LyynieD: My updated itinerary states that it is a 1 hour "technical" stop for refueling and that we will not be able to get off the plane. With only 1 hour omn the ground I would be suprised if they let us off the plane--it if it two hours then I am hopeful that we can get off and stretch our legs. I have a call into Thai to find out more details as they do not seem to know for sure in L.A. I will follow up as soon as I learn more.

Just back from BKK. We used united miles to upgrade to business class. It was DEFINATELY WORTH IT!!!!! It's a grueling flight.

Hi ylieberthal,
Did you book through United on Thai Air, or did you fly United? If so, where did you connect? How much was the fare you bought, which was then upgraded?

Hi all,
New question:

Thai Air has two Premium Economy tickets: Value and Unrestricted. Besides the $130 difference in ticket, the differences in fare rules are:
1) $100 change fee for a change in date/time
2) Cabin Class Combination

For Value: "In case the Premium economy class in one of the sector either outbound or inbound is fully booked, the system will automatically pair this fare with Economy class"

For Unrestricted: "In case the Premium economy class in one of the sector either outbound or inbound is fullybooked, the system will automatically pair this fare with Business or Economy class"

To me, this says they could sell me a PE ticket, but I could get bumped to standard economy anyway. And that the Unrestricted means if that does happen, there's some chance I'll get moved to Business instead of Economy.

Can anybody shed some light on this for me? What are the odds of this happening..

Thanks

josh

JoshMiller, that poster used United miles to upgrade. It's possible they used another carrier to go to Thailand and upgraded with United miles, but that is no longer an option.

If you want to use United miles to upgrade you will be flying on United and connecting at Narita.

Sorry it's taken me so long to reply. I bought a United ticket and used miles to upgrade. We flew through Narita. Actually, I booked a tour that included a united economy ticket and then used my miles to upgrade.

A month ago I had the same dilemma with the unrestricted vs value. I went the value route and easily got my seat both ways. It was my first time using Thai to BKK and I won't be using UA again, after four previous trips with UA. I'd always upgraded to Biz with UA but I found Thai's PE just fine. Thai has better equipment, better service, no stop in Japan, and you don't have to spend the night in BKK coming and going. I felt I saved a lot of time and hassle using Thai.

Hi PinotNoir,
I don't understand how you "easily got [your] seat both ways". Did you do something? Or is it just a function of how crowded the plane is, other passengers' priority, etc..?

josh