yohy?!
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Date: 25/09/10
Flight: TG476 SYD - BKK
Carrier: Thai Airways
Aircraft: A340-600
Cabin Class: Business
Seat: 14B
Organised as a last minute 4 day jaunt to HK, I wasn't holding out hope for any of my waitlisted SIA flights to clear with Krisflyer. Their call centre was very helpful and suggested that I try a Star Alliance redemption instead, indeed TG had availability for my dates so I went ahead and redeemed for a One-Way Award - my first flights in J
I had decided I was going to enjoy my first J experience as much as possible, I wanted to get maximum time in the NZ lounge in SYD as well as try out the Royal Orchid Spa for a massage in BKK during my 2:15 layover in BKK.
Being a Krisflyer redemption I had to call TG directly for seat assignment and was unable to do on-line check in. No matter really, J checkin at SYD was a breeze with no waiting time and very friendly service. Immigration fast track was provided and my bags were checked through to HK, in minutes I was on my way to the NZ lounge (with my boarding time in around 2 hours).
Passing the Krisflyer lounge I was amused to see a paper sign stuck at the door directing UA J Passengers to the NZ lounge, correct me if I'm wrong but I believe Star J passengers can use any lounge they like? The KF dragons must have been having a grumpy day!
Arriving at the NZ lounge I was welcomed warmly by the dragon and marked off her list, immediately I was loving the expansive runway views being able to see across the south end of the N/S runway and the aircraft parking area. I grabbed a front row couch at the windows and went to see what was available for breakfast.
Quite a good selection to be had including fruit, cereal, frittata, chipotle sausages and pancake machine (which got a good work out whilst I was there). I also decided that champagne for breakfast was acceptable for one travelling in J and noticed several other passengers agreed with me - 1 to the point of grabbing a whole bottle for herself to avoid getting up again!
After some great plane-spotting and photo-taking including EK A380, SQ A380 and many others I decided head down to gate 55 ahead of the boarding call. Y had already begun boarding and was quite full by the looks of it. I breezed through the J lane only to get stuck in the ramp as there seemed to be some kind of hold up for a few minutes.
Entering the J cabin (v. purple) I was warmly greeted by the FAs and directed to my seat. Legroom was excellent at 60in however I found that the seat width was a little restrictive throughout the flight, especially whilst fully reclined. The seat motors were also alarmingly loud whilst being adjusted. Home-made noise cancelling headsets were provided - ie normal over-eat headphones with a cloth 'seal' over the ear pieces...surprisingly effective. J amenities kit was pretty standard and no designer products were included - cologne and moisturiser were provider in the J lavatory (Feragamo I think) but had been souvenired by the end of the flight. Pre-departure champagne was provided along with a wide selection of newspapers.
Before long we were taking off the north and the FAs were bringing a well-stocked drinks trolley through the cabin. I decided to switch to Bombay Sapphire and tonic for the remainder of the flight as the champagne quality wasn't great (unfortunately no Dom for J as I spied F passengers being topped up). Lunch was then served including some kind of crab pate with salad, red curry, ice cream and cheese and crackers. None of it struck me as particularly J quality but it was all tasty enough. Wine and brandy were also offered and I settled back to watch a few movies, the IFE struck as being a little clunky and in need of an upgrade but the selection was more than adequate.
Prior to landing we had a smaller meal served of which I can't really remember what it was as I was well and truly 'relaxed' by this point due to the generous beverage service! We departed on time through the forward doors where I noted the small F cabin had very well-worn seats which was a bit of a surprise.
Soon enough I was inside BKK and beginning to realise that standing upright was requiring quite a bit of effort! Now I was challenged to locate the spa, initially I was directed to the C concourse lounges where I stopped for a brief shower and black coffee - these lounges were very nice with a wide variety of food and drink and nice big showers. Feeling refreshed I pressed on to locate the Spa, fortunately it was just around the corner on the way back to the D concourse. The attendants were a little concerned by now my boarding time would be cutting it fine but still agreed to book me in for a lovely shoulder massage, ahhhhh. 30 mins later strolling to D concourse I noticed my flight was in 'Final Call' Eeep! Without checking the time to departure I dashed to the gate only to note that 'Final Call' meant '30mins to Doors Shut' which was very annoying.
Flight: TG602 BKK-HKG
Aircraft: A330-300
Seat: 11J
On this flight J was fairly empty, the whole experience was decidedly 'short haul' by comparison to the previous sector. The FAs seemed much more junior (and shabbily attired) and the J cabin itself looked to be at least 10 years past due for a refurb.
After a long wait for some straggling Chinese day-shoppers to join us doors were finally shut and were waiting in queue to take off for HKG. Having flown out of BKK several times before I was aware of it's daily thunderstorms - today was no exception, a huge one was rolling in as we took off and for the next hour we were shaken and tossed about whilst flying through some amazing views of lightning all around the plane - quite an experience.
Dinner on this flight was again pretty average, the food quality and presentation was definetely not up to J standard and the looped PTV also was quite poor with a grainy picture.
Probably my biggest gripe with this flight though would have to have been the rushed descent and landing, watching the time to destination steadily countdown - we didn't start to descend until about 15mins to landing and the FAs did not do their checks until about 5 mins before touchdown. I'd never experienced such a rushed arrival on an international sector before, it seemed like we went through some quite steep and fast turns to finally line up. Then to top it off about 1 min before touchdown an FA was struggling to get one passenger's bag up into the overhead locker before they both gave up after seeing how close we were to landing. Upon arrival the pilot then managed to cut off the power prior to the doors being opened so we stood around in darkness.
Fortunately I was off quickly and beat the crowd to immigration which was swift as usual, bags were one of the first off and I was exiting the airport around 20mins after landing.
In conclusion, I would probably fly J again SYD-BKK for a last minute redemption as this was good value as opposed to paying for a J seat. However I would be very hesitant to take an intra-Asia sector again with TG given the massive difference between the two flights I experienced. It seems that with TG the focus is on investing in the long-haul sectors and leaving the short haul ones to languish.
p.s Apologies for the lack of pictures but unfortunately my camera was mislaid during this trip.
Flight: TG476 SYD - BKK
Carrier: Thai Airways
Aircraft: A340-600
Cabin Class: Business
Seat: 14B
Organised as a last minute 4 day jaunt to HK, I wasn't holding out hope for any of my waitlisted SIA flights to clear with Krisflyer. Their call centre was very helpful and suggested that I try a Star Alliance redemption instead, indeed TG had availability for my dates so I went ahead and redeemed for a One-Way Award - my first flights in J
I had decided I was going to enjoy my first J experience as much as possible, I wanted to get maximum time in the NZ lounge in SYD as well as try out the Royal Orchid Spa for a massage in BKK during my 2:15 layover in BKK.
Being a Krisflyer redemption I had to call TG directly for seat assignment and was unable to do on-line check in. No matter really, J checkin at SYD was a breeze with no waiting time and very friendly service. Immigration fast track was provided and my bags were checked through to HK, in minutes I was on my way to the NZ lounge (with my boarding time in around 2 hours).
Passing the Krisflyer lounge I was amused to see a paper sign stuck at the door directing UA J Passengers to the NZ lounge, correct me if I'm wrong but I believe Star J passengers can use any lounge they like? The KF dragons must have been having a grumpy day!
Arriving at the NZ lounge I was welcomed warmly by the dragon and marked off her list, immediately I was loving the expansive runway views being able to see across the south end of the N/S runway and the aircraft parking area. I grabbed a front row couch at the windows and went to see what was available for breakfast.
Quite a good selection to be had including fruit, cereal, frittata, chipotle sausages and pancake machine (which got a good work out whilst I was there). I also decided that champagne for breakfast was acceptable for one travelling in J and noticed several other passengers agreed with me - 1 to the point of grabbing a whole bottle for herself to avoid getting up again!
After some great plane-spotting and photo-taking including EK A380, SQ A380 and many others I decided head down to gate 55 ahead of the boarding call. Y had already begun boarding and was quite full by the looks of it. I breezed through the J lane only to get stuck in the ramp as there seemed to be some kind of hold up for a few minutes.
Entering the J cabin (v. purple) I was warmly greeted by the FAs and directed to my seat. Legroom was excellent at 60in however I found that the seat width was a little restrictive throughout the flight, especially whilst fully reclined. The seat motors were also alarmingly loud whilst being adjusted. Home-made noise cancelling headsets were provided - ie normal over-eat headphones with a cloth 'seal' over the ear pieces...surprisingly effective. J amenities kit was pretty standard and no designer products were included - cologne and moisturiser were provider in the J lavatory (Feragamo I think) but had been souvenired by the end of the flight. Pre-departure champagne was provided along with a wide selection of newspapers.
Before long we were taking off the north and the FAs were bringing a well-stocked drinks trolley through the cabin. I decided to switch to Bombay Sapphire and tonic for the remainder of the flight as the champagne quality wasn't great (unfortunately no Dom for J as I spied F passengers being topped up). Lunch was then served including some kind of crab pate with salad, red curry, ice cream and cheese and crackers. None of it struck me as particularly J quality but it was all tasty enough. Wine and brandy were also offered and I settled back to watch a few movies, the IFE struck as being a little clunky and in need of an upgrade but the selection was more than adequate.
Prior to landing we had a smaller meal served of which I can't really remember what it was as I was well and truly 'relaxed' by this point due to the generous beverage service! We departed on time through the forward doors where I noted the small F cabin had very well-worn seats which was a bit of a surprise.
Soon enough I was inside BKK and beginning to realise that standing upright was requiring quite a bit of effort! Now I was challenged to locate the spa, initially I was directed to the C concourse lounges where I stopped for a brief shower and black coffee - these lounges were very nice with a wide variety of food and drink and nice big showers. Feeling refreshed I pressed on to locate the Spa, fortunately it was just around the corner on the way back to the D concourse. The attendants were a little concerned by now my boarding time would be cutting it fine but still agreed to book me in for a lovely shoulder massage, ahhhhh. 30 mins later strolling to D concourse I noticed my flight was in 'Final Call' Eeep! Without checking the time to departure I dashed to the gate only to note that 'Final Call' meant '30mins to Doors Shut' which was very annoying.
Flight: TG602 BKK-HKG
Aircraft: A330-300
Seat: 11J
On this flight J was fairly empty, the whole experience was decidedly 'short haul' by comparison to the previous sector. The FAs seemed much more junior (and shabbily attired) and the J cabin itself looked to be at least 10 years past due for a refurb.
After a long wait for some straggling Chinese day-shoppers to join us doors were finally shut and were waiting in queue to take off for HKG. Having flown out of BKK several times before I was aware of it's daily thunderstorms - today was no exception, a huge one was rolling in as we took off and for the next hour we were shaken and tossed about whilst flying through some amazing views of lightning all around the plane - quite an experience.
Dinner on this flight was again pretty average, the food quality and presentation was definetely not up to J standard and the looped PTV also was quite poor with a grainy picture.
Probably my biggest gripe with this flight though would have to have been the rushed descent and landing, watching the time to destination steadily countdown - we didn't start to descend until about 15mins to landing and the FAs did not do their checks until about 5 mins before touchdown. I'd never experienced such a rushed arrival on an international sector before, it seemed like we went through some quite steep and fast turns to finally line up. Then to top it off about 1 min before touchdown an FA was struggling to get one passenger's bag up into the overhead locker before they both gave up after seeing how close we were to landing. Upon arrival the pilot then managed to cut off the power prior to the doors being opened so we stood around in darkness.
Fortunately I was off quickly and beat the crowd to immigration which was swift as usual, bags were one of the first off and I was exiting the airport around 20mins after landing.
In conclusion, I would probably fly J again SYD-BKK for a last minute redemption as this was good value as opposed to paying for a J seat. However I would be very hesitant to take an intra-Asia sector again with TG given the massive difference between the two flights I experienced. It seems that with TG the focus is on investing in the long-haul sectors and leaving the short haul ones to languish.
p.s Apologies for the lack of pictures but unfortunately my camera was mislaid during this trip.
