Thai 606
Bangkok (BKK) – Hong Kong (HKG)
Saturday, February 17
Depart: 4:00PM
Arrive: 7:45PM
Duration: 2hr45min
Aircraft: Boeing 747-400
Seat: 1A (First Class)
Nowadays it’s a real treat to fly in the nose of the 747, given how many airlines have retired the plane. We boarded through the forward left door, where we were greeted by two exceptionally friendly flight attendants and escorted to our seats. This configuration of Thai’s 747 features a total of nine first class seats. There are three sets of seats along the windows on each side of the cabin, and then two rows in the center — one has two seats, and the other has just one seat.
Thai Airways 747 first class cabin
The flight attendant taking care of us, Wipa, was a gem — when she saw me taking the pictures she said “please give me a moment and I will close all the bins, it looks nicer that way.” And sure enough that’s exactly what she did.
Thai Airways first class cabin 747
In front of the first row in the center is a small display with some magazines and newspapers (is that Shawn Mendes?). Also, shoutout to the lady in business class who is photobombing — hah.
Thai Airways first class cabin 747
It’s not often that you see a single center seat in the way that Thai Airways has on this plane.
Thai Airways center first class seat
Also, Thai has one of the coolest and strangest galleys of any airline on this plane. The galley for first and business class is along the side of the cabin behind first class, and it stretches quite a ways back. So if you’re seated in the center section of business class, there’s a wall to the right of you (which isn’t ideal).
Thai Airways 747 galley
I had assigned myself seat 1A, the window seat on the left side in the nose.
Thai Airways first class seat 747
Tiffany was right across the aisle from me, in 1K. Given that so few airlines are operating the 747 nowadays, we couldn’t turn down the opportunity to sit in the first row, even though the last row center seats would have been closer together.
Thai Airways first class seat 747
While purple and yellow aren’t personally my favorite colors, I do quite like the finishes for Thai Airways. The seat itself was well padded, and there was a partition along the aisle-side of the seat. I’m not sure why Thai decided not to add a door to these seats, because they could have easily done so. Regardless, it’s still quite a private product.
Thai Airways first class seat
Across from the seat was an ottoman, the entertainment screen, and a small closet with a mirror.
Thai Airways first class seat
There was plenty of storage space underneath the ottoman.
Thai Airways first class seat ottoman
The closet was large enough to hang a jacket or maybe a garment bag. All other belongings could be stored in the overhead bins, in the big closet in the nose of the plane, or underneath the ottoman.
Thai Airways first class seat closet
At the front left of the seat was a storage compartment, which also had the power outlet and literature pocket. Also in this area was a beautiful orchid.
Thai Airways first class seat storage
There was a long counter that extended along the side of the seat, which had some basic seat presets to choose from, as well as a screen that could control the seat, lighting, and more.
Thai Airways first class seat controls
Then along the side of the seat was another storage compartment, as well as an entertainment controller, the headphone jack, and two USB outlets.
Thai Airways first class seat controls
The tray table could be folded out from the side of the seat, and could be folded over in half.
Thai Airways first class tray table
One downside that I’d note about these seats is that they don’t have individual air nozzles.
The headphones were waiting at my seat on boarding, and were pretty good quality.
Thai Airways first class headphones
There was also a good amount of bedding at my seat, including two pillows and a thick blanket.
Thai Airways first class pillow and blanket
A moment after settling in, we were presented with the menu and drink list for the flight.
Thai Airways first class menu
Thai Airways first class menu
Then we were presented with a cold towel, a box of chocolates, and an orchid, and were asked if we wanted something to drink.
Thai Airways first class warm towel, chocolates, and flower
We each ordered a glass of champagne, and they were pouring Dom Perignon 2006 — very nice! Despite the very short boarding process, we were even offered refills on champagne. The champagne was poured by the gentleman working first class, though he was working the galley for the rest of the flight.
Dom Perignon in Thai first class
I’d note that Thai has new champagne flutes compared to the last time I flew them. In the past I recall them just having very small wine glasses.
Thai Airways first class pre-departure drink
The boarding process was insanely efficient. Despite us only starting boarding at 4PM, at 4:10PM it was announced that boarding was complete. At this point six of the nine first class seats were occupied.
At 4:15PM we began our pushback, at which point the cabin manager informed us of our flight time of 2hr15min, and the safety video was screened.
Pushing back Bangkok Airport
Taxiing Bangkok Airport
Our engines were started up pretty quickly, and we began our short taxi to runway 19L.
Thai Airways 747 Bangkok Airport
Thai Airways 747 Bangkok Airport
Taxiing Bangkok Airport
We waited for a VietJet A320 to take off, and at 4:30PM we were cleared for takeoff as well.
VietJet plane Bangkok Airport
Taking off Bangkok Airport
View after takeoff from Bangkok
View after takeoff from Bangkok
Five minutes after takeoff the seatbelt sign was turned off. A few minutes later the captain came on the PA to announce that we’d be cruising at 37,000 feet and would be landing at 7:35PM.
As we climbed out I browsed the entertainment selection. Thai doesn’t have Wi-Fi on their 747s (not that it matters much on such a short flight). The entertainment selection wasn’t impressive.
Thai Airways entertainment selection
There were a bit over two dozen movies to choose from, which isn’t much.
Thai Airways entertainment selection
Thai Airways entertainment selection
There was also a small selection of under a dozen sitcoms.
Thai Airways entertainment selection
This was such a short flight that I didn’t really want to watch anything, so I just kept the airshow on for the entire flight.
Thai Airways airshow system
Airshow enroute to Hong Kong
Airshow enroute to Hong Kong
Airshow enroute to Hong Kong
The meal service got started very quickly after takeoff. The menu read as follows:
The drink list read as follows:
To start they offered drinks and macadamia nuts. We stuck with the Dom Perignon.
Thai Airways first class dinner — champagne and nuts
Shortly thereafter tablecloths were brought out, and tables were set.
Thai Airways first class dinner — table setting
Part of that table setting included a breadbasket, which I thought had a pretty bland selection (at least the three rolls).
Thai Airways first class dinner — breadbasket
On top of that a basket was brought around with some delicious, warm garlic bread.
Thai Airways first class dinner — garlic bread
The first course was served about 30 minutes after takeoff. That was a Chinese corn soup with crab meat, which was delicious. The flight attendant had a pepper mill with freshly cracked pepper.
Thai Airways first class dinner — table setting
Thai Airways first class dinner — Chinese corn soup with crab meat
While we didn’t order it, the flight attendant insisted on overfeeding us, and said we “must try” the papaya salad with prawns. It was very good.
Thai Airways first class dinner — papaya salad with prawns
For the main course I ordered the stir-fried flat noodles with prawns in gravy. While it was also good, at this point I was so full that I just ate a couple of the prawns because I couldn’t eat anymore.
Thai Airways first class dinner — stir-fried flat noodles with prawns
Tiffany instead selected the high tea set, which included a caviar tart, scone, tea sandwich, foie gras terrine canapé, pork burger, and mixed fruit tart.
Thai Airways first class afternoon tea
I was so full that I couldn’t even think of dessert. Foolishly I asked if they had any mango sticky rice, given that I was leaving Thailand. Wapa had a big smile on her face and said “yes, we have a selection of Thai desserts.” She served me four beautiful little Thai desserts, as well as the sesame panna cotta. I told her there was no way I could eat all of that, and she encouraged me to just try them all.
Thai Airways first class dinner — dessert
Tiffany had the cheese plate for dessert.
Thai Airways first class dinner — cheese plate
What an incredible meal, and even more I couldn’t help but love the warm hospitality. Thai is different than many other Asian carriers, in the sense that they don’t only have super young flight attendants who are almost like robots in terms of following protocol. Instead Thai has some older flight attendants as well, and they’re so incredibly warm and genuine. I’m a fan of that.
The views enroute were beautiful, though the sun quickly began to set over the course of the short flight.
View enroute to Hong Kong
Sunset enroute to Hong Kong
50 minutes before landing the cabin manager came by to first class passengers and asked “is everything perfect?”
Yes, actually it is.
At 7:05PM local time the captain announced that we’d be landing at 7:30PM.
Airshow enroute to Hong Kong
Airshow enroute to Hong Kong
We immediately started our descent, so I checked out the lavatory before our arrival. There are two lavatories located at the back of the first class cabin. The bathrooms had orchids and some other basic amenities.
Thai Airways first class lavatory
Thai Airways first class lavatory amenities
Thai Airways first class lavatory amenities
About 10 minutes before landing the crew came through the cabin with orchids. While that’s a nice touch, I’ve always been a bit confused by this. First of all, the aluminum foil on the stem always looks a bit strange to me, and beyond that I’m not sure what you’re supposed to do with it. Don’t most countries ban you from taking flowers through immigration?
Thai Airways first class pre-landing flower
On the final descent landing cards were handed out for Hong Kong, along with pens.
Landing card for Hong Kong
We touched down in Hong Kong at 7:30PM, and from there had a 10 minute taxi to our arrival gate, where we parked next to a Cathay Dragon A330.
Cathay Dragon A330 Hong Kong Airport
We bid farewell to the crew and headed towards immigration, before taking the Airport Express into the city.
Thai Airways first class bottom line
Two hour flights don’t get much better than this. While Thai Airways might not have quite as extravagant of a first class product as some other airlines, they make up for it with the genuine warmth of their employees, and their spectacular ground services. The crew couldn’t have been kinder, and the meal service was over the top for such a short flight.
I hadn’t flown Thai Airways for a long time prior to this flight, but now I can’t wait to fly with them again.
If you’ve flown Thai first class, what was your experience like?
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