REVIEW – Thai Airways : Business Class – Bangkok to Bali Denpasar (B772)

We were the last passengers to board in Business, so were able to walk straight through the Royal Silk line whilst Economy was still boarding. To be honest, unless the lounge is really bad I don’t see the upside to being a premium gate louse .

Thai Airways refurbished their 772s in the past couple of years and removed the middle seat from what used to be a 2-3-2 config. This is a huge improvement, paying for Business and ending up in a middle seat is just not on in this day and age (although Emirates don’t seem to have gotten the memo).

However this was not a full refurb, the middle row now uses the same size seats as the sides. The result? Ridiculously wide-aisles.

This is immediately apparent upon boarding the plane.

The seat is not the most modern out there but is perfectly acceptable for a short 4hr hop. It is angled lie-flat rather than 180 and is very similar to the Qantas Skybed MkI seats.

The biggest surprise of the flight was the sight of two Porsche Design Amenity kits waiting for us as we approached our seats. At this point in time there had been reports of these replacing Rimowa kits in F, so to receive one in Business for a 4hr flight was great!

PDBs were offered upon boarding, with refills too. However these were served “tray style” where you take your drink from a large tray filled with glasses of water, juice and champagne. I’ve noticed that very few airlines still take individual PDB orders in J nowadays.

As soon as we reached cruising altitude the FAs began the first of many laps of the cabin with their drinks trolley. I’m a sucker for TGs use of trolleys for J drinks and F caviar, they are a throwback to those 60s and 70s airline ads where middle aged men in black and white pictures are being served freshly carved roasts in their giant, retro armchairs.

The meal service was a little cheap looking. Much like the seat, this was great for a 4hr flight but long haul? I wouldn’t be rushing to fly with this type of F&B.

First course: Miscellaneous cold items on a purple plastic tray

I pre-ordered the second course: Prawn Red Curry. It was fine but the vegetables were overcooked to the point of absurdity. Still… pretzel bread!

Dessert was ok, mostly cream.

The highlight of the meal: A really good, strong espresso.

After the meal I gave the IFE a miss and went with the organic entertainment option:

I’m a total sucker for a resort airport. My absolute favourite has to be Koh Samui for its outdoor luggage claim, immigration counters and well…pretty much everything is outdoors.

DPS is way larger than USM and the terminal is air conditioned but the temple-like gates still set this apart from the average airport. Our first time ever in Bali, the excitement was really starting to build!