Round The World and other travels

Flight Log 9 : TG910

Bangkok (BKK) - London Heathrow (LHR)

The first thing I realised as I settled into 1A was that it felt rather exposed, the level of privacy in the seat falling well short of that offered by other carriers in the same 747 nose-cone space. I had a welcome drink of apple juice and my sleeper suit, in its now familiar but decidedly dodgy colour scheme, soon arrived. As on the previous sector my washbag, headset, slippers and menu were already in place. The amenity kit was of a different design on this flight, but the contents were identical to those supplied on the SYD-BKK sector.

As the doors were closed, the cabin was sprayed with insecticide and an announcement gave the expected flight time as 11hrs 40mins. There seemed to be a bit of a kerfuffle getting the safety video to play, but we got there eventually. We didn't leave the stand until 0131, well adrift from the schedule, but with a just a short taxi required to reach Runway 19L, we managed to get airborne by 0142 Bangkok time.

The meal service proceeded quickly, with many choosing not to eat at all. In fact, I had also been assuming up to this point that I would give the initial meal a miss and go straight to sleep. Making the switch to UK time immediately after boarding, however, made me realise that despite having been up for twenty hours and now feeling seriously tired, it was an awfully long time to breakfast. As such, I decided to have at least a few of the courses on offer. I accepted a glass of the Dom Perignon, which went nicely with the caviar and indeed the follow-up courses of smoked salmon and soup. My main course was veal, accompanied by bacon-wrapped potatoes, peppers and onions. Although everything was very nice, I realised at this point that I needed to stop and finally get some sleep. I had certainly eaten enough to keep me going until morning. My seat was made up as a bed by the crew, by the addition of a slip-on mattress and blanket. Not surprisingly, I was quickly out for the count and slept well overall, although not solidly throughout.

I changed back into my own clothes at 0500 UK time and realised to my horror that my menu card was gone - hence the lack of detail in this report! I watched a couple of TV documentaries on similar themes: one about Shamwari, which of course I had visited in 2007, and one about Amboseli in Kenya. Breakfast was a comprehensive affair, consisting of apple juice, rolls and croissants with butter and jam, cornflakes, poached eggs, bacon, sausage and mushrooms - and coffee, of course. It hit the spot nicely.

Having been somewhat dismayed earlier to find that the classical music section of the in-flight entertainment consisted of just two recordings, one of which was decidedly 'crossover' in nature, I was pleased to find Holst's well-known suite The Planets lurking in the 'Western Popular' category. At a stroke, this increased the classical content by at least 50%, but what on earth was it doing in there?

As the cabin was readied for arrival, we passed to the north of Central London and were quite obviously heading for Runway 09L via Windsor Castle. Sure enough, that is exactly what happened, and we touched down on the familiar territory of Heathrow's north side at 0718. It was a short taxi to Terminal 3, yet disembarkation was not possible until 0733 - a depressingly familiar experience at LHR, where the arrival of scheduled aircraft so often seems to cause shock and astonishment among gate staff.

Thinking over my two back-to-back flights in Thai Royal First, I felt quietly satisfied. While Thai is certainly not in the same league as the likes of Singapore Airlines, SWISS and Lufthansa, it nevertheless delivered a competent product and service, and I felt that I would certainly use the airline again in appropriate circumstances. My one personal plea would be to sort out the classical music offering: two or three recordings is simply not good enough, especially when even these end up being misclassified. Oh, and that lilac sleepwear ...

Date: Tue 01 Jun 2010
Aircraft: Boeing 747-400
Scheduled dep: 0110
Actual departure: 0131
Scheduled arrival: 0715
Actual arrival: 0733
Cabin: Royal First
Seat: 1A

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