As much as I’m not a fan of Thai’s in-flight experience (on their older aircraft), I am a huge fan of their ground services. First class passengers are treated like royalty with private rides to/from the gates, buggy transports, personal escorts to/from the lounge and hour long spa services at the Royal Orchid Spa. There really is no better to fly through Asia and I highly recommend that everyone do it at least once just to experience it. I had the opportunity to visit the Royal Orchid Spa and Royal First Lounge on my last trip and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Now, it’s not just first class passengers that are treated to the sweet perks. Business class passengers can get in on the fun also with lounge access to the Royal Silk Lounges and 30 minute spa services at the Royal Orchid Spa. Business class passengers are treated to either a neck and shoulder massage or a foot and leg massage. You can read more about my visit to the Royal First Lounge and Royal Orchid Spa services here.
Thai Airways has eight lounges at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International Airport. The (one) Royal First Lounge is for first class passengers on Thai Airways and Star Alliance partner flights only. The (five) Royal Silk Lounges are for business class passengers on Thai Airways and Star Alliance partner flights and Star Alliance Gold members. And the (one) Royal Orchid Spa and (one) Royal Orchid Lounge are for both first and business class passengers and Star Alliance Gold members. Other Star Alliance partner lounges at BKK include the EVA Airways Lounge and Singapore Airlines SilverKris Lounge.
On this trip, I was flying Thai Airways business class from Tokyo to Auckland via Bangkok and had an opportunity to visit the Royal Orchid Spa again and the Royal Silk Lounge in Concourse C – West. Because I had a few hours to kill, I made my way to the Royal Orchid Spa upon landing. I presented my boarding pass to the attendant and asked for a neck and shoulder massage. There was no wait and I was immediately escorted back to one of their massage rooms for my service.
The massage was amazing and ended too quickly as you imagined. I was relaxed, rejuvenated and quickly forgot about my sub-par in-flight experience. After my massage, I gathered my bags and made my way to the Royal Silk Lounge located on the west side of Concourse C. This lounge is smaller than the Concourse D Royal Silk Lounge but I ended up here because it was closer to the departure gate (C5) of my connecting flight to Auckland.
The lounge features two private rooms, a buffet bar with a variety of food, snacks and refreshments, complimentary WiFi internet access, shower suites, slumber rooms and a business corner with four HP PC computers. The business corner was located in the back of the lounge but they were not more private or quiet from the rest of the lounge.
The lounge decor is a little dated but felt comfortable and homely. Low armchairs and small tables were spread throughout the length of the lounge with the buffet bar located in the center. The buffet bar was well catered with an offering of traditional Thai dishes, sandwiches, pastries, desserts and a salad bar. The self-serve alcohol bar had a decent offering of beers, wines and spirits.
This lounge is on the smaller side at only 7,000 square feet (compared to the 22,000 square feet Royal Silk Lounge in Concourse D) but at no time did it ever feel crowded or noisy. At the time of my visit, 5 PM on a Tuesday, the lounge was about half full. There were still plenty of seats and tables available and the food was plentiful. If you do plan on visiting the Concourse D lounge instead of this one, know that there are no slumber rooms or shower suites over there. But there is a full bar and more food options than here. The Royal Silk Lounges are open from 5:00 AM to 2:00 AM.
Service-wise, the attendants were great. Even though it was a self-serve buffet area, the attendants insisted that I tell them what I wanted and have a seat as they got my food and brought it to my seat. The place was kept clean with employees busing dishes and cleaning up after everyone constantly.
The shower suites were large, clean and stocked with quality Thann bath and body products. There’s plenty of room to spread out and re-organize your belongings if you need a change of clothes.
Overall, I found the Thai Airways Royal Silk Concourse C – West lounge to be a great place to kill a couple of hours before my flight. The food was tasty and plentiful and the large windows provided plenty of natural light with views of the gates and runway. The lounge is a little on the older side but it was still a comfortable place to freshen up, fill up and relax. Coupled with the Royal Orchid Spa services, there really is no better way to fly through Asia and I can’t praise Thai Airways enough for their amazing ground services.
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Other trip reports in this series:
- Introduction: How we booked our trip using United miles
- Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge at LAX
- Air New Zealand Lounge at LAX
- Air China “Forbidden Pavilion” first class Los Angeles to Beijing, Boeing 777-300ER
- Air China first class lounge at PEK
- Air China business class Beijing to Seoul, Airbus A330-300
- Hilton Seoul
- United Airlines “BusinessFirst” Los Angeles to Tokyo Narita, Boeing 787-8
- Asiana business class lounge at ICN
- Asiana business class Seoul to Tokyo Narita, Airbus A330-300
- Conrad Tokyo
- Hilton Tokyo
- ANA business class lounge at NRT
- Thai Airways “Royal Silk” business class Tokyo Narita to Bangkok, Boeing 747-400
- Thai Airways Royal Silk Lounge at BKK
- Thai Airways “Royal Silk” business class Bangkok to Auckland, Boeing 777-200
- Hilton Auckland
- Emperor Lounge at AKL
- Air New Zealand Koru Club Lounge at AKL
- Air New Zealand “Business Premier” Auckland to Shanghai, Boeing 777-200
- Air China business class lounge at PVG
- Air China business class Shanghai to Taipei, Airbus A330-300
- EVA Air Evergreen Lounge at TPE
- EVA Air “Royal Laurel” business class Taipei to Los Angeles, Boeing 777-300ER
