An ultimate guide to flying Thai Airways’ Airbus A350’s. What are their configurations, what routes can you fly them on, how are you treated once in the air and what can you expect from the experience? Simple Flying has the lowdown on the Thai Airways A350.
Booking your flights
In this modern, connected world we can book flights on our smartphones while sipping coffee virtually anywhere! We can fire up the laptop or tablet and, with a reasonable broadband or WiFi connection, book our seats, too. Book directly with Thai Airways or book through a travel agent: if a seat is available and you can pay the fare, flying is accessible to everyone.
The Thai Airways Airbus A350 Fleet
How Many Thai Airways A350s are there?
Thai Airways operates 12 Airbus A350-941 aircraft and they all have the same seating configuration.
- 32 business class seats at the front of the plane in Zone A
- 159 economy seats over the wings in Zone B
- 130 economy seats at the rear of the plane in Zone C
It is probably fair to say that the investment in such a young sub fleet of Airbus A350-900s is part of Thai Airways’ turnaround strategy. Additionally, Thai Airways is looking to replace its aging Boeing 747s and is considering more A350s or Boeing 777s for this.
Age profile
This part of the Thai fleet is state of the art and very young, with a median age of just two years:
- five planes are one year old
- six planes are two years old
- one plane is three years old
Routes
According to Airport Spotting, the following are the Thai Airways A350 routes that are already in service. All flights depart from and arrive at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport, BKK:
- AKL Auckland
- PEK Beijing
- BRU Brussels
- DXB Dubai
- FRA Frankfurt
- CAN Guangzhou
- HKG Hong Kong
- MEL Melbourne
- MXP Milan Malpensa
- NGO Nagoya Chubu
- HKT Phuket
- FCO Rome Fiumicino
- ICN Seoul Incheon
- PVG Shanghai Pudong
The following route is scheduled to operate from 27th October 2019 to 28th March 2020
- CDG Paris CDG
By the way, Suvarnabhumi is pronounced soowannapoom! And did you know that the current King of Thailand, Maha Vajiralongkorn and his Queen, Suthida, both worked for Thai Airways?
On the ground
Lounges
If you are eligible, you can enter and use Thai’s International Terminal lounges.
| Royal First | Royal Silk | Royal Orchid |
| THAI Royal First Class one guest | Royal First Class and Royal Silk Class | Royal First Class and Royal Silk Class |
| THAI Royal Orchid Platinum + one guest | Star Alliance First Class and Business Class travelers | Star Alliance First Class and Business Class travelers |
| Star Alliance First Class travelers + one guest | Royal Orchid Plus Platinum and Gold status members and Star Alliance Gold status | Royal Orchid Plus Platinum and Gold status members and Star Alliance Gold + one guest |
| Contracted customer airlines or contracted non-airlines (subject to agreement conditions) |
Spa
Royal Orchid Spa Full Treatment Menus and services within the Royal First Call Zone if you are:
- Royal First Class
- Royal Silk Class travelers and Royal Orchid Plus Platinum:
- Neck and Shoulder or Foot Massage and all services within the Royal Silk Class Zone
Please note, additional guests are not permitted. Advance reservations are not accepted for any treatments: first come, first served basis only.
Treatment Menu
If you are a fan of the spa and the massage, this is what you can look forward to:
- Touch of Silk: (Full Body Oil Massage – 60 minutes for First Class only)
- Royal Thai Massage: (Full Body Massage – 60 minutes for First Class only)
- Neck & Shoulder Massage: (30 minutes)
- Foot Massage: (30 minutes)
There are full details of each treatment on the Royal Orchid Spa page of the Thai Airways site. They rightly and proudly announce that their Spa is consistently voted by Skytrax as theWorld’s Best Airline Spa Facility.
Transportation
There is a very comprehensive page on the Thai Airways site about the airport, drop off points, where to check-in, how to move around the airport … everything you need to know.
In the air
Again, Thai Airways provides detailed guidance of what to expect while you are on board one of its Airbus A350s:
- Cuisine
- Entertainment
- Use Of Electric Device
- Sawasdee Magazine
- Duty-Free
- Entertainment For Children
- WIFI Onboard
Let’s review their offer:
Cuisine
Dedicated award-winning service, inflight cuisine for all tastes and entertainment at your fingertips are yours to enjoy inflight.
Royal Silk Class
Travel in Royal Silk Class begins with a refreshing warm towel and a choice of champagne, juice, or water prior to take-off. Once airborne, passengers can enjoy a savory serving of mixed nuts and dried fruit, accompanied by their choice of beverage, be it champagne, a fine wine, juice or soft drink.
The Royal Silk Class menu offers a light first course followed by a choice of international cuisine hot meals, often reflecting the cuisine of the flight’s departure point or destination, desert, artisan cheese and fresh fruit.
As with Royal First class passengers, passengers will be offered Thai Samrab, a collection of small individual servings, a curry, a soup and a delicate vegetable stir-fry together with steamed Thai hommali jasmine rice.
Passengers can also preorder their choice of hot meal from 24 to 48 hours before the departure of the flight.
Premium Economy Class
Economy Class travelers enjoy a snack or a hot meal on all Thai Airways flights. The meal will reflect Thai international cuisine or cuisines reflective of the departure or arrival point.
Each Premium Economy and Economy Class hot meal offers a choice of main course, includes a fresh salad or vegetable, bread and fresh fruit or a dessert and is accompanied by a wide range of complimentary beverages, from beer and wine to soft drinks, juices, water, coffee and tea.
Special meals that conform to religious, health or dietary requirements must be pre-ordered online or by contacting THAI reservations worldwide.
Entertainment
The entertainment information page provides some information on the movies and programs and music currently available.
Use of Electric Devices
In-seat power outlet on Thai’s aircraft
The in-seat power outlet service is provided on most of Thai Airway’s aircraft fleet as an electrical power outlet and/or USB port. For the Airbus A350-900: PC power outlet (110 VAC), USB Port
There is a comprehensive guide to power outlets and connections on this page.
Sawasdee Magazine
You don’t have to be flying to read the Thai Airways in-flight magazine: read it online here
Duty-Free
This page provides a pdf version of the duty-free magazine; but there is no way to buy online, of course.
Entertainment for Children
… a range of toys, games and books are available for children:
- under 3 years
- 3 to 6 years and
- 6 to 12 years of age
The range of toys will be changed occasionally.
WIFI onboard
Passengers can easily stay connected to the world of business or social media with their own mobile device with THAI Sky Connect. On the Airbus A350-900, the prices for Inflight Wi-Fi packages are:
- 30 Mb $9.99
- 100 Mb $19.99
- 500 Mb $34.99
- Unlimited $59.99
Seating
Business Class Seat
Read more on the business class seat here.
The Airbus A350-900 cabin is decorated with the Thai Contemporary concept and has a light system that can be adjusted according to the atmosphere (Mood Lighting) with LED lighting that produces up to 16.7 million shades of color.
The Royal Silk Class has 32 seats, designed to provide personal comfort for business class passengers. The space between the rows of seats is 41-46 inches, each seat is 21 inches wide and can be reclined 180 degrees. Walking-in and out of the seat can be done freely in every seat. Every seat is equipped with a 16-inch touch screen TV that can connect to modern entertainment systems
The seat in the business cabin is like an executive lounge, office and bed.
Economy Class Passenger Seat
Read more about the economy class seat here.
The Airbus A350-900 cabin is decorated with the concept of Thai Contemporary and has a light system that can be adjusted according to the atmosphere (Mood Lighting) with LED lighting that creates up to 16.7 million shades.
The size of the window is wider than on some aircraft, which will make passengers feel relaxed throughout the journey. In addition, the cabin is designed to have more living space.
There are 289 economy class passengers with 32 inches of space between each of the 18-inch seats, equipped with an 11-inch touch screen TV. This can be used for listening to music, watching movies or television programs and playing games. The cabin includes WiFi services so passengers can use the internet via their own devices.
Have you flown on Thai Airways A350? Let us know about your experience in the comments.
