[OneThailand]

Gone are the days when Thai Airways was renowned for its high level of service, impeccably maintained aircraft, and well-trained staff. Once an airline in the upper tier with Singapore Airlines, Thai has steadily declined to the point where it has become no better than an ordinary airline.

On TG 624 going to Manila on April 25, I encountered staff who were polite, but at least one of them appeared to be every bit the beginner, probably a stewardess who should have been trained on domestic flights.

As she and a more senior stewardess came around with the drink cart about 30 minutes after take-off, it was clear that she hadn't been flying international flights very long - perhaps not even flying at all for very long. She was struggling to get the plastic cups separated from each other.

She managed to get one glass of orange juice poured, then without warning, I was suddenly doused with the orange juice as she struggled to get another cup ready. Of course she apologized profusely, then after instructions from the senior stewardess, who kept muttering "Jai yen yen" as she had been since the drink cart came out, she came back with a cloth which wasn't damp enough to wipe any of the orange juice off.

Eventually that got sorted out but they did not come back to apologize again, or offer to pay for laundry - had I been wearing a suit, this would have been totally unacceptable - but I was wearing sweats and a polo shirt, and as I always travel with carry-on luggage, I had a change of shirt.

Strike one - if you spill something on a customer, at least offer to cover the cost of cleaning the clothes. Or, considering the plane wasn't full, perhaps an upgrade to business class would have been nice.

Later on, during the meal, the drinks came out again - I asked the steward for a can of Pepsi Max. The young stewardess went off to the galley to find one - and meanwhile the other stewardess came back and replaced the steward, upon which he told her what drink I had ordered.

Young stewardess comes back empty-handed. She is told to go get Coke Light instead, whereupon she comes back with two cans. Then the senior stewardess asked the stewardess in the other aisle if she had Pepsi Max, and managed to secure a can - then to my amazement, she hands it to the guy BEHIND me, and tells the young stewardess to serve me - whereupon, already flustered, she serves me a glass of Diet Coke after being told by the steward that I had ordered a CAN of Pepsi Max.

The senior stewardess tells her to go back to the galley yet again - completely silly since it was clear there was no Pepsi Max back there. Again she comes back empty-handed, whereupon the senior stewardess herself goes back to the galley... and comes out with two Diet Cokes and again apologizes that there is no Pepsi Max - because she handed it to the guy behind me.

Needless to say I told her off gently, since I wasn't really in the mood to cause a big fuss. But by this time my mood isn't good and the flight is spoiled.

Movie comes on. I plug in the headset - and the sound is terrible. Decide to plug into the seat next to me, which is empty - and discover that the sound panel is damaged and there is no where to plug in. So I reach two seats over, plug in again - and the sound is terrible. Clearly something was wrong with the sound system, if not just in that row, then on the entire plane. By this time I couldn't be bothered to complain.

To make a long story short, we finally arrived in Manila - on time, thank goodness - and the staff did not apologize or make amends. Yes, they were polite and friendly - but that doesn't go far towards an unanticipated cleaning bill or a poor sound system.

Thai Airways has fallen a long way from its heydays not so long ago. If I didn't have my home base in Thailand and wasn't in need of easy flight access, I would be switching airlines. And I suspect many others would do the same, or indeed have already done so.

Potentially worse for them is the fact that I also am a qualified and registered travel agent in Thailand. Needless to say I'm not exactly going to be recommending Thai to my clients.

Shame on you, Thai. It's time you cleaned up your act.