What Happened to Thai Airways? B787 Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur 

As a Thai, I agree with what you review in this video. Nowadays they need to survive. So everything that used to be premium becomes average. But the staff hospitality is always memorable.

It was correct to point out that Thai’s massive decline is due to bad management. Could have also mentioned epic amounts of corruption! But the Thai crew and staff are usually wonderful and remain so loyal and dedicated. They deserve better and so do the customers who pay very high prices to fly TG!

ADORABLE crew. I pray for better times for Thai.

Thanks for the honest opinion Sam. I can see you actually have a lot of love for Thai Airways but I do agree a lot must be quickly improved for the airline's competitiveness and survival.

That shrimp fried rice look great! Not to mention the lounge food, looked awesome!

My first 747 flight as an avgeek was with Thai back in 2017, flew a 777-200 on the return flight. The economy cabins were indeed a bit dated, so it’s good to see a really up-to-date on on this 787-9. The food was a bit meh, but on my flights, the crew was the standout aspect. One was kind enough to take me to see the 744s upper deck and first class section after landing and I still have the photos after all these years. Thai should be coming out of bankruptcy procreation very soon, here’s to a brighter future for them. Their employees deserve better for sure.

I love how positive attitude is the crew!

I always fly Thai Airways and love it. The Service is great and the staff is the best. I will fly Thai Airways today over any other. I fly the Bangkok Jakarta A350 fairly often. It's not as nice as the 787, but still very nice. Over all I am on Thai airways about 3 or 4 times a month. Its a great airline.

never been so early before! Great video

And yes I used to fly Thai like for decades to Europe besides to bkk from Singapore!

9:15 The only non-flat bed aircrafts in the current fleet is 777-200ER. There are 6 of them and they are used only on regional flight (mostly to India). The rest are all offering full flat bed in Business class (777-300ER, 787-8, 787-9, A350-900, retrofitted A330-300). Actually, this is better than the airline that Sam always praise like Emirates where there are 100+ 777-300ER with angled lie flat bed flying around.

Behind the scene is one thing but this is the fact from the customer. Accept the fact and make a real improvement. Thank you Sam!!

The old Thai airways service and food way way better... The food in economy was so good

i loved thai airways when they use to fly the 747 domestically from Phuket to Bangkok vice a versa

Nice new vid Sam :D

ที่นั่งสวยๆๆ เครื่องสวยข้างใน❤❤❤❤❤

I flew Thai Royal Silk Class / Business Class late December 2022 from Bangkok to Sydney; the food service was very similar to Singapore Airline's business class; table cloths, multi-course service, full size plating and metal cutlery, choice of bread including garlic bread (Singapores was hard/tough to bite, Thai was much softer and nicer), the inflight experience was very similar, service was great; was asked multiple times if we wanted more food or drinks, they were very generous and attentive. I couldn't be happier with the food and inflight service. Very similar to Singapore Airlines. No menu's onboard this flight either though, they had to explain the menu options at the start of the flight when they took our orders - crew did wear the traditional style uniforms though. Think if they improve the dated cabin and the entertainment display/system it would be much better and i wouldn't have much else to wish for. Boarding was chaotic though, pretty much a free for all once a small group of people started lining up, everyone else did. Big blob of people, no organised queue. They called for business class passengers late, 10-15 or so minutes after regular boarding had begun, but once they did, they opened a new checkin line for us and called us over. Not great, but not terrible, but also not great. They opened two doors on the plane during boarding. Economy class passengers went through a separate door.

Great shot of all the airplanes rotting in the middle of the taxiway. They did a very poor job preparing them, nothing is taped and the humidity seems to be taking a big toll on those.

I recently flew with them return from Melbourne. It was very ordinary.

Flew with Thai airways last December going to Singapore, not a pleasant experience though. Both flights out/in were both delayed by 4 hours.

Been watching you for 2 years love the content keep up the good work

In 2002 I flew on a Thai Airways 777 from Phu Ket to Bangkok. Took off into heavy precipitation and gusting quartering winds. No Flaps at all. Mains left the ground maybe 600 ft from end of rwy and struggled to climb. Pretty scary. The only positive was it would have been over quick…. In your video, Sam and several others I’ve seen recently. The paint on the 787 wing tops is peeling off. Seems common w. The older 787s lately.

I landed in BKK Monday. During the taxi to the gate, I saw 5 A380s and 1 747 parked. It's really sad

Unfortunately, Thailand has bigger problems than Thai Airways at the moment. Hoping for a brighter future for both Thailand AND the airlines.

I flew with Thai Airways from BKK to Tokyo in Feb 2023. Everyone was wearing a mask but it was not mandatory.

Just flew from London. Appalling!!! In business class, the main options were beef, chicken and seafood on the menu. I was near to the front but there was no beef and the fish had been switched for chicken. So 2 'choice' of chicken. The stewardess kneeled down to apologize and said "I am getting out of this airline soon. I am retiring soon. I am so sick of Thai Airways!!" I never heard anyone speak like that before. Movies had a great choice but the food and the condition of aeroplane was really awful. Now that BA stopped flying to BKK you would have thought TG almost had the monopoly so I guess they have given up on keeping up appearances.

Sadly never again! 6 gates open for 2 flights from Heathrow. (2.5 hrs standing in line) 6 gates open for 3 flights from Bangkok. ( 1.5 hrs standing then a member of staff leading us to a express gate as our flight was boarding!!!!) So sad 🥺

Amazing video, Greetings from Georgia!

In term of service, I prefer TG than MH for BKK-KUL route. Wide body and full meal flight for around 2 hours flight.

Give a big tumbs up here if you like Thai Airways 👍🏾

They are definitely struggling. Flew 3 times with them and more misses than hits. I try to avoid them on any of my flight segments. They do have some new planes with a new First and Business class that I got to try. But the service and offerings were a bit lacking even on the new plane. The other planes I flew in were really worn and dirty as well. I flew HKT>LHR, BKK>LHR, NRT>BKK.

I wish that a one hour flight in the US had service this good. Even on domestic first class does not have a meal that good.

Well on the flipside; as you experience, Thai people are some of the best in the planet to ask for a free upgrade. They don't care if it will be unoccupied during your stay; whether it be in a plane or a hotel. I love Thai people, they almost always give the customer their best despite problems out of their personal control.

Safe flights always Sir, very well speed taped, speed tape liner 9 .___.

Thank you Sam always for your video

Awesome job sam.

first

Sam. The Thai greeting you use (Sa-wat-dii-car) is only used by women. For men it is Sa-wat-dii-krap.

I recently used Thai Airways after three-year and unfortunately, my experience was not good. On my flight from Islamabad to Jakarta, one of my bags was missing and many other passengers had the same complaint. I received my bag after two days. The return flight from Jakarta to Islamabad was so problematic. The flight was delayed by five hours at Jakarta Airport, causing me to miss my connecting flight to Islamabad. Other passengers and I had to wait for 24 hours to get a flight to Karachi and then spend the night at the Karachi airport before taking a local flight to Islamabad. This made what should have been a few-hour journey into a 48-hour nightmare. To make matters worse, my bags did not arrive in Islamabad until one week later. I hope that Thai Airways will improve its service in the future.

Thanks for your honesty Sam. I do trust your reviews to show the reality as it is. By the way, I would have flown Air Asia to KL. The only difference is that Air Asia uses Klia2 and Thai Klia1. Thai is no longer up to the task of being a premium airline

Printed menu is gradually coming back. It's now available on most intercontinental flight.

Hey Sam you should go to niue island very beautiful island

Travel Biman Bangladesh airlines Business class Dhaka to Toronto Love from Bangladesh 🇧🇩💚

Sam "Old Thai Airways used to be so good, nowhere near today" Flight attendant "Oh thank you thank you" 😅😅😅

Kindly review also Cebu Pacific Airlines - Dubai to Manila

Honestly for the price you pay on business class with Thai Airways better to travel on economic class, you will save a lot of money for your holidays!!

If it were me, I would choose to take the AirAsia A320 back to Penang in Bangkok😂😂

9:05 that's a heck of a lot of speed tape patching @Sam!

As a former flight attendant I'm glad I never had the horrendous experience to work with mask and surgical gloves!

Sam Chui Thanks Much !

I flew thai airways between Bangkok and. Sydney last night, it was in sorry state of affairs.. horrible food like I literally couldn’t have a spoonful, the cost cutting was quite visible throughout the flight.. they used to be great but now i will think twice before booking. Hope they come back strong!

Hey Sam, very nice.

Yes, Thai airway was once my favourite. But as year go by it had not improve. It’s from bad to worst.

welcome back to malaysia sam!

That’s AOT problem cannot docking the bridge to B787 2nd door. When embarking. inconvenience like you said.

Couldn't agree more. Old Thai Airways used to be unbeatable in my childhood. The meals and services it provided were not at all the same level as now. The food was the best I've ever had in economy class on any Asian airline. They even gave every kid on the plane a Boeing 747 metal model THAI toy airplane when I was a kid. Until the last time, I flew Thai Airways because of the good impression I had of them as a child. I chose Thai Airways to fly from London to Bangkok. The flight from London to Bangkok was an experience that destroyed my childhood memories. Thai Airways is not as good as it was before in every way. Thank you Sam for being so bold, to tell the truth. I hope this video will inspire the management of Thai Airways and hopefully, Thai Airways will become better in the future.

Regarding the crew uniform for the ladies, you must know that the beautiful and traditional Thai silk dress that the female attendants some wear are only permissible when they are inside the aircraft. When they leave the aircraft they must put on the standard "western" two piece that you see in this video. The latter is the uniform that is recognised by immigration officials worldwide when clearing immigration to enter or exit a country. The reason why the Thai silk dresses are not recognised is because there are too many varieties of these (in order to exhibit the richness of colors and texture). Because there is no standardized color, it cannot be worn as an official female cabin crew uniform. Therefore you only see these worn on longer flights. What happens is that the ladies will wear the official crew uniform to clear immigration and enter the plane. Only when they are inside, do they change into the traditional dresses. Before arriving at the destination, they need to change back into the official uniform before they can deplane and clear immigration. Thus, for short regional flights, it is too time consuming to put on these traditional dresses. I know this because I used to work as a ground services manager in Singapore and if there is a crew change, you'd see the outgoing female attendants requesting to board the plane 15 minutes earlier ahead of the male crew just so that they have time to change into the traditional dresses before passenger start boarding. On a final note, I think Thai also stopped giving each female passenger an orchid when disembarking the aircraft. Cost cutting everywhere is evident, not just at TG.

In Thai airways’ defence, Kuala Lumpur is a very short flight, and the crew actually have to change their uniforms before landing. Given the fact that there’s very little time between the end of service and landing, it would be impractical to change their uniform to the Thai dress during the flight. It’s a stupid rule that only Thai dresses can be worn onboard and at their lounges, essentially they want only people flying Thai to see the beautiful Thai dresses.

I got to say young generation of flight attendants in Thailand think they are privileged since they got the top job out of university. You cannot expect humble/ staff hospitality from young flight attendant who feel privileged (Hi so like).

Hopefully, the airline will be profitable once again and bring back the exceptional Thai hospitality and food. Years ago, I flew my first A380 from CDG to BKK thru Thai Airways. It was unforgettable and a great experience. A FA accompanied me to tour the whole aircraft despite not being a stature of Sam Chui.

FYI At SVB airport For 787 all series.-8,-9 or even -10. The aero bridge can be connected to the door 1 left only. They say due to the design of the aero bridge here. When the bridge swings from parking position. It is too close to the left engine if the bridge is going to connect to the door 2 left. They don’t want to take any risk hitting the engine while docking. So the bridge will be connected to only door 1 left. Boarding the -10 with full house passengers will take very long time to complete and makes discomfort to the passenger in the front. Every airline suffers from this issue!

I flew Thai airways about 4 years ago from Melbourne to Bangkok. I am not a seasoned traveller by any means. But I flew economy and found it to be pretty comfortable with decent room and good service

Yeah my last Thai trip, lounge was closed, flight was expensive and completely full with dozens or planes parked in Bangkok Airport. Disappointing experience vs the last 15 years flying business with them.

Sam, I have lived in Thailand for the las 7 years and this typical. I never fly Thai Airways. I have a new outlook when it comes to life in Thailand: Low Expectations. My last Thai Airways flight was in 2013.

Like you Sam I remember TG from those good old days. Sadly it's not only TG where the service standard has dropped, take a look at SQ. My recent experience on several SQ flights revealed a big decline in service standard. 😪

Not just Thai Airways, they are all cutting back. Great to see the Flight Attendents still smile and friendly.

Thai Smile will fly to Surabaya from the 1st of February, this is quite interesting since Surabaya-Bangkok route is actually an old route which ever flew by AirAsia Indonesia in 2010s

Thai Airways was at its best during the early 90s. The last time I flew with them was way back in 2013 and I was quite shocked to see how bad they had become (food, service by cabin crews, cleanliness etc).

I think some flag carriers in Asia suffered a lot during pandemic plus mismanagement as well. Garuda Indonesia, Malaysia Airlines, Thai Airways are the most impacted.

Sam: "Everything about your airline is awful now." Flight attendant: "Thank you so much!"

The exterior of the terminal at Suvarnabhumi airport reminds me of the Emirates terminal at Dubai

Thai Airways is one of the worst airlines I have ever experienced. It took me more than 42 hours to go back home from Thiland to Sweden. The service was awful and when I reached Arlanda I had already the connecting flight and no one was there to help or provide another flight and I was wondering for 14 more hours with absolutely NO service at all at the airport to go back home. I wrote to them more than ten times and the only thing they did was just ignoring and saying we have nothing to give you but apology 😤🤯How an airline can be so irresponsible 🤬they have to stop working 👎what they do is obvious robbery

Was on this flight to and fro KL to BKK over the Christmas period and I felt a bit let down by the service....this was a connecting flight to Zurich. On the long haul it wasn't any better either.... certainly a tad below the pre-pandemic days. Not only that, wasn't spared the notorious delay, last minute gate change that had us walking from one end of the airport to the other end.....and aircraft change.....

Could you find a shorter international route by TG to do a review? Nope. How about flying them to Europe or the US for a proper test.

My last experience with Thai airways from Munich to Bangkok in July 22 was horrible. The Shrimp salad gave me a horrible food poisoning. My 2 hours layover on my way to Melbourne turned to 2 days sleeping in a hotel and seeing doctors frequently. I had to fight staff to get a replacement flight and accomodation for their fault.

One of the worst airline in the world, fake smiles, terrible service, never again

It cannot be that bad, I have watched the video and not a positive thing said

As a Thai and aircraft enthusiast. I still like Thai Airways. But I do understand the downfall they had during Covid-19 outbreak and internal issues (from inefficient aircrafts, engine problems and management) Hope that we are back to Skytrax top ten some day

Sorry to hear your flight experience wasn't great! Take your point on the management bit although airlines are extremely complex businesses to run - even good management teams sometimes struggle. Surely your next flight will be better, Sam☺

This airline scammed me back in Nov by oversold ticket, refused boarding, refused to refund, refused to give refusal doc, even refused to let me talk to their supervisor over the counter.

Wishing one day will be in a plane, l am from From Zimbabwe

I use in the last few month flight in business class with Thai airways I was in Bali singapore India …and I had very good service with nice food and champagne. Maybe you influencer and airline pay your ticket you expect a lot. For the price I pay I’m very happy with Thai service, better than qantas or British airways I travelled too

Sam - good to see you get back to honest balanced reviews. The customer experience for normal people isn't great and the airlines standards are slipping all across the board. Granted they are not helped by ridiculous legislation and costs being imposed on them.

Was on the flight to Paris before Christmas. I was shocked to see the state of the plane , especially business class. Infotainment was far behind those from Middle Eastern airlines, even the food. I often argue with my wife, who is French, to which is better between AF and TG. I must say in a painful way that AF is better. I’m Thai and I love Thai Airways. But until then, I will go back to either Qatar or Emirates 😢

Totally agreed with your comment, Sam. I flew on a Thai airways from BKK to ARN last September, 2022. Cabin crew were understaffed. They served only two meals during the entire flight and didn't offer drinks proactively. You had to call cabin crew for the drinks. On board entertainment system didn't work properly and bathroom was not very clean. Hope they will listen to your feedback and improve its services.

Many flights with Thai airways myself, I would say the only good thing they have now is the crews. They’re so nice. The food used to be very good but now…

Thai Airways used to be one of my most favorite airlines. I took a lot of the flight TG601 from Hong Kong to Bangkok and I love their A380 especially on the business class. The last time I flied with them was in March 2022, still taking the TG601 but there's no more A380.😓

Thank you Sam! Love Boeing and Thai hospitality is just as nice! Not their fault changes at the corporate level. And that Tea looked so good!

Poor old Sam, Instead of his usual, Expected freebie flight Thai airways must have made him personally pay $ for this flight hence the bad review! 😂

I'm impressed that Thai Airways and even Thai Smile, the landing of the flight is very very smooth 👍

Sam, you se to be a nice man and I eBook your weekly updates on Saturday mornings. They replace the kid version of Saturday cartoons. I hate to break it to you, but with the global economy about to hit a massive depression, you’ve only begun to see the beginnings of a plane graveyard. The entire US airport system shut down last week for a day and that’s just the beginning of what’s coming The fact that anyone’s wearing a muzzle or ever sis is utterly ridiculous. The only way you’ll be able to fly safely and freely on your own terms in the near future is to fly privately. It will be interesting to see what the rates for those planes are in the future as prices hit rock bottom for anyone who can pay in cash. Don’t shoot the messenger.

I first flew Thai airways back in 2007 from kathmandu (tia) to bkk and from bkk to New York (jfk). My flight from ktm to bkk was on a Boeing 777 and from bkk to NY (jfk) was on airbus a340. Though I flew economy, the things that were given in flight was top Notch. A few years later (I guess it was after 2013) I had shifted to Thailand and took Thai airways from ktm to bkk. For some reason, I did feel the service of Thai airlines wasn't good. I actually preferred Nepal airlines service better (though they were still using the b 757 combi) back then. I must say, I was very lucky to fly over the north pole.

I fly THAI almost every month with B777-ER its very old seats I am very disappointed. The only reason I still fly with THAI is because I have Gold card which gives me extra kilos and access to lounge.

Thai Airways have lots more to improve as the Airline is indebted and reconstructed from Bankruptcy. Hopefully with the new management. Thai Airways will be back on the Top Tenth best airline soon. Thai Airways hopes to get back onto stocks market exchange as earlier or later in 2027.

Currently, Thai Airways brings less than 50 aircraft to serve, sometimes there will always be a problem with flight delays. It will soon be able to bring the rest of the aircraft back into service for sure. I also want to pray that Thai Airways can be restored to become one of the top airlines in Asia as well.

Why is it worth to fly business class for a flight that is under 2 hrs? Thai Airways(in my experience-old version as well- was polite and nice--but NEVER efficient-hand delivering food seat by seat vs from a cart and bringing drinks on a try vs a cart--all of which just waste time, esp on the shorter flights. I don't see the advantage of paying the higher price when traveling long-haul on thai airways, vs lower price with more efficient service. p.s. the food in economy is not nice and served in aluminum tins. Even the food you showed in business looked mediocre and equivalent to economy food in other airlines.

Back in the early 80's, I few on one of the new A-300s with Thai. They were awesome back then.

Thai Airways is at the end and almost bankrupt. I was flying last month with them. Was not good at all. PAL, Singapore Airlines are much better. I will avoid Thai Airways in the future.

Sam you said it right. What I remember is Thai airlines used to be one of the top notch airlines from Asia. It used to be very hospitable and reasonable in old days.

Hi Hollywood Sam, did you wash your hands and sanitise after you slummed it down in economy for five minutes for content. The great unwashed down there.