I am initially sitting in aisle seat 12A on this Thai Lion Airways Airbus A330-300 flight bound for Bangkok.

The plane has 147 passangers, I hear, making it less than half full, and my cabin is practically empty. I notice further at the front there is a dedicated ‘silent zone’ of around 60 seats with one passanger, and then further ahead a Business Class section with 17 seats. I ask the flight attendant and it is a new product (not even advertised when I made a booking). The flight attendant tells me I can pay for an upgrade but decline. (I do though, move to an EE seat once the seat belt lights are extinguished).

I am happily surprised at how modern the interior of the cabin is, and each seat has a seat-back AV screen. Unfortunately though, there is absolutely nothing worth watching as there are no new releases and a very limited choice.

But I have my iPad so all is OK.

Well, until the meal trolley comes around. Unbeknownst to me food is chargeable (lucky I ate in the lounge), and when I ask for a cup of hot water (I brought my own sugar-free 3-in-one coffee mix) my request is politely declined. Not one to give up easily, I ask for the cabin supervisor and after a heated negotiation, she offers to fulfil my request.

Other than that small incident, it is a relatively pain-free flight.

Rating: 6.5/10