Flight: Thai Airways 659 from Seoul to Bangkok
Duration: 5 hours 50 minutes
Aircraft: B744 (Boeing 747-400)
Class: First
Seat: 1A
Seat Specification: Flat bed seats, Seat pitch: 76″. Seat width: 21″
Thai Airways operates multiple configuration of Boeing 747s, some featuring new First class with semi-closed suites where as some featuring old style first class seats (although lie flat). The only time I traveled in Thai First Class, it was also on a 747 but with new First Class with semi-closed suites on flight from Bangkok to Sydney. I was excited to fly Thai Airways First class again but was a little disappointed on boarding when I realized it was old-style first class.
The seat is comfortable although it feels exposed with no privacy.
The flight purser came by and introduced herself and asked what beverage I would like before takeoff. I opted for some Dom Perignon of course !! 🙂
Meal service started soon after takeoff. First up was some delicious Chicken Satay.
Next up was an assortment of salmon, stuffed prawn, shrimp and eel. It was just ok except for the deep fried prawn cake with almond which was amazing.
I chose stuffed squid with minced shrimp in Thai green curry as my main entree. Not a big fan of squid but the curry was delicious.
For dessert a fruit and cheese plate was followed by ice cream. The ice cream turned out to be a disaster. It was so hard, you could hit someone with it and do some serious damage!! Even after waiting for a while, when i realized it was not going to melt I sent it back.
The purser came by and asked if I wanted turn-down service so she can add a mattress to the seat. I thanked her and let her know that I was just going to sleep without the mattress as there was only 4 hours remaining for the flight.
Bottomline:
Seat: ****
Service: *****
Food: ***
The seat was comfortable and when converted to bed long enough for me to sleep without any issues. However, the only reason it doesn’t get five stars is lack of privacy. Although it is good enough to travel mid haul flights, I would not want to fly this seat on trans Pacific or Atlantic flights. These days there are better business class seats on many airlines compared to this one.
The service was amazing on this flight. The purser especially was very nice, efficient, courteous and always on top of things.
The food was good although not outstanding in any way.