender to consider to New Zealand when combined with the A350 for London-Bangkok. That is, of course, providing that all the new aircraft do not push up the price of THAI’s tickets to the levels of other major carriers.
