Thai Airways faces more bad news with bigger losses in Q2

[bowerboy]

33 minutes ago, LukKrueng said:

a friend of mine bought economy ticket, called the airline to check the cost for an upgrade, didn't like the price. At check in asked again, got a lower quote but still too much. As soon as the doors were closed he asked the cabin crew and was quoted the same as at check in, so he said: this I could get at check in including fast lane and lounge. Now the doors are closed, no one else is boarding and you have empty seats up front. He gave an offer that seemed fair to him and was accepted by the cabin crew.

 

this was on Thai airways, don't know about other airlines

 

He is not ex SAS is he?

[failedstate]

Did he get a receipt?  I bet not. Interesting that Thai institutional corruption even exists on the Thai National airline when the doors are closed. If that had happened on any airline I worked for it would mean instant dismissal. Certainly our Cabin managers had the authority to move passengers (upgrade if you like) but no money would change hands.  Most did not do it for fear of allegations of favouritism. 

It’s common knowledge the cabin crew share the money . With cabin manger getting double share


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[bluesea]

I said this last february when i flew form bangkok to Perth  return, the flights was a Nightmare , filthy Cabins ,food substandard and flight crew with attitude problems i am not suprized this has now escalated.

my prediction 2020 will be there final year flying,

New Aircraft isn't going to do it they need a total cleanout from the top to the bottom.

 

I now fly Singapore Airlines 8 times per month and can never fault the Airline.

 

[SOTIRIOS]

...and AOT...chronic, systematic abuse...and some of their employees, some of the most arrogant, incompetent types...???

 

...security for life....and no chance of ever being fired....tends to do that...???

 

...boss not in today...punch in...and go shopping...or go for a Sunday Brunch...regardless of what day it is...???

[flyingtlger]

I pay extra and avoid Thai Airways.

The last time I flew on TA, I was in business class.

The service was horrible.  The flight attendant kept forgetting my order.

The seat was old and falling apart.

The 747 was too old and loud.  I was honestly afraid the plane would crash.

They need to upgrade their planes and replace the older flight attendants.

 

[newatthis]

Thanks for the info from the travellers to Perth.

I'll be going there return next month so this info has greatly assisted me in choosing an airline.

[Sean60]

The problem of Thai Airways is not only the old carriers. It is declining tourist.

The decline in tourism is due to few things:

1- strong Baht 

2- High prices for coming to Thailand. Take the cost for flying to Koh Samui from Bkk. It cost between 5 to 6000 Thai Baht per person one way. This killing tourism!

3- constant Change of regulations and requirements. The immigration office and its laws is driving people off from Thailand. There is no consistency in what the government dose.

 

[nong38]

They are uncompetitive, run for the Government employees  and Thais who fly the flag out of loyalty using the national carrier.

I fly to London on the 5th of next month with BA for 21000bts, Thai fly about an hour later and charge 32000bts, both non stop both using Boeing 777, only Thais who "think" Thai airways are better but sump up the extra. On the other hand it might be the Thai logic that if less people are flying with them then the ones that are flying will have to pay more to make up the difference which we know ends up with even fewer people flying and hence bigger loses.

[Ctkong]

1 hour ago, wisperone said:

Why don't they hire a airline executive who has turned airlines around in the past. Oh yeah, that would be a loss of face to have to admit to needing outside help. 

Malaysia airlines tried that. As expected, the executive quit finally. You cannot change STUPID and with many deadwoods in the airline, cost cutting and management revamp was not well received. Something gotta give and guess who blink first? This would be the same scenario with Thai. They would rather drive the company into the ground than giving up their perks. 

[Tuvoc]

I just flew from BKK to London on Thai and the flight was good. Boeing 777-300 ER, it may have been old I don't know, but lots of space and was fine. The service was fine. It wasn't my first choice, I was actually booked on EVA Air but the flight was cancelled due to a typhoon in Taipei, meaning there was no plane in BKK to make the flight. So they re-booked me on Thai Airways and it was a very decent alternative. 

[kevinmartyn]

I've flown Thai Airways many times and they are excellent unfortunately for most Thai companies along with farmers and many other businesses they suffer due to the false extreme rise on the "Thai Baht" which the present Government is NOT doing a thing to control.????

[emptypockets]

58 minutes ago, Paul Henry said:

Fly from Perth to BKK 3-4 times a year with my wife.Same menu for as long as I can remember! Compared to Qantas or Singapore Thai is slipping further back in the race seriously concidering changing airlines the only problem is the transit in Singapore.On this flight new announcement after meal service "Cabin service for beverages will cease from now, any passenger requiring drinks please go to galley for service as walking will reduce the effects of alcohol". Of course they do not say we are to lazy to serve you. Also have to agree with previous comment on hard seats, they have never reupholstered the seats on the old planes,numb bum after first hour.

Looks like they've woken up to the pissed bogans.

[Pilotman]

10 minutes ago, kevinmartyn said:

I've flown Thai Airways many times and they are excellent unfortunately for most Thai companies along with farmers and many other businesses they suffer due to the false extreme rise on the "Thai Baht" which the present Government is NOT doing a thing to control.????

A strong Thai Baht is not responsible, if anything it helps.  Fuel, (the single biggest cost to an airline), foreign airport charges, ICAO navigation charges and National ATC charges are all paid in US$, so a strong Baht helps. Currency hedging is a common and widespread process in virtually all airlines. It may deter some passengers, but not Thais and not enough to impact profits to this degree, this quickly.  Thai's problem is a higher than acceptable cost base, poor yield management, poor cost control  and what appears to be slack management processes, such as poor strategic planning. All indicative of a company primary in the public sector. 

[Oziex1]

What ever Thai Airways faults may be, I still will not use so called budget airlines, where the costs mount up the more you go into their websites, the time in transit can be excessive also you have to travel with the raggedy people.

[Huckenfell]

About time the government stopped giving the job of managing Thai Air to cronies such as ex Air Force generals and brought in an experienced Airline Administrator from over seas  Of course they won't do this because of the save face syndrome of all Thais.

[LukKrueng]

1 hour ago, bowerboy said:

 

He is not ex SAS is he?

no

[ThaiBunny]

1 minute ago, Huckenfell said:

About time the government stopped giving the job of managing Thai Air to cronies such as ex Air Force generals ...

Why are you trying to penalise Thai Airways? Giving jobs to cronies is Business As Usual here

[Peterbkk99]

 

I used to love Thai Airways but what is wrong with them now?

I flew from Bangkok to Paris CDG last week and hostesses were super arrogant. Really. To the point I am dreading the flight back to Bangkok next week.

 

[Huckenfell]

4 hours ago, leeneeds said:

DID the run 3 weeks ago and it was half empty , both ways,

as you know depends on day and time you fly, 

But do they ever think of filling those empty seats by offering reduced prices.   OOOO!  never thought of that, we usually put prices up to cover costs, thats how we do it in Thailand.

[Huckenfell]

4 hours ago, Mitker said:

TG repeatedly offers me a direct flight to my home country at around 3 times the price the 1 stop flights of competitors from neighbor European countries (flag carriers)

 

Surprise

I fly the competition then take a short train ride

Even Singapore Air, one of the worlds best can offer better prices  to Australia than Thai Air.

 

[Huckenfell]

4 hours ago, darrenr said:

Wrong ! Air Asia fly Brisbane to bangkok direct at a lot cheaper price ( to Don Meung)

Think again, AA do NOT fly to Brisbane, they fly to the Gold Cost, Cooloongatta, over 87 klm south of Brisbane.

[Duck J Butters]

6 hours ago, steven100 said:

Not unexpected …. a friend flew in on Friday night from Australia and told me it was a horrible trip.

Old plane from Brisbane, I think he said it was a 747,  also a box under the seat in front prevented him from putting his legs straight under.  He said the food was terrible, and when he got to Swappy the que's were horrendous … apparently it was around 1 1/2 - 2 hrs before he got through immigration.

 

Thai airways needs an axe ….it's carrying far too many freeloaders within management especially.  

Chop 50% of the staff and cut the overheads …..  quickly,  and you may just survive.

 

 

So completely false it's ridiculous. I fly Thai Airways from Phuket to Bangkok several times a week. I also fly Phuket to Bangkok to Paris, France every other month via Thai Airways or Qatar Airways ( we prefer Thai over Qatar though ). I also fly 1 x / month from Phuket to San Francisco or Los Angeles via Cathay Pacific ( a total joke of an airline ).

 

a) For domestic flights, Thai Airways has been amazing and the service excellent. I often show up 15 minutes before my flight leaves ( quite drunk on occasion ) and it's never an issue. Thai Airways always manages to get me on the plane and often lets me bypass all the lines, checks etc.. and takes me straight to the plane. No chance of this happening with cheaper airlines like Air Asia, Lion Air, Nok Air etc... I've actually had to book an entirely new ticket several times with Lion Air, just for missing the checkin deadline by 2 minutes, I kid you not.

 

b) Baggage weights are flexible. Sometimes my baggage weight is over the 20kg or 30kg threshold. Thai Airways doesn't care if the weight is within reason. They once let me slide with 45kg. With Air Asia, Lion Air, Nok Air...if you're over the weight limit by even a gram, you're getting charged extra.

 

c) Visa status. Thai Airways does not care if you fly out of the country and your return visa is dated. They will help you figure it out. Cheap airlines do not care about you at all. I got stuck in Singapore once in this very situation with Air Asia because I didn't have a return visa for Thailand. Air Asia made me buy a return ticket to Singapore. Was ridiculous. Same situation happened with Thai Airways, they didn't even question me about it. 

 

d) Smoother flights. The pilots that fly Thai Airways are vastly superior to those that fly the cheap airlines. Not to mention the flights are much smoother via Thai Airways because the planes are much bigger than the tiny things the cheaper airlines fly. You feel everything when you fly cheap airlines. It doesn't bother me so much but my wife prefers the smoother ride that Thai Airways offers.

 

e) Service. Service via Thai Airways is always excellent. By far the best service and staff. And on average, they have the best food. Although I've never had great food on any airline if I'm being honest.

 

f) no riffraff. The backpacker crowd can't afford Thai Airways so that's nice.

 

g) International flights to Paris are amazing. When I have a choice between Qatar and Thai Airways, I always pick Thai Airways even though it's a bit more expensive than Qatar.

 

h) It's really too bad that Thai Airways cancelled their flights to the US. I'm forced to fly Cathay Pacific from Phuket to LAX/SFO and it's literally the worst airline I've ever flown. Rude staff, uncomfortable seats, terrible food and terrible in-flight entertainment. Cathay is a joke and I would gladly fly Thai Airways any day if I could. The only good thing about Cathay Pacific is that their flights from Phuket to California are fast ( 15 - 17 hours ).

 

 

 

 

[Srikcir]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

The country’s national pride and joy

I think that was lost many years ago and has become the nation's shame and burden.

As one of the state-owned enterprises overseen directly by PM Prayut's Super Committee for the last 3-4 years, it's doubtful Prayut new government has the credibility to bring any viable solutions to its rescue.

The airlines needs to be disassociated as a national airline and allowed to become 100% publicly-owned. Let the market dictate its future, if there is one.

[RichardColeman]

I always used to find Thai Airways the cheapest from Heathrow to Thailand, but now even B.a. - a better airline by far assuming their computer system is working - is cheaper by up to £100 a flight. And EVA is cheaper than Thai Airways. Thai planes when I first used hem were lovely, and clean and new looking - now they look old, drab and I feel myself wanting to peddle like a Flintstone on take-off

[JTXR]

Not surprising.  Even simply checking in at Suvarnabumi is a hassle, with incredibly long lines and slow service.  I will always fly Air Asia or Bangkok Airways rather than Thai.  That the national carrier of a country so dependent on tourism is so outdated and downright bad is a very great shame.

[Foexie]

6 hours ago, leeneeds said:

so many times I see the business section with only a few people

 

When i fly to Bkk i also wanna upgade to business but i never do because on my flight they are so expensive. Here they charge around 3000€ while the cheapest is about 50% cheaper (turkisch airlines). Most airlines are between 1800€ and 2400€ for their business seats.

[Huckenfell]

I have been living in Thailand for 13 years now on Koh Samui, and for many years i was a Thai FF. BKK-BNE. Then about 6 years ago i needed a quick flight booking, but Thai could'nt accommodate me . Ever since that day i have flown Koh Samui-Singapore-Brisbane  with Singapore Air/Silk Air. Not only is it cheaper but a much better service and i do not have to use Bandit Airways to Suv.

[JAG]

31 minutes ago, Huckenfell said:

About time the government stopped giving the job of managing Thai Air to cronies such as ex Air Force generals and brought in an experienced Airline Administrator from over seas  Of course they won't do this because of the save face syndrome of all Thais.

In fairness, the Thai Website lists their management team as including one Squadron Leader, one Flight Lieutenant and one Lieutenant (doesn't specify if Army or Navy). Leaving aside the silly propensity for  clinging to the title of a junior rank, there don't appear to be any Air Force Generals. 

 

Mind you, they are probably all riding around for free up at the pointy end...

[sawadee1947]

7 hours ago, steven100 said:

He said the food was terrible,

My wife just came back from EU with Thai Airways. 

She said it was the most terrible food ever. 

The plane was old and loud and the toilets dirty, not cleaned during the flight. 

Never again with her "home" airline. 

[Creasy]

21 minutes ago, Huckenfell said:

Think again, AA do NOT fly to Brisbane, they fly to the Gold Cost, Cooloongatta, over 87 klm south of Brisbane.

You're 100% wrong.

 

Air Asia Brisbane 12.50 - Don Muang 19.20

Return Don Muang 23.20- Brisbane 11.35