Review of Thai Airways flight Hanoi → Bangkok in Economy

Intro

After having spent four amazing days in Hanoi, Vietnam, it is now time to return to Thailand to prepare for our wedding in the upcoming days.

Originally I booked a flight with Vietravel Airlines for approximately 185 EUR (2 Persons) well-in-advance, though two weeks prior to my flight, I received a notification from them that the flight was canceled due operational reasons and whether I wanted to change the flight and/or receive the money in return. I opted for the money to be returned as they didn't have any other flight that day and I couldn't change the date. I received my money within a week after cancelation, but it now meant that I had to find a different ticket from Hanoi to Bangkok. Given that I had a flight departing from Bangkok later that day at 4 pm, the option of Bamboo Airways was not possible. In the end it was either Vietnam Airlines or THAI, so I chose THAI given that Vietnam Airlines asked for 200 EUR more.

I could have chosen for Thai AirAsia for less, however with the luggage we had on board, I didn't really fancy carrying it across Bangkok on their free shuttle bus.

Flight

On the day of our flight, we prebooked our taxi via Booking.com (which to be honest works pretty well) and was already waiting for us the moment we checked out. It was about 10 EUR for a 45 minute ride to the Airport from the Old quarter. Reasonable price considering that I was ripped off for 22 EUR on the ride to the city.

With about 2 hours to departure, the quiet taxi driver dropped us off in front of Terminal 2, which is the terminal being used for international departures.

Upon entering the terminal, you are met with quite a common themed terminal in Southeast Asia in which the check-in hall is a large spacious room with different rows of check-in counters.

After checking the tv-screens as to what section is being used for us, we made our way to Row D.

Boarding was quite deserted and took no more than 2 minutes to clear. The friendly chap who checked us in asked us about our stay in Vietnam. When we told him that we quite enjoyed our stay here, his smile became even brighter and wished us a pleasant journey to Thailand. Now it may not be much, but I kind of appreciate those smaller gestures.

While check-in was a breeze, immigration and security took more than fifty minutes to clear. It was just dreadfully slow.

As I was checking with my priority pass whether we were able to have access to any lounge at Hanoi, I found out that we could go to the Song Hong Business Lounge which was located near Gate 28.

After the formalities with check-in, the ground attendant informed us kindly to pay attention to the time as call-outs were not made. The first impression of the lounge was good to me as it was quite spacious and nicely decorated.

We found a table near the window which gave us fantastic views over the tarmac with this Boeing 787-800 being pushed back for a departure, however it was quite a foggy day in Hanoi, so views were a bit limited in distance.

Food selection was decent to good with several options ranging from International to Asian cuisine

Soft drinks and coffee were also available and across the other side of the lounge they had a chap working there to create cocktails or grab any wine by yourselves if you wished any.

Obviously the alcoholics we were, we took another red wine from a different Vietnamese Winery (Cadahill), which was rather disappointing. Also tried to recreate myself a salted coffee, but failed miserably at it :).

The lounge also offered a noodle station, which is occupied by a chef.

There is also a shower facility present free of charge and towels were on request if you needed one.

Another shot from the lounge with the bar on the right side just below the tv screens.

While waiting in the lounge, I did do some spotting like this Airbus A320 of HK Express departing to Hong Kong.

Pacific Airlines just arrived from Ho Chi Minh and was taxiing to one of the remote stands.

Followed by this Vietnam Airlines Airbus A321 who just arrived from Ho Chi Minh too with a delay.

And finally our aircraft to touch down from Bangkok Suvarnabhumi.

About 30 minutes to our scheduled departure, me and my wife made our way to our Gate, which was going to be Gate 32 and gave us a view of our aircraft that would bring us over to Bangkok.

Given that THAI is cutting their ''Thai Smile'' brand as an airline, the A320s in their fleet are gradually being transfered to THAI itself. This move is expected to be completed by 31 december 2023 and the only change they're doing to them is by removing the ''Smile'' sticker. Cabin configuration is the same and the J Class on their A320s is just like an European J class. This however causes some scrutiny among their frequent flyers as THAI was promoting it as a J class prompting the THAI CAA to warn THAI and to inform travellers if they book a flight in this J class, to not expect a lie-flat seat.

HS-TXE, an 11 year old A320, will bring us to Bangkok. This aircraft was newly delivered to THAI Smile in January 2013 and made a short appearance for THAI in March 2015 to January 2016 before moving to THAI officialy in August 2023.

An A321 of Bamboo Airways departing to Ho Chi Minh. An Airline I still want to try out.

Gate 32's seating availabilty is somewhat limited with people standing around.

A few different angles of our bird.

Boarding was called ahead of time and went in an orderly manner. Flight attendants on board were of an older generation and did not provide us with a very welcoming welcome. A visual look of the seats behind my row as I didn't want to occupy the aisle for much longer.

Legroom is just the same as it was with THAI Smile, which for the distance is alright and reasonable. The only major difference is that THAI asks the premium price for a product that was offered by THAI Smile for a more reasonable price :).

Individual air vents were available and the state of the aircraft was clean however.

Literature in the seatpocket consisted of a rather plain-looking sickbag and a safety card.

The view from my window with a Boeing 737-800 of Shenzhen Airlines parked next to us.

Pushback was seven minutes ahead of our scheduled departure with a 100% load. Impressive.

And about two minutes past our scheduled departure, we were already rolling for our flight to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi with both the international (Right) and domestic terminal (Left) in view.

The literature I mentioned before can be found in the top of your seat.

A view of the A320 cabin.

About 10 minutes after our departure, we finally broke through the clouds.

The complimentary food service began about 35 minutes past our departure and consisted of a bottle of water, Fried rice with Shrimps and a Cake. No other options were given and the portion size was not really large, though sufficient for a 2 hour flight I'd say. In terms of taste, it wasn't memorable.

Normally I'd enjoy flying with THAI, though the flight attendants served us in a rather emotionless and uninterested manner like they were robots. A huge difference compared to THAI Smile where flight attendants used to be cheerful and very smiley.

They also did not provide us with any choice of drinks other than Coffee and/or Tea. No question whether I wanted to have creamer or sugar, she just poured the coffee and rushed to the next passenger. Couldn't even respond by asking her for some creamer.

With about 30 minutes to landing, the flight attendants came by to clean the cabin and about 10 minutes later, the aircraft was already in descent to Suvarnabhumi with kind of a re-route as we can see Bangkok Don Mueang in the photo below.

Eventually lined up for 01L and touched down with a 3 minute delay.

The aircraft docked at the B-pier in Suvarnabhumi which gave me a suspicion that we would be disembarking the aircraft by bus as this is a pier used for domestic departures. Upon disembarking the aircraft, no goodbye's were said by any of the flight attendants as they were cleaning the cabin to prepare for the next flight.

Not much later, my suspicions are confirmed.

The last view of our aircraft that brought us over.

The only great thing about the busride is that you can see some of the planes up close like this Boeing 777-300ER of THAI.

Another 777-300ER of SWISS

Aeroflot is also present with their 777-300ER and would depart later today as SU 251 to Moscow Sheremetyevo. A flight I took years ago, but was that time served by an Airbus A330. It's quite surprising to see the Skyteam logo on the aircraft, despite them being suspended from the alliance.

Another HK Express was preparing for it's flight to Hong Kong.

Immigration was once again completely full by passengers, but luckily I could bypass it with my wife and join one of the THAI Immigration counters as they allow foreigners here to join with the wife and/or husband. It took another 5 or 10 minutes past this point for our luggage to appear on belt.

See you soon on the following flight.