Thai Airways Business Class Bangkok Lounge
The Thai Airways Lounge Bangkok Concourse C West is the prime destination for pretty much all Star Alliance gold card holders transiting via Bangkok, for one simple reason: out of the five lounges, this is the only one with showers, slumber rooms, and a decent cooked breakfast. At six in the morning after the long flight from Heathrow, this is the destination of choice.
Indeed, this Business Class lounge used to be the pick of the bunch, and once had a cook to order theatre kitchen noodle bar. No longer: it is still there, but now used by the staff as a gossiping hole.
The good news in this lounge is that the Slumber Rooms and showers (at the back of the lounge: turn right as you go in) are still here: alas the slumber rooms resemble little more than prison cells. I mean look at them: with hard plastic mattress and a communal pillow (avoid unless you want some Asian contagion) they are pretty grim. But they don't get any natural light, so at least they are dark and you can get a few hours kip.
With a seating capacity of 137, this lounge is pretty average. Indeed, part of the problem is that the showers and sleeping rooms take up so much space, there isn't much room left for a decent lounge. At least here the designers avoided the mistake (as in the Concourse E West lounge) of putting the sleeping rooms in the lightest brightest part of the lounge, against the plate glass wall of the end. Here, you can enjoy the spectacular views down the concourse.
The central part of the lounge had lots of leather armchairs: there are a few purple cloth armchairs near the entrance.
There is one private sitting room at the end of the Bangkok Thai Airways C Lounge on the left: it is generally reserved for the Thai Military.
The lounge on the other side (Concourse C, Level 3, East (left)) is nearly identical, but without the showers, however with more space, light and computers.
Note that even though security checks have move to pre-lounge, there are additional checkpoints after this lounge on the C concourse for flights to the UK, Australia and the US. To get to the lounge once in the central square at the C concourse, you have to wiggle left around these chechpoints.
Food
There is the usual spread of food on the table in the middle of the main lounge, but somehow it always manages to be better than the food in the other C-East lounge.There are the usual pastries, in a heated cupboard. This is quite good, with everything from sausages in a bun, to mixed meat pastries.
There is a salad bar: one of the few at Bangkok. There are also the usual sandwiches in plastic.
Finally, at breakfast time, there is quite a spread, with bacon, eggs, sausages, and tomatos.
Bar
The bar here is distinctly average.
The spirits collection includes Chivas Regal, Drambuie, Martini (x3), and a whole host of other specials that rarely make it into an airport lounge.
There is a fridge with cans of Carlsberg, Chang and Singa. Alas, wine here rarely makes an appearance.
Bathrooms
This lounge has showers: and well used they are too. There is often quite an extensive queue to access them. They are up the corridor to the right of reception: ask the cleaners (they sit in the cupboard) for the next available shower: they will also provide towels.Business Facilities
Don't come to this lounge to work, or use the computer. The computers are OK: there are three in small cubicals overlooking the windows, with private printers, but the general hubub of the lounge precludes work: the lounge in C-East is better.
There is free fast wifi in the lounge.
This lounge is good for newspapers, with a special newspaper alcove. It is well stocked in the morning, and there are a few international papers here, mainly of the US variety (despite the lack of flights to the US). Curiously, there are no UK papers (despite the regular flights to the UK).
Video: Thai Airways Concourse C West
