Review of Thai Airways flight Bangkok → Singapore in Economy

The return sector. I had again checked in online and selected the same seats at row 69 again on the B773 aircraft.

TG check-in counters at BKK. No queues at all! All the thai airlines have umbrellas at the counters. Anyone knows what it signifies?


Boarding pass. We would be bussed to the plane today!


Departure hall.


C2a would be a bus gate.


Some plane spotting. SQ Star Alliance B772 9V-SRI (non-AVOD) going back to SIN as SQ977 just before us. Boy am I glad to be flying TG instead of this aircraft. TG B734 looked to tiny in comparison.


TG A346 towed into the gate after SQ has left.


Very soon, boarding was announced and again, the entire boarding procedure was very orderly. A number of buses were waiting the ferry the full B773 load of pax to the plane.


Our plane in sight!



27 February 2012
Thai Airways International
TG 409
Bangkok (BKK) - Singapore (SIN)
B777-300
HS-TKA
Economy Class


HS-TKA, TG's 1st B777-300, would be flying us back today. It had been a long time since I boarded a plane bigger than a A320 via stairs!


Mighty Rolls-Royce!


We were free to take photos on the tarmac! The ground staff just smiled at me without saying a word. TG's A345 just 2 bays away.


Finally shooed up the stairs when the bus load of passengers had cleared. Two beautiful stewardesses were at the door welcoming passengers.


Nice seats again. Greeted by the crew on the aisles with lots of Sawadees and wai-ings as usual. This flight would turn out to be full again! TG is certainly doing very well on the SIN-BKK route even with all the budget airlines plying the route also.


One of the interesting planes at BKK. Nordwind B757.


All-white Orient Thai B743


We miss Swiss in SIN!!


LH B744 on a short hop to KUL.


When almost all pax had boarded the aircraft, the crew distributed earphones. Blankets were also given out to pax who required one.


TG earphones in a small bag, yours to keep. Behind is the IFE magazine, which apparently sported nearly the same cover as SQ's Krisworld IFE guide for the month!


Pushback was delayed for about 10min due to 3 no-shows, whose bags had to be offloaded. Finally doors were closed and the safety video was played. TG's safety video really set the standards in being classy and concise.



Pushback, engine start-up and welcome announcement.



SAS, you are also missed in SIN.


When will I get to fly on the A346?


Miss the B744? TG still has lots of them!


It's Thai land alright. Noticed the different shades of purple for the livery (metallic vs matt purple)?



Taxi to Rwy19L with music in background again.



Lift off!



No, there is no flooding. They are just padi fields.


Shortly after takeoff, with the map-view on the IFE. Wonderful legroom again! Interestingly, only on-demand movies were not available on the IFE system while the plane was on the ground. According to TG's website, The movies are not available on Bangkok-Singapore-Bangkok and Bangkok-Kuala Lumpur-Bangkok. However shortly after takeoff, the IFE system was reset and miraculously, the AVOD movies became available!


Climbing to 37,000ft.


The usual service procedure began with distribution of immigration forms, followed by piping hot towels. Flipped through the inflight magazine and saw this article on Ethiopian Airlines joining Star Alliance. As usual with past practices, there was a shot with all the Star Alliance cabin crew members. Hmmm, but where is the Singapore Girl?



Pilot announcement on the routing and altitude.



Cruising at 37,000ft.


About 30min after takeoff, the aroma of green curry weaved through the cabin. Food!! True enough, the bar and meal carts were pushed towards the rear of the cabin and meal service started. Oh boy, just the smell of the food is making everyone hungry! 2 stewardesses were serving my aisle (there were 2 crew on each aisle) which made the service really fast. First, the meal trays were distributed, followed by the bar cart just behind.



Choices today were Fish in sweet & sour sauce with fried rice and vegetables, or Green curry chicken with fried egg and rice. We chose one of each. On the meal tray were also a tuna salad, warm roll and butter and a cake for dessert.


Tuna salad with vegetables. Simple starter.


Sweet and sour fish with fried rice and vegetables. Full of flavour and very nice! Also the casserole was filled to the brim with food!


Green curry chicken with fried egg and rice. Tasted very much better than it looks! Authentic thai-style green curry. Bangkok catering really produces the best thai/asian meals to suit our asian palettes!


Cream cake. Unfortunately not a thai-style dessert again. However the cake is rich enough to satisfy my sweet tooth.


The very friendly stewardess preparing our drinks on the bar cart. I ordered a gin&tonic and apple juice.


Gin and tonic in the skies. Note the retro-designed stirrer.


Drinks service in progress. Top-ups of wines were also offered. After the bar service, coffee/tea were offered along with a second round of drinks. As TG would practice, milk was poured from milk pots into the cups when requested to be added, ala business class style.


Flying into bad weather towards the end of meal service while coffee/tea was served. Flight became quite bumpy for a while with further slight bumps, but seatbelt signs were never switched on and hot beverages were still served. Guess the pilots knew that the turbulence would not last long. However on certain airlines, the seatbelt signs would definitely be switched on and hot beverages suspended for the rest of the flight.


Meal trays were collected and we had nearly an hour to go. Weather was not too good for the rest of the flight with slight bumps now and then.


4 of the 6 lavatories at the rear of the cabin. There were another 4 in the middle of the Y cabin, making a grand total of 10 lavatories for 330 pax, a very generous ratio! You will never see a long queue forming for the toilets, even on a full flight.


Cabin view.


Not too long after, descent started. However pax were only required to return to their seats and have seatback upright halfway through the descent. Announcements were also shown on PTVs as well.


Overflying Batam before we start turn back to Changi.


Night view of Singapore city.


Lots of vessels in view. Approaching Rwy02L.



Landing at Changi Rwy02L, about 10min late, due to offloading of bags.



Parked at T1 beside a CX B773. Note the Air Berlin plane behind CX? Guess it was a seasonal charter.


Disembarking the plane. The female crew were still in their traditional thai uniform as they would be operating the flight back to BKK as TG410.


Just can't get enough of the colourful seats.


Final view of TKA, with AF B773ER parked beside.