Last month I wrote about Thai Airways’ new A330 business class product, which is their seventh unique business class configuration. They have two types of angled flat products, a staggered business class seat for longhaul flights, two different unique products on their 787s, a recliner configuration on their last 737, and they introduced a new Solstys style staggered business class product that would be outfitted on some of their A330s.
Well, we have even more information about the retrofit process, which makes the process even more confusing.
Thai Airways only plans to retrofit three A330s with their new Solstys-style staggered business class product.
Thai Airways Airbus A330 Old Business Class Cabin
Thai Airways plans to retrofit their three oldest A330s with their new business class cabin. These will carry the registration numbers HS-TEN, HS-TEO and HS-TEP. While all aircraft feature the same seats in business class, Thai Airways has many economy class configurations on the A330 alone, and these three aircraft carry their oldest configuration. Presumably they’ll be replacing the economy seats as well.
Thai Airways Airbus A330 Economy Class
While Thai Airways’ three oldest A330s were presumably in the worst condition, I flew on HS-TER, a slightly newer A330, late last year, and didn’t find the aircraft to be particularly in shape either.
Worn, low-quality PTVs on one of the Thai Airways A330s that won’t undergo the retrofit
I actually found the economy cabin on these slightly newer A330s to be just as underwhelming as their older counterparts (pictured above). They still don’t feature USB ports or any seatback storage, and the PTVs are still small and pretty low quality – and they’re not any better padded either. Fortunately, both seats feature footrests, which is a nice touch in economy.
Thai Airways Airbus A330 Economy Class Cabin
Thai Airways Airbus A330 Economy Class Cabin
Thai Airways’ newer A330s feature a gorgeous economy class product, so hopefully the three A330s will get retrofitted with economy seats of their like, if not a new seat altogether resembling Thai Airways’ newer economy seats on their 777s.
Thai Airways Airbus A330 Hong Kong Airport
Bottom Line
It seems lazy for Thai Airways to retrofit select older aircraft, while choosing not to retrofit others that are also falling apart. If anything, it leaves them with even more product inconsistency, as I don’t think Thai Airways will retire their A330s anytime soon. Thankfully, Thai Airways seems to be confining these A330s to fixed routes, which is good in terms of managing expectations, as opposed to making it a complete draw of the lottery.
None of them are slated to fly to Hong Kong as of now, so hopefully that changes in the near future.
Have you flown Thai Airways’ new A330 business class product?