July 26, 2014

Review: Thai Airways Business Class 777 Bangkok to Bali

Sheraton JFK Hilton JFK Conrad New York
Thai Airways 777 Business Class Bangkok to Bali
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Suvarnahbhumi's gates are different in that you go down a set of ramps from the retail level, have your passport and boarding pass checked, and then enter kind of a holding area prior to departure.  When we approached the "gate" there was a huge line of people making their way down the ramp to the holding area.  By the time we had made our way through, boarding had already begun so we boarded immediately and were on the plane in about 2 minutes.  It was nice not to have to wait as the holding area has limited services and gets pretty crowded prior to boarding a 777.


Our Thai Airways 777-300 to Bali
We've flown Thai Airways a number of times and have had a different aircraft configuration each time.  This 777-300 was equipped with the "old" business class lounger seats which had tons of leg room and and were perfect for a sub four hour flight.  We were just going to eat, drink, and relax anyway.  The configuration had 5 rows of business class in a 2-3-2 configuration.  We were in row 11 which was the bulkhead.  Even if I was 6'6" (I am not) I still would have had plenty of room.


Good start to flight # 4
At our seats were Thai's new purple Porsche Design amenity kits in addition to a large pillow, blanket, and headphones.  Emily and I are both real suckers for amenity kits and we've built up quite the collection from our flights over the last couple of years.  I'm not sure why they are cool but I think they are.  These kits have a hard side case and are very useful.  I have a black one from Turkish Airlines and use it for travel cords and adaptors when traveling so was pretty stoked to receive the purple version.





We departed on time and had great views (we had three windows in our row) of Bangkok on the climb out.  Lunch was a multi course affair and since we had both pre-ordered our meals, we knew exactly what we were getting.



Duck & Chang
After lunch, we reclined our seats and watched a few TV shows before landing.  All in all, this was a great flight and Thai Airways really delivers on these short intra-Asia flights.


Just before touchdown at DPS


We landed 20 minutes early and were met after the jet bridge by our VOA (Visa on Arrival) representative.  Based on everything I had read, the Bali airport is kind of nuts and the VOA process can take hours if you arrive during the bank of long haul flights filled with tourists.  So we paid $40 USD each for VOA services.  Our representative was extremely friendly and spoke fantastic English.  She walked us through the "express lines" with ease and explained what she was doing.  The only nerve-racking part was when she took our passports to actually obtain the visa while we waited for our bags.  I generally don't let my passport out of my sight but it ended up being fine.  Once our bags were retrieved from baggage claim, we made our way through an x-ray machine (all bags are screened when entering the airport and when leaving).  She walked us all the way to the curb where we were handed off to our drive to the hotel.

The lines weren't terrible when we arrived but I would definitely recommend this service if you are going to Bali.  If you're flying from the US, you've likely been flying for a minimum of 20 hours and having someone walk you through the process and prevent any waiting is definitely worth $40. 

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