This is a Continuation of “Trip Report – A Private Jet Experience: Alone in First Class on ANA and Thai, Plus Singapore First, a Suite, a Villa, and Some Incredible Food Porn”

Past installments:

• Prologue: The decision-making and booking process
  
• Washington Dulles – Chicago in United First Class and the Greatest Airport Hotel Ever, the Intercontinental O’Hare
  
• Alone in First Class on ANA, Chicago-Tokyo
  
• Singapore Airlines First Class, Tokyo-Singapore
  
• JetQuay Planeside Pickup in Singapore
  
• Intercontinental Singapore Ambassador Suite
  
• In and Around Singapore
  
• Tetsuya’s Restaurant Waku Ghin at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore
  
• Iggy’s Restaurant in Singapore
  
• JetQuay Departure from Singapore Changi Airport

We boarded and found Thai’s international business class seats, which are perfect for a short hop like this but I wouldn’t want to sit in them for true long-haul.

Leg room was ample, though, certainly greater pitch than Asiana’s similar-style seats.

Pre-departure beverages were served, newspapers distributed, and since we had boarded close to departure time we weren’t on the ground long and we were shortly on our way towards Bangkok.

I settled in, checked out the seat, and found that it did have power ports, but either they didn’t work or they weren’t turned on.

Menus were distributed shortly after takeoff. Here were the choices for the short two hour flight:

First Course
Crab and Avocado Timbale

Main Course
Grilled Salmon on Piperade
Saffron Potatoes

Or

Stir-fried Chicken Thigh Cantonese Style
Fried Yellow Noodles with Carrot and Celery
Sauteed Taiwanese Cabbage with Oyster Sauce

Or

Stir-fried Beef with Chili Paste
Steamed Thai Hom Mali Rice
Kailan and Carrot

Assorted Bread, Crackers, Butter, Cheese

Dessert
Apple Tartlet with Vanilla Anglaise
Tea, Coffee
Espresso, Capuccino

Here was the appetizer:

I had the beef, which was really quite spicy and tasty:

Dessert was stale and inedible:

By the time my tray was cleared the flight was half over, I watched a few minutes of a TV show on my laptop, and we began our descent.

We were off quickly, and followed the signs for transfer to domestic destinations. Several destinations involve clearing transit immigration and then clearing customs at your final destination. They give you these stickers to put on your shirt identifying you as a passenger doing this but I’ve never seen the stickers checked and it’s hardly a secure method, so I don’t quite understand the stickers.

Once through immigration and security for the domestic terminal, we headed to the Thai Airways domestic lounge. It’s not much to look at, I found the internet very slow. There’s no alcoholic beverages and the snacks are modest. But it’s a better place to sit than the terminal itself.

About 35 minutes prior to departure we headed over to our gate, and we waited. And waited. It was a bus gate, I don’t think I’ve ever headed out to a domestic destination without leaving from an apron position.

Now, in the lounge the aircraft had shown as a 744. But when we arrived we found it was one of the Jet Airways 777s. Another Thai Airways aircraft swap (wait for it, there’ll be another one coming in this report!). And now I was even more bummed that I had missed out on a first class seat assignment for the aircraft. But I really don’t mind a business class seat on the Jet Airways 777, it was pretty great actually.

A modest meal was served on the one-hour flight.

And we were quickly in Phuket, bags were off the belt in a hurry, and we spotted the representative for our hotel once we walked outside the arrivals hall.