Thailand holds a very distinctive place in my heart. This is where I spent two incredible honeymoon weeks with my newly captured bride. And while it might not be off the beaten path, the things we did, places we saw, the foods we ate, even after many years and miles makes Thailand special for me. So when the time came to plan this latest adventure, I did not hesitate for even a second about flying on Thai Airways. Just seeing the beautiful colors of their airplanes immediately takes me back to the beautiful hills of Chiang Mai and the serene beaches of Phuket.
This flight would take us from Bangkok to Paris on Thai’s beautiful A380, and than onward to Munich with Lufthansa. The only negative part about this flight was it’s departure time. It was scheduled for midnight take off from Bangkok, with a 7am arrival into Paris. Since we always look to maximize our first class experience, we put a strategy in place. Our ultimate destination would be Munich and Oktoberfest. We could not arrive tired, groggy, hungover. We needed to be well rested to tackle the utter debauchery that is the world’s greatest beer festival. Our strategy had us arriving in Bangkok from Singapore (on Singapore Airlines) with over a four hour connection. This gave us plenty of time to experience what I consider to be one of the top five first class lounges in the world. Thai Airways Royal First Class Lounge in Bangkok.
Upon landing in Bangkok, a Thai Airways representative was waiting for us at the gate. We boarded a golf cart and were whisked through security and onto the lounge. Not quite as special as the fancy car ride in Frankfurt, but still a unique experience. We made our complimentary hour long massage reservations, and than settled down in one of the “living rooms” to enjoy the next few hours in this lavish place.
After massages and after having tried ten different thai dishes, we made our way to the gate and onto the plane. Boarding was a bit hectic and while they do make announcements for first and business class passengers, its basically a free for all once those doors open. First class is located in the front section of the upper deck. The best possible location in my opinion. This was my review of the Korean Air A380 that had the first class cabin on the lower deck. Just like the Korean Airlines plane, Thai Airways A380 consists of three rows of four seats each. Total of twelve first class seats. On our flight ten out of the twelve were occupied. Part of our strategy was to enjoy the caviar and champagne service, and than turn it in for the day. We needed as much rest as possible.
The purser came by to introduce himself and to inform us that our flying time would be 11.5 hours. I think 13 hours is the perfect amount of time in first. 11.5 is just a bit too short. But what was I going to do? Its not as though the captain would circle around for an hour and a half just for me. Would he? Perhaps I should have asked. One of the flight attendants handed us our pajamas and another served us a pre departure champagne. Dom Perignon. I am not a huge fan of champagne. I like it, but I don’t go crazy over it. I think Dom is good. At least thats what the price tag says. I think its more about the name than anything else. Nevertheless, I wasn’t going to say no to a glass or two or even three.
The flight attendant came around to take our food order. We informed him that we will be having the caviar and than saying good night. After take off we were served another glass of Dom and some caviar with all the fixings. I asked the flight attendant to make my bed, and after making through 45 minutes of Hangover III (terrible movie), i was off into a blissful sleep. Thai’s seats are very comfortable, both in seating and sleeping positions. I slept about six hours and than spend the next few hours reading. Breakfast was served with about ninety minutes to go in the flight. Landing was smooth, and after a brief layover in Lufthansa’s business class lounge in Paris, we were on our way to Munich. The next twenty four hours are a bit of a blur.
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Categories: Thai Airways
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