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This review is a continuation of my huge US Airways redemption that I wrote about back in this post. I reviewed Swiss Business Class: Boston to Zurich and Thai First Class: Paris to Bangkok on an A380 already.
This post focuses on Thai’s famous Royal Orchid Spa for First Class passengers, and the incredible complimentary massage I received!
Our hulking A380 pulled up to the gate at 6:00 AM Bangkok time, with my internal clock completely out of sorts. After experiencing a great flight (and some much needed sleep), it was time to hit the spa.
The Thai Royal Orchid Spa rivals the Lufthansa First Class Terminal as the nicest First Class lounge in the world. “Anticipation” is a mild word when describing my state as I walked through the doors of the spa. I was downright giddy!
Below are details on the Thai Royal Orchid Spa, pulled directly from Thai’s website.
Along with their famous spa treatments, Thai is equally renowned for their ground services in Bangkok, and they certainly didn’t disappoint. Upon deplaning I was met by a team of agents, all with signs for specific passengers. I located my representative and was escorted to a comfy golf cart.
We sped through the nearly empty terminal and breezed through immigration. After clearing, the agent led our group up to the Royal Orchid Lounge. I immediately asked for a shower room and to book my spa appointment. Thai does allow you to prebook certain treatments in advance, but I figured there would be no issues given my arrival right as the spa opened.
The agent was professional and friendly. He confirmed me for an hour long “Thai Massage of Relaxation” and promised someone would escort me on to my flight to Hong Kong after I wrapped up my treatment.
Desperately wanting a freshen up after such a long flight, I headed immediately to the shower rooms down the hallway. They were spacious and had plenty of room for repacking luggage and changing.
After taking a steaming hot shower, I changed and headed back to the main desk. Before doing so, I snapped a photo of a day lounge, which would be perfect for resting after a long flight.
The same agent who checked me in to the lounge escorted me across the hall to the Royal Orchid Spa.
My escort and the spa lounge check-in agent conferred and informed me my room would be ready momentarily. They led me to the small waiting area directly beside the check-in desk. I was provided some chilled juice and a cold towel, both perfect after my sauna-like shower.
After a few minutes, I was escorted to my spa room where I changed into the pajamas provided. My masseuse entered and asked if I ready for the Touch of Silk body oil massage. Being covered head to toe in oil seemed intensely unappealing after just showering, so I informed her that I had booked the more standard Relaxation massage.
She was initially confused, and left for a brief moment to confirm with the check-in desk. When the masseuse returned, she assured me that everything was fine and we began the treatment.
The massage was….interesting to say the least. It was mostly relaxing, but there were several quasi-painful moments sprinkled in between. At one point, the masseuse climbed up on the table and put both knees into my hamstrings while using her elbows on my back. That’s a new one to me!
The sixty minutes flew by, and the masseuse left me to change back into my street clothes. The shower portion of the room was enormous, but I had no need after doing so in the lounge.
I departed the spa and returned to the lounge where an agent confirmed my onward itinerary to Hong Kong in First Class (also on an A380). The agent quickly found an escort, and I was whisked away on another golf cart to my gate.
Recap
The Thai Royal Orchid Spa is a great feature for Thai First Class passengers. The spa treatment was relaxing and certainly a boast-worthy experience to friends.
The massage and lounge are certainly nice, but the real benefit to flying Thai First Class is their extraordinary ground services. I was whisked from plane to lounge to plane, never having to worry about missing a connection. The service, and not the spa, is the top reason why I would recommend transiting Bangkok on an Asian First Class itinerary.
Hopefully I can snap a few photos of the actual Royal Orchid Lounge on the next visit; my connection was simply too tight this time!
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This post makes me even more convinced to make another change in my GDN-MUC-NRT flight on December 27. Instead of ANA’s business class I was hoping to get onto Thai’s B777 or A340 plus finally A380. Provided they make the seats available, I could fly either of the routes: GDN-CPH-BKK-NRT, GDN-MUC/CPH-ZRH-BKK-NRT, etc.:)
Thanks for the report. I’m so excited about my upcoming 3 trips to visit this lounge for my first experiences. Guess I’ll save the shower for after the massage.
How much did you tip the masseuse?
Bill’s answer may be different. I got the oil massage in September and didn’t tip because I have never tipped an airline employee. I might have done this horribly wrong. Have others tipped their masseuse in the Thai First Class spa?
[…] Trip Report: Thai Royal Orchid Spa in Bangkok with Free Hour Long Massage […]
I may be booking Thai Air Business class for one of our flights. It looks like Royal Silk Class gets a 30 minute massage. Do you know if this is for inbound and outbound flights? And for use of the lounge?
I’d love to know the answer to this also: “Do you know if this is for inbound and outbound flights? And for use of the lounge?” I’m flying in F on TG from SYD-BKK in April. But my outgoing BKK-NRT is on UA metal.
Thai first ground services was beyond anything I have ever seen. I would say the First Class Terminal (Lufthansa – Frankfurt) are similar, but Thai goes beyond as far as the pampering that you get. I felt more relaxed at the Thai first class lounge and massage area than Lufthansa’s (Lufthansa feels more stiff).
Without a doubt, Thai was great and despite people say about their hit or miss first class in the air, I think Thai, so far, has the best first class I have ever experienced (I actually liked it more than Lufthansa First).
Sounds like what you got was a pretty standard Thai massage. Available everywhere in Thailand for a very small price (whenever I visit family in Thailand, we always schedule “relaxation day” where we hire a couple masseuses to come to our house, and they spend an hour working on each adult – the cost for a good, hour long massage is probably US $25-$35). It’s great.
The elbows and knees pushed hard into your muscles, and other pressure that is briefly painful, is pretty standard stuff (and usually quite good, once the pain stops!). You should of course always be prepared to tell the person giving you the massage if/when you are feeling uncomfortable. Note for future reference: the Thai word for pain is pronounced “Jepp” – if you say that (or even if you just grunt “ow!” or the Thai equivalent, “Oy!”) they will know that you have reached your limit and will dial it down a bit (if you do not, they will assume the sharp stuff is what you want).
You do not (and should not) just lay there completely silent the whole time – give them some feedback, and they can adjust pressures accordingly. By the way, the “oil” they use is pretty much standard practice, and you will get a much better, more effective massage if you strip down to shorts and let them use the oil – your bare skin with the oil receives the pressure much better than through clothing. They are used to giving a massage with the oil, and doing one with pajamas on is a little weird (although maybe that’s not unusual in the airport lounge with all the crazy farangs they get…).
After clicking on the “jump”, the upper blue banner (Milevalue, Start Here, etc..) seems to cover the first post jump sentence. Can u insert a couple empty lines there? Not a huge deal but Im OCD. Sorry
From thaiairways.com:
“Please note that THAI does not accept reservation for all treatments in advance.”
http://www.thaiairways.com/thai-services/on-the-ground/en/royal-orchid-spa.htm
If you land Thai First Class in Bangkok but don’t have a connector, is one still able to access these lounge amenities?