Tag 13 - Thai Airways

On the 13th day it was just the beach to unwind. So there is no holiday story, but I would like to share our domestic flight experience with you.

Since we booked a domestic flight from Bangkok to Phuket and back, we saved around €200 per person compared to a direct flight from Vienna to Phuket, which we also spent in Bangkok , but we also wanted the capital anyway see.

Now we realized that on the return flight You only have a little more than three hours between landing in Bangkok and your onward flight to Vienna or Abu Dhabi . That's pretty tight, especially when we have to collect our luggage from the domestic flight and then check in again for the onward flight with a complete security check.

So I found the email address of the German Thai Airways office (German is a bit easier for me than English) and asked them if we could check our luggage in Bangkok, as it would save us a lot of time and would be on the safe side.

Answer from Germany: This is virtually none of our business and we should contact the office in Thailand. Well, that's right too. Google finds an office in Phuket, unfortunately it has been permanently closed for 4 years.

So I sent an email to the Thailand office (SidebarGPT translated) asking whether it was possible to check the luggage. Unfortunately there was no cooperation with Etihad, our overseas airline, and we would have to check in our suitcases again.

After I found an earlier flight with free seats on the Thai Airways homepage, I asked again whether we could rebook the flight we had booked. Answer: Nothing free anymore(!?)

My answer (with screenshot of the homepage): but it was free, whereupon I got the message that there were still “premium economy seats” available and that they could be booked with an additional charge of around 2000 Bhat. In urgent cases I should contact you by telephone.

Well, it was urgent because the flights could be canceled, so we called the airline. The English communication went quite well and I also received confirmation that there were still seats available. I should stay on the line, the employee will take care of it. I stayed on the line and listened to the hold music for a while until suddenly I couldn't hear anything. Hung up? Kicked off the line? I don't know it.

They were supposed to have my number (from my Thai SIM) and so I was hoping for a call back. He never came.... So I called again, explained everything again (I'm not entirely sure if it wasn't the same employee anyway) and was put back on hold. After a few minutes we received an answer that our flight would be rebooked, but it would cost 7000 THB per person, which is about the same as the basic price of the return flight. I didn't want to explain to him that I had an offer of 2000 Bhat by email and asked for the offer to be sent by email, which was also promised to me. I would clarify the price later.

Shortly later I received an email confirming this and the change had already been made online. There was no price anywhere and there was no invoice either....

In any case, there is now enough time in Bangkok between landing from Phuket and the onward flight.

kdakkad