Thai Airways has started flying its first Boeing 787 Dreamliner and we’ve got the first review of its Royal Silk business class seats.
Australian Business Traveller reader Mick Sweeney snapped these shots and took some notes during Thai’s TG103 flight from Chiang Mai to Bangkok.
Thai’s Boeing 787 is rostered onto these hour-long regional flights to get the cabin crew trained up before the Dreamliner enters international service later this year, beginning with the inaugural Bangkok-Perth route.
The business class seats in Thai Airways’ Boeing 787 are identical to United Airlines' international business class, including the new Boeing 787-9 which will launch on a new Melbourne-Los Angeles direct route from October 28.
Read: United Airlines Boeing 787-9 to go daily on Melbourne-Los Angeles
The business class cabin contains four rows of lie-flat seats in a 2-2-2 layout (rows 11, 12, 14 and 15, with the seats paired as AB, EF and JK) for a total of 24 seats.
“The AB seats on the left side of the aircraft faced slightly towards the window,” Sweeney reports, “whilst the EF and JK seats all face the right side of the aircraft.”
“We sat in 14A and 14B and quite liked the way seats were facing the windows, and being a Boeing 787 there were good views through the large windows even from the aisle seat.”
“Once the bed was fully flat we found that the footwell was quite narrow when we kept our shoes on” Sweeney says.
“The footwells in all the front row seats were much wider than the three rows behind, so I think this will make Row 11 seats very desirable.”
“Row 15 in business class is quite close to the front of economy” Sweeney recounts, “which on our flight was filled with families with young (crying) children who could be heard quite loudly in the back of the business class cabin.”
The Boeing 787's Royal Silk business class seats are 21 inches wide with a 60 inch pitch and recline to a 78 inch fully-flat bed.
Each business class seat has its own 16 inch screen…
… with AC and USB sockets conveniently located near the shoulder of each passenger rather than down at floor level.
Thai Airways will receive its full order of six Boeing 787-8s between July 2014 and June 2015, and also has signed for two of the longer 787-9.
Also read: Airlines quick off the mark to fly the Boeing 787-9
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David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
Malaysia Airlines - Enrich
21 Mar 2014
Total posts 22
The seats look a bit ordinary to me. Whats with the towells hanging over the headrests? Looks untidy and more like a massage parlour!!
25 Sep 2013
Total posts 1242
They look like excessively thick antimacassars.
Singapore Airlines - KrisFlyer
14 Jan 2014
Total posts 340
It's called "happy ending" decor styling ;-p
Air New Zealand - Airpoints
04 Sep 2012
Total posts 136
The seat is good for United, but I kind of thought that Thai would have a better seat? Direct aisle access......? Oh well, it will still be good if used on medium or short haul :)
30 Aug 2013
Total posts 438
Thais current angle-flat J seats are great for day-time flights and offer MUCH more space than their A380 J. For overnight flights you would obviously want a fully-flat.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
04 Nov 2011
Total posts 359
The 80's called. They want their seats back.
Singapore Airlines - KrisFlyer
14 Jan 2014
Total posts 340
Might be fitting if you end up watching back to the future...
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