A member of Star Alliance, Thai Airways offers daily flights to Bangkok from Sydney and double-daily service from Melbourne.

I recently needed to get from Thailand to Australia and was pleasantly surprised to find ample Business Class award availability on Thai Airways. This was available to book through all of the different Star Alliance frequent flyer programs including Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, Air Canada Aeroplan, United MileagePlus and even Avianca LifeMiles. I had some United MileagePlus miles to spare, so booked an award ticket through that program.

The last time I’d flown Thai Airways was more than 20 years ago on an Airbus A300. This time, I would be flying on a much more modern Airbus A350-900, so I was looking forward to the experience!

This review covers my Thai Airways Royal Silk (Business Class) experience from the airline’s hub in Bangkok to Melbourne, flying overnight on TG465.

Flight Details

Flight number	TG465
Route	Bangkok (BKK) to Melbourne (MEL)
Aircraft type	Airbus A350-900
Class of travel	Royal Silk (Business Class)
Seat number	17A
On-time performance	We arrived 25 minutes late
Star rating

The route

Flight Cost

I booked this flight using United MileagePlus miles. The full one-way Business Class itinerary was Bangkok-Melbourne-Canberra, with the domestic connection on Virgin Australia. The total cost for this was 50,000 United miles + AUD126.62. (The domestic connection did not add any miles to the cost of the ticket, but did slightly increase the taxes payable.)

If you had Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles, you could book a Thai Airways Business Class redemption from Bangkok to Melbourne (or Sydney) for 81,500 KrisFlyer miles + ~AUD329. Thai Airways typically releases up to two Business Class award seats per flight.

If you were to buy a ticket, a THAI Business Class fare from Bangkok to Melbourne normally starts from $1,781 one-way.

Airport Experience

Checking in at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport was an absolute breeze. Thai Airways has a dedicated check-in area for Business and First Class passengers at row A, at the far end of the check-in hall. Directly beside this is a dedicated fast-track lane for security and immigration.

It took just a few minutes to check in and get airside. Directly outside the fast-track immigration area was the entrance to the main Thai Airways lounges, where the staff warmly welcomed me in.

After heading down the escalator, you could turn right to visit the Royal Orchid Prestige Lounge or left for the Royal Silk Lounge. I tried out both of them and couldn’t really tell the difference.

The Royal Orchid Prestige Lounge had most of the things you would need from a quality airport lounge. It’s a pleasant space – albeit long and narrow – with lots of seating, clean toilets and showers, Wi-Fi and lots of charging outlets. There was also a full bar, a buffet and a live cooking station with chefs offering some extra dishes plated to order.

Options from the buffet included salad, sandwiches, soup, spring rolls, spaghetti bolognese, dumplings, fried rice and a delicious Thai curry. The freezer stocked with Häagen-Dazs ice cream was also a nice touch.

It was very quiet in the lounge when I visited in the late afternoon.

From there, it was a rather long walk to our boarding gate at the end of the “E” pier. As per Australian government regulations, there was an extra security check before we could enter the gate area where our bags were inspected for liquids over 100ml.

I had to queue around 15 minutes for this security check. There was no priority line here for Business Class passengers (nor families with young children) – which is only noteworthy because a Qantas flight to Sydney was boarding from the next gate and Qantas did have a priority lane for entry into its gate area.

Boarding was delayed, but there was no announcement advising of the delay or when boarding might begin. Eventually, boarding started five minutes after the flight’s scheduled departure time. To be honest, the boarding process was a bit of a scrum, and it was difficult for passengers entitled to priority boarding to actually reach the gate as there were a lot of people blocking the way.

The Hard Product

Thai Airways has 32 “Royal Silk” Business Class seats on its Airbus A350-900 in a 1-2-1 configuration. This is a staggered seating layout, where the middle section alternates between having two seats directly beside each other, and two seats directly at the aisle.

I had selected seat 17A, which was a window seat directly beside the window:

I really liked this seat. It felt spacious and there was plenty of privacy, although the suite could have perhaps used a bit more storage space.

The seat reclines to become a fully lie-flat bed. I found the bed very comfortable, however it probably could have been a bit longer. If you’re more than six feet tall, you might find that the bed isn’t quite long enough for you and that you’ll need to bend your knees when lying down.

There was a universal power outlet at the seat for charging devices. There was also a large in-flight entertainment screen above the footwell where you rest your legs while sleeping.

The in-flight entertainment system was loaded with plenty of movies, TV shows and music. But perhaps my favourite feature was the outside view from an external camera mounted on the tail.

In-flight Wi-Fi was available for a fee, including in Business Class. I was planning to sleep for most of the flight, so didn’t bother trying it out.

Overall, the Thai Airways A350-900 Business Class cabin felt modern, clean and spacious. I also particularly liked the on-brand cabin lighting with hues of pink, purple and orange that help to create a relaxing atmosphere on board.

The Soft Product

Thai Airways offers all the usual amenities you would expect in Business Class. When I got to my seat, there was already a mattress topper, substantial pillow and blanket, amenity kit, slippers and headphones waiting for me.

I decided to use my own Bose noise-cancelling headphones as they were better quality than the ones provided. The amenity kit, though, was very well stocked. I think this might be the first airline amenity kit I’ve received that contained a biodegradable shoe horn and an aromatherapy roller – whatever that is!

Thai Airways just introduced new amenity kits a few weeks ago, in collaboration with Jim Thompson. This one had a Portuguese porcelain design.

Shortly after taking my seat, a very friendly flight attendant offered a choice of pre-departure beverages including water, orange juice, tamarind tea and “Violet Bliss”, a Thai signature drink. This came with a hot towel.

None of the pre-departure drinks offered were alcoholic, but I did see another passenger request – and receive – a glass of champagne while we were still on the ground.

The crew came through the cabin before departure to take everyone’s dinner and breakfast orders, and to ask whether passengers wanted to be woken up for breakfast.

This was the Business Class menu on TG465:

There was also a comprehensive drinks list, including a selection of wines (the champagne was Laurent-Perrier) and other beverages:

About a week before the flight, I received an email from Thai Airways inviting me to pre-select my meals online. Although the website didn’t work that well, I was able to do so, and the crew confirmed before take-off that they had received my pre-order.

After take-off, the dinner service began with some nuts and an amuse bouche:

This was followed by the starters and a selection of breads:

For the main course, I chose the salmon stuffed with minced prawn in Chu Chee curry served with egg fried rice, Vietnamese-style fried chicken, baby bok choy and carrots.

I was already getting quite full by this point, but there was still another course to go – a cheese plate – before dessert.

Finally, the meal service concluded with a traditional Thai delight:

The food was fresh, tasty and plentiful. I really enjoyed the meal and definitely wasn’t hungry by the end of it! The only downside was that it took the crew more than two hours to complete the dinner service – although they did get interrupted by a period of turbulence.

After dinner, the lights were switched off for around four hours and I had a comfortable sleep.

For some reason, the crew served breakfast a full two hours before landing. That’s at 5.20 am Melbourne time, or 1.20 am in Bangkok.

In my opinion, this is too early as it limits the amount of time available to sleep on an overnight flight of around eight hours. It was also unnecessary to serve breakfast so early because everything came on a single tray and the service was already completed with 75 minutes until landing. This could have been delayed another half hour or so, allowing passengers more valuable time for sleeping.

Because of this, I had asked the cabin crew not to wake me up for breakfast. But I happened to wake up anyway after the service had started, so the crew brought me some more food:

Timing aside, this was a really nice breakfast! I particularly liked the patongko, a Chinese-inspired fried dough that came with a choice of sweet dipping sauces.

The sun was coming up as I ate breakfast, and we were treated to a delightful sunrise out the window.

The cabin crew on this flight were service-focused and utterly professional. Nothing was too much trouble and they did a great job.

Before landing, one of the senior crew members came around to personally thank each passenger in Business Class for flying THAI. And before I knew it, we were landing in Melbourne on a cold and foggy late November morning while pop music played throughout the cabin.

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include aviation, economics & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.