choosing QF W or TG J

[PineappleSkip]

Mulling over options from SIN to LHR return in May with Mrs Pineapple. Was thinking flying QF in W (which we did last year) which looked pretty good for SGD3600 each, flying QF31 over on Thu, then QF10 back on Sun.

Then noted the option of flying J in TG for SGD 4500. Had a look on Thai's website and the legroom looked much better and the seats had a lot more recline. They claim flat (slightly angled not fully flat).

Just wondering whether you thought it would be worth the extra. The other bonus of TG was a daylight flight, which would also allow lots of time for delays on the way in (we would be connecting off a PX flight POM SIN, and PX win no award for timeliness)

The disadvantage is no chance of upgrading to J on QF (all our points are on one basket) although with 2 of us travelling I reckon our chances of a points upgrade fairly limited anyway.

Cheers skip

 

[Dave Noble]

Business Class plus a daytime flight with an SGD900 supplement would seem like a fine deal to me

Dave

 

[2muchplastic]

I understand (from asking a very similar question over on flyertalk) that TG still has some old and tired equipment sometimes used in the region. If you get the old planes, then it would be no better than QF W for comfort.

I'm flying TG J PVG-BKK-BNE at the end of next week, so I can post a comparison then.

 

[Chimpy]

I would go for the TG in J

 

[Travel Guru]

For SGD900 i'd go TG in J for sure.

Although its angled lie flat, its still a great product, and despite what another poster mentioned about older product, you'd have to be pretty unlucky you get it on the BKK-LHR route, infact you'd be equally unlucky to get it into BNE/SYD or MEL for that matter.

I really enjoyed TG in J, good service, good seating, def. better than Y+

TG

 

[2muchplastic]

As TG says you'd have to be unlucky to get one of the old clunkers on the route you're looking at, as it seems that the old'uns are mostly used to Scandanavia, FRA and CDG. See TG Does it To Me AGAIN (Last Minute Equipment Swap) - FlyerTalk Forums

 

[docjames]

TG J for sure with that cost difference.

 

[Dee Thom]

You'll probably get to try the old and the new J on TG, I flew SIN/BKK last year on an old A330, reclining seats. Then onto NRT on a 744 with the new J seating which is tops in my oppinion. The added extra over QF is TG's food and service, always of a high quality.
So another tick for TG................

Cheers Dee

 

[dajop]

+1 for TG J. QF Y+ is still Y+, you have to slum it with Y pax for toilets, still only get essentially Y catering (with a few frills), and the seat is still well a fairly thin Y seat, albeit with more recline and pitch/width. Even the old TG J seat will be thicker, wider and have more pitch, and to LHR it is likely you will get the new angled lie flat product which is vastly superior to any Y+ product out there (other than MH who sometimes sell business class as "Economy Plus").

 

[PineappleSkip]

Thanks all for your comments.

So the choice is a pretty easy one. Thanks to 2MuchPlastic for the link to the flyertalk thread, where there is a fair bit of dissatisfaction voiced about TG's apparent practice of substituting old 747s for new 747s. I think that would be more justified if paying $8000 for the seat rather than $4000.

That discussion includes a link to this blog - Thai Airways : classe affaires - which has pics of both the old and new J classs seating on TG, the old looking more comparable to QF Dom J. However even the old appears a step up from anyone's W.

Our experience of QF and BA W was that the extra 7" or so seat pitch is partly negated at night, because the extra seat recline largely eats up the extra seat pitch.

However I'm happy to take the punt, I figure either I get good value or great value.

Cheers skip

 

[kamchatsky]

+1 for TG J, given the low cost difference. You earn more points in *A FFPs, additional kilos in luggage, (supposed to be) better food, as well as lounge access as well.

 

[PineappleSkip]

Alas the gods of employment didn't shine on my holiday plan ... and I've found a more interesting option and will be posting a new question. Thanks again for your help

Cheers skip