FOXTROTS
Fox – sly. Trots – left-leaning (Trotsky) plus its more insalubrious meaning.
Foxtrots – leading the industry in a dance.
2009 December 08
Thailand. Travelling trials and errors.
[] Thai Airways; bad. Some airlines try to make economy-class fun (offering ice cream at the end of a meal, for instance). But I get the impression that Thai wants to constantly remind you that you are travelling in CC – cheap class.
On a recent longhaul flight, no nuts were offered with pre-meal drinks – perhaps acceptable in these hard times. Likewise for when I asked for fruit at the end of the meal. He said No, and I guess I accept that, but I feel other airlines would get something from business class if a passenger made a specific request.
On my flight, the in-flight-entertainment stopped working after 60-minutes and only the sound for the main TV channel worked. The in-cabin screen (no seat-back screens here) did not show a movie, only short features/reports and a full-length cartoon film. This was a night-flight, which indicates that TG management does not realise that there are all sorts of passengers on its flights, and not just Bangkok-Rome passengers on a Bangkok-Rome flight.
When I asked, the head steward said he could not reset sound system until the film had finished. It was 0300 in the morning (departure-point time) and I estimate two people were watching the mid-cabin screen. So the steward was either lazy (just another flight when something technical goes wrong, so he is not to blame if passenger complaints come in) or inefficient, because he could have made that decision to stop the movie and try again.
But perhaps he knew it could not be fixed, because it was never fixed. And there was not an apology from anyone – which leads me to believe it is a regular occurrence.
[] Bangkok airport; bad. Passengers have two directions to go after clearing security – left (say to Gates ABC) or right (DEF). When I checked in, my gate had not been assigned, so I did not know which gate – but there is no flight departure board at that point. I did not know which direction to go, but I went right, and found the first flight information board after 50m of shops, restaurants etc.
I read there that my gate was in finger F, and so I looked to see which direction I should go – but there were no signs! I am not kidding. Nothing in either direction, except the fact that I was currently at finger D. Worse, there are few information counters. However, I am sure the Airports Authority of Thailand would tell me that there are lots of information machines that would have told me.
[] Bangkok airport; bad. The airport has no wifi (presumably because of the government monopoly for the local telecommunications body, CAT); even Chiangmai has not only wifi, but it is free. Worse, if you are a departing passenger at Bangkok, you must go down two flights of stairs to the CAT office with computers, and then through security checks again to get back up to the departure level.
[] Bangkok airport; bad. Many airlines and even airports show flights to ‘Suvarnabumi’ and don’t mention Bangkok. I flew from Chiangmai, not to Bangkok, but to Suvarnabumi. Worse, for those who do not understand English well, ‘Suvarnabumi’ is not pronounced as it is spelled; the last ‘i’ is missed.
[] Bangkok airport; finally, something positive to say, although this may not have been intelligent design, but lucky accident – for heterosexual males, that is. At my gate, I went to the boarding gate and sat in one of the few available seats. I discovered it was a great seat for girl-watching. Because to get to the gate check in, passengers, including girls with short skirts, had to walk down a slope to a point 1m from me at eye level. In other words, a facility that might be good for looking up skirts, but something which is also another example of bad professional design.
The Fox
Foxtrots 