Review: THAI Royal Silk Business Class Bangkok to Shanghai
I was actually dreading this flight – 100%. At a scheduled 4:15, this “red-eye” flight to Shanghai was too short for a decent night’s rest. It was also in a slanted business class seat, which I was pretty worried about for sleeping. I typically hate these short red-eye flights, but when booking the award back in February, this was the only flight with award space.
As it turns out, though – everything was fine – even though the flight was entirely too short!
We arrived at the gate about ten minutes prior to boarding and as usual, the gate area was utter chaos. In my experience, THAI has never done a good job of successfully boarding business class separately from economy. Usually, as soon as the gate agent heads over to open one of the glass doors for boarding, pretty much the entire crowd in the boarding lounge gets up and packs into a tightly compressed crowd, itching to get onboard.
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) 662
Bangkok (BKK) – Shanghai (PVG)
Aircraft: Airbus A330-300
Seat: 14A (Royal Silk Business Class)
Wednesday, October 8
12:30AM – 5:45AM (+1 day)
Duration: 4:15
We boarded after the standard cluster of a boarding process at Bangkok to be greeted by a nice flight attendant who offered a glass of champagne – sure, why not?!? Upon arriving at my seat, I immediately started preparing it for sleep mode by getting out the eye mask, head phones, and spreading out the blanket. Shortly thereafter, dinner menus were distributed. Since I’d eaten two dinners already, and because it was after midnight, I declined the meal in favor of sleep.
The seat was THAI’s standard (old-style) Royal Silk Business Class seat. It is a slanted lie-flat product that reclines to a slanted, yet flat position.
I actually found it quite comfortable though I was lacking shoulder space quite noticeably. Legroom was not an issue though, and I was pretty pleased overall by the seat. The business class cabin is situated in a 2-2-2 configuration on this A330-300 aircraft. Though it’s a somewhat tight fit, it’s perfectly comfortable and passable for a medium-haul aircraft.
In no time, boarding was announced to be complete and we started taxiing for the departure for Shanghai. As we took off, I reclined my seat all the way, and I was out like a rock.
The next thing I knew, the cabin lights were on, and the Flight Attendants were waking up the cabin for landing. I looked out my window as we flew over downtown Shanghai and Pudong as the sun was rising in the East. I quickly filled out my immigration card for China, and like that, we were on the ground in Shanghai.
The Verdict…
I really don’t have much else to say about this flight other than the fact that it was everything I wanted it to be. I didn’t care about the meal, or frankly the service. The seat in THAI Royal Silk class was perfectly comfortable for a quick snooze, and would be great for a relaxing flight. All I wanted from this flight was to be able to sleep as much as possible during this abbreviated flight to Shanghai.
I’ll consider that as a mission accomplished!
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.
