Bangkok International Airport

We headed to the main terminal, where I decided to pass immigration right away instead of heading together with cathaana to one of the public Spas of Bangkok's new airport.

I changed money and went straight to the domestic Royal Orchid Lounge, which was not that crowded. It is a very nice lounge with windows, unfortunately not to the tarmac, free Wi-Fi and a respectable selection of food and beverage. Unfortunately no showers were available, but as I had not that much time, this was not a problem. I took an orange juice and connected my laptop to the free Wireless Internet and checked my mail and – of course – flyertalk.

As boarding time had come, I headed to the gate B 5, where my flight to Phuket was ready for boarding. Thai used a 747-400 on this short domestic routes and I was delighted to see it was a 747-400 in Star Alliance livery.

Like in Changi the security screening took place before you could enter the gate area. Laptop had to put out of the carry on and had to pass the x-ray machine separately. It was really fast, as no one was queuing in front of me, because boarding had started as I entered the gate area. A long line was waiting for Economy but fortunately there was a separate line for Business and Star Gold Passengers with only a few passengers. So I was on the jetway after a couple second of waiting in line.

14 May 2007
BKK – HKT
[Bangkok International– Phuket International]
TG 217 (Thai Airways International); Boeing 747 – 400 (HS-TGW / 'Visuthakasatriya')
Gate B 5
16:00 – 17:20 [effective 15:49 – 17:10]
Economy Class
Seat 49 A

Seat 49 A is in the second part of the Economy Cabin. Seats 49 B and C were taken and the passengers had already their seats. Though I was late in boarding I had no problem to store my carry on in the overhead bin, which was unexpected empty.

Boarding went on a couple of minutes and we had to wait for some late passengers. But finally it was announced “boarding completed” and we pushed back at 15:49 nearly ten minutes ahead of schedule. While pushed back the safety video demonstration was shown.

But we had to wait some time on the tarmac before it was finally our turn for takeoff and wheels were up at 16:05 and we headed in direction of the Gulf of Thailand and climbed in the now partly cloudy sky over Bangkok.

Seat belt sings were turned off quite fast after we were airborne and the crew began their service immediately with a hot towel service.

Thai offered a snack box service in Economy on this short hop which consisted of bottled orange juice, a cup, a paper napkin and a small apple tie. Water and orange juice refills were offered during flight time in addition to coffee and tea available during flight time. Everything was done in a very fast but professional and friendly manner.

The flight was partly bumpy especially shortly before we began our descent into Phuket airport.

The service of the crew were very routinely and they do a very good job providing a full service in Economy on this short trip, where you would get only a beverage service if you get some service at all in Europe.

The cabin crew prepared the cabin for lading rather late, something I have seen on some flights of TG in the past. It seems they see some things a bit more relaxed and Lufthansa & Co.

All announcements made on this flight pointed out the 10th anniversary of Star Alliance and mentioned Thai as proud member of Star Alliance. They even gave a note about the prize draw where you could win a round-the-world-ticket for two persons.

We finally touched down at Phuket at 17:10 and arrived at the gate at 17:12.

It took some time before I could disembark through the front door.

With the rest of the passengers I headed downstairs to the luggage belt. The passengers who have had an international connection in Bangkok got their luggage on a separate belt. Unfortunately Phuket's airport staff did not care about Priority tags and my bags arrived rather late. Finally I made it to customs and meet the driver of the Le Meridien Khao Lak Resorts at 17:40.

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