After 5 fantastic days in Chiang Mai, we had to move and head to our next destination, Chiang Rai.
Our taxi/guide that we used during our stay was on time to pick us up and take us to Chiang Mai International Airport.
He dropped us off in front of the terminal building and bid us farewell.
We walked in and had our bags go through the x-rays before anything else. We then headed towards the Thai Airways counters to check in.

Check-in took a little bit of time as I asked if the agent cook check us in all the way to CEI our final destination for the day. After checking the minimum connecting time and asking permission from the supervisor, she tagged our bags to BKK and CEI.

We were given our cards for BKK and CEI and we made our way upstairs to go through security and wait by the gate.

Before reaching security you have a few boutiques.

The Thai Airways gate area is not too full and we'll understand why when boarding.


As a real internet junky I try to connect my computer to the wifi and to do so, I need to go to the Black Canyon Café to get the appropriate passwords.

Next to the café is the Thai Airways lounge.


And it is a long trek to the gate…



Oh but who is this waiting for me ?! My first Star Alliance special livery aircraft, HS-TGW


So a quick explanation, if the boarding area didn't seem too full when we boarded it is because Chiang Mai also has an international boarding lounge and passengers bound for an international destination on Thai Airways are also boarding from the international area.
Now back inside the aircraft. We are greeted at the door by 2 Thai Airways flight attendants. On domestic runs they don't west their traditional thai uniforms, they wear the western one.
We are shown to the other side of the aircraft and we cross the galley and turn right to our seats. The cabin is in the corporate colors of pink, purple and yellow.

We set ourselves on our seats for the next 1 hour and a couple of minutes !

Legroom is a little tight but OK for a short trip… can't be too nice for a long overseas flight…

People continue to board the 747

While we're waiting for everyone to board, here is what's inside the seat pocket.

We're seated near over the wing.

I took a picture of this Thai Airways add about Japan routes, I find it really beautiful !

Every seat is equipped with PTV but we'll only have the airshow playing.


Plane is still not fully boarded, so I take other pictures of our wing and the Air Asia Airbus arriving from Malaysia.


The safety video is played on all screens


We taxi to the runway and witness the departure of the PG flight to BKK.


We've lined up with the runway and we start our roll for take off.





We do a turn and you can see the airport in the distance.

As soon as they can the crew starts the service and hands us a box.

Here is what the box contains, a sausage sandwich, a small glass of tropical juice.


We continue our flight to Bangkok with the stunning Landor designed orchid logo for Thai Airways.

Chiang Mai is behind us and we are jetting fast towards Bangkok.



And we start to descend towards Suvarnabhumi.


We do another turn and head towards the sea before turning back towards BKK.







We taxi to our domestic gate and while we're moving towards it we meet up with a lot of Thai Airways planes


We'll park near this Bangkok Airways Airbus 319.


We're not parked yet and everyone is already up, lockers all open, bags down, the crew has to get down the aisles and request people to sit down as we have a couple of meters to go before we park.
We go through the galley on the right hand side of the aircraft.

A couple of pictures of the First Class cabin.


We exit the aircraft and walk to our next gate for our flight to Chiang Rai.
Thanks for sharing this FR
Always a pleasure to have a widebody on a short flight
Thanks for this FR !
Short flight with a big plane
So good time on board
Thanks for this report !
Thanks for this comprehensive report.
TG has always wide-body aircarfts on this connexion.
Did you enjoy Chang Mai and the Golden Triangle?
Did u go to Mae Hong Son?
Thanks for this nice FR !