....but in this case - SCORE! Another 747-400! It appears that Thai have addressed their chronic lack of availability on this route by substituting a Jumbo jet on this 55 minute sector - looking at our seat allocation, we're in the First Class section again... could it be that this is......

....YES! DOUBLE SCORE!! This is one of the very rare refurbished Thai 747's that feature the new First Class seat! Perhaps the Patron Saint of frequent flyers (St. Randy of the Sacred Springs, in case you wondered) is smiling on us after all.

So, Willard can gladly take his favoured position on the elecric ottoman again on this flight. Things are not just looking up, they are looking oddly familiar... Deja Vu brought on by one too many ham rolls in the domestic lounge perhaps? No, these seats are exactly the same design as the ones we were so glad to be seated in on our Malaysian long haul flight from London, only a few days ago.

So, Willard relaxes into his brand new seat (no time to turn it into a fully flat bed on this ultra-short flight) and muses on the striking similarities between the Malaysian and the Thai First seats....

....and the differences! The cabin does not have the open, airy feel of the Malaysian equivalent, and it's not just the choice of a deep mahogany colour scheme (which looks quite refined actually!), but the seats really are closer together. Though the cabin still goes back past the front (1R/L) doors, the space is encroached on by the toilets and galley on the right, and an extension of the business cabin on the left. As Willard kindly demonstrates, the storage areas are in the same locations as on Malaysian, but they are a lot shallower, useful only for storing wallets and spectacles, not bears. Also, there is a protruding bulkhead that delimits the front extent of the middle front seats (3D,G I guess) that sticks up about 100mm ( thats 6 inches for our stateside readers) from the floor, and we've already seen one flight attendant trip over it. I'm guessing this is not an uncommon ocurrance. As a passenger, the seats are a tremendous improvement, but you can see where cost savings have been made during the refurbishment (like leaving the huge CRT-based video projector in place, that many a First Class passenger has cursed as they hit their head on it getting out of row 1 during the night!).