Thai Airways International (Thai: การบินไทย) is the national air carrier of Thailand, operating out of Suvarnabhumi Airport, and is a founding member of the Star Alliance network. Like Singapore Airlines, Thai offers some of the longest non-stop commercial flights from Bangkok to New York and Los Angeles. Skytrax awarded Thai Airways International 'Worlds Best Cabin Staff' in 2006, while placing second in the 'Airline of the Year' category in 2007, second to only Singapore Airlines.

History

Main article: Thai Airways International destinations Destinations
Thai Airways Cargo operate 747-200F freighter aircraft service, thrice weekly Bangkok-Dubai-Paris in cooperation with Focus Air Cargo.

Cargo
Thai has four travel classes: Economy, Premium Economy, Royal Silk and Royal First.

Travel Classes
Economy Class is the cheapest class on Thai. Seat pitch on Thai Economy offers passengers up to 36" pitch in selected aircraft with an average of 34" on all aircraft. All Economy seats in Airbus A340-500, Airbus A340-600 and Boeing B777-200ER have individual Audio-Video On Demand (AVOD) In-flight Entertainment (IFE) system. Passengers will be given a choice of Thai or Western meals. Alcoholic beverages are free and served to passengers over the age of 18.

Economy Class
The new Premium Economy Class is only available on inter-continental flights between Bangkok(BKK) and Los Angeles(LAX) or New York(JFK) on Airbus A340-500 aircraft. The fare for Premium Economy Class is slightly higher than Economy but lower than Royal Silk (Business) Class. Premium Economy seating is configured as 2-3-2 rather than the standard 2-4-2 in Economy. Seat pitch is increased to 42", 135 degree angle of recline and the seat features a leg-rest. Premium Economy class passengers also have more choices over their meal selection.
On some long-haul routes such as Bangkok - Copenhagen, Bangkok - Stockholm, aircraft with previous generation Business Class seats are used - therefore the seats are sold under Premium Economy Class fare.

Royal Silk (Business) Class
The new Royal First Class was introduced with the arrival of the Airbus A340-600. It offers 8 solo flat-beds. Furthermore, THAI's retrofited 12 B747-400s were also equipped with this B/E Aerospace seat which mostly served Europe-Australia and some intra-Asian flights.

Royal First Class
Thai Airways International's Royal Orchid Plus is the first frequent flyer program established in Thailand . It has a membership of over two million members world-wide. Individuals above the age of two can join the program.
Earning Miles
There are two types of mile which can be earned towards a Royal Orchid Plus account.
1. Eligible Qualifying Miles (EQM) this type of mile is earned on flown:
Qualifying Miles (Q Miles) are the actual miles flown and additional class of service miles on Thai and Star Alliance airlines. Royal Orchid Plus miles are earned based on the paid class of travel and subject to eligible booking class codes of the airline flown.
2. Partner Miles are earned from various non-airline partners, such as hotels.
Status Tiers
There are three tiers in the Royal Orchid Plus program

Thai Airways flights
TG codeshare flights on routes departing from/to Bangkok (Malaysian Airlines, Emirates Airlines, El Al Israel Airlines and China Eastern Airlines)
Star Alliance flights
Jet Airways flights
Member - entry-level status
Silver - requires 10,000 Q Miles in one calendar year or 15,000 Q Miles from the date of enrolment up to December 31 of the next complete calendar year
Gold - requires 50,000 Q Miles in one calendar year, 80,000 Q Miles from the date of enrolment up to December 31 of the next complete calendar year, or 40 international flown sectors on THAI within any 1 calendar year. Royal Orchid Plus

Main article: Thai Airways International fleet Fleet
Thai Airways International codeshares with the following airlines on the following routes:

Swiss International Airlines -codeshare on service between Bangkok and Zurich, Switzerland. Service is operated by either Thai or Swiss.
Emirates -codeshare on service from Bangkok to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Thai operates the service and Emirates codeshares it.
Malaysia Airlines -codeshare on service between Thailand and Malaysia. Thai takes some of the service, Malaysian the rest.
El Al -codeshare on service to Tel Aviv, Israel. All flights are operated by El Al and codeshared by Thai.
Japan Airlines (JAL) -codeshare on service to several destinations in Japan, including Osaka and Nagoya. Flights are operated by JAL or Thai Airways.
Jet Airways -codeshare operated by Jet Airways codesharing with Thai to Indian destinations.
Royal Jordanian -codeshare operated by Royal Jordanian codesharing with Thai to Amman, Jordan.
Air Madagascar -codeshare operated by Air Madagascar codesharing with Thai to Antananarivo.
Qatar Airways -codeshare operated by Qatar Airways codesharing with Thai to Doha, Qatar.
Gulf Air -codeshare operated by Gulf Air codesharing with Thai to Bahrain.
Egyptair -codeshare operated by Egypt Air codesharing with Thai to Cairo, Egypt.
Pakistan International Airlines -codeshare on services to Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad in Pakistan Codeshare agreements

TG 0XX : Northeastern Thailand
TG 1XX : Northern Thailand
TG 2XX : Southern Thailand
TG 3XX : South Asia and Myanmar
TG 4XX : Southeast Asia ex. Myanmar and Indochina and Philippines
TG 5XX : Middle East and Pakistan
TG 60X - TG 67X : East Asia and Philippines
TG 68X - TG 69X : Indochina
TG 7XX : America and Africa
TG 8XX : Special Flight
TG 90X - TG 97X : Europe
TG 98X - TG 99X : Australia and New Zealand
TG 1xxx : Domestic flight from/to Bangkok's Don Muang Airport Incidents and accidents

Nok Air (a low-cost carrier of Thai Airways International)
Thai Airways (merged into Thai Airways International in 1988)