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Day/Date: Sunday, 30 October 2005
Route: JFK-BKK
Airline/Flight: TG 791
Equipment: A340-500 (HS-TLC Phitsanulok)
Departure: 11:00 (on time)
Arrival: 16:20 +1 (0:40 early)
Actual Distance: 14,220 km/ 8,835 miles
Actual Flight Time: 17:05
Cabin/Seat: Economy – 44D

After more than a year of planning, my move to Bangkok had finally arrived. Committed to residing in the City of Angels for the foreseeable future, I shopped for a one-way ticket instead of an open-ended return ticket.

Thankfully, one of the best fares, US$670, was available on THAI Airways International’s New York Express: New York Kennedy International to Bangkok Don Muang International.

This trip, at a scheduled time of 17 hours and 55 minutes, is one of the longest regularly scheduled commercial flights, edged out only by Singapore Airlines’ Newark to Singapore flight. Without a doubt, the flight is a source of pride for TG and symbolic of the company’s desire to be a leading airline on par with Singapore, Cathay Pacific and other Asian competitors.

Since the flight was a morning departure from JFK and there was no way I could comfortably make it from my home in MCI for a same day connection, I chose instead to fly into LGA on Friday afternoon and spend two nights visiting friends in the Big Apple.

While this report does not detail the MCI-LGA trip, I will make brief mention of it. In another attempt to chase low airfares and stay on the Star Alliance, I ended up on a circuitous three-leg itinerary: MCI-ORD-DCA on UA, connecting to US from DCA-LGA. I departed on Friday at 8:30 and did not arrive LGA until 19:30 that evening.

The first two flights were very smooth and the only items of note were from the DCA-LGA leg. It has been years since I flew into DCA – perhaps 15 to 20 years, in fact. However, in the past two weeks I’ve made three connections there: one each coming and going to YYZ and then this one.

Flying over IAD on the way into DCA


View of the District of Columbia, including the Washington Monument, Capital Building, and Regan National Airport (on the right).


It is a nice enough airport and US Airways’ lounge is pretty nice. But the bus connection service operating between the C and D piers is a mess. In an attempt to avoid having to re-clear security, I waited 20 minutes for a bus ride, then the bus spent ten minutes waiting for a connecting crew. The actual ride itself from one pier to the next took only one minute. Luckily I had nearly three hours to connect!

An unusual sight: UA A320 in Ted colors at DCA. Must have been a substitution for a mainline A320 as Ted doesn’t serve DCA.


US Airways EMB-170 at DCA


A US Airways Express EMB-170 decked out in Star Alliance colors was parked at the gate below the US Airways lounge. Quite a nice sight and one of my favorite airplanes to fly in.

EMB-170 in Star Alliance colors


My connecting flight out of DCA encountered a ground stop because of flow control into LGA. Typical Friday afternoon stuff, but it resulted in about a 90-minute delay, all of it in a holding area off the runway instead of at the gate.

US Airways Shuttle A319 pulls into the gate at DCA


The two nights in New York were a lot of fun. As with most of my trips, visiting friends and eating food were the main pastimes. Saturday brunch was at Danal in the East Village. I met one of my employees, who is now taking over my position as I move out of country. One of those “was my protogé, now is my manager” role-reversal situations. Saturday evening was a 5-course tasting menu at Blue Hill just off Washington Square. The fantastic menu and wine pairings are detailed in my blog, should you wish more detail.

Thankfully, Daylight Saving Time ended at 2:00 Sunday morning, giving me an extra hour’s sleep before having to head out to the airport. The friend with whom I was staying flagged a taxi while I pulled off a minor logistics miracle and got my three large/heavy suitcases, one heavy trolley bag, and fully-stuffed backpack down three flights of stairs and through the front entry doors.

Traffic was light on this bright and crisp morning, and forty minutes later the driver was depositing me on the departure level of Terminal 4 – the main International Terminal at JFK. The terminal was rebuilt a few years ago and it has a very airy, spacious feel with the modern steel-and-glass architecture that has become synonymous with international airports the world over.

Terminal 4 at JFK


THAI was using the check in counters in aisle four and the lines were pretty short about two hours before departure. There were three lines: Economy, Premium Economy, and Royal Silk (Business) Class. As a Star Alliance Gold member, I was shown to the Royal Silk line by a customer service agent who was doing general crowd control, even though I was traveling in Economy today.

There were several factors that came into deciding to fly the TG nonstop. Not only did I want to experience such a long flight and see TG’s best face when it comes to global quality service, but their new A340-500 fleet has the best economy class offering – in my opinion – of any airline. Their standard Economy pitch is 36” – between 2 and 5 inches better than any competitors. The seats all have PTVs with AVOD and each pair of seats has a 115-vac standard power outlet. If I have to sit in Economy for the better part of a full day, this sounded like the way to go.

At the counter I was greeted by a very friendly young lady. In fact, during this trip I was amazed by the number of extremely friendly New Yorkers I encountered. Things continue to improve in the Big Apple. While the agent checked me in, she mentioned that I could put my name on the standby list for an upgrade to Premium Economy. If it cleared, the charge would be US$199 one way. This seemed pretty reasonable on a per hour basis, so I asked to have my name added to the list. Interestingly, I was not charged for the overweight bags. They were each about 58 pounds and UA had charged me $25 apiece for being over 50 pounds on the way into New York.

The agent confirmed my seat assignment (44D – the second of four center seats at the exit row bulkhead) and said it was an oversold flight, so I didn’t ask about getting a pair of seats along the side to myself. It turned out to be a pretty good move that I didn’t change my seat.

After dropping my bags off at the security screening station – again, another friendly New Yorker greeted me there – I proceeded to the Swiss lounge. Swiss handles the lounge needs for several airlines including TG and SQ. While it is located prior to security, the lady at the front counter assured me that on a Sunday morning the lines for screening wouldn’t take too long.

The Swiss lounge looks just like you would expect a Swiss lounge to look: very clean and modern with sleek lines, leather chairs, and a balance of form and function. There are several sections to the lounge, adding some sense of intimacy to the otherwise large seating area. There is a bar and snack area near the entrance with a buffet table section. In the evenings they serve a full meal for passengers departing to Europe.

Drink and snack area with the buffet table reflected in the mirror


A larger seating section in the back runs along the high wall of windows and the lounge was bathed in brilliant bright sunlight. This back seating area features a second bar and snack area. Away from the windows are a series of small water closets, each of them individual unisex washrooms done up in dark grey tiles, dark brown wood paneling, and polished stainless steel fixtures. There is enough room in each to change clothes if one is so inclined.

Swiss lounge bathed in bright Sunday morning light


The selection of food was limited to cheese, crackers, crisps and biscuits. A good selection of beer was available as well as a white and red wine. No hard alcohol was available, although I don’t know if this was just because it was still Sunday morning or some other reason.

I spent about an hour snacking in the lounge, drinking some Evian and a small can of tomato juice. My last phone call on my mobile phone – so sad, the service ends on Monday morning – was to my partner. He is already in Thailand and I wanted to say hello and confirm my arrival information.

SQ B747-400 parked below the JFK control tower


About fifty minutes before flight time I headed downstairs, through a very short security line, and then out to the gate. The concourse of the terminal is quite minimalist – other than a very few shops and some antique video games (Ms. Pac-Man, anyone?) the entire thing is just terrazzo-floored seating areas. There were only a few other planes to take pictures of.

A nearly empty concourse of Terminal 4


El-Al B747-400 with the TG A340-500 at the next gate over


Israir B767-300 with a South African A340 behind it


One of the El-Al flights was departing prior to my flight, so virtually everyone in the concourse was Hassidic Jew. An interesting sight, as I think there are very few flights out there where the passengers are more uniformly dressed than the crew!

My apologies if anyone is offended by that observation - none intended.

A Varig Brasil B777-200 gleaming in the bright morning sun.


About 10:25 boarding began for my flight. I asked at the counter and was told that no upgrades to Premium Economy would be processed, so I went ahead and boarded with the combined Royal Silk, Premium Economy, and Star Gold crowd. Yes, the “advance” seating was extended to pretty much half the passengers.

THAI Airways HS-TLC Phitsanulok


With the El-Al 747 in the background


Entering the Airbus A340-500, I must say I was very impressed. Boarding was through door 2L, so I passed through the back part of the Royal Silk Class area, as well as the Premium Economy cabin on the way back to my seats.

The Royal Silk Class is a 2x2x2 arrangement with the “pod” seats that LH and SQ (and others) have in their Business Class cabins. The color there is mostly purple.

For both Economy cabins (Premium and regular) the seats are done in very bright pink, orchid, and orange fabrics. Premium Economy is a 2x3x2 arrangement with 42” pitch. It looked quite comparable with the domestic First Class you see in the United States. Actually, the legroom was probably better.

Regular Economy is 2x4x2 with, as I mentioned before, 36” pitch. Each seat except for the bulkhead row has a footrest that folds down from beneath the seat in front. The first of several pleasant surprises (excluding the warm “Sawasdee” from the cabin crew, which I always expect on THAI) was that each seat had a bottle of water placed in it, in addition to the blanket and pillow.

I’ll clarify now that when I’m talking about a “pleasant surprise” I’m referring to some aspect of the service that exceeded my basic expectations for an international economy class experience. Of course, since most of my international economy class experiences have been on UA, perhaps the bar is relatively low!

Getting settled in, it was several minutes before any appreciable number of other passengers made it back to my cabin. There was plenty of overhead room for my bags and there was nearly a meter of legroom in front of my bulkhead seat.

Passengers settling into their seats


Sitting front and center in Economy Class


Now, let’s take a moment to talk about the pros and cons of bulkhead seating on long distance flights. I’ll be the first to admit that there are intrusions by people using the space in front of you to cross from one aisle to the other.
Additionally, I was right behind the toilets and that creates noise, light, and traffic. Finally, since there were exit doors here, these created natural congregation areas that several people used to perform stretches, mini yoga, and to hang out, talking. Acknowledging all that, I still prefer bulkheads because nobody can lean back into your space and it is easy to get out and past your neighbors.

In this case, when I had selected my seat online the aisle seats were not available so I chose one of the two middle seats. My logic was that these would be preferential because an aisle seat would bear the brunt of the noise and vibrations from all the people passing by. By being one seat in, even if I had to be surrounded by seatmates on both sides, at least I wouldn’t be bumped every few minutes by people and carts passing by.

Our projected polar route on today’s flight


My second pleasant surprise came when I discovered that there are two armrests between the center seats on this plane. And both armrests can be raised, opening up about 5” of additional space in terms of seat width. Since the other armrests in this row are fixed (they have the PTV screens in them) this extra space was an added bonus.

My third pleasant surprise came as boarding came to an end. The gentleman who was seated to my left (44C) decided to relocate to some open seats further back, not liking the “exposed” nature of his seat. The two seats to my right (44E and F) were also unoccupied. Actually, a gentleman who was traveling with his wife a few rows back decided to move up to the 44F – the other aisle seat – but on the taxi out decided to move to the row behind me, which only had one person in it. For whatever reason, he ended up sitting right behind me. At first I felt bad when I later reclined my seat on him, but then considered that if he had taken the aisle seat behind me, he wouldn’t have had anyone reclining into him.

So, in essence, I wound up having the entire row of four seats to myself. Actually, yet another man sat in 44F after takeoff and would go away and then come back throughout the flight. Couldn’t decide where he wanted to be, I guess. So I ended up with an aisle seat to my left to store my bottle of water, iPod, etc., raised the two center armrests, and wound up with a bit of a love seat in the middle. Nice.

There was one person apiece in each pair of seats by the exit door. A Thai Catholic nun was seated in 44A and an American businessman was in 44J. The nun crossed herself as we pushed back from the gate. The businessman looked bored.

Exit row legroom in the A340-500


We pushed back on time and by ten minutes after the hour were taxiing out to the runway. The video screens showed our nose gear camera, something I’ve experienced just once on an NH B777-200 and really enjoyed. The thing that was a bit incongruous was that the taxi was quite rough – the plane was bouncing a lot on the rough taxiway – but the image was perfectly stable. So it was like the image didn’t quite match what we were actually feeling. It was cool nonetheless.

View from the nose wheel camera


We pulled onto runway 31L and immediately began our takeoff roll. It took a long 43 seconds before lifted off. The camera switched to a downward view just a few seconds after takeoff, which was a bit nausea-inducing as the view wasn’t very wide and so houses, streets, and cars were rushing by at a frenetic pace on screen. As we gained height (slowly), made a lazy left turn over Jamaica Bay and crossed back onto Long Island, the view became a bit easier to watch. But soon enough there wasn’t much to see and the monitors were turned off. Unfortunately, the camera was not turned on during our approach and landing into Bangkok.

Like all TG flights, the seatbelt signs were turned off quite early in flight. Several passengers soon discovered that the water pumps in the toilets were not working, so hand washing was not possible. The crew put out baskets of Saudi Airlines “refresher towels” – what I thought were disposable hand wipes but were really heavily-perfumed cloths that had little sanitary value. Thankfully, I was traveling with a small bottle of Purell hand sanitizer. Talk about a health hazard.

The view looking forward into Executive Economy


About thirty minutes after departure, the crew passed through the cabin handing out menus. The Economy menu, while small, was still a nice touch. A drink service followed – I had a Bloody Mary along with a packet of Planter’s Peanuts – and then hot towels (real, honest to goodness towels, not those flimsy woven-fiber things) were passed out.

The menu from today’s flight along with the TG-style wine glass


The first meal service began about an hour into the flight. The menu was as follows:

• Baby Shrimps in Marinated Cucumber Salad
  
• Stir-friend Pork with Green Beans in Curry Paste with Steamed Thai Hom Mali Rice and Mixed Vegetables
  or
  
• Roast Chicken and Mushrooms with Demiglace Sauce with Potatoes, Buttered Green Peas, and Carrots with Dried Parsley (spelled “Pasley” in my menu)
  
• Roll, Butter, Crackers, Cheese
  
• Fresh Fruit
  
• Guava Cake
  
• Tea, Coffee

I had the roast chicken, which was really quite good although wasn’t heated through as thoroughly as I’d like. The portion was generous. The inclusion of fresh fruit and cheese and crackers rounded out the meal nicely.

Roast chicken dinner


Several additional pleasant surprises occurred during the meal service. First, the trays had actual metal silverware including a knife and a demitasse spoon for coffee. Second, there was a wine glass on each tray. It was an interesting, stem-less design that looked like it was designed as a votive candleholder. But it is nice to have wine from a glass with a meal. The beverage cart followed the meal cart very closely, so I was able to have my white wine with my meal.

The third pleasant surprise (I think the sixth overall in the flight) was that additional rolls were distributed during the flight as well as refills of the wine. It was as attentive as the service I’ve received in some Business Class flights.
The guava cheesecake was quite good and as I was finishing, coffee and tea were being offered. An in-flight supervisor passed through with a tray of glasses and a bottle of brandy. This made for another pleasant surprise – after dinner drinks seem rare in Economy.

After the meal, the cabin lights gently dimmed, taking several minutes to go completely dark. This was a nice transition. I was also impressed with the individual reading lamps, which I think might be LED as well. The light is very white and natural, and looks like sunlight coming in through a skylight. The individual lights also faded on and off instead of just flashing immediately on. People settled into learning to master the AVOD control. Others stretched out to try and sleep. I allowed about another half hour for people to shuffle around and cross in front of my aisle.

Then I took down my trolley bag and set it up in front of me like an ottoman. Some people still crossed, stepping carefully (or not so carefully) over my outstretched legs, but many more seemed to take the visual barrier as a literal one and stayed in their own aisle.

I had popped a pair of sleeping pills with dinner and the drowsiness began to catch up with me a few hours into the flight. The best I was able to manage was dozing. Even with my feet up and my chair reclined, I find sleeping in Economy Class really difficult to do. Even in Business it can be a problem for me to fall asleep. So I made do with on-and-off dozing, interspersed with watching TV shows and bits of films.

Crossing onto the Asian continent


The trouble with people congregating around the exit area did happen after about three hours. There were two men in particular who were standing for a while in front of the seats next to me, having a conversation as I was trying to sleep. One of them, a tallish British man, had tried twice before to engage me in conversation even though I was sitting in my seat watching the PTV with my earphones in. How rude.

He later proceeded to sit down on the floor in the exit area and do stretches, which a cabin attendant put an end to. Despite my earphones I could hear him inquire why I was allowed to put my bag out as a footrest if he wasn’t allowed to sit on the floor in front of the exit door. Seems an obvious distinction to me. Plus on a purely sanitary basis, why the heck would you sit on the floor in an airplane near the toilets (or anywhere for that matter)?

About five hours after the first meal had ended, I was getting a bit peckish and headed by the galley to see about some instant noodles or sandwiches, both of which the menu informed me were “available upon request”. It turned out that we were just about five minutes away from the second meal service, so I decided to hold off on noodles.

The second meal service was good, too, although just a little bit smaller in size than the first service. It seemed too soon to be offering another meal, considering that we had nearly ten hours to go on the flight. The menu was as follows:

• Seasonal Salad with Balsamic Dressing
  
• Fried Cod Fish with Three-taste Sauce with Steamed Thai Hom Mali Rice and Sugar Snap Peas
  or
  
• Roasted Duck with Chinese Barbecued Sauce with Yellow Noodles and Stir-fried Pak Choy
  
• Rolls, Butter, Crackers, Cheese
  
• Chocolate Mousse Cake
  
• Tea, coffee

Duck with noodles and pak choy


I had the duck, which was quite tasty. The portion of food actually wasn’t much different than the first meal, but everything was crammed onto a smaller tray. This time I accompanied the duck with a glass of red wine, something from the Langdeuc region that was light and fruity. It was good and I had some coffee with the mousse – mostly because it is one of the things I know how to ask for in Thai (Kor kah-fay na khrap). There was no brandy this time, I think. The in-flight supervisor did carry the bottle and tray down one aisle but was moving pretty fast. I didn’t see anyone ask for any, nor did he offer it.

One interesting thing about the menu is that the inside flap had a recipe printed on it for Chu Chee Paste. Now, I’m not sure what exactly that is. I recall that SQ has recipe for their chili paste in their menu, but looking at the menu itself I didn’t see Chu Chee Paste listed as an ingredient, not did I see it offered with the meals. But the interesting thing about it is that this is the only time I’ve ever seen the words “flatulence” and “menstruation” used on an airline menu! Below the ingredients to the paste, there is a list of “Benefits for Health”. The Kaffir Lime Rind can be used “for flatulence, dyspepsia, purify menstruation.” Just in case you’re wondering, the shallot can be used “for fever, phlegm, and cold.” I’m assuming these ingredients are cures for these ailments and not causes of them.

Does that really say what I think it does?


After the second meal I moved back to the doze, watch my PTV, doze cycle. The least comfortable thing was my seat bottom. Not enough padding. Unreasonable expectation, I know, but after awhile it just wasn’t comfortable anymore.

The halfway point in our journey, which actually ended up being a little longer than the 14,029 km projected here


Finally, about five hours before landing I “woke” up – at least, put my bag/footrest away, returned my seat to a somewhat upright position, and powered up my laptop to work on this trip report.

There were several good TV programs to watch including a few BBC travel segments about Thailand. While watching there, I wanted a snack so went back to the galley to get a cup of noodles.

Ramen to go with your in-flight television?


About ninety minutes before arrival, the lights slowly started to brighten, taking about two minutes to reach fully bright. Hot towels were passed out and the flight attendants did a light snack service. Carts of instant noodles and the sandwiches rolled along the aisled, and the attendants carried trays that had pre-poured juices, sodas, and water. I opted for the sandwich, which was actually two sandwiches in the package, one egg salad and one tuna salad. They were a bit dry but enough to hold me over through my arrival.

Slightly dry sandwiches before landing


The cabin was busy as people used the toilets to brush their teeth and freshen up. An announcement was made that we could run water in the sinks. It wasn’t quite clear, but I think the gist of the announcement was that we’d arrive in Bangkok before the sink drains were overwhelmed. Carry-on bags were put away and the attendants picked up trash and newspapers as we began our descent.

Our approach was pretty much straight in from the north. Sadly, the nose camera was not turned on and from my center seat it was hard to see very much out the windows. We came in for a smooth landing on runway 21L, our main gear contacting the pavement pretty far down the runway. We ended up using the entire length of the runway before turning off and taxiing to the gate. We pulled into a gate at the end of Terminal 2 – unusual because TG uses Terminal 1 most of the time – and sat for about three minutes before the captain finally turned off the seatbelt sign. The flight attendants had to ask several people to sit back down as after 17 hours there were some people quite eager to get off the plane.

Fifteen months ago when I first started to prepare for this move, I had really been hoping that the new Suvarnabhumi airport would be open by the time I official moved. Sadly, that opening is still at least seven months away, so I was greeted once again in the dark and weary confines of Don Muang airport. But those will all be faded memories one of these days.

However, the reality of this old airport was still very much present when I arrived: Lines for immigration were quite long. In fact, it took almost an hour to get through the line and collect my bags. Of course, things like this can happen even at new and modern airports.

All in all, the experience of flying TG on this long haul flight was very positive. They’re using the A340-500 on both JFK and LAX non-stops (LAX begins sometime in the next month or two, I think) and I’d definitely choose to fly the flight again.

Hope you enjoyed the report - comments and feedback, please!