I’m on my way home from from Paris. After a few hours layover in Bangkok, visiting the Miracle First Class Lounge, I am finally on my way home to Sydney.

Read my Paris to Bangkok flight here.

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Firstly, apologies in advance for my pictures, I’m feeling pretty tired at this stage and really just want to get home. When boarding begins, I am one of the first Economy Class passengers on the aircraft.

Read my review of  the Miracle First Class Lounge here.

I’m on HS-TGO a 24 year old Boeing 747-400 first delivered to Thai Airways in October 1993, in fact its the oldest jumbo in Thai Airways fleet. They’re becoming rarer these old birds so it’s almost novel to be flying on one.

The Economy cabin seating is in a  3-4-3 layout, typical of the aircraft type. There are 325 Economy Class seat on Thai’s 747-400’s

I’m seated in the very last row of Economy Class seat 70B, the aisle seat on the left hand side. It feels a little bit of a downgrade from my bulkhead seat on the A380 flight from Paris, but I’m so tired I really am not fussed.

I check out some of the inflight entertainment, but its the same underwhelming content as the previous flight..

I probably dozed for a couple of hours before one of the crew ask me what I would like for lunch. It’s an early lunch really and I opt for the Thai dish since we are flying out of Bangkok. The meal comes with a small lemon tart and an Asian inspired side salad.

The beef curry with jasmine rice and asian greens was really quite nice. A little bit of heat but nothing over powering.

I nod off for a few more hours and when I awake we’re somewhere over central Australia. It never fails to amaze me the size of my homeland.

Just under half of the flying time from Bangkok to Sydney is spent flying over the Australian interior, seemingly barren country but the landscapes from the air make it look anything but.

There is another light meal service but I pass on it and only go for a drink and bag of peanuts. We start our descent into Sydney not long after and I’m almost finally home.

So what did I think of the 2 Thai Airways flights? Not overly much. The crew were perfunctory and hardly cracked a smile – not very Thai-like! The seats were ok, as far as an Economy Class seat can go, but the entertainment was lacking content and the meals nothing special. While it was almost novel to fly on a Boeing 747-400, the aircraft is old.

The biggest surprise came a few days later when I learned I had become a Silver Royal Orchid Plus member, although it comes with very little benefit – although an extra 10 kgs of baggage allowance – it’s something I’d been a whisker away from earning with QANTAS Frequent Flyer even after a world trip on them and OneWorld carriers….Go figure!

So, would I fly Thai Economy again? If the fare was right and the other carriers were not going to be any better, heck I might become a Gold Royal Orchid Plus card holder if I did!

What do you think of Thai Airways? Have you been surprised when you’ve become a higher tier member of an airlines program?

FreakyFlier paid for his flights independently.

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