Ericka

Mr. Ericka and I are planning our trip for early 2007. We would like to combine Sri Lanka with the Maldives.

Being Star Alliance folks, we have the option to fly either Thai or Singapore business class on their non-stops from New York - Bangkok/Singapore and then catch coach flights once in Asia.

We've flown Singapore biz class many times and love it, especially the angle flat seats. How does Thai biz compare on the non-stop to Bangkok?

Thanks!

Jim0884

Hi
A couple of months ago i used *Alliance points and flew Thai and Singapore Biz class to BKK. The new Thai Biz class is really really nice; in fact i thought the seats are a bit nicer than Singapore. Service was equally fine between the two....but Thai gave some nice gifty things that Sing did not. Overall, it's six of one, half dozen of the other with a slight edge for Thai -- if you go Thai, make sure they have the new biz class configuration.

Ericka

Thanks, Jim.

To make sure we are comparing apples to apples, did both your Thai and Singapore flights feature lay-flat seating?

Craig

I know for sure that the Thai flight has lay flat seating with a slight incline (angle-flat as you call it). We are in the process of reserving again (transferring miles from one account to another so we can do it again) for next February. The "new biz class configuation" is on the A340-500 JFK-BKK flight by the way. The direct flight is not perfect but gets you into Bangkok late afternoon and saves you about 8 hours flight/layover time.

Ericka

Craig - can you compare the JFK-BKK seats to Singapore's Raffles seats? Are they reasonably similar?

Barkinpark

Definitely Singapore Air. However, I have not flown in the new Thai Biz Class and thus my comparison is not fair.

Craig

I have not flown on Singapore so I can not help you, Ericka. My understanding from reading www.flyertalk.com is that the seats are quite similar.

ccc

Last summer we flew over on Singapore and back on Thai in business class. While both were awesome and definitely the way to go versus the alternatives, we thought Singapore was the superior. To some extent, it depends on where you are going on your trip. This summer we're flying both ways on Thai. I made more extensive comments about the differences between the two airlines on the trip report I posted. BTW, we loved Sri Lankia.

WinterTravel

Does Thai offer its new business class seats on flights from the West Coast or only from JFK?

rkkwan

Thai's non-stop LAX-BKK is also on their new A340-500. Seats will be identical to JFK-BKK non-stop.

Robbietravels

Any one know reputable agents or websites selling discounted Thai business class seats?

welltraveledbrit

Erika,
From your original post I'm not sure if you're buying the ticket or you're considered FF miles?

If it's miles the miles from NY to the Maldives are the same as NY to Bangkok or Singapore (90,000 in business)and this way you'll get to go the whole way in business with one stopover (Sri Lanka)or an open jaw if you can find availablity.

Ericka

Welltraveledbrit - we'll be using UA *Alliance miles. Unfortunately, if we fly to the Maldives, the trip will be 120k for biz. If we fly to Sri Lanka, it is 90k.

Even though the two are right on top of one another, Sri Lanka is considered a "Southeast Asia" award while Maldives is considered "Asia".

A wierd Star Alliance quirk...