OMG thats is funny about the light being like the eye out of war of the world....

Thai Air dropped its JFK-BKK service shortly after 911.
I flew Thai Air from Hongkong to Bangkok few months ago.
It was on time. Service was great.
I still miss Air Siam.

Air Siam ceased operation over 30 years ago!

Yes, Hanuman. Time does fly.
Last time I flew Air Siam was from Hong Kong to Honululu in the early 1970s.

Hanuman-

If the light was shining in your eyes, then they should have been asked to lower the window shade, and there is not much excuse for non-compliance.

But in their defense, maybe (1) the cabin lighting really wasn't enough for them to read by due to bad eyesight; (2) the lack of natural light was affecting their ability to enjoy, or maybe even just to endure, the flight; (3) they enjoyed looking out the window (of course, this is less likely to apply for hours over the Pacific); (4) they were cold, and the heat of the sun warmed them up.

It might be easy to laugh at or scoff about some of those suggestions, but I'll bet there are people for whom each of them is true!

On one flight - direct to Brisbane - a passenger near me complained that the back of his seat was faulty - faulty - it had collapsed backwards completely! The crew told him there was no other seat on the entire plane and he would just have to "sit up" for take off!!! (is that even legal???).
when the plane was airborne they gave him one of their own seats for the rest of the flight - How Chivalrous!
What he did for landing I don't recall.
Thai fly direct to London and used to - and as far as I know still do - fly direct to Brisbane.

I would use EVA over Thai everyday (and they are much cheaper when you get one of their deals) i have just snagged Biz class LHR to BKK next month £1165 each Thai was £1965.....their premium economy is excllent value to. A pal of mine used to fly Thai biz to BKK he has switched to EVA's PE cause he thinks it's such good value

Info for the recently launched BKK - BNE route on TG:

Brisbane airport news: http://www.bne.com.au/media-centre/m...-take-brisbane

Bangkok Post: http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/...ts-to-brisbane

kw,

do you mean the old stopover at BNE for TG's BKK - AKL route about 10 years ago? The were flying the old MD11 at that time.

Smeagol,

Eva is much cheaper than Thai but have you tried any of the Middle Eastern airlines? Cheaper still, great service, top of the line equipments BUT a stopover midway through the flight somewhere in the Mid East.

As a "curvilinear correctional technician of the genus musa" I used to fly regularly (4/5 times a year) time Bkk - Brisbane - there was a direct flight - May have started in Mel/Syd to Bkk from Brisbane - unfortunately when they first started it they flew a loop! - so flying back you got to stop off and Melbourne and Sydney - they then changed to Brizzie Bkk e/w direct (the flights would have started in Syd or Mel).

the plane appeared to be a Morris Minor Thousand with wings nailed onto the sides.

I also think that leg room on Thai Air is not accurate - a case of believing the paperwork rather than reality - I noticed on the flights to Oz especially that it would appear the plane had an extra row of seats - presumably added after their seating spec was sent in.

My problem with Thai air is the sad standard of service and the "jobsworth" attitude that permeates the entire company.

the economy class food was SO BAD on the flights to Ozthat I would try all sorts of things to get something edible.

I would ask for a special meal on most flights - usually Indian vegetarian - (my background) - on one flight an attendent came a slopped a meal in front of me - I opened it and it was Chinese Chicken noodles - when I pointed it out they tried to say it was Indian vegetarian - when I showed tem the food they tried to deny it STILL - what is the point?!?!?!

They HAD to argue the toss! - this kind of thing is simply not worth debating - just pick up the dish and get something else - tat flight I had cheese and biscuits - on many other flights I had nothing to eat just water and fruit juice - the food was so disgusting

Anyone who has flown "Cattle" - battery or free-range - to UK from Bkk (direct) will know that EVA seating and service far outstrip anything Thai Air offer in this class

I haven't flown Thai Air transpacific for a couple of decades (but we had excellent service, food and champagne on that flight). I regularly fly them within Asia (last year to BKK-KTM, the year before to Sri Lanka) and have always had excellent service and good food in Biz.

I'm struck that both dogster and KW have complaints about the Thai service to/from Australia... do they have a special crew for dealing with Aussies?

I think kw's information is decades old and a bit blurry but the dogster recent experience is very unusual - the no menu situation that is. My last international flight on Thai was perfect, the best for a long time and just a few days ago I flew with them in economy, on the old A300 and everything was good on the flight.

I guess if you don't mind paying more than there are several alternatives to fly between BKK - any Australian ports. Direct flights, apart from TG, are offered by BA, Qantas, Emirates and a few other airlines so no shortages of option.

Our Thai flights from LAX to BKK last December were not really what I'd say I expected (vis a vis what one might expect for their first experience in international biz class.) I built a lot up in my head, so maybe that had something to do with it. Even leading up to the flight itself--we had a lot of headache with Thai and their customer service. Their M.O. seems to be to point the finger at someone else all the time and then act as if they have no control over anything. It was frustrating, to say the least.

For the flights themselves, I thought everything about the experience was very nice EXCEPT the flight attendants. They just seemed not to really care all that much. The seats were wonderful, the food was pretty good and the lounges exquisite (love those free massages in BKK!)...but when on-board (even in both directions) the service was just phoned in. Not that I have a lot of experience flying business class, but I certainly had an expectation in my mind of how much attention passengers in that cabin should get and Thai definitely fell short in all regards to attentiveness and care for their on-board customers.

That said, we're still taking them again in May to Bali because a) it was one of the only options for our FF tickets and b) even for all their flaws, they're still a mile better than US-based carriers, such as United.

I've also flown EVA in Premium Economy multiple times and I do love them, although I don't know if I'd say their Business Class was much better. It looked to be on-par with Thai. And my experience with EVA's on-board service wasn't particularly memorable or resplendent by any means.

When talking about coach/economy product, I would definitely agree that EVA takes the cake.

All-in-all, our experience flying them was a VERY comfortable and very pleasant one. And I look forward to sleeping well and being all-too-comfy again on the ride over the Pacific in a few months. Not really expecting much more than that.

For me though the cost savings on EVA far out weighs the maybe minor service differences. (as i mentioned above it £££) AND the UK leg has all refitted biz class which i am not sure has rolled out across the US yet
Hanuman - Muffin will only do direct flights... he's a sensative soul!! (and EVA is still cheaper than some of the middle east carriers)

Agreed, Smeagol. I should've specified that we're doing award tickets again. When paying, EVA is always far cheaper. Always.

Thai Airways once were on par with Singapore Airways. These days par for Thai is Garuda.

Then of course there's always the chance you're booked on a flight that an important Thai is booked on. If they're running late then no one is going anywhere until they make it on board...

We just flew Thai Air from BK to Phuket on October 26 (return on Oct 31). No problems at all, they gave us priority service on the return leg due to a "short" connection to Sri Lankan to Hong Kong (1:50....all of it needed in BK). Friendly service, comfortable and clean plane, on time and "as advertised". No issues at all.

I flew Thai ICN-BKK-CNX and then CNX-BKK-(HKG)-ICN in December. Seats were comfortable, service was attentive, food was mostly good (except for some little sandwiches that tasted like they were made with cat food on the BKK-CNX and CNX-BKK legs!). It seems like they did run out of the Korean meal choice on the ICN-BKK leg, which some of the Korean passengers found hard to grasp or accept. The hot tea was fantastic - served with lime slices.

My only complaints would be that the quality of the video was pretty bad on the ICN-BKK flight (overhead screens) - it was OK for the return trip - and that the stop at HKG was a little annoying when going from BKK to ICN. We had to deplane and go through security and then wait to re-board.

I had all daytime flights - no overnights.