Thai Airways First Class Service from Gate to Immigration at BKK - Bangkok Airport. Just a
Thai Airways First Class Service from Gate to Immigration at BKK - Bangkok Airport. Just a small example of the service level quality. Personal buggy is there for you not to make you walk all the way. Then you proceed through Diplomatic Channel - Best First Class Service (Others I had done - Concorde, BA First, Cathay Pacific, Qantas, American Airlines, Lufthansa, Virgin Upper Class and Air Canada/Executive First).
Other services include: a host to wait for you at the airport entrance, personal area to rest while your luggage is being checked and boarding pass issued, host to immigration, another buggy to the lounge, full hour of massage, nice shower area, personal room with couches and large screen plasma TV in the lounge, security clearance w/o wait, spotlessly clean planes, high quality pajamas (compared to BA crap), Dom Perignon, caviar, etc..., stewards and stewardesses eager to please and appear faster than the Gennie. At the old airport they used to provide free limo service to downtown - and even ended up calling me in the hotel as I did not reserve the time the day before departure. I am yet to fly Singapore First Class out of SIN (hopefully by the year end) and Emirates (hopefully w/in a year): Other First Class reviews:
Cathay Pacific - Fairly impressed by service (offered to make me 3 different stakes so I can decide if I like rare, medium or well done) - I find their seat to be uncomfortable in the semi recline position. It just can't be properly adjusted so it is not hitting your heal)
Spotless planes - good food with little funny personally written notes.
Lufthansa (old First Class) - the seat had the metal bar underneath the knees. Unless you like sleeping on your back, better take some pain killers or give up sleep altogether. They did make an extra effort to go to the lounge and bring me some strawberries at my request.
BA - Barely mediocre. The seat curves at the bottom so you can't stretch your legs (not a huge diff compared to their business - except for 90% fewer people). Service more than professional but entirely lacks personality. Made me fill a 4 page form once I asked them for a pain killer. Pajamas somewhat of lower quality. Massage offered before departure. It used to be by Molton Brown but got replaced by another outfit recently (Elemis). I loved Molton Brown - both their therapists and they used to have the best shower amenities Elemis has much lower end showers in T5, don't like their shampoos at all, haven't tried the massage yet. They put a couple of rows of Premium Economy right behind the First Class to make an extra few bucks on the design. Overall compared to Thai/Cathay - barely mediocre.
Virgin Atlantic - I know they would like to call it First Class but the seating is barely that. Most of seats face other passengers so the privacy is limited. I am a fan of being able to see the world passing by occasionally. You need a to be able to twist your neck 180 degrees to do that. Sometimes the seat table does not come out and they need to use the knife to take it out. Not a lot of space for drinks once the table is back. Still intelligent design when it comes to flipping the sleeper seat. Great bonus (though short) is a massage on the plane. The hostesses know what they are doing and and it's a great refreshment as you go. As far as stewardesses - I am sorry to say that I prefer the warmth to professionalism, but that's genetic...
Qantas - flight directors with good sense of customer service. A mix between the warmth of Asian Airlines and British professionalism. Seating is crowded with a significant violation of your fellow passengers' space to retrieve the luggage if you need to.
American Airlines - what can I say. Clean your planes!!! If there was ever a crime on the plane even the combined forces of Vegas, Miami and NY CSIs would never be able to distinguish amongst 1000s of DNAs lingering in that cabin. Air filtration (if they have any) is horrible. And I suppose that there is something about their work rule that prohibits them to smile. Quite often you have to think hard before pushing that call button. Amenities - what amenities???!! Seat is decent to sleep, but I am afraid that is as far as it goes.
Air Canada - when I was flying them they should have really removed that First from Executive/First name. Old Canadian Airlines planes and crews were more than decent. I haven't tried the new planes. I don't think that I have a particular desire to do so either.
Finally Concorde - well, it's not an option any more is it? It's not the one you take for comfort - it feels more like flying on a regional jet - but champagne was pretty decent, takeoff was awesome, you can see the curvature of the Earth towards the end of the flight when the highest altitude is reached. How else can you leave at 6PM and arrive at 5PM the same day??? Given that this option is not available (plus the other minor detail $$$) - I will stick with the East.
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