Thai Business Class to Hong Kong + Mandarin Oriental

[haydensydney]

As I was currently between employers and I had a week or two to spare before starting my new job, my partner and I decided to get away for a few days for some R&R. We decided on Hong Kong because we love the city and Centurion offers a "free night" at the Mandarin Oriental once per calendar year. We were also able to score *A awards via SQ at late notice - TG seem to always have availability at saver rates, which is great.

Excuse the iPhone pics for the SYD-BKK-HKG legs - I forgot my DSLR at home in SYD so we bought a new Canon Powershot S95 in HKG (saved heaps too!)

SYD-BKK TG476
A340-600, Business Class
Dep: 1000
Arr: 1630

We arrived at the airport at around 8am and I was excited to be flying Thai for the first time. Check-in was painless and we were seen straight away - loads were light in J on this flight (0 in F) although there was a full Y cabin we were told. We made our way to the Air NZ lounge (which is used by TG and a plethora of other carriers) - although it's a good lounge, i'm getting a little bored of it. It's very consistent, even down to the lovely Susan (who meets and greets us every time we get to use the lounge) to the F&B offering.

View of aircraft from lounge

Boarding was called and I was happy to see a dedicated J/F line for priority boarding. The seats upon first impression were great - I think they get a bad rap for not being true 180 degree lie flat, but they are very comfortable in the seated/relax modes: more about this later. Champagne was handed out as were amenity packs and menus. There were only about 10 people in the forward J cabin, and as mentioned earlier there was no one in the F cabin (which was later used as a crew rest).

Take-off roll was long (and with an unsettling lurch to the left, followed by a correction by the pilot) and before we knew it the seat belt sign was off and the meal service commenced. It was great not having a full cabin: if you pressed the Call button you got immediate attention. Thai do a tray service for the meals, but still do the old school "drinks cart" for beverages and desserts: a nice touch! Unlike others, I didn't get any glad wrap or plastic coverings on my meals which made it feel a little more professional. The Catering was fine but I found the drinks selection to be average in comparison to other carriers: champagne was Piper so this didn't impress me much at all - wine offering wasn't much better, but there were a couple of good reds available.

One thing that bothered me was the size of the glasses / cups used by TG: tiny serving sizes. You could pretty much scull down an orange juice without much effort - this meant more refills were needed from FA's. Made me feel like an alcoholic!

I found the AVOD to be fantastic with a good range of new release / classic movie mix. The operating system is a little basic (archaic even) but did the job. After all four flights, I still had stuff to watch (which is in stark contrast to my recent Etihad flights to London where I had nothing to watch after the first leg).

Starter - very nice

<Note: I ate the main course before taking a pic - my bad!>

Cheese after main course

 

[haydensydney]

Yummy dessert

Two hours out from Bangkok, the FA's served a light meal (as TG call a "Second Serving") which consisted of a prawn noodle dish. Again, was very nice.

 

[yohy?!]

Nice pictures! The catering is definetely better than my J trip last year - hopefully the BKK-HKG leg is on a better equipped regional aircraft than the one I had!

 

[Sprucegoose]

Good TR Hayden, glad to see TG lifting their profile. I have always enjoyed their approach over the middle easterners

 

[haydensydney]

BKK-HKG TG602
A330 Business Class
Dep: 1845
Arr: 2230

As this was my first time in BKK and with flying TG, I was unsure about the lounge situation so we went into the first lounge we saw: which was in Concourse E. Basically it was a tiny lounge that yes, did the job, but was fairly disappointing - I was expecting much more from the TG flagship lounge. I later discovered that TG have about six? lounges in BKK and this one was not one of the best. We still managed a bite to eat and used the WIFI before heading to our gate (via the smoking room for a cigarette).

I wasn't really sure what to expect with this A330: I didn't know if it would have the same seats as the A340 or if it was going to have Regional seating configuration. I was unlucky, and it was a Regional config. Also - the flight was packed to the brim including a full J cabin. Unfortunately also, there was a asian family comprising of about 12? people, and about half of them were kids under the age of 10 who proceeded to cause havoc throughout the flight.

I was disappointed with the seats, the IFE, the attitude from the crew and the hoards of yelling kids from the row behind me. It was a complete contrast from the SYD-BKK flight. Further, the 2.5 hr flight time was chewed up by the meal service - it took that long! The IFE was loop based and we were fortunate to have a 1981 concert of Tina Turner playing on the "big screen"... lovely. The food was revolting on this leg also.

OK - the main wasn't that bad - the Salmon (always a bad choice I know) was very dry but the combination was nice.

 

[haydensydney]

hopefully the BKK-HKG leg is on a better equipped regional aircraft than the one I had!

Sounds like the same flight lol

PS... time for a shower and a nap, will continue TR after (I may be a little more coherent then too)

 

[samh004]

I've sat in those regional seats many a time in my younger years, not great, but so far looks like a good trip, hopefully on the way back you managed to find better lounges in BKK.

 

[haydensydney]

Mandarin Oriental

So we arrived late into HKG and did the whole train / movement of the masses process with what seemed like the population of a small nation. Unfortunately TG didn't hand out fast track cards, though we didn't actually see Fast Track queues at immigration so perhaps this facility isn't available in HKG?

Once we were out of the airport, we found the Mandarin Oriental rep who took our luggage and showed us to the separate limo pickup area - not far from the arrivals hall. The weather was hot and humid, but we still managed to fit in a cigarette before jumping in the MO Merc. The pickup service costed $950 HKG and was well worth the cost - there was water and cool towels waiting inside the car, and we chose some relaxing Chinese violin music to get us into the mood.

Some time later we arrived at the hotel, so we were there just before midnight. we were shown to our room which was on level 22.

The Room

Because we made the booking through Centurion travel, we were eligible for a free night and a free upgrade (though it was an upgrade at time of booking which means that we paid for the room category below what we wanted). We paid ~$500 AUD a night for the total stay of four nights, so a total of $1500 AUD for a City View Deluxe Suite (which I believe is the lowest category of suite, other than the junior suite).

The room we got however was Harbour view and I think it is a larger deluxe suite - but still not being a Oriental suite (which is a shame because I was hoping for an extra upgrade to the Oriental). Beggars can't be choosers though, and I was more than happy to have a top floor suite.

The room was reasonably spacious, with a desk immediately to the left when you enter the suite. The lounge flowed to doors that opened out to a fairly narrow balcony. The room was perfect in size, and the bathroom had two sinks, a bath / shower / toilet. The room contained a lot of wood in a very typical british / imperial fashion.

 

[haydensydney]

Looking left from the balcony

 

[yohy?!]

Ahhh nuts about the BKK lounge, I was lucky to find the Royal Orchid Spa after first trying one of the small lounges like you did. The shoulder massages are awesome

The difference between the long and short haul J product really is jarring - hopefully on the return leg you have a 747 for the HKG-BKK sector (think this has the long haul J seats at lease).

 

[haydensydney]

Looking straight ahead from the balcony

Looking right from the balcony

Overall, I was very very happy with the MO Hong Kong. The staff were efficient, friendly and the service was immaculate. The room cleaner was proactive (e.g. folding our clothes in the wardrobe). Room service was good, but wasn't of the quality of the stay I had at the Emirates Palace recently. The toilet got blocked once (which was embarrassing!) but I have a feeling it has something to do with this Asia "No toilet paper down the toilet" thing: i've never quite worked out where you can do this and where you can't. The incident was resolved professionally however.

The spa was fantastic on one of two occasions, in fact the good massage we had (which was a "90 min day off" treatment) was probably one of the best treatments i've ever had. Unfortunately it was the polar opposite the next time we went, where we therapist seemed like she couldn't really be bothered. My partners therapist was the same. It was almost like they had done a full days worth of massages and I was the last one: no effort, no pressure and it was more or less like they were caressing and patting me rather than actually massaging me. We complained and got a 15% discount: made our complaint seem trivial, but it was a gesture nonetheless.

Again, top marks for Mandarin Oriental. I highly recommend this property.

Restaurants: Man Wah & Mandarin Grill + Bar

The second night we were there we had a degustation at Man Wah - we aren't the biggest fans of cantonese cuisine, but thought "When in Rome"... I'm sure it was a fantastic meal, but it wasn't really to my taste. The view is stunning from the restaurant, and the staff were great. I am happy I had a traditional meal in Hong Kong nonetheless.

The real standout for us however was Mandarin Grill + Bar. We had one of the "tour" degustations (#2) and it was the best meal we have had for a very long time. The service was impeccable - they even had a olive oil sommelier. The dishes were creative and modern and it was quite the standout. I highly recommend this restaurant to anyone staying at the hotel, or Hong Kong for that matter.

 

[haydensydney]

Return Journey

HKG - BKK TG477
747-400 Business Class
Dep: 12:45
Arr: 14:25

The MO limo dropped us off at Terminal 2, and again a MO rep was there waiting for us. The rep took us to the checkin counter and waited for the checkin formalities to be completed: a very nice touch if you ask me. We then made our way through immigration and did the whole train thing again over to where the Thai Airways lounge was (by gate 40). The arriving aircraft was late, and it turned out that we left 30 mins after scheduled departure. The TG lounge in HKG was great however: it had a great view and a good selection of drinks/food.

Lounge vistas:

What airline is this?

After a while, we were called on board. There was a priority cabin queue so we could jump what seemed like a mammoth Y queue.

I was pleasantly surprised to be on a international config aircraft so we got the good seats. Unfortunately because it was a packed flight, and we were late to checkin, we got stuck in the main cabin next to the galley wall (see pics). It's quite an odd configuration, and it seemed strange not being able to see out the windows on the other side of the aircraft.

This flight was much better than the BKK-HKG leg, except one male (and older) FA seemed to grunt his way through the entire service. I don't think I heard him speak once! His oddity was offset however by a fantastic FA woman who just glowed: she was the perfect thai girl - and she knew her job. Food was much better also.

 

[haydensydney]

 

[haydensydney]

BKK-SYD TG477
A340-600 Business Class
Dep: 23:59
Arr: 12:05 +1

For those who have been paying attention, you would now notice that we had a ten hour layover in BKK. I wasn't terribly happy with this, but we had to accept this as a consequence of booking our award flights one week out from departure. The initial plan was to go to a spa somewhere and get a ~5 hr spa package, but we decided against this because we didn't want to book a massive treatment and suffer 100% penalties should the flights go awry and we had to cancel. So we arrived in BKK and got a car to take us to the Grand Hyatt, which I read has a great spa. Upon arrival we were told they were fully booked, so we had fill our hours with shopping. Once the shopping got old, we stumbled upon a movie cinema so decided to watch the Harry Potter movie in "first class" - which by the way, is much better than Australian gold class (you get free popcorn and drinks, a buzzer at your seat if you want service, and blankets). The movie was so-so but it was good to relax in a lazy boy for a couple of hours.

We leave the cinema, and of course it's pissing down with rain. Luckily we were able to find ourselves close by the Intercontinental where we were able to pick up a limo to take us to the airport - a welcome relief from the rain and humidity. The car had wifi too, so that was a bonus.

We arrived at the airport with a couple of hours to spare, so we made our way to the "D" concourse TG lounge which was much larger. It got quite busy towards the later part of the evening so we decided to check out the Spa where we were entitled to a free 30 min massage each. The massage was nice and the facility is a welcome haven for the tired traveller: good on TG for making this service available to it's premium cabin passengers.

Departure was on time and again we were on the A340-600 in the same seats we were in on the first leg of the trip (14J/K). The cabin was full in both J and F and this was reflected in the length of time it took for the meal service (2.5 hours). Also, the cabin was illuminated in hospital grade white light for the full service, which I thought was quite rude of TG (particularly to those who were from connecting flights). Nonetheless, once the last dessert plate was taken from the cabin the lights were switched off. Surprisingly, I was able to get a good four-five hour sleep - in sloping seats! I couldn't believe it. Yes, it wasn't as comfortable as a complete lie flat seat, but it was good enough to get me some shut eye. Perhaps the couple shots of red wine I had assisted somewhat?

We woke to the clatter of breakfast plates from the galley and breakfast was served.

Breakfast

TG Overall

I was more than happy with TG, except for a disappointing BKK-HKG sector on a cough config. The seats were great in upright/relax mode, and adequate in sleeping mode - but still not on par with other carriers with a 180 degree flat product (though I still prefer TG's sloping compared to EY's older "blue" flat bed product). Food was good overall, but slightly disappointed with drinks menu + the green tea was powdered not in tea bag form (yuk - but not a deal breaker lol). Lounges were OK, but not mind blowing. Happy with TG and I would recommend them to fellow travellers if they make sure they get the international config.

I rate my TG flights as per the following:

Check-in - 8/10
Lounge - 6/10
Board - 7/10
Seat - 7/10
Ambience - 8/10
IFE - 8/10
Crew- 7/10
Food - 6/10
Beverage - 5/10
Amenity - 9/10
Disembark - 7/10
On-time - 8/10

HHS Average* = 7.16 / 10.00

*Hayden's Happiness Score

Previous HHS Scores:
Etihad Business Class (SYD-LHR) : 5.75

 

[GBK06]

Nice Trip report. Thanks.

What airline is this?

I'm pretty sure that the 747SP did or still does belong to Las Vegas Sands Corporation, used to fly high rollers around the world!

 

[NM]

Re: Return Journey

What airline is this?

This aircraft was still at HKG on Saturday afternoon. I did not catch the rego, but its one of two Boeing 747-SPs owned by Las Vegas Sands. They are VQ-BMS (previously one of Bahrain's Royal Transports) and VP-BLK.

Here is an idea of what one of these looks like on the inside!

 

[haydensydney]

Very cool interior. One must imagine the spend required to get a ride on this bird

 

[Princess Fiona]

Great TR, suite interiors are very James Bond
Seems to be a striking difference in the short/ long haul J product as Yohy mentions. Sadly this isn't just a problem with TG, QF/AA/BA should all be placed in the same basket.
Imagine stepping off the 388 from LAX-SYD and connecting to your 738 to PER complete with overhead projector and reclining seats :shock:

 

[haydensydney]

Great TR, suite interiors are very James Bond
Seems to be a striking difference in the short/ long haul J product as Yohy mentions. Sadly this isn't just a problem with TG, QF/AA/BA should all be placed in the same basket.
Imagine stepping off the 388 from LAX-SYD and connecting to your 738 to PER complete with overhead projector and reclining seats :shock:

Thanks for the note Princess! Indeed: short haul will always get the coughpiest configs which is to be expected - though for a 2.5 hr flight you don't really need flatbeds I guess....

 

[djfuzz]

Great TR, suite interiors are very James Bond
Seems to be a striking difference in the short/ long haul J product as Yohy mentions. Sadly this isn't just a problem with TG, QF/AA/BA should all be placed in the same basket.
Imagine stepping off the 388 from LAX-SYD and connecting to your 738 to PER complete with overhead projector and reclining seats :shock:

Add CX to that list - hopefully change is underway, but comparing their new J product to the ancient regional J that you'll get on this very same route, or many other short-hauls in and around HKG is like chalk and cheese. I do like the fact that SQ's new regional product is a 'lite' version of their long-haul product, rather than the 10-year old version. Similarly, like it or not, I think QF's Silverwing product does the same job well (though it is far from consistent across the fleet).

Another great TR, thanks haydensydney. Always wanted to check out the MO and TG J.