26 Hours in Bangkok: Introduction
Singapore Airlines Boeing 787-10 New Regional Business Class SIN-BKK
Thai Airways Royal Orchid Lounge Bangkok Suvarnabhumi
Thai Airways Royal Silk Lounge Bangkok Suvarnabhumi
EVA Air Lounge Bangkokย Suvarnabhumi
Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-200ER Business Class BKK-SIN
After arriving via the Airport Rail Link nice and early for my flight back home, I made my way over to the Departure Level of Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport to collect my boarding pass. Singapore Airlines has its counters at check in Row K at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi, which appears right in front of you as you reach the Departure Levels by taking the escalators up from the Airport Rail Link level.
Although there were two families taking up the Business Class counters, the friendly check in staff manning the KrisFlyer Elite Gold/Premium Economy counter waved me over and checked me in within minutes. Having collected my boarding pass, I made use of the priority lane at immigration and in no time at all I was inside the transit area. With three lounges to visit in the span of 2 hours 45 minutes, that particular Sunday was declared “legs day” and I patted myself on the back for having ice cream for breakfast at Chatuchak that morning. Rule No.1 : There are no rules on what you cannot eat for breakfast while on holiday.
Having made my way into the transit area, the Singapore Airlines SilverKris lounge was actually just behind the golden dragon and might I add that it was also located conveniently after the priority immigration area behind Row K but alas, there was work to be done. The SilverKris lounge experience had to wait as I went off in search of a airport directory. Thankfully, it wasn’t before long that I located a lounge directory just to the left of the dragon’s head (what a useful landmark).
The little red man which you see in the map was where I was and if like me you’re thinking to yourself right now, “Matt, why on earth did you agree to review lounges that are at the opposite ends of the terminal”, your guess was as good as mine. I didn’t know either. With a thumb in my mouth, I set off for Concourse E to hunt down the Royal Orchid Lounge since that was located near to the EVA Air lounge as well.
After what seems like forever trekking past duty free shop after duty free shop, I arrived at Concourse E. All lounges in Suvarnabhumi were located on the 3rd floor of the transit area. So I took the set of escalators located just past the huge ‘E’ down to the 3rd floor.
Heading down the escalators, I did a u-turn and found myself at a split walkway. Turning left at this walkway took me to the Royal Orchid Lounge, while taking the right path would have brought me to the other Royal Silk Lounge which Thai operates at Suvarnabhumi.
The entrance to the Royal Orchid Lounge was quite classy in my opinion, with Thai Airways signature gold and purple colours adorning the entrance. For some reason, this Royal Orchid Lounge in Concourse E has a “Royal First” logo on its signage, but from what I understand Royal First passengers are whisked away to the main lounge in Concourse D after check in.ย
As per the Thai Airways website, if you meet one of the below criteria you’re allowed access into this lounge:
- First Class passengers departing same day on any Star Alliance operating flight
- One guest departing same day on any Star Alliance operating flight allowed
- Business Class passengers departing same day on any Star Alliance operating flight
- No guest allowed
- Royal Orchid Plus Gold and Star Alliance Gold card holders departing same day on any Star Alliance operating flight
- One guest departing same day on any Star Alliance operating flight allowed
When I entered the lounge, the attendant was actually chatting on the phone but I don’t really blame her as this lounge gets way less traffic compared to their main Royal Silk Lounge so I imagine she was bored out of her wits. Noticing my bulging biceps spare tyres she greeted me and after scanning my boarding pass, handed it back to me along with a slip of paper with the Wi-Fi log in details for the lounge Wi-Fi and pointed me inside the lounge. As the First Class section was roped off, I couldn’t take a decent picture of it but it was just basically a few private rooms with sofas.
The lounge was fairly quiet when throughout the 20 minutes which I was there, with less than 20 people occupying the entire lounge. It was very peaceful inside the Royal Orchid Lounge and if you’re looking for a quiet place to relax before a long haul flight on Thai, I would recommend this lounge over the main Royal Silk Lounge. It was also aย very small lounge. On the Thai Airways website it states that the lounge was meant to hold 55 passengers and I really don’t want to imagine how 55 passengers are going to fit inside here.
If you notice in the picture above, there is a wooden “sculpture” adjacent to the entrance to the lounge. In the picture below, that’s the same wooden sculpture you see near to the 3rd pillar on the right of the picture. As the young people call it, this lounge is smol. I would have taken a picture of the views out of the lounge onto the tarmac but the reflections were terrible. If you’re visiting the lounge in the day you’ll get a much better view of the tarmac.ย
Moving on to the food and beverage selection available in the lounge, this lounge didn’t exactly have hot food on offer but instead offered a decent spread of finger food. Sandwiches and fried items were on display in the food cabinets along with traditional Thai snacks. I’ll let the pictures do the talking.
The only thing I ate were the cute little ang ku kuey like Thai desserts while awkwardly standing beside the table you see above. Needless to say a few of the other passengers were giving me weird looks. They probably haven’t seen a handsome young man munching on some Thai desserts before, yeah that’s probably it.
After finishing my desserts, I went to check out the PC area at the back of the lounge. There was a printer attached to each computer terminal and there were four PCs available for all to use.
Located behind the PC area was the rest area which housed individual cubicles in which you could have a nap. The beds looked fairly comfortable but they don’t really offer much privacy as there isn’t privacy door for you to close while in them. If you require a fairly dark environment to fall asleep, you’re in luck as the cubicles were very dim inside. A pillow is provided but not blankets.
Leaving the cubicles and heading back to the main lounge area, I realized that there were private rooms available which housed a sofa as well as a television and a computer. I doubt the Royal First passengers who are in the lounge uses these rooms as they have a separate section roped off at the entrance of the lounge so I’m not really sure who these rooms are for.
After getting bored of the lounge, I decided to head to the washrooms and shower rooms before making my way out of the lounge and onto the next one. The washrooms were located near the entrance of the lounge and the shower rooms were right beside the washrooms. I didn’t snap a picture of the washrooms as it was well, a washroom. Looking like a lost child near the shower rooms, the lounge attendant came out of her rest area to ask what I wanted and I told her that I wanted to snap some pictures of the showers.
I didn’t count how many shower rooms were there in total but I’d imagine there will hardly be queue for them given how many people use this lounge. The shower rooms were fairly basic and had a bench inside for you to place your items as well as a handheld shower. A packaged towel was already placed on the bench inside the shower rooms when I entered it.
Toiletries were from Thann, a brand which I actually quite like having first used them at the Marriott Tang Plaza a few years back.
With my toilet tour done, I left the lounge and set off for the next lounge.
Concluding thoughts
While the Royal Orchid Lounge isn’t Thai Airways flagship lounge in Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport, it certainly is a decent lounge to be in if you want some peace and quiet. Or perhaps you have a long layover in Suvarnabhumi, the nap cubicles would certainly come in handy in the Royal Orchid Lounge.
If only the lounge had a selection of proper hot food on offer, it would have been ranked near the top of my list of lounges to visit if you have access to the Star Alliance lounges in Bangkok.
Stay tuned for the next lounge review where I’ll be covering the Royal Silk Lounge.
