Review: Thai Royal Silk Business Class From Manila To Bangkok On A 787-8
Following my stay at the Diamond Hotel in Manila which you can read about here (https://www.jettoajet.com/post/review-diamond-hotel-manila-philippines), I decided to head to the airport about 3 and half hours before departure so I was able to review the lounge (or lounges which I wasn't aware of). Something to be aware of is I was deathly sick on this flight so this review isn't as extensive as I would like it to be. However, I tried to make the most of it.
Route- MNL-BKK
Seat- 11A
Flight Number- TG621
Date- December 19th
Flight Time: 2 Hours 58 Mins
Price Paid- 28K United Miles+15$
Check-In
Not much to report around check-in. I arrived curbside in my grab, no wait in the priority lane to grab my boarding passes, and strolled right through immigration. On a different note don't get me started on selecting seats when booking Thai awards through United. It's like the 1960s (I wasn't alive then, did they have email back then?) where I had to email them to assign seats, hoping they were still available. TG was very responsive though just expect a 24-hour delay in response.
The Lounge Situation
I reviewed two different lounges in the previous posts. The first one is the Marhaba Lounge (https://www.jettoajet.com/post/review-marhaba-lounge-manila) and the second is the Singapore Airlines lounge (https://www.jettoajet.com/post/review-singapore-business-class-lounge-manila).
What To Expect
How I booked this ticket
Boarding
Departure
The Seat/Cabin
Amenities/IFE
Meal Service
Overall Service
Arrival
Conclusion
How I Booked this Ticket:
As I wrote about in my intro to the round-the-world routing I booked this ticket for 28K United Miles+ about 15$ in taxes. This also included a leg in economy from Bangkok-Phnom Penh. It would have been the same price if that leg was in business class but no award space was open and didn't open up closer to departure. The points were transferred from Chase UR instantly.
I see this as decent value, not the best but decent.
Boarding
Our inbound plane was a little bit late (about 10 minutes) which meant boarding was delayed for, you guessed it, 10 minutes. I managed to capture a quick shot of the 787-8 I was on for today's 3-hour flight to Bangkok.
I lined up for boarding and within 5 minutes I was walking down the jetbridge onto a battered 787-8. I was having withdrawals after not flying for 28 hours (I might have an addiction). I'm thinking maybe I should open a recovery center for flying addicts. Gosh, I keep getting sidetracked.
Moving on, I boarded through door 2L and was greeted warmly but two wonderful FAs who showed me to my seat. Talk about service ehhh.
The same FA came around a couple of minutes later to offer me a pre-departure beverage. Not that it mattered since I could barely move with the 24-hour flu but Thai does not offer alcohol on the ground in Manila. Either the tax is too high or the route is not prestigious enough or both. The reason why I say prestigious is that alcohol is offered on the ground on the Hong Kong route. I chose water and a hot towel was offered as well.
In the past 4 Thai flights I've taken with a 2-2-2 configuration they had blocked the seat next to me (maybe they think I'm royalty😅 even when I'm 567th in line for the thrown or something like that) and for a moment I thought they had done it again. They hadn't. My seatmate was the last to board the aircraft and she turned out to be an elderly woman. She was lovely and more on that later because I was super impressed with the service offered to assist her.
Departure:
At this point I became violently ill, not vomiting yet or anything but an extremely weak body. I contemplated getting off the plane. We pushed back about 2 minutes after our scheduled 1:10 pm departure and made our way to the runway.
However, not before doing some planespotting.
Surprisingly, I really enjoy Air Asia, pretty livery as well! Would love to try this neo!
We then pulled up behind Philippine Airlines A320 which was hopefully bound for a more exotic destination than Bangkok.
We departed into clearer skies bound for Bangkok with a smooth takeoff roll.
View out of Manila
The Seat/Cabin
The Thai Airways 787-8 features 24 seats in a 2-2-2 configuration with lie flat seats. For those readers from the USA think about the old Polaris on the United 787-9. Here is a picture of the seat map.
I was seated today in 11A which is my favorite seat when I fly the Thai 788. This is solely due to the fact of the larger footwell. I have big shoes and on the odd chance I keep my shoes on during the flight I like to be able to rest them both with no problem. other than that all seats are created pretty equally.
The controls to the seat and the remote were situated to my right, although if you are seated on the right hand side of the aircraft (11K) it would switch. Can we acknowledge how battered these seats are.
As this is a dreamliner there are electornic window shades which errmmm well did work but look at these buttons! They have seen better days.
Another aspect of the seat which I forgot to photograph is there are USB plugs and charging socket behind your head to the left. Just like the classic configured 2-2-2. Please excuse my lack of photography, besides this flight and the next all other reviews are 1000x more detailed.
The seats do recline into lie flat mode but when reclining 11A it was so loud it would have woken those up in the back of economy. I felt horrible.
Amenities & IFE
As mentioned above I was brutally ill and didn't get all the shots I wish I had. Headphones were offered which you will see in my future TG report but no amenity kit was offered.
The IFE was completely reasonable. Definitely old but not vintage, let's say more antique. There were plenty of movies offered but I did not partake as I slept almost wheels up to wheels down.
A pillow and blanket were offered. Helped me sleep like a baby, at least I wasn't crying!
Meal Service
Meals can be pre-ordered on Thai Airways but I didn't see elgibility for this flight.
I fell asleep straight after takeoff but woke up when they came around to deliver my glass of champagne. Now I've heard this rumor where a glass of champagne helps to dispose of the toxins in your body. I also felt the need to partake to experience everything offered, for review purposes of course 🤥.
I do like that Thai serves Tattinger in flutes.
Nuts were also accompanied, damn thats nuts.
The meal service came out about 30 minutes after takeoff.
I'll be honest, I don't remember the other options.
Garlic bread, Lasagna and champagne. One word- Sensational! It was truly a good meal and even though I was sick I devoured it.
After the meal service I fell into a coma for the rest of the flight, waking up on final descent. Not for long since I fell asleep again after putting my seat up 😰.
Overall Service
While I was asleep for most of the flight a couple of aspects reconfirmed why I believe Thai Airways might have the best service in the sky.
Throughout the meal service they were asking if there was anything they could do to make me more comfortable, as I think they could tell I was ill. Offering me another pillow and another blanket if I needed. I politely declined but the thougth was nice.
As mentioned earlier I had an ederly women sitting next to me. For the moments I was awake the flight attendants were unbelievably nice to her, more than any other time I had ever seen in my flying experinces.
They offered to recline her seat
They offered to put the pillows behind her head
Kept re-assuring her for about 5 minutes that no-one would steal her bag and they would keep an extra eye on it
They would grab her son from economy whenever she needed him (If I wasn't feeling like I was on my deathbed I would have switched with him in a heartbeat)
A fantastic crew once again on Thai Airways! 10/10.
Arrival
I woke up for the second time as we were about 60 seconds from touchdown... oops!
We touched down right on schedule from the south to north.
We had a short taxi to the gate and I was first one off the plane on my way to what would be the worst layover I have ever had in my life... more on that in the next post.
Conclusion
Even though I was violently ill it was still a very pleasant flight. It's all about perspective so yes the seats are old but they are lie flat but they are also the only airlines to offer nonstop lie flat seats on this route. Yes the plane is battered but the soft product makes up for it with good food and stellar service. Plus add on the champagne flutes and I'm a happy bunny. I would fly this route again with Thai 100%, although their 777 was an even better experience 🤭.
THE JETTOAJET SCALE
Onboard Catering | 8/10 |
Seat | 6/10 |
Amenities/IFE | 6/10 |
Lounge | 7/10 |
Service | 10/10 |
Total Score | 39/50 |
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