During my recent Asia trip, I flew from Beijing to Bangkok with Thai Airways in Business Class. Please read below to find out whether it’s worth it flying with Thai Airways in Business Class on their A350.
During this trip, I also took the High Speed Fuxing Train from Shanghai to Beijing in Business Class, and I stayed at the Grand Hyatt Beijing. Also have a look at these reviews!
Seat Configuration
Thai Airways is using 3 different seat configurations on their A350. For this trip, I’ve got the configuration with 8 rows of Business Class seats in the 1-2-1 staggered arrangement. There is also a configuration with 8 rows of Business Class seats in a 1-2-1 reverse herringbone arrangement. And the last flavor is 5 rows of Business Class seats in a 2-2-2 arrangement. That last configuration seems to be the one to avoid.
The seats in the staggered arrangement are Stelia Solstys seats. These seats have a width of 21″ and in lie-flat position, the seats measure a length of 73″ (187 cm). That’s not very generous. In combination with the small footwell and limited space to move around, these seats are definitely not the best Business Class Seats. With my size (6ft3), I would have definitely preferred a bigger footwell and a bigger length in lie-flat position. For the relatively short flight from Beijing to Bangkok (less than 5 hours), this wasn’t such a big deal though.
If you’re traveling alone, the window seats directly next to the window are the preferred seats. The window seats placed directly next to the aisle are a bit exposed. For this flight, I had seat 15K which was perfect. When traveling alone, you do want to avoid the seats in the middle. These are either placed very close to each other or very close to the aisle.
Note that at the time of writing, Thai Airlines doesn’t have Premium Economy on their A350s. They recently did introduce Premium Economy on their 2 A330-300 planes and it remains to be seen whether this will be rolled out to other planes in the future.
Amenities
One of the first things you notice when you enter the cabin, is the color scheme. I think the purple colors with orchid patterns look great and are a perfect fit with the Thailand heritage. After all, Thailand is the land of Orchids!
The pink orchid printed amenity kit is a perfect match. Just looking at the bag itself, you would be able to see it’s linked to Thailand. I love it! The contents isn’t bad either. Everything you would expect is included and more.
Besides the amenity kit, there is a comfortable blanket included as well as AKG headphones. The entertainment screen is a 15.5″ touchscreen. Here you can see it’s not the latest and greatest business class cabin. Having said that, everything did look clean, and I didn’t see any wear or tear in the cabin of my flight. Also the entertainment selection itself is sufficient.
Thai Airways is offering wireless internet. However, with a price of 40USD for Internet streaming and browsing, it’s not cheap. I believe that at least when you’re flying business class, wireless internet should be complimentary.
Meals & Service
I had big expectations of the meal service of Thai Airways. This wasn’t based on any previous experience of Thai Airways. It was purely based on my love for Thai food and the fact that I always enjoy the amazing kitchen of Thailand when I’m there. So I hoped Thai Airlines could meet my expectations. Choosing the meal was therefore not a big challenge; of course I picked the snapper in Thai Curry. The flight attendant asked me if I was sure since the dish could be spicy and that remark only confirmed my choice! Bring it on!
After the smoked salmon rosettes starter, it was time for the main course. And the Thai Curry didn’t disappoint at all! It was great – even though it wasn’t very spicy! In fact, if this would be served at any Thai restaurant outside of Thailand, the restaurant would be packed every evening!
To top things off, the desert with fruit, cheese and chocolate was the perfect ending to the meal.
I do need to highlight the service which was great this flight. Very friendly cabin crew which seemed to enjoy their work and seemed proud to be working for Thai Airways.
Conclusion
I really enjoyed my flight with Thai Airways. Food and Service are the highlights. I really think it’s great the Thai heritage is highlighted with the cabin colors and even the amenity kit. But also with details such as award winning Thai Chocolate.
I wasn’t so enthusiastic about the seat itself in lie-flat position. For a 5 hour flight, it was OK, but if I would have this seat on a 12 hour night flight, I would have wished for a bigger seat with more legroom. I would definitely consider Thai Airlines next time my trip takes me to Thailand though.
Also please have a look at my Youtube channel where I have a video of this flight with Thai Airlines. And don’t forget to like the video and subscribe to the channel!
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