My Thai Airways A380 Flight

Thank goodness, there no snakes on or in the plane! The A380 is quite impressive in size and design. I was very excited about this flight because even though it was only 3 hours, it was my first time on an A380. I used miles to upgrade from Hong Kong to Bangkok. I didn’t mind using the 15,000 miles for this upgrade because they were some random miles I’d earned on Thai and they were set to expire in June of 2013.

Business Class and First Class are located on the top level of the airplane. The front section of the top floor held 12 first class pods with a 1-2-1 configuration and the middle section held 60 business class seats with a 1-2-1 configuration and the rear section held 58 economy seats in a 2-4-2 configuration. The bottom level held 377 economy seats in a 3-4-3 configuration.

The floors in the galley’s and other multi-purpose use areas (MTAs as they are listed on the floorplan) are all wood. The galley’s, bathrooms and other public spaces are larger than I expected – it seems a bit more spacious than other airplane configurations.

The seats have the same color schemes as other planes, shades of purple and pinks. First class is yellow with purple accents, business class is purple with pink accents and coach is purple and pink.

The business class offers four different seat configurations. The window seats are A, B, J and K. The center seats are D, G, E and F. E and F seats would be great for people who are traveling together as the seats are close together with a traditional divider inbetween (not a ton of privacy.) D and G would be good seats for single traverls in the center section as would A, B, J and K. The difference between A, B, J and K is where the seat is. B and J are directly on the asile with the seat console and storage area next to the window. A and K seats are directly next to the window with the console next to the aisle. A and K provided the most privacy of any seats.

One thing worth noting is that there is a break between row 24 and 25 where there are 2 restrooms and a galley. I was in 24J and it was very noisy and busy area. Not bad for a 3 hour flight, but I would prefer something more quite for a long haul flight.

My seat – 24 J

The tray table locks against the pod wall as opposed to being located in the seat arm. It’s a large table and you can put it into many positions. The inflight entertainment system is operated by traditional remote but is also touch screen. The seat iteslf has a massage feature and can be put into several different positions and does lie flat – completely! That’s a huge difference from Thai’s traditional business class product which lie at an angle.

Storage next to seat – it was large enough for my back-pack and purse.

Seats 23 E and F – you can see how close the seats are to each other.

Seat 22 G – a center section seat better for single traveler

As of December 2012 Thai now has 3 A380s in their fleet and has 3 more on order. The current routes are Bangkok to Hong Kong and Bangkok to Singapore (though I couldn’t find any flights on the A380 to Singapore).  With its second A380 Thai operates roundtrip from Bangkok to Frankfurt (TG920/TG921) and Bangkok to Hong Kong (TG600/TG601) and the third A380 began flying from Bangkok to Narita (TG676/TG677 as of 1 January 2013. The next A380 delivered in 2013 will operate Bangkok to Paris. The final two A380s are set to arrive in Q4 of 2013 and no destinations were yet announced.

I would absolutely make the effort to fly on the A380 in Thai Business or First class on future trips. The product is nice and the service is very traditional Thai Royal Orchid, what they are known for. It was a great experience and I’m glad I got to try it out!

Additional photos courtesy Thai Airways

Coach

First Class