Review: THAI Royal First Class Munich to Bangkok
We arrived at Munich’s Franz Josef Strauss International Airport over three hours before our flight since we were just ready to relax a little bit before the flight. There was already a queue formed when we arrived, but we were the first guests in line for Royal First Class. On this flight was myself and two friends — one of who would be accompanying me in First Class, and the other who was holding down the fort in economy. Once check-in opened, we were processed first and headed through security and immigration before heading to the Lufthansa Senator Lounge. Unfortunately, Thai First Class passengers are not granted access at Lufthansa’s First Class Lounges, so the Senator Lounge had to do. It, of course, was fine — as we primarily just used the space to relax with a light meal and a few drinks before our flight to Bangkok.
About 45 minutes prior to departure, we made the short walk to our gate and took a couple pictures of our B747-400 in the unique THAI livery. As we were called for boarding, we entered the plane at door 1L and was greeted by the Purser.
Overall, I was quite impressed. With everything… and I’m not even including the THAI ground services in Bangkok, which are possibly the best in the industry.
An Around the World Trip — Oktoberfest and Asia
- Introduction
- United Global First Class Chicago to Munich
- Oktoberfest… and Six Other Highlights of Munich
- Le Meridien Munich
- THAI Royal First Class Munich to Bangkok
- THAI Royal First Lounge and Royal Orchid Spa
- A Layover in Bangkok
- THAI Royal Silk Business Class Bangkok to Shanghai
- Two Days in Shanghai
- Park Hyatt Shanghai
- China Eastern Economy Class Shanghai to Hong Kong (to Shanghai)
- A Weekend in Hong Kong – Ten Highlights
- Hyatt Regency Hong Kong, Tsim Sha Tsui
- Grand Hyatt Shanghai
- Air China First Class Lounge – Shanghai-Pudong
- Air China Forbidden Pavilion First Class Shanghai to Tokyo-Narita
- A Twenty-Two Hour Layover in Tokyo and the Hyatt Regency Tokyo
- ANA Suite Lounge – Tokyo-Narita
- ANA First Class Square Tokyo-Narita to Washington-Dulles
THAI International Airways (TG) 925
Munich (MUC) – Bangkok (BKK)
Aircraft: Boeing 747-400
Seat: 1A (Royal First Class)
Monday, October 6
9:50PM – 12:30PM (+1 day)
Duration: 10:40
The two of us were escorted to our seats, 1A and 1K in the very front of the aircraft. The purser offered to store our roll aboard carry-on bags before offering us a glass of champagne. We happily obliged, and a minute later the flight attendant returned with a couple champagne glasses and a bottle of Dom Perignon, 2004. Not bad, THAI. Not bad at all.
We settled into our seats, which were the new THAI Royal First Class product, and were extremely comfortable and spacious. They had the feel of individual suites though they did not feature doors. There was more than enough room in the space to relax and ultimately sleep.
Since we were the first to board, we had a few minutes before we pushed back, so I was able to have a few glasses of Dom before the end of boarding was announced. The plane filled up pretty quickly, as it was a pretty light load. Seven of the nine first class seats were occupied for this flight. As we taxied out to the runway, I checked out the flight map and saw that our flight path took us directly over Eastern Ukraine — specifically Donetsk, where MH17 went down — this didn’t exactly me put at ease before we departed.
The takeoff roll was relatively short, and meal service started relatively soon thereafter. I opted for another glass of Dom to go along with some canapés, since I didn’t really feel like drinking anything much more than that. Along with the canapés, I was given an individual bread basket, which I particularly enjoyed. Freshly heated garlic toast was also offered.
I started with the caviar, which was brought out on a cart in a tin with all the traditional garnishes. The flight attendant scooped a pretty large serving of caviar along with a shot of chilled Stolichnaya vodka. I’m not usually a caviar fan, but when on a plane, why not? This was actually very, very good and I enjoyed it immensely.
Eating caviar and sipping Dom Perignon at 35,000 feet — that ain’t a half bad way to fly.
The next course after the caviar was an appetizer plate consisting of a crab meat rillete, a grilled prawn, and an antipasto skewer. This was pretty good, but nothing memorable.
For the main course, I chose the Beef Massaman Curry, and it was excellent. It was served over white rice, and it was spicy and extremely flavorful.
My buddy ordered the Stir Fried Chicken with Chili Paste and he loved it too.
At this point, I was stuffed, but continued to accept food as it came. A very nice fruit and cheese plate was followed by a small dessert helping of a Black Forest Cherry Tart.
The service throughout dinner was exceptional. It was extremely attentive, and they couldn’t do enough for us. At one point, I counted five flight attendants serving the seven first class guests!
After dessert, I was pretty much done. I gathered up a change of clothes and headed to the lav to change for the evening. When I returned, my seat was already folded down to a bed, with a fluffy duvet, and it was turned down ready for me. I slept extremely well in this very comfortable seat. As it was basically a suite, the bed folded down and I had more than enough room (and I’m 6’4″). I was out cold within minutes.
I woke up about seven hours later to sunny skies off the southern coast of Bangledesh. Within what seemed to be seconds from the time I awoke, one of the flight attendants was there to offer me coffee or tea. I declined and instead asked for a diet Coke. Within minutes, breakfast service began.
Once again, I was offered my own basket of breakfast breads, danishes and croissants. After that was fresh fruit and yogurt, followed by eggs and bacon. Overall, it was excellent.
Both meal serves on this flight featured excellent service, as every course was presented with care and set beautifully on the excessively large, wooden table top. In fact, service throughout the flight was phenomenal.
After breakfast concluded, I went to change and freshen up. About thirty minutes later, we landed in warm, muggy Bangkok!
The Verdict…
Overall, I was extremely impressed with THAI. The catering was phenomenal and the serve was pretty outstanding. I definitely enjoyed the new THAI Royal First Class Suite as well. This flight ranks right up there with some of the best flights I’ve had, and it was certainly a comfortable way to fly between Europe and Asia!
How I Booked it…
As previously mentioned, this flight was one of the segments on a US Airways First Class award ticket from North America to North Asia, with a stopover in Europe.
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Nice review, unfortunately I’ve only gotten the old first class when on TG’s 747s, but I’ve ended up on their A380s in F several times. And btw, the flight map just shows the most direct path from your location to the destination and is not necessarily representative of the actual flight path.
Thanks for the comments! I wanted to get the A380, but MUC was much more convenient than hopping up to FRA. The new F on the B744 was perfectly fine! Yeah, on this flight we flew a good bit south, across the Black Sea.
I have some flights coming up in first or business with friends in economy as well–how do you deal with it? I want to chill in the lounges, enjoy the service at the pointy end, etc., but I don’t want to completely abandon my friends pre-boarding, on layovers, or during the flight–what is your approach when flying as a group in different classes? FYI I won’t be able guest my friends into the lounges.
If you can’t guest your friends into the lounge, that’s rough. I guested my buddy in economy into all the lounges (if on a paid J or F ticket, most lounges allow a guest), so he was fine with that. I also set expectations before the trip that I was going to enjoy my flight up front, that I was going to use the golf cart escort to the lounge, etc. On the flights, he wasn’t expecting to see me. I also arranged for places to meet in each airport since I was already thru to the lounge.
Honestly though, the ability to guest him into the lounges really made it an easier sell. Since you apparently don’t have that option, I’d just communicate your intentions to enjoy your experience (flight and lounge) and maybe give in a little bit and hangout part of the time outside the lounge. If you have a longer layover, go out and do something in the city (we went out into BKK for the day). But at the end of the day, the inability to guest into lounges hurts the layover experience.
Sean thanks for the reply–I had assumed only F passengers could guest people in, and all of my F segments are alone–my segments with friends are in paid J though, not J redemptions, so it sounds like I may be able to guest them in after all, which would be SWEET. I’ll try to find the access policies, thanks for the tip!
For paid J,
you should be able to get one guest in mostcan sometimes get a companion into the lounges. If you have status with that carrier’s alliance, you are sometimes allowed two. Definitely check the access policies. You are right that First pax are typically entitled to a guest.nice report. I’m flying TG in December on the a380 in F and am very excited. I was curious what was the amenity kit, and did you get PJ’s? Looking to see what’s currently offered.
Thanks for your comments. I did receive an amenity kit and PJs. The PJs were nice and soft, but I didn’t keep them. The amenity kit was a Porsche Design kit, and was pretty decent. I know there are reports of folks receiving a Rimowa kit from them, but I did not get one ex-Munich.