Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport is a sprawling complex that used to house nine premium lounges of its resident carrier, Thai Airways. Most of those spaces are shut now, sadly. But just before COVID, Thai Airways opened the biggest of them all – the Royal Orchid Prestige Lounge in Concourse D.
This is now the catch-all lounge that most Thai Airways lounge-worthy passengers will gravitate towards, as it’s straight after immigration and security. With room for 463 travellers and a footprint of over 2,000 square metres, there’s certainly plenty of room for everyone.
Here’s what it’s like at Thai Airways’ current flagship lounge in Bangkok.
Lounge location and details
The Royal Orchid Prestige Lounge is situated straight after Fast Track security. If you check in at the dedicated premium counters and make your way through the Fast Track lane, you’ll find the entrance to the lounge directly ahead of you, down the escalator.
But for those who have to make do with the normal lanes or who want to fill up their cabin bags with a bit more shopping first, you can find the main entrance opposite Gate D4.
Nearby is the Royal Silk Lounge on Concourse D, which is an older Business Class lounge. That’s also open for business, but not the adjacent Royal First lounge for First Class passengers. Also closed, sadly, is the Royal Orchid Spa – a relic from Thai Airways in its heyday, where Business and First Class passengers could enjoy spa treatments before their flight.
Instead, the newer Royal Orchid Prestige lounge has separate wings for Business and First Class passengers. It’s open from 5:00 am to 2:00 am, daily.
Lounge layout and seating
As I’m flying in Business Class, I’m directed to the larger east zone, which is home to Royal Silk Class passengers and those with Star Alliance Gold equivalent status. It’s one long room that seemingly goes on forever, but is divided into different areas through partitions.
I do love the use of greenery, which provides a pleasing burst of colour against Thai Airways’ typical refined palette. Floor-to-ceiling windows along the whole side of the lounge lets in plenty of light from the terminal, though it’s too early in the morning for me to see anything. It’s a modern, new look that suits Thai Airways.
The majority of the seats are your typical lounge chairs, separated by a small table, lamp and charging ports. But there are bar tables and dining tables near the kitchen, if you prefer.
A quick lounge tour
Starting from the main entrance and turning right, the first major area is the main dining room. This area got quite busy towards 7:00 am, so I’d recommend venturing further down if you prefer some quiet in the morning. Moving along, I spot the entrance to the bathrooms on the left and a locked VIP room on the right.
It gets quieter as I trundle towards the satellite dining area and the bar. I find it a bit strange that the staffed bar is so far away from the main kitchen, but since there’s barista-made coffee here (and cocktails later in the day), it’s sure to be worth the walk.
Finally, right at the end of the lounge is a secondary entrance where you have ended up if you took the escalator down from the Fast Track lane. At least the bar is the first thing you see when you enter like a rock star.
Food and beverage
Buffet and made-to-order dining
As someone who finds basic breakfasts to be rather boring, I’m happy to say that the Thai Airways Royal Orchid Prestige lounge puts out a rather decent spread in the morning. I predominantly tuck into Asian-inspired delights such as steamed dumplings and buns, fresh-cut fruits and vibrant salads, fried rice, sauteed mushrooms, spring rolls, chicken wings and more.
For more western palates, Thai Airways valiantly puts out fettuccine with pesto tuna sauce, though I’m not sure what the uptake of that is in the mornings. But there are also plenty of pastries and sandwiches if you prefer something lighter and not as fishy.
À la carte dining is also back – you can order omelettes, scrambled eggs or congee with mixed chicken, which all sound fairly decent. I hear that the variety of food on offer is even better once the kitchen switches to all-day dining, but we’ll need to do a repeat visit later in the day to check it out.
The satellite dining room further in the lounge has a special feature for Muslim passengers – a designated halal food area. There’s a much smaller range of food, including the same pastries, but you’ll also find chicken sausages and fried eggs on the buffet.
Beverages
I usually adopt an ‘it’s 5:00 pm somewhere in the world’ attitude when it comes to travel. But 5:00 am is a bit too extreme, even for me, so I pass on the Mai Tai and Mojito on the cocktail menu and go for the barista-made coffee instead, which is passable.
Alcohol is available all day. Spirits on the shelf include Campari, Kahlua, Gilbey’s gin, Bacardi rum and Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey – all reasonable picks, though the gin has mixed reviews. The wine list comprises entry-level drops hailing from Chile.
Want a beer? You’ll find Heineken, Chang and Singha here. Bar fridges in both dining areas also stock water, juices, and soft drinks.
Lounge amenities
Bathrooms and showers
The main bathrooms are near the lounge entrance. They’re clean and functional, though there’s not much else to say about them. Unfortunately, the shower rooms are currently closed and Thai Airways has not indicated when they might reopen.
Power and Wi-Fi
Keeping your devices charged isn’t a problem, with plenty of universal AC plugs at most seats. The free Wi-Fi isn’t quite up to scratch though. It only reaches a paltry 4.90 Mbps in download speeds and 4.78 Mbps in upload speeds. Usable, but not something you’d want to rely on if you were downloading shows offline or uploading large files to a work account, for example.
Lounge access options
As a major Star Alliance hub, there are quite a few ways to access the Thai Airways Royal Orchid Prestige lounge in Bangkok.
- Class of travel: First Class (+1 guest) and Business Class passengers (no guest) travelling on Thai Airways or Star Alliance partner airlines. Thai Smile Airways’ Smile Plus passengers (no guest).
- Airline frequent flyer status: Royal Orchid Plus Gold and Platinum members (+1 guest) before a Star Alliance flight.
- Alliance frequent flyer status: Star Alliance Gold members (+1 guest) before a Star Alliance flight.
- Lounge pass redemption: Using Royal Orchid Plus miles to redeem a pass before Thai Airways or Thai Smiles flights.
The Thai Airways website also indicates that some local bank and credit card programs may provide lounge access.
Fast track to Star Alliance Gold status quickly and enjoy access to lounges before any Star Alliance flight (including Thai Airways), even when you’re flying in Economy!
Summing up
The Thai Airways Royal Orchid Prestige lounge ticks most of the boxes without being particularly spectacular. Credit where it’s due – the new décor is a major improvement over the last generation of Thai Airways lounges. It’s also big enough to handle the morning rush and the breakfast options are quite good.
But it’s small things that bring down the experience a bit, such as relatively slow Wi-Fi and the shower rooms still being closed. Thai Airways is in a bit of financial strife, but hopefully it can gradually reinvest in its products to bring the standards back up.
All photography by Brandon Loo, who travelled at Point Hacks’ expense.
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