Best Ways to Book Thai Airways Business Class with Points and Miles

Thai Airways, the flag carrier of the Southeast Asian nation of Thailand, is known for having some of the best customer service in the airline industry, reflecting the overall culture of Thai hospitality. However, the airline doesn’t have the most updated fleet and its premium-cabin offerings can’t compete with some of the world’s top-tier luxury airlines. Nevertheless, when you choose to fly in Thai Airways business class (also known as Royal Silk Class), you’ll enjoy some nice amenities like lie-flat seats, gourmet in-flight meals, airport lounge access and complimentary beverages.

Like all business-class tickets, flying in Thai Airways business class can be costly, particularly on long-haul routes. However, by using points and miles, you can experience Thai Airways business class while keeping your out-of-pocket costs low.

Since Thai Airways is a member of Star Alliance, there are quite a few frequent flyer programs through which you can book Thai Airways business-class award flights. But, because of transfer partners and different pricing models, some of these programs are better than others for booking Thai Airways business-class awards.

In this article, we’re going to identify some of the best frequent flyer programs through which to book Thai Airways business-class awards. We’ll also briefly cover what you can expect when flying in Thai Airways business class.

What to Expect in Thai Airways Business Class

The Thai Airways fleet includes several different kinds of aircraft that offer business class cabins. The following chart includes each type of aircraft currently in the Thai Airways fleet, the number of Royal Silk Class seats on each aircraft and the seat configuration in Royal Silk Class on each aircraft:

It’s also worth noting that Thai Airways will also reportedly be expanding its fleet in late 2025 to include new Airbus A321neo aircraft, according to a Business Traveller article.

When flying in Thai Airways Royal Silk Class, you’ll have a lie-flat seat that reclines into a bed. On Thai Airways Airbus A350 aircraft, your seat will have a length of 73 inches and a width of 20 inches. These seat dimensions are fairly similar in business-class cabins across the entire Thai Airways fleet, but they may vary slightly. All seats also have a variety of positions between upright and fully reclined for optimum head, back, leg and lumbar support.

Thai Airways business-class seats also include personal entertainment monitors (which are 16 inches in size on most aircraft types) that give you access to a variety of around 150 movies, around 300 TV programs and around 300 music albums. There’s also complimentary in-flight Wi-Fi and USB and AC charging ports in every business class seat.

On many regional and international flights, business-class passengers will receive an amenity kit designed by iconic global lifestyle brand Jim Thompson that is made with six exclusive prints on biodegradable fabric and contains a biodegradable toothbrush, socks, an aromatherapy roller, lip balm, hand lotion and more. You’ll also receive a set of slippers, a comfortable pillow and a soft blanket.

Of course, Thai Airways business-class passengers will also receive gourmet in-flight meals that are often inspired by Thai cuisine as well as international cuisine. For instance, some of the past lunch and dinner options available in Royal Silk Class on flights from Bangkok include prawns in red curry sauce, herb-crusted lamb chops, tom yum sauce and seafood, sous vide beef and mushrooms and a Japanese buta kakuni bento box. For breakfast on flights from Bangkok, some past options include stir-fried seafood Hokkien noodles, eggs florentine with Hollandaise sauce, sea bass with miso sauce, and an Indian vegetarian palak upma with paneer.

Royal Silk Class passengers will also receive a welcome drink immediately after boarding, which will be their selection of water, juice or champagne. There are also many options for beverages that you can request to accompany your meal as well as at any other time throughout the flight, including red wines, white wines, beers, coffee, tea and Thai-inspired options like butterfly pea lemonade and tamarind tea.

The Thai Airways business-class experience begins before you even board the plane. Royal Silk Class passengers have access to Thai Airways Royal Silk Lounges and Royal Orchid Lounges around the world. Here’s a list of all the airports where you can find Thai Airways-operated lounges:

• Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK)
• Chiang Mai International Airport (CNX)
• Phuket International Airport (HKT)
• Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport Dhaka (DAC)
• Tribhuvan International Airport Kathmandu (KTM)
• Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL)
• Manila Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)
• Singapore Changi Airport (SIN)

Due to the fact that Thai Airways is a member of Star Alliance, passengers ticketed in Royal Silk Class can also access Star Alliance partner lounges. To see if there’s a Star Alliance lounge in your departure airport, you can use the Lounge Finder tool in the My10x web tool.

Finally, Royal Silk Class passengers will enjoy preferential treatment at the airport, including dedicated check-in counters, priority security and immigration, priority boarding and more.

Best Programs Through Which You Can Book Thai Airways Business Class

Thai Airways was a founding member of Star Alliance in 1997 and is still a member today. This means that there are several frequent flyer programs through which you can book Thai Airways business-class award flights.

However, each frequent flyer program prices partner award flights differently. So, the same Thai Airways business-class award might require more miles through one program than another. On top of that, some frequent flyer programs make it much easier to earn miles by allowing transfers from major U.S. credit card rewards programs.

With these differences in mind, let’s look at a few of the best programs through which you can book Thai Airways business-class award flights.

Air Canada Aeroplan

One great program through which to book Thai Airways business-class award flights is Air Canada Aeroplan. For years, the Aeroplan program priced partner award flights according to fixed region-based award charts. However, in March 2025, the program switched over to a dynamic pricing model.

Nonetheless, you can still find Thai Airways business-class awards that offer solid value per point through this program. For example, we found a round-trip Thai Airways business-class itinerary between Bangkok (BKK) and Oslo (OSL) for 160,000 Aeroplan points plus about 141 Canadian Dollars (about $103) in taxes and fees.

If you were to book the same exact flights with cash through the Thai Airways website, it would cost you 117,000 Thai Baht (about $3,605).

So, accounting for the taxes and fees you’d have to pay for the award flight, this redemption would give you a value of about 2.2 cents per point, which is pretty good.

Plus, a major advantage of the Aeroplan program is that it’s a 1:1 transfer partner of many of the major U.S. credit card rewards programs, including American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards. This makes it very easy to earn Aeroplan points if you have specific credit cards from any of these issuers.

Avianca LifeMiles

Another program through which you can often find Thai Airways award flights at favorable rates is the Avianca LifeMiles program.

We found a Thai Airways business-class flight itinerary between Paris (CDG) and Bangkok (BKK) for 156,000 miles and about $89 in taxes and fees.

If you were to book the same flights with cash through the Thai Airways website, you’d have to pay about 3,716 euros (about $4,381).

So, factoring in the taxes and fees you’d have to pay for the award flight, this redemption would yield a value of about 2.7 cents per mile, which is good.

Plus, the Avianca LifeMiles program is a 1:1 transfer partner of several major U.S. credit card rewards programs, including American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Brex, Capital One Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards and Wells Fargo Rewards. Thus, it’s fairly easy to earn miles with this program if you have specific credit cards from any of these issuers.

United Airlines MileagePlus

Another program through which you can often find Thai Airways business-class award space is the United Airlines MileagePlus program. This is particularly relevant to U.S.-based travelers who may already have a large balance of MileagePlus miles.

Unfortunately, finding high value per mile through this program is nearly impossible to find through this program because it uses a dynamic pricing model for partner award flights, meaning that award rates closely mirror cash prices.

Nonetheless, this could be a good program to book a Thai Airways Royal Silk Class award if you already have miles in your account.

We found a round-trip Thai Airways business-class award between Bangkok (BKK) and Copenhagen (CPH) for 280,000 miles and about $110 in taxes and fees.

If you were to book the same flights on the same dates with cash through the Thai Airways website, it would cost you 118,140 Thai Baht (about $3,639)

So, factoring in the taxes and fees you’d have to pay for the award flight, this redemption would give you a value of about 1.3 cents per mile, which isn’t great.

The United MileagePlus program is also a 1:1 transfer partner of Bilt Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards, so you can easily earn MileagePlus miles if you have specific credit cards from either of these issuers.

Of course, if you’re planning to transfer points to United MileagePlus in order to book a Thai Airways business-class award, we recommend checking for award availability through Air Canada Aeroplan and Avianca LifeMiles first, as these programs tend to offer much better rates.

The Bottom Line

Thai Airways is the national airline of Thailand and is known primarily for offering excellent customer service. However, this airline doesn’t operate any routes to North or South America. So, unless you’re flying within Asia, between Asia and Europe or between Asia and Australia, you won’t have the opportunity to experience Thai Airways.

This airline also offers a solid business-class product on most flights and continues to improve its premium-cabin offerings as it updates its fleet. Thai Airways business-class (also known as Royal Silk Class) awards can be booked through partner frequent flyer programs. However, you’ll typically find the best rates on these awards through either Air Canada Aeroplan or Avianca LifeMiles, both of which allow transfers from several major U.S. credit card rewards programs.

You can also find lots of Thai Airways business-class award space through the United MileagePlus. However, this program uses a dynamic pricing model for partner awards, which means you won’t get much more than 1 cent per mile in value, even when booking business-class awards. However, since many U.S.-based travelers already have a balance of miles in their MileagePlus account, you may want to consider using this program to book your Thai Airways Royal Silk Class award.