This is positively awesome… too bad Thailand’s borders are closed.
Thai Airways has opened a themed cafe & restaurant at its headquarters. The idea is that people can enjoy some of the food and drinks they may get on a plane without actually flying.
The restaurant seating consists of economy and business class seats, and there’s even an area with bean bags. Tables throughout the restaurant look like airplane engines and wheels, so they’re rather committed to the theme.
The restaurant also features all kinds of model airplanes and aviation-themed art.
Since the restaurant is on the second floor of Thai Airways headquarters, you can enter via air stairs, similar to what you’d find at an airport.
Guests will even receive an electronic boarding pass as a souvenir — it shows the fare class as being “F” (for first class), and airports of “THA” (presumably for Thai Airways) and “HDQ” (presumably for headquarters). I wonder if you could earn miles for this “flight” with another Star Alliance program? 😉
The catch is that the restaurant’s hours are very limited. The Thai Airways restaurant is open Wednesdays through Fridays from 7AM until 2PM, with hot food being served starting at 9AM.
Below is a look at the types of dishes that are available, ranging from pasta beef bolognese for 129THB (~4USD), to chicken shawarma for 95THB (~3USD).
While the restaurant concept is new, Thai Airways has been offering home delivery of its inflight meals for several months now. Many airline catering contracts are negotiated months (and even years) in advance, so airlines and suppliers around the world have excess stock of just about everything, from mixed nuts to gin.
Rather than letting the food go to waste, they might as well try to do something with it, to at least recoup some of the losses.
All of this comes as a majority of Thai Airways’ fleet is grounded, and the company undergoes a major restructuring, given how much debt it has.
What an awesome concept from Thai Airways, and I wish I could check this out!
(Tip of the hat to JRL)
@Robert Fahr: Now, the restaurant open on Wed-Sun, 7.00 - 14.00 hrs.
I love going to Thailand, I love the people, the country, the food, Ive been going there on and off over 30 years. As a retired airline Captain the Thai flight attendants were the best. Im going to miss that the most. I'll be back one day hopefully soon.
Swadee Krup
@robert fair. It's in a outlying business area of a main road and really is for the local lunch crowd working in the area. This the short hours. Weekends are dead in that area.
Can someone explain the point of 7am to 2pm. Wed-Fri?
@monopod: Thought I wasn't imagining it, I'm sure there was some not in airports too.
@derek what an absolutely ludicrous comment. Yes, it is definitely a problem in Thailand. With that said, I've traveled solo through the country several times. No one you meet thinks that (or at least they would never tell you that). Act mature and you'll get treated the same way. Plus, Thai people are some of the friendliest you'll ever meet. They want to show you the culture.
Now if you go solo to Pattaya then yeah, we'll judge you.
The "new normal" very Orwellian.
@vlcnc yes! there's definitely one in CNX. They used it as a temporary lounge a couple years ago when the lounge was being renovated. The food was pretty good!
Sounds neat.
I went to Bangkok earlier this year to try out some of the Michelin starred restaurants there. Le Normandie was hosting Alain Roux from London’s Waterside Inn at the end of January. Interesting opportunity to eat a meal prepared by a 3-star chef at a 2-star restaurant. Spectacular experience with a nice view over the Chao Phraya.
This would have been a fun stop to add to the itinerary.
Starting to miss travel....
This is definitely a place I would want to visit if in Thailand. However, I am scared of visiting Thailand because, as a male, some people may think I am a sex pervert going there for that reason if I go alone. No other country do I feel this way, sad to say.
The DC-8 nose looks funny to me. The two vents look like a mouth. I noticed that when I was a kid.
...This is definitely a place I would want to visit if in Thailand. However, I am scared of visiting Thailand because, as a male, some people may think I am a sex pervert going there for that reason if I go alone. No other country do I feel this way, sad to say.
The DC-8 nose looks funny to me. The two vents look like a mouth. I noticed that when I was a kid.
The air stairs is unstable and doesn't look like a long term feature. Tire rot. I'm sure they can do maintenance but some architects would have made a less than authentic staircase.
With the short hours, I fear that this is just a temporary opening or maybe they want to attract the company lunch crowd. If so, then it has long term potential.
Sitting on a bean bag and eating off an airplane tire probably looks cooler than the actual experience of trying to enjoy a meal that way.
@Will - ok thats a good one! Kudos sir.
Chatter- A Thai smile?
They are opening the flight simulator experience soon at the headquartes, including cabin service experience.
All passagers can exploit their available miles or digital credits to enjoy those experiences.
Dfw88 - it’s a dc-8.
Question: Among the photos of planes there's an A380, then a 747 in the next photo down. The photo below that is a photo of a poster. Does anyone recognize the aircraft type on that poster?
I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that Thai Catering has it's own restaurant chain on the ground anyway? This just seems an expansion of that concept...
"Enjoy some of the food and drinks they may get on a plane without actually flying." - Personally, I'd much rather enjoy regular (good) restaurant food while feeling like I'm on an airplane ;)
This brought a smile!
Very cool!
Does Thai Airways still offer the flight simulator miles experience at their headquarters too?
I have never seen much coverage on it in years, so I am wondering if it has closed.