Boy oh boy do I love social media. Let me tell all you fellow travellers about my recent experience with Thai Airways, and why it gives me great pleasure to write this review. Firstly, to put this is context, I had not flown Thai Airways for at least 6-7 years, but I remembered it as being one of Asia's (if not the world's) premier airlines.
Boy was I in for a shock. On the flight over, I was shocked by the attitude of the flight attendant staff. It was almost as if they had a condescending attitude towards me. Everything I asked felt like it was a bother. I consulted with some fellow passengers when we had landed, and they actually felt the same. And it wasn't just one hostess/host, it seemed like the whole crew. The second area which disappointed me was the reclining seats. You know the type where the actual whole seat moves, rather than just the back reclining...very uncomfortable in my opinion. Lastly, on all 4 flights I had with Thai Air on this trip, we disembarked on the Tarmac, which was a most unpleasant experience. One or two buses arrives to take the first half of the plane on a 10 minute ride to the terminal, while the other half of the plane waits standing in the aisle for a further 10 minutes waiting for some other buses to arrive. Most uncomfortable and irritable after a 9 hour flight.
So after this flight I wrote a letter to Thai Airways telling them about my experience.
On the flight home, the attitude of the staff was better. But still had the same problems with the tarmac embark / disembark. To top it all off, the plane on the way home did not have personalised entertainment sytem, but rather a single screen in the middle of the plane for 100 passengers to share. Hardly acceptable for a 'premier' airline on a 9hr international flight!
I wrote to Thai Airways again, explaining that I was again disappointed. After 1 month, and still no reply to either of my communications, I decided to send them one final note saying that customer satisfaction was obviously not a high priority for them. I also said that I was glad that I was living in the age of social media, where I could share my experience with millions of other readers / travellers. They finally did write back after my last communication, but it was nothing short of a pathetic acknowledgement that they had received my communications and would pass the feedback on. No apology, nothing.
So, I have now shared my experience with you, so you can make an informed decision next time you choose an airline to fly. I won't be choosing Thai Airways for a long time :-). Happy travels.