Thai Airways International - THA > Reviews > Thai a good choice with a young family

Author's product rating:   

Food Quality	Good
Customer Service	Friendly and attentive
Punctuality	Good
Space	Comfortable
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	Superb attitude to those passengers travelling with small children
Disadvantages:	No personal in flight entertainment

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I flew from London to Hanoi return on Thai with my wife and son who, at the time of this journey was just under two. We both had a positive impression of the four flights we took (on the return flight we had my parents-in-law with my as far as Bangkok where a stopover was possible without extra cost and my mother-in-law for the onward flight to London (it should be noted that my father-in-law who spoke no English was very well looked after on the journey back to Hanoi).

Outbound LHR - Bangkok

Check in outbound - Never a fun experience at LHR 3 but it was OK and our request for bulkhead seats was honoured. This in itself makes the flight with small children more comfortable but better was to follow. Though we travelled with our son before he turned 2 to avoid a fare of around 67% and expected to have to have him on our laps the crew moved people around to create his own seat on a very full plane. The also brought him toys and did their best to entertain him whenever passing though he was not difficult on this flight.

Food was good, as I recall from my last flight with Thai back in 2003 this is a strength of the airline in Economy and when they seem to have upheld when many competitors have let standards slip. I ordered a seafood meal and got a very pleasant fish dish . However when the breakfast offering had egg (I cannot eat egg) I was offered the option of one of the alternative menus.

The only downside, and I was not fussed personally, was the entertainment. There are still no individual screens on most of the airlines fleet in economy. I liked the film they screened and we had a screen just in front of our seat as we were out of sight of the main screen.

Bangkok transit and on to Hanoi

The transit was not great as I had my duty free confiscated at a security checkpoint. Not the airlines fault but more that of poor information pre-departure - I did check and was told it was not a problem. I travel regularly and should have known better than to trust anyone on such matters.

The onward flight saw spare seats once more arranged for my son (though we had to sit apart) and a truly excellent Penang prawn curry. It was on this flight I requested an alternative to the baby meals (albeit a wide choice) offered on the first flight. I was told he had to have a baby meal if under two. In the event he ate some of mine and my wifes food.

We reached our destination on time.

Return Hanoi - Bangkok

Check in at Hanoi is never much fun, it took nearly an hour. Thereafter all went smoothly again, a spare seat was found for our boy and my in-laws were seated close to us. Food again good.

Bangkok - London

The check in was the first time we were pulled out for priority check in due to travelling with a small child. We had queued a good while by this point. We had lost our bulkhead seat booking for the first time on the whole trip due to a medical emergency. However, after some negotiation it was restored in another part of the plane and once aboard they again found a spare seat for our son by upgrading someone to business class.

As previously, good service, good food, lots of drinks rounds (as it was a day flight and most people were awake - though previous flights were generous), what was the 5th free toy for my son from 4 flights and a charming crew. Will I use Thai again, you bet. It shaded Cathy in terms of travelling with small children though they were quite good, some say Singapore are even better in this context but the routing is that much longer.