Thai Airways Review

Personally I had always been an advocate of flying Cathay Pacific. Except for the occasional surly-mannered flight attendant, everything else from personal monitor screens to in-flight gadgets, compensated very well for the hassles of air travel. It was therefore with no little trepidation that I booked my first Thai Airways flight.

It was a fine , if a little humid, balmy Friday evening as I prepared myself for that long-haul journey from Bangkok to London on what my notoriously patriotic Thai students had always referred to as the best plane in the air. With my usual carry on luggage consisting of books, books and a few more books I stepped aboard and three flight attendants in traditional Thai clothes greeted my husband and me at the entrance with a mechanically droned "Sawadee Ka/Krup." I think they actually greeted us about three times as we paused to grab what available reading material they had on a rack by the door. Minus points for the droning but plus points for a copy of the Post and the Nation


As we entered the plane what instantly struck me was the glaring purple color that the airline think best represents what they have to offer. For some reason it promptly reminded me of my claustrophobia and succeptibility to migraine. Funny, but I'm no color expert and I usually like purple, but the shining seat covers in that enclosed metal capsule which was to propel itself upward in a matter of minutes stirred my psychological disposition: painful to the eyes, I felt like I was trapped in an elevator…which I suppose was actually better that what I was trapped in! (now..now..now ..enough of my psychological insecurities, eh?)

There was no turning back however--my husband's family dog, Muffin, had been told when we were arriving and I didn't want to disappoint her. As I inched my way through the narrow aisle looking for my seat, I tried to forget the purple colored plane and began thinking about the plastic bag full of goodies which should be waiting for me. Alas! after much pushing, squeezing and waiting, I finally found my seat but to my immense frustration, only a blanket lay on my cramped chair. Where were my socks? my toothbrush? eye masks? writing pad? Pen? etc!. (Cathay had it and hey! you've got to set a benchmark!). My heart slumped and it slumped even deeper when I could not find my own personal TV monitor or a footrest! I know I'm flying economy class, but do I have to be punished by having these, oh so cheap but comforting, little trinkets taken away from me? Isn't it punishment enough that I am in great danger of suffering from the Deep Vein Thrombosis (or the Economy Class Syndrome)?

As we soared 30000 feet up , the flight attendants disposition somehow compensated for the airlines stinginess and total lack of color coordination. I know after living in the Kingdom for some years that the Thais pride themselves on being friendly and it seemed to me that the flight attendants went out of their way to prove this. They were available on call and the famed Thai smile was almost plastered on their faces. Later, they served us the usual drinks and food (I know many people complain about in-flight food, but I've never had any problems with it except for domestic flights in the Philippines) . I picked Roast Chicken with Chinese Red Sauce over Broiled Fillet of Pork with Mushroom Cream Sauce and it was pretty good. Nothing to write about! But pretty good.

After dinner, while reading the in-flight magazine, I found somewhere on the last pages, in very fine print, a notice informing me that I could actually have all the goodies that I had been so looking forwards to! All I had to do was ask and voila! it would be delivered to me in no time ( a cost-cutting technique obviously, but as a passenger, I still feel that I should be given these things whether I ask for them or not). Anyway, I thought about what I wanted, and I wanted an eye mask. So when the flight attendant (who must have changed clothes 3x already since we'd boarded the plane), passed by, I asked for two (my husbands' and mine) and with the usual smile she said she would bring them straight to us. Forgetting my benchmark, I began to think this wasn't so bad. As I waited for my masks, I decided to watch the movie showing on a big tv screen. The thing was though I'm no giant, and really, I could see very little because of all the heads in front of me. I'm no midget either though: I had to lift my butt up a bit and stretch my neck. This became so tiring I slumped back down and began dreaming of personal monitor screens (Cathay Pacific have them you know….in economy class!). Becoming bored, I realized that almost 15 minutes had passed and I still didn't have my eye masks! I thought about calling for the flight attendant, but I was too scared that in my present condition I might raise my voice slightly, forcing her to tranquilize me and handcuff me to my seat in the interests of flight safety. I rationalized that she must be very busy.

While my husband waited for those precious masks, I went for a short trip to the bathroom. It must have been a pleasant break for him after all my bitching! All four doors were locked. I waited for a minute or so until one of the doors opened and out came the attendant who was supposed to bring me an eye mask! She was wearing gloves, holding disinfectant and had obviously been cleaning the bathroom! I knew she was doing something more important than responding to a polite request.

As it turned out the bathroom I got into was very clean, but as I looked around, opened the drawers and peeked into holes I probably shouldn't have been peeking in, another cost-cutting strategy became so evident it stung. Only a small bottle of hand cologne stood on the mini sink. Where had all the lotion, perfume and sanitary pads gone? I can't remember using any of them on one plane trip, but it's always good to know that they're there when you need them. Well, they weren't..

Hungry for just a little bit of luxury, I held on to the magical thought of sleeping with an eye mask when I got back to my seat. Unfortunately, the attendant wasn't finished cleaning the bathrooms yet. Still PATIENTLY waiting, I scanned magazines, stretched my neck for a bit of tv, played with the 7 or so radio stations, and thought about how discouraging it was that we've got satellites orbiting god knows what but we still haven't made a plane that doesn't make SO much noise. Still no eye mask.. I couldn't wait any longer though so I decided to get into sleeping mode without it, drown in dreamland and make the flight less painful. I twisted and turned, bent my legs, stretched them again, and placed my pillow in three different places before I finally found a slightly comfortable sleeping position. It took what seemed like an age before I finally managed to drift off but when I woke up to the sound of a screaming child, I saw 2 eye masks on the vacant seat next to me..

After about 4 hours of constantly interrupted sleep, the flight crew decided it was time to feed the cattle. We had a huge breakfast of cheese and mushroom omelet, supreme of chicken, grilled chicken, sausage and stewed vegetables: not bad for an airline that's cutting costs. After breakfast, all the ladies on board (including me, the slightly disgruntled passenger) were given purple orchids by the flights attendants as they said "Thank you for flying Thai."

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