And now it’s time for a review of the MVP of this trip, in my opinion. Actually, there might be one more pleasant surprise coming up after this.
To get back to Europe I was flying Thai Airways’ A350-900 to Milan. While Thai Airways has several destinations in Europe, this was the best in terms of schedule and getting me on one of their planes with new business class seats. I booked this ticket using Avianca LifeMiles — the cost was 78,000 miles plus $49.33.
My flight was departing at 12:40AM, so after lounge hopping and working for several hours, I headed to my departure gate, C2, at around 11:40PM.
Thai Airways departure gate Bangkok
This was right around the time the gate opened. At Suvarnabhumi Airport they scan your boarding pass as you enter the gate area, and then you just sit down in the gate area until boarding starts.
Thai Airways departure gate Bangkok
While boarding was scheduled to begin at 12AM, in reality it started at 12:15AM, with business class passengers being invited to board first.
I couldn’t wait to see what Thai Airways business class would be like, as I had never flown Thai’s long haul business class before (though I have flown their long haul first class).
Let me note upfront that I didn’t have terribly high expectations, as I’ve historically considered Thai to be a second tier Asian carrier, and not quite to the level of Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Singapore Airlines, etc.
Thai Airways Air 940
Bangkok (BKK) – Milan (MXP)
Saturday, August 10
Depart: 12:40AM
Arrive: 7:35AM
Duration: 11hr55min
Aircraft: Airbus A350-900
Seat: 15A (Business Class)
I boarded through the forward door, where I was greeted by two flight attendants who couldn’t have been kinder. They pointed me down the left aisle towards my seat. The first thing I noticed was just how purple the cabin was. While it takes some getting used to, it felt appropriate for Thai, and I appreciated the bold design they chose.
Thai Airways A350 business class cabin
Thai A350 business class cabin
Thai Airways’ A350-900 business class cabin consists of a total of 32 staggered seats. This consists of eight rows of seats in a 1-2-1 configuration.
This is a pretty traditional staggered configuration, virtually identical to Vietnam Airlines’ A350 business class, for example.
In the center section, seats alternate between being closer to one another, and being closer to the aisle. The “honeymoon” seats are popular for those who want to be close to their travel companion, but aren’t ideal if traveling next to a stranger.
Thai Airways A350 business class seats
Meanwhile the other rows have seats that are much further from one another, though the downside is that they’re close to the aisle, so you don’t feel like you have much privacy.
Thai Airways A350 business class seats
There’s a similar pattern along the windows. In some rows the seats are closer to the aisle, which isn’t ideal, in terms of being able to look out of the window and also in terms of privacy.
Thai Airways business class seats A350
Thai Airways business class seats A350
The best seats in this configuration are the “true” window seats, which make it easy to look out of the window and also have privacy. I was in one of these seats (15A), right around the center of the cabin.
Thai Airways business class seats A350
As you can see, on the aisle-side of the seat was a console and a literature pocket.
Thai Airways business class seats A350
Also to the right of the seat were the seat controls, which were easy to use, along with the entertainment controls.
Thai Airways business class entertainment controls
There was an armrest on this side of the seat, as well as a small storage area.
Thai Airways business class seat armrest
The headphone jack and 110v USB outlet were located underneath the seat and to the right.
Thai Airways business class power outlet
Then across from the seat was a personal television (underneath the television were two USB plugs), as well as the tray table hooked to the seat in front.
Thai Airways business class seats A350
Thai Airways business class USB outlet
The tray table consisted of a single tray that could pretty easily be moved around, so that you could even get up with it extended.
Thai Airways business class seat tray table
While staggered seats aren’t my favorite in the world, these are among the most spacious out there, and I found I had plenty of room for my feet even when reclined.
Thai Airways business class seat ottoman
Overall I thought the seat was quite comfortable. My only real criticism was the lack of individual air nozzles.
Already waiting at my seat upon boarding was all the bedding, which included an excellent pillow and blanket, as well as a mattress pad.
Thai Airways business class bedding
Then there was an amenity kit from Mandarina Duck, which I thought was pretty basic — it had a comb, a toothbrush and toothpaste, mouthwash, lip balm, and lotion.
Thai business class amenity kit
Waiting in the literature pocket were the menu and wine list for the flight.
Thai business class menu & wine list
Service began the moment I settled into my seat. One of the flight attendants taking care of me came by to introduce herself by name, familiarize me with the seat, offer me a warm towel, and ask me what I’d like to drink before takeoff.
Thai Airways business class warm towel
Pre-departure drinks of choice? Nice! I asked for a glass of champagne, which was served in a proper champagne flute (which you don’t often see in business class).
Thai Airways business class pre-departure champagne
A few minutes later I was also brought a pair of pretty good quality headphones.
Thai business class headphones
After finishing my first glass of champagne I was offered a refill. Also, about 10 minutes later the flight attendant came by to take my meal order in a very detailed fashion (what I wanted to drink after takeoff, what I wanted for dinner, what I wanted for breakfast, if I wanted to be woken up, etc.).
While economy was pretty full on this flight, business class was only about half full, and the other three seats in my row were empty.
Boarding was efficient, and by 12:30AM the door closed for our 10hr55min flight to Milan.
Five minutes later the safety video was screened. Then at 12:40AM we began our pushback, and five minutes later we started our taxi.
We had a quick taxi, and at 12:55AM we were cleared for takeoff on runway 19L.
As we climbed out I browsed the entertainment selection.
Thai Airways A350 entertainment system
To my surprise, the programming was excellent. There were nearly 200 movies, and also quite a few TV shows.
Thai Airways A350 entertainment system
Thai Airways A350 entertainment system
Thai Airways A350 entertainment system
Thai Airways also offers Wi-Fi on their A350-900s.
Thai Airways A350 Wi-Fi
Shortly after takeoff the crew distributed vouchers for 20MB of free Wi-Fi. While that’s better than nothing, that will last you maybe 10 minutes with normal use, so is hardly anything to get excited about.
Thai Airways business class free Wi-Fi
If you wanted to buy Wi-Fi, Thai’s Wi-Fi pricing is as follows:
- 30MB costs $9.99
- 100MB costs $19.99
- 500MB costs $34.99
- Unlimited data costs $59.99
Thai Airways A350 Wi-Fi pricing
I ended up buying the 500MB pass. It goes without saying that Wi-Fi pricing is on the high side, though I at least appreciate that the Wi-Fi was really fast when I used it, and at least the Wi-Fi allowances are high.
For example, 500MB is a lot, and at least they have an option to purchase unlimited data (which I wouldn’t do on an overnight flight where I hope to sleep, but on a daytime flight that could be well worth it).
Given what a late departure this was, I was happy to see how quickly after takeoff the meal service began. On this flight dinner was served after takeoff, and then breakfast was served before landing.
The menu read as follows:
The wine list read a follows:
20 minutes after takeoff I was served my first drink, along with some nuts. I ordered a glass of champagne (Thai Airways offers Veuve Clicquot in business class, which is solid), and sparkling water. High marks to Thai both for the champagne, and for the glassware in which they serve it.
Thai Airways business class dinner — champagne & nuts
Just 30 minutes after takeoff the starter was served on a tray. That consisted of crepe roll moutabel with olive oil pearl, beetroot and carrot Japanese cucumber roll, and green mango smoked salmon roll. The starter was excellent, as was the garlic bread I was offered to go along with it.
Thai Airways business class dinner — appetizer
My tray was removed, and then 40 minutes after takeoff I was served the main course. I selected one of the Thai options, specifically the Pad Prik Khing — it consisted of stir-fried salmon and string beans with chili paste.
It was served with Tom Jiew Nua (spicy beef soup with sweet potatoes and mixed herbs), stir-fried sweet pork, stir-fried snap peas with garlic, and steamed jasmine rice.
This dish was so good — it tasted like restaurant quality Thai food on a plane.
Thai Airways business class dinner — main course
Once that was done, I was asked if I wanted a cheese plate, which I was served 50 minutes after takeoff.
Thai Airways business class dinner — cheese plate
Lastly dessert was served about an hour after takeoff. I ordered the pandan sago with young coconut in coconut milk. Mmmmmm…
Thai Airways business class dinner — dessert
After the conclusion of the meal I ordered a cappuccino. Thai Airways has proper cappuccinos in business class, which are excellent.
Thai Airways business class dinner — cappuccino
My tray was cleared less than 90 minutes after takeoff, so I was ready to get some rest with about 9hr30min remaining to Milan.
Moving map enroute to Milan
Moving map enroute to Milan
The meal was exceptional, in my opinion — the food quality was great, the pace of service was ideal given the late night departure, and the service couldn’t have been friendlier.
While Thai Airways serves business class meals on trays (rather than directly on the tray table), that system actually makes sense for them, because they’re so efficient. It means they can perform the entire service without using carts, since they simply remove your tray when you’re done with each course.
After the meal the crew offered to make my bed, so I checked out the lavatory during that time. There were three business class lavatories — one at the front of the cabin and two at the back of the cabin. I was impressed by how clean the crew kept the lavatories, down to the toilet paper being perfectly folded at all times.
Thai Airways A350 business class lavatory
The bed was quite comfortable. Window seats in these staggered configurations are quite nice — the bed was long, and the footwell wasn’t too tight.
Thai Airways A350 business class bed
Thai Airways A350 business class bed
The bad news is that I only managed to sleep for about 90 minutes. Obviously that’s not Thai’s fault, I’m not sure what was going on. I was super tired but also couldn’t sleep, despite conditions more or less being ideal. I guess the crazy week of travel had caught up with me.
When I woke up I tried to go back to sleep, but then I placed so much pressure on myself to go back to sleep that I couldn’t. Oops.
Map enroute to Milan
Map enroute to Milan
So at that point I figured I might as well stay up, and ordered a cup of coffee. I was served a cookie to go along with it.
Thai Airways business class coffee
I worked for several hours, and the crew was proactive in refilling my water and coffee.
I managed to work for several hours, and then around 1hr45min before landing the breakfast service began. First I was offered a warm towel, along with my choice of orange juice, tomato juice, or water.
Thai Airways business class juice & warm towel
At this point there was a beautiful sunrise out my window.
Sunrise enroute to Milan
About 20 minutes later the meal was served, with the following choices:
I ordered the boiled rice soup with prawns, which was served with a Thai omelet, fresh fruit, bircher muesli with mixed berry compote, and a bread basket. This was one of the best airline breakfasts I’ve had in a long time.
Thai Airways business class breakfast
At around 6:15AM Milan time the captain announced we’d be descending shortly and would be landing in about 35 minutes. At this point the crew started to prepare the cabin for landing.
Map enroute to Milan
Map enroute to Milan
Thai A350 cabin before landing
During the descent every single one of the business class flight attendants came up to each passenger to thank them for flying with Thai. The cabin manager even approached each passenger and asked “do you have suggestions for how we can improve our service?” Wow.
That’s a lot more useful of a question than “everything was alright, yes?” which you get on some other airlines.
As we descended I both looked out the window, and also at the awesome high definition tail camera on the plane.
View approaching Milan
View approaching Milan
Thai Airways A350 tail camera
Thai Airways A350 tail camera
We ended up touching down in Milan at 6:45AM, and then had a five minute taxi to our arrival gate, where we pulled in at 6:50AM.
Thai Airways A350 tail camera
I bid farewell to the crew and then made my way to immigration, where I had a significantly less pleasant flight ahead of me.
Thai Airways A350 in Milan
Thai A350 business class bottom line
Thai Airways A350 business class was spectacular, which I wasn’t expecting. The seats and amenities were roughly what I expected, but everything else exceeded my expectations. The service and food were spectacular — the service was proactive, genuine, and polished, while the Thai food was restaurant quality. The entertainment and Wi-Fi were very good as well.
In my opinion Thai Airways has a first rate business class product on their A350s. It’s not just that I wouldn’t hesitate to fly with them again, but I’d actually seek them out.
I do think it’s important to acknowledge that many of their long haul aircraft don’t feature flat beds, though, including their 747s. So on those planes it would be a very different experience.
If you’ve flown Thai business class, what was your experience like?
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