While it is always fun to try a new A380 first class product, I did not expect such a great flight on Thai Airways…my best overall flight ever with them.
After spending about 40 minutes in the Thai Airways Royal Orchid Lounge in Osaka, boarding was announced and I walked over to the nearby gate, where boarding was actually almost complete.
Thai Airways 623
Osaka (KIX) – Bangkok (BKK)
Wednesday, November 05
Depart: 11:00AM
Arrive: 03:45PM
Duration: 06hr,45min
Aircraft: Airbus A380
Seat: 2K (First Class)
First class is located in the front of the upper deck and I was greeted by two bowing flight attendants upon boarding, one of whom escorted me to my seat.
Thai Airways A380 First Class Seating
Thai’s A380 features 12 semi-enclosed seats seats in first class in a 1-2-1 configuration. The cabin is bright, with a yellow, purple, and tan motif. Although the suite does not have closing doors, it is fairly private and quite comfortable.
The seat featured a multi-way adjustor, ample personal storage via side compartments and under the tray table, a power port, two USB ports, and lights. One thing missing: air nozzles. Thankfully it did not get too warm during the flight.
The suite also featured a small closet large enough to store 1-2 articles of clothing or a narrow bag.
The 6hr,45min flight turned out to be under six hours…far, far too short, but I did enjoy a nice nap after lunch. Bedding includes a mattress pad, plush blanket, and pillows.
Thai Airways A380 First Class Lounge
Rather than offering two oversized bathrooms on the upper deck like Emirates, Etihad, Lufthansa, and Qatar do, Thai offers one large bathroom on the left side and a “lounge” on the right side. I consider the lounge to be wasted space…no one used it during the flight and I doubt it gets much use. The seats are less comfortable than the first or even business class seats onboard.
Thai Airways A380 First Class Amenities…Or Lack Thereof
I was surprised that no amenity kits or pajamas were proactively offered, only slippers. Thai traditionally offered first class passengers Rimowa amenity kits and I built up a nice collection of them over the years. Furthermore, I always received pajamas even on shorter first class flights like Bangkok to Hong Kong or Beijing in the past. But not today. And I asked…I will never turn down the chance for another Rimowa amenity kit. But none were loaded. “Flight too short” I was told. Thus, the only thing I ended up with was slippers.
Thai Airways A380 First Class Service
The flight attendants were excellent onboard: friendly and quite eager to assist. I appeared to be the only native-English speaker in the cabin and one FA laid out all the English newspapers and magazines for me.
Service was timed perfectly after takeoff…not too rushed, but it also did not drag on. FAs addressed passengers by name.
While I’ve had better service before in Thai First, that was more a function of having the first class cabin to myself (Bangkok to Beijing in December 2010). I’d call service flawless on this flight.
Thai Airways A380 First Class Food + Drink
I rate this as my best Thai Airways flight ever because usually the food in first class leaves much to be desired. In fact, prior to this flight I never had a memorable meal (in a good way) in Thai Airways first class. I feel like the carrier tries hard, but quality is often lacking.
Below, you can read the menu for the flight. Note that caviar was not available. Like the amenity kits and pajamas, it seems that the full first class experience is only available on longahul flights to Australia or Europe. Dom Perignon was available, though. My apologies: I do not have a copy of the drink menu.
Before takeoff, a choice of beverage and warm towel was offered. Thai Airways always leaves the can when serving a drink…not the classiest, but perhaps easier than waiting for a refill.
The amuse-bouche turned out be a trio of “hot savories” including beef teriyaki with green pepper, fried fish, and sautéed scallops. The scallops were particularly amazing.
Moments later, a FA set the table for lunch. Thai Airways offers first class passengers a bread basket that contained an assortment of bread. Often that bread is stale or lukewarm, but today it was hot and fresh.
The appetizer included smoked salmon and Carpegna ham…very tasty as well.
A soup course followed, cream of mushroom with croutons and cracked pepper on top.
A Delicious Main Course
For the main course, I ordered beef tenderloin. I was not expecting the beautiful herb crust, which was both visually appealing and added a great taste to the meat. Cooked vegetables and surprisingly good gnocchi were on the side.
Never before have I enjoyed such a tasty main course on Thai Airways.
The meal continued with an elaborate fruit and cheese plate.
I’m not sure what dark orange cheese was, but it was sensational. The blue cheese and brie…meh.
Finally, I enjoyed a slice of chocolate-raspberry cake with a cappuccino for dessert.
Even the coffee was fabulous. Kudos to Thai for such a nice meal.
While a light snack was offered prior to landing, I skipped it. I was still far too full from lunch. When I woke up from my nap, however, a FA offered me some ice cream and I did not want to be rude. 😉
A large bottle of Evian water and another hot towel were presented after the first meal service.
Thai Airways A380 First Class IFE + Wi-Fi
Noise canceling headphones were presented along with the pre-departure beverage upon boarding.
In-flight-entertainment included games, movies, TV shows, a moving flight map, and a tailcam video. The resolution on this camera is not nearly as crisp as new A350s.
Wi-Fi internet was available, but prices were so bad (more than $1 per MB) I just passed on it.
Thai Airways A380 First Class Lavatory
I mentioned above that Thai offers one oversized first class lavatory at the front landing of the upper deck. Without a shower like Emirates or Eithad or even a urinal like Lufthansa, there is plenty of room to move around. Thai uses real towels and Bulgari amenities were available. There were not additional toiletries available, however.
CONCLUSION
We landed ahead of schedule in Bangkok and I was very sorry that this flight had ended so soon. I always enjoy flying Thai Airways in first class, but loved trying out the A380 and appreciated the excellent meal available on this flight. Next time, I hope to see pajamas and Rimowa amenity kits once again.
Aircraft exterior photo: Anna Zvereva / Flickr
What’s the point of first class if there’s no caviar?
Mimolette is a fairly common, globally-known, first-class-worthy cheese that happens to be dark orange. I also agree that it is sensational. Could it have been that?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimolette
I suppose it could always be richly colored, domestic American pasteurized cheese product. For for some reason, that seems less likely.
does anyone know the orange cheese? it looks similar to one served in EK F lounge in DXB but for the life of me i can’t find out what it is… delicious
I enjoyed the Chateau Fleur Cardinale (2012 vintage) on Oz F from ICN-LAX. I hope you were able to try it – i found it to be fantastic enough to take a photo!
Great but I’m betting that you didn’t use real money to pay for this, relevant only to the extent that almost nobody does pay for premium cabins on Thai. The ROP program is unsustainably generous for mileage accrual, especially so for linked Thai credit cards.
A very high proportion of premium passengers are non cash, including those using points from partner airlines.
The airline is effectively broke and only continues to function because national pride ( and an upcoming election ) will not allow it to go under.
But don’t expect any service enhancements; but rather reductions in ROP benefits and increases in partner redemption rates. These are imminent and will be painful.
I would bet that the “orange cheese” in question is Dutch Gouda.
Why is leaving the can with the passenger “not classy”?
Because I like it when FAs are attentive enough to monitor beverage levels and pour refills when the glass gets low.
Get over your self matty
Typical of travel consultants who swan around getting free or subsidised flights, this review omitted the most important piece of information – the ticket price!
As someone who travels London-Bangkok at least three times a year, l have given up on Thai, whose first/business class fares are prohibitively expensive. Now l use EVA Air, whose business class facilities ( there is no first class cabin) are not significantly inferior to those featured here and whose meals and beverages are pretty good: and all this for less than half the cost of Thai. Seems a no-brainer to me!
Read the intro to this trip report–
https://liveandletsfly.boardingarea.com/2018/11/12/introduction-chasing-the-a380-first-class-on-thai-and-asiana/
I used miles.
Is this current flight? THAI stopped using those plates n glasses for many years as far as I know. Quite odd if they reintroduce those old designed plates n glasses again.
See top of review. From 2016.
Literally the first sentence in and there’s already a typo. Smh.
I don’t see it.
except -> expect
(However, no need for the unkind tone when reporting.)
Its a shame Thai Airways Business Class has gotten so bad. The 2 x 2 x 2 configuration is ridiculous. If you have a window seat, it is impossible to get to the toilet if the person next to you is sleeping. How can it possibly be Business Class, with no isle access. Terrible Airline.
The ‘dark orange cheese’ is most likely Red Leicester from the United Kingdom.
I totally get what you’re saying about the flight being too short. I got unexpectedly upgraded to Royal Laurel Class on EVA earlier this year….but it was on a 2 hour TPE-MNL flight. Not nearly enough time to properly enjoy such a seat and all the comes with it (and after having already done the 12 hour SFO-TPE flight in Premium Economy).
Funny thing was my return flight back to TPE was a Hello Kitty plane but without the Hello Kitty stuff since MNL was not a normal destination for that plane.
I take TG monthly between KIX and BKK. Generally speaking, I usually see amenity kits (I have many amenity kits from those flights lol). So, perhaps that was a one-off thing (station provisioning, ecc).
But to keep in mind, KIX is an island, what the station for that specific airline might have maybe limited until BKK is able to send more resources. I am surprised at the quality of the meals, generally out of KIX, the meals in all cabins are usually pretty small portions.
I mean, for what generally costs no more than US$2000 15-days out, I would not go in expecting EK-level first class product, but more of a short/mid-haul first class service as what may be experienced on AA’s A321T service between LA and NY. (Personally, I think the First Class product on this route would be best out of BKK simply due to the amenities on the ground)