Review of Thai Airways flight from Bangkok to Perth in Economy

Background

While THAI does fly to Kolkata and it was possible to connect straight through CCU-BKK-PER, the flight from CCU leaves at 2am while Bhutan Airlines has a more reasonable daytime departure. So B3 to BKK and back to CCU, and TG return to PER in between worked out better timing wise.
This flight was booked for just over 19k THB/$550 return, a little cheaper than usual because of a special return trip to Australia offer. Not terrible for a fairly last minute flight.
The flight from Kolkata arrived on Thursday afternoon, and this flight would depart to Perth the next morning.

Suvarnabhumi Airport

Baggage tags and drop off were done at kiosks, but there were plenty of staff members there to help anyone if needed.

Suvarnabhumi Airport has a lot of interesting displays based on Thai culture, such as this person (and many similar people throughout the check-in area)

Lots of interesting airlines departing today.

Security and immigration were fast and efficient, a massive contrast from the huge lines last time I flew through BKK, in January.
After immigration there is a beautiful depiction of the Churning of the Milk Ocean story.

Even some of the shops looked like displays.

There was lots of mango/mango & sticky rice available, even at coffee shops.

It was very hard to get clear pictures of aircraft from the terminal.

There's another small temple display next to the gate.

Aircraft & Boarding

Our aircraft for today is HS-TQC, a 9.8 year old 787-8 that has only flown for TG. It has the name, "Pran Buri / ปราณบุรี."

There was a security check at the gate and you couldn't take any liquids through. A few minutes after boarding started they made the final call, but even though that's when I boarded probably 75% of the flight came even later.

Seat & Departure

The plane was very empty at this point, empty seats are nice  but I was getting worried about them being unable to get a higher load factor. It filled later on though.

The headrests could be adjusted but not up and down.

There was a pillow at every seat and blankets were handed out to anyone that wanted them.

Every seat had a screen, remote, charging port, footrest, light, and personal air vent.

(the screens were very reflective so this is a picture of the screen from another seat)

There was a cupholder on the outside of the tray table, and the table could be folded in half.

The footrest was a really nice touch.

 The FAs came by several times with blankets and earphones to make sure everyone got them.

The seatback pocket contained a magazine, sickness bag, wi-fi instructions card, and safety card.

We pushed back almost half an hour late.

Interesting aircraft included two Qatar 777s, a Turkish A330, an Oman Air 787, a Korean Air 777, and many more. But all the aircraft I saw were from Asia/ME (the order is getting mixed up).

We took off 36 minutes late.

The world looks so interesting through a blue window.

Breakfast

Soon, my pre-ordered VJML was served.

The sole (full) beverage service of this flight followed, I got apple juice.

The meal was a bit better than it looked but nothing great, it was extremely average.

IFE & in-flight

They had a great selection of entertainment, but though they were listed, no games  were actually available (what is it with airlines getting rid of games?) aaaand this gallery also refuses to go in order.

 I'm sure KrisWorld has won lots of IFE awards but personally I feel like THAI might have had a better selection. It wasn't easy to use, though. There was no way to search for anything, nor to skip ahead to a particular point in a movie.
So in my case, I watched a movie, then opened the map, then started watching a movie I'd started the previous day on Bhutan Airlines. After leaving the first movie, I had to go back to the home page, open information, then flight path, then the map. After looking at the map, I had to go back to home, open entertainment, then open movies, then open list all, then scroll through until I found the movie I wanted, then fast forward on 16x until I got to my spot.
Luckily the screen was responsive!

I went back to ask if they had eye masks or any amenities (I later discovered that some of the bathrooms had dental kits in them, but not all). The FA was very nice about it, he looked through to find everything they had, even though it took him a while to locate the amenity kits, then gave me two of everything.

Two each toothbrushes, toothpaste, eye masks, and pairs of earplugs.

Somewhere during the flight they dimmed all the lights and darkened the windows to the second lowest setting, so it felt like night even though it was the middle of the day.

The recline was amazing. Between that and the footrest it was incredibly comfortable.

Interesting clouds.

A few hours into the flight there was a quick beverage service, just one FA walking through with a tray of juice and water, the only service between the meals. They really could have come more often but it seems like Virgin Australia is the only airline with frequent beverage services.
I just got some water.

The dark windows and the blue lighting make the cabin look very interesting.

On the wall on front of the bathroom there's a nice little design.

The flight was mostly uneventful, there wasn't much interaction with the crew but they were nice enough.

Snack

A little over two hours before arrival, the pre-landing snack, a little pizza thing, was served.

A little while later bottles of water were handed out, but there was no full beverage service.

It was really, really tasty. A larger meal would have been great but this was a fairly short flight and it was definitely sufficient.

There would be no more service for the rest of the flight.

Arrival and Perth Airport

Land!

Lots of pictures of the West Australian coast. Unfortunately the windows were set on the second-darkest setting and they couldn't be changed, so everything looks dark.

The biosecurity announcement was played, and for a few minutes the IFE stopped working and was replaced by some ads.

Finally, the windows were brightened as we approached Perth (every gallery gets mixed up and I can't get the pictures to go in order!).

Welcome to Perth!

SAA A340, waiting for tonight's flight back to Johannesburg

SQ A350, soon departing for Singapore

Coincidentally, the last time I flew into Perth it was on the SAA A340, and the time before that on a SQ A350.

Last view of our plane.

Immigration was very efficient, as always, although bags took a while to arrive.

Even customs was very fast.

Thanks for reading.