With Thai Airways You Never Know What You're in Store For

Booking an airplane ticket these days is harder than it used to be. Forget about the recent rate hikes and the new baggage restrictions, now there is thing even more disconcerting to worry about. On a recent trip to Thailand via Thai airways I learned all about it the hard way.

The first Thai air shocker came early on, during check-in for my flight to Bangkok. To my surprise my carefully chosen Thai air flight to BKK was a code share, not only that, but the plane being used was their code share partner's: China Airlines. While I have no personal qualms with China Airlines as a corporation, anyone with a bit of Asia travel experience knows that China Airlines' planes are rather compact, to put it lightly. Leg room is scarce, intensified by the storage of carry on baggage. The situation gets even worse when the seats are reclined; at that point the seat is resting, or pushing, on the knees of the individual behind them. The only upside is that they have personal televisions on the seat making for a more entertaining ride. Still, this source of entertainment has little impact on the comfort of the trip since the extremely close seats and lack of leg room create a miserable environment.

In contrast, Thai Airways sports more roomy, comfortable, planes. Having purchased a ticket for the roomier, more comfortable flight, you can imagine my disappointment and frustration at having to endure nearly 18 hours on the more compact China Airlines plane.

As if 18 hours of feeling like a sardine in a tightly packed can, my flight home from Bangkok brought even more surprises. My booked flight was to go from Bangkok to Seoul, and from Seoul to Los Angeles. The ticket, confirmation, and itinerary clearly displayed this, and a "1 stop over" label. Yet, in true Thai Airways form, I arrived at the terminal only to find that there would be a stop over in Taiwan before going on to Korea. I was furious. I paid extra for only one stop, so why then was I being made to endure two stops? Whatever the reason, this is enough to make any passenger furious and seek another airline for future travel.

To top it all off, I boarded the plane to find my booked seat, an aisle, was a middle seat instead. I had confirmed at the front desk that the seat was an aisle, I'd even confirmed it online when I booked it. I'm that annoying passenger that gets up nearly every hour due to excessive restlessness, boredom, and drinking far too much water. So, as you might imagine, sitting by the window or in the middle causes excessive irritation for those next to me. I've actually gotten complaints about it. So, I now sit in the aisle to eliminate the inconvenience. Thus, when I boarded my flight to find a middle seat, and after all the previous annoyances, I requested they immediately change the seat. Luckily, they did accommodate, but I had to wait by the bathroom with my bags until the entire flight was boarded. After hours of travel I was so tired and irritable, all I wanted to so was settle into a seat and try for some rest.

For an airline as prominent and posh as Thai it was sincerely disappointing to find a lack of reliability (the consistent late take-off, booking mix-ups, un-communicated code shares, and additional stops). Thai Airways may seem like an ideal airline for a spacious, comfortable flight, but the unexpected and unwanted surprises are just too much to handle. No one wants to deal with the extra stress of the aforementioned. Instead, one may want to consider a more reliable airline. Perhaps a shift in passenger numbers will give Thai Airways the hint it needs to make it's service equal to the quality of the airplanes.