Hi again everyone, welcome back to another flight experience. Taking a quick break from my shorter, pre-Flight-Report days reviews with some lack of photos, this is a very recent flight that is very much fresh in my memory (and in photos!).
After my overwhelmingly positive experience aboard Thai’s F product last year from Tokyo to Bangkok, I decided to try out their flagship route in the same cabin from Heathrow back to Suvarnabhumi. This ended up being quite an interesting trip, with quite a few aspects not being what I expected, speaking from the Tokyo experience. To not spoil any details in the intro, let’s get straight into the trip!
I landed in London around 6am, and headed over to T2 where Thai and its Star Alliance partners fly out from Heathrow.
Looking at the board, I noticed my flight, scheduled for 11:50, wouldn’t open its check-in counters until 07:50. Luckily, I had checked-in online beforehand and headed through security. Unfortunately, all the four window seats were occupied, anticipating quite a full cabin.
The downsides of checking-in online are 1. You have no physical boarding pass, and 2. This was the first time I’ve not gone through a physical check-in desk, and I had no idea which lounges I was able to visit (after some quick research, all was quickly cleared).
The terminal wasn’t too busy, and security went swimmingly. The officer was quite cheeky when he jokingly mentioned “lucky you, you get a free massage” when giving me a pat down:). I thanked him for the massage, and I was into the terminal.
I initially asked the information agent regarding lounge access, but she wasn’t sure. I headed over to the B gates where AC’s Maple Lounge, UA’s club, and SQ’s lounge were located. For any less frequent fliers in my situation, especially with the info agent being unsure, this could pose to be a slight point of confusion. Anyway, down the few electronic walkways through the underground passage, and I came up the escalators to the B gates. SQ and AC’s lounges were both located on the second floor, with AC’s immediately on your left after the elevator and SQ’s on the right.
I had originally intended to check out both, and UA’s, but as flights to the US and Canada ramped up after a while, I ended up just switching between SQ’s and planespotting downstairs.
The lady at SQ’s desk scanned my boarding pass, and offered me access to the First Class section, a fully separate area from J.
The lounge was a beautiful space, very elegant furniture and quite the alcohol display.
There were only two tables taken, and I made my way to the dining area where a menu was promptly offered. The a-la-carte orders remain same from 6:00am to noon, before switching to a new menu.
I ended up ordering the Pad Khi Mao, along with some items from the buffet.
Being a SQ lounge, there will always be dim sum on offer, excellent with the chili soy sauce. This was also the first time I’ve seen ‘pink smoked salmon’, courtesy of the beetroot juice, a solid choice.
What amazed me more than the lounge was this giant AC Dreamliner parked literally right below me. I know these jets are crazy big but seeing one from above in this vicinity was something else. The only issue was the bright lights made it difficult to prevent window reflection, but this disappeared as the sun slowly rose.
The Pad Khi Mao was sadly quite disappointing,
but I just continued to indulge on the buffet options.
The very elegant, and extensive, alcohol selection.
Very unique plate design.
The dining area, quite empty at this time.
After breakfast, I asked to use one of the two shower suites, which was promptly provided. A clean suite with good amenities, the perfect way to kick off the trip.
After my shower, I double checked with the lounge agent who confirmed it will open until 10pm, before heading down to do some plane spotting. You wouldn’t be blamed for mistaking concourse B to be a US airport, given 90% of the planes here were United, AC’s planes didn’t really start coming in until later in the day. A few outliers included this gorgeous AI A350 in the newer livery
and of course, already parked was the Thai 777-300 ER that would take us back to Bangkok.
After wandering around for an hour or so, I headed back to the lounge which was now quite packed. SQ has two flights to Singapore within an hour, the first on a 777 and second on the A380. I was quite full from earlier and didn’t end up having more food, also being fully aware of the offerings to come inflight.
SQ’s A380 flight was scheduled for 10:40, and after all the passengers left for that, only myself and four others remained, waiting for our trip to Bangkok. I thought, why not go down with all the A380 passengers to check it out?
I headed down around 10:30 for a final round of plane spotting, now far more AC’s had arrived. Our elegantly purple Thai jet squeezed between a horde of North American birds.
I then heard my name pop up on the PA, and after approaching they printed out a physical boarding pass, and double checked my documents for China, which was my final destination after transiting in Bangkok. Boarding soon began, and we were off onto our jet.
Before continuing onto the actual flight experience, I just wanted to preface to say that having only flown the same product from Tokyo not too long ago, I was expecting a similar experience, or even an elevated one since Heathrow is their flagship route. It’s quite hard not to make comparisons with my experience on that flight.
Stepping aboard, I was greeted for the male flight attendant. After walking to my seat, I ended up standing there with all my bags for nearly two minutes before someone came over. I asked if I could put my suitcase in the overhead bin, to which he agreed, but stood there for nearly thirty seconds before asking if we could lift it together. It was a very small suitcase, but of course I was more than happy to work together, I was just left slightly confused by the extended period of awkward silence. For reference, the crew on Tokyo’s flight insisted I take a seat and literally wouldn’t let me touch my belongings when placing them in the cabins.
Here’s the first look at the Thai F cabin, now available only on three routes between Bangkok-London, Bangkok-Osaka, and Bangkok-Tokyo Narita.
The cabin walls feature a mustard yellow finish, and the color scheme is reflected in the color of their amenities.
Waiting at my seat were two pillows, a Lamer amenity kit, a box of chocolates, and a small folded up Thai Royal First bag.
The gentleman who tag teamed my suitcase came by to introduce himself, and offered a welcome drink, to which I chose the champagne.
Slowly, the cabin began to fill up and I noticed the seat beside me didn’t have any amenities present, and to my joy later was informed it to be empty, the only empty seat in the 8-seat F cabin. It would have been rather awkward if someone had been sitting there, at least until takeoff where a middle partition could be raised.
Thai F offers aa massive IFE screen, a real flower, and an Ottoman which can be opened for storage space.
The fleece blanket and bedding were placed inside. There is more storage n the right of the ottoman, and to the right of your headrest.
Slippers were offered in the small gold bag, which I quickly changed into.
A closeup of the Lamer co-branded amenity kit, gold box on chocolates, and the Thai Royal First shoe bag.
A wet towel was offered along with the first champagne pour.
Since no nuts were offered to accompany it, I decided to open up my box of chocolates and devour them. They were alright, not as great as the box of chocolates Thai offers near landing, more on that later.
A short while later, the female flight attendant began coming around to take meal orders.
Strangely, we were never offered the full menu card, which was given to all passengers on the Tokyo flight. Instead, she came around with one menu for each passenger to glance over, and decide on. I genuinely wasn’t too sure what I would want for breakfast in around 8 hours, and more importantly I was only given around 10 seconds to look over the 8 page drink menu before she asked what beverages I would like. She seemed to be in quite a rush, which wasn’t really appreciated. I asked to take some snaps of the food menu one because I wanted to have something to share with you guys, and two I genuinely had the menu for around 30 seconds so without a picture I wouldn’t even know what I was being served.
For lunch, she suggested the beef, and the full English for breakfast. Normally I always go with the Asian option for all meals on an Asian carrier, but I was going back to Beijing (Asian food heaven) and she really tried selling the full English, so I went with it minus the baked beans.
In addition, the Tokyo crew were extremely enthusiastic when encouraging I try all their signature drinks, while today none of the passengers would have even been aware of the drinks given the limited time they saw the beverage list. We didn’t end up taxing for nearly twenty minutes after she wrapped up everyone’s orders, so I genuinely didn’t understand the rush.
After she finished up, I opened up the Lamer amenity kit, an extremely extensive and luxurious offering. The only change I saw from the one offered in the summer was the eye mask was now a green (Lamer-ish) color instead of the gold.
Some more storage space, you'll never lack a place to place your goods here on Thai F.
There is a USB charger spot located next to the headphone jack, and another plug inside the main storage area. Both worked perfectly throughout the journey, including on the ground.
During my first toilet visit, there were lots of towels stacked and a few amenities. There were two F toilets for the 8 passengers, and with the exception of the flight’s final hour, there was never a wait. They were also kept spotless throughout the flight, kudos to the attentive crew
Back at my seat, I pulled out the fleece blanket from inside the ottoman, and was offered some Boggi collaborated pajamas.
The noise-cancelling headphones came with sanitized covers, and worked quite well throughout the flight. My ears did begin hurting a bit towards the end, but no real problem there.
Thai also offers a strong IFE system, with movies and TV from all genres. The only issue is that they often have a few select episodes from TV shows, and not one after another but maybe 2-3 randomly selected ones from one season.
What you won't lack, of course, is the giant screen.
We soon began taxing, and took off from Heathrow at exactly 11:50.
20 minutes or so into the flight, the crew began service. The massive tray table was drawn, followed by a tablecloth being placed.
I had ordered the Thai iced tea, and oriental dawn (cognac, soda, lime).
Again, I was only about to remember these drinks being part of the menu because I had flown Thai recently. I didn't actually get a look at the full drink menu until later on :(
The Amuse bouche was then presented, along with the bowl of nuts I guess that was forgotten during boarding with the welcome drinks.
Now I really had to look back at my menu pictures, and being glad I took them, or I would have no clue what was presented. So there was a seared scallop with soy wasabi mayonnaise, a cob and caper mini cake with pea relish, and Northern Thai Minced Pork and Chili Relish on Cucumber. These looked nice, but were rather disappointing in taste. The Minced Pork was far too spicy, and even for a spice lover like myself, this was moreso pure heat over flavor. The other two were extremely bland, and overall far below the amuse bouches on the Tokyo trip.
Before caviar was served, I knew I wanted some more drinks, but had no clue exactly what else was on offer. So I asked for the beverage menu, which was provided to me, rather reluctantly.
I was glad to see Johnny Walker Blue on offer, and also went with a Thai milk tea with grass jelly.
Both were excellent, I especially like how the largest grass jelly piece features the Thai airways logo. I ended up having four of these.
The caviar service then came around. Again, personally not a huge fan of caviar, but a solid touch of luxury. Thai loves going around asking if anyone would like a shot of ice cold vodka with the caviar course, and 0/7 of the passengers obliged :P.
Up next was the appetizer, a beetroot-marinated smoked salmon with white beans, picked onions, and fresh green salad. Sound familiar? Yes, this was literally exactly what was offered in abundance at the lounge. This was again, rather disappointing. I could credit the subpar meal service up to this point to Heathrow catering, which definitely cannot match Tokyo catering. But still, yoinking something from the SQ lounge as the main appetizer seems lazy. In comparison, these were the amuse bouches and appetizers offered on the Tokyo flight, and those remain some of the best dishes I’ve had on an airplane.
Credit where credit is due, the main course was exceptional, and I mean exceptional. We had the beef fillet in spicy holy-basil-chili sauce served with Thai jasmine rice, accompanied by stir-fried garlic pepper rock lobster, Thai spicy tamarind dip with minced pork, blanched vegetables with garlic, and fresh assorted vegetables. There was not a since piece of food here that was anything but incredible. The sauces all had the perfect amount of spice and kick, unlike the pure heat from the amuse bouche, The beef, which is always hard to cook in flight, was extremely tender and not overdone. This easily trumps some of the Thai restaurants I’ve had on the ground, and I could have done a few more portions. The main course also blew me away onboard the Tokyo flight, this was just as good if not better.
I felt the two gentlemen staff members were far more attentive and easy to talk to than the lady. There were times, such as with the beverage menu, where it seems she was becoming slightly impatient, but the two gentlemen continued to make small talk and remained extremely positive with big smiles throughout the flight.
I inquired the lady about dessert options, and she brought over both the sweet dessert and a cheese/fruit plate. The dessert was a black sesame flower-shaped cheesecake with crisp cherry-white chocolate shard, clotted cream, mixed berry crumble and fresh strawberry. The only issue was the ice cream was initially rock hard, but leaving it out for around 10 minutes worked wonders and mixed with the cheesecake made a great dessert. Nothing wrong with the cheese/fruit plate just I’m not a huge fan of blue cheese. The gentleman then came around with crackers for the cheese. Overall not an incredible dessert dish, but still a good showing.
An interesting side note at this time, I asked the lady for another glass of the Blue Label, and she showed some hesitancy. I quickly recalled that an announcement was made before take-off that “Thai reserves the right to refuse alcohol service to anyone under 18 or anyone who seemed intoxicated”. She came around and seemed a bit concerned over whether I was having too much, which I seemed rather confused being genuinely 100% sober. After convincing her, she came back with a second glass. I do like the extra step Thai takes in this regard, double checking no one could potentially cause any problems due to intoxication. She was very nice and professional about it, which improved my initial impression of her.
After finishing up the meal, I asked for turndown service while I got changed. My bed was made, and it was time to sleep.
One piece of criticism is that Thai really need to get thicker duvets for their F cabins, especially on the Heathrow route. Only the thin fleece blanket was provided, and even most business flights provide thicker bedding. The mattress was extremely comfortable, and large pillow helped me pass out quite quickly.
Unfortunately, the combination of the thin blanket and air conditioning, I genuinely froze myself and woke up a few hours in.
After reviewing my menu pictures, I noticed no mention of mid-flight snacks. Upon inquiry, the gentleman mentioned a ‘sandwich’ (which judging my his facial expression, didn’t seem like something he’d recommend), a scone, or some wonton noodles.
Continuing my Asian food on Asian flights belief, I went with the latter. I ordered another Blue Label and my third Thai Iced tea, before the dish was brought over around 10 minutes later.
This was a solid mid-flight snack, and it came with the sour-chili sauce/fish oil thing (sorry I don’t know the exact name ,but it’s really tasty) that bolstered its taste.
I also asked if they had the Thai sweets assortment mentioned in the lunch dessert menu, which was also brought over. Doesn’t this look adorable? I found it really interesting the orange looking exterior actually featured a mango filling (or so my crew said). A delicious mid-flight snack.
I couldn’t seem to go back to sleep, and so decided to check out the Wifi, which is free for F passengers. I was told Thai only has wifi equipped on the 777-300 ERs with a F cabin, along with their A350s, no wifi available on the other 777s. The speed was decent enough for texting, but nothing more. It did buffer from time to time, but generally had no problems communicating with the world down under. I ended up grabbing an iced americano and watching How I met your mother, whilst simultaneously working on this review!
Around two hours before landing, the cabin lights came on in anticipation for breakfast.
I went with another iced americano, and yet another Thai milk tea. A fruit plate was offered, followed by a sweet dessert-ish dish with cut fruits.
The menu doesn’t state what this dessert was, but it was decent, not too sweet. I apologize for this blurry picture, don't worry you're not missing out too much, I promise
Then came my (highly suggested by the crew) Full English. It really does look much smaller without the baked beans.
The lady had promised that since we were originating from London, this would be the right option. Honestly, it was pretty good. The only issue was the egg was far too dry with the yolk completely stale, everything else was quite solid. I would have preferred to have an extra piece of sausage or bacon, but since I was still quite stuffed from the main meal and my midnight snack, this was just enough for me. I tried to check out the congee dish my neighbor ordered, but the bowl was MASSIVE and I couldn’t see inside:(.
As the dishes were taken away, so began the PA announcing our imminent descent. A quick few thoughts I had before getting to the finale. Whenever the crew came around to any passenger, they would kneel when speaking to us. It’s an incredibly professional and respectable gesture, rooted in the culture of Thai airways. But it does take some getting used to consider the crew member is quite a few years my elder, and particularly near landing when all three crew members came to bid farewell, it was quite daunting with them all kneeling. Absolutely not a complaint whatsoever, again, an incredibly professional and respectful gesture. One minor complaint was that the crew never took real initiative to refill any glasses, and some of my empty ones stayed on my armrest even a few hours into sleep. The ride was extremely bumpy at times, and I heard anyone passenger’s glass shatter during the turbulence. I feel the crew needs to be more attentive with removing glassware, especially with the added risk of glass hitting sleeping customers. Finally, I apologize if there may have been some comparisons with the Tokyo flight, but that’s not to take away from what was still a generally positive journey. The food being worse in comparison is definitely not down to the crew (but rather Heathrow catering), but there were certain moments I felt the crew took less initiative or was less willing to help, in addition to a few unhappy/impatient looks from the lady.
As we were nearing our arrival into Bangkok, all three crew members took turns thanking each passenger for flying with Thai, and offered up a small box of chocolates… the aforementioned "much better tasting chocolates" than the ones given upon boarding.
One of the gentlemen went into quite some detail about the origins of the chocolate, mentioning Thai make an effort to provide jobs for certain marginalized communities, and production of these act as employment opportunities with a touch of their own flair and culture. Always awesome when crew are willing to provide extra explanations.
Since I was arriving in F and transiting before my next flight back to China, I was allowed access to the Thai F lounge, one I was really looking forward to. Upon arrival, a Thai ground staff member picked me up and assisted me over through security. When I previously flew from Narita into Bangkok, the gentleman who picked me up at the gate insisted on taking my carry-on luggage, chatted with me the entire way, and literally escorted me into the taxi and informed the driver of my destination before watching me leave. The representative today seemed rather confused over where I should go, and she didn't seem too interested in my suitcase.
Regarding the lounge, the only negative aspect of it was that I was simply too tired from the lack of sleep I got on the plane to fully enjoy it. It may not have the glitz and glamor of certain F lounges, but in many unique ways it outshined the others, and it was one of my favorite. Immediately after arriving, I was welcomed by SIX lounge agents with beaming smiles. They escorted me through the small lounging area to the dining section. The entire lounge was rather small, but never was there more than one other passenger there with me.
I was immediately offered this drink, I had asked for the name but my apologies I can't seem to recall what it was. It was a slightly sweet water, very refreshing.
I make it my goal to always take all pictures of a-la-carte dining in lounges or in the skies, but this was the first time I genuinely could not achieve my promise. The menu was simply too large. There were at least 15 pages or so, and I gave up after taking a few. Here is what I got.
There's also an elegant buffet section, featuring predominantly desserts and small bites.
I headed back to my table and grabbed a diet coke and a Thai iced coffee. Not as good as the grass jelly from the plane, but regardless still incredible (the grass jelly is just too perfect)
Although the giant menu did impress me, especially when I was proudly informed by a staff member that I could order anything, I had my doubts of just how well each of these dishes would taste. If I've learned anything from restaurants with huge menus, they can list many items but usually thatt suggests the quality of each is rather average… yeah I was very wrong.
I cannot fathom how delicious the steak and pad thai was, man my mouth is watering at this very moment sitting at home finalizing the review seeing these pictures. The only criticism of the pad thai was the portion was on the smaller side, not a problem at all as I ordered another after taking the first bite. As far as lounge catering goes, Thai currently takes the top spot in my heart.
I went with another oyster sauce beef and mushrooms, which wasn't as spectacular as the first two dishes. The dish in itself is just more of a plain comfort stir fry, and it was still very tasty.
Finally, the coconut jelly dessert. Top notch. I love coconut, I love desserts, go crazy!
A picture from my seat.
Finally, I went for another shower in the lounge. Where are the towels and shampoos you might ask? Keep reading :P
Remember when I mentioned that in a unique way, this lounge is up there with the best? This is another example of why. This is the first lounge I've visited where the shower amenities are all sealed in small personal sized bottles as opposed to the larger ones everyone shares. I think this is an extremely personable and sanitary move from the airline.
All the amenities along with the towels were placed in ths purple bag. Top top from Thai. My only regret was not being more awake and more hungry to try more of the a-la-carte options. Thai F is said to end in the near future, this lounge will definitely be a miss.
