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Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
Program overview
Royal Orchid Plus is the loyalty program of Thai Airways. The airline flies to more than 70 destinations. They don't fly to the US. However, as a Star Alliance founding member, this program has a lot of airline partners. Redeeming Thai miles can be cumbersome, but this program still offers some valuable redemptions.
Alliance | |
Program website | |
Approximate miles value | Varies |
Miles validity | Miles are valid for 3 years |
Program accrual | Earned according to the fare paid, the class of service of your purchased ticket, and the distance flown |
Limit on amount of miles you can purchase | You can purchase 1,000 miles and up to a maximum of 100,000 miles per year |
Waitlist option | No |
Courtesy Hold for award reservation | Not allowed |
Do you need to open an account to check availability? | Yes |
Stopover option | One stopover and one open-jaw are permitted on Thai and Star Alliance bookings (subject to fees) |
Family account | No |
Upgrade option | Yes |
Online booking | Yes, but only for a round trip from Bangkok |
Airline partners | Aegean, Air Canada, Air China, Air India, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Avianca, Brussels Airlines, Copa Airlines, Croatia Airlines, Egyptair, Ethiopian Airlines, EVA Air, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, SWISS, TAP Portugal, Turkish Airlines, United Airlines |
Credit card partners | Citi ThankYou (1:1, 4 days transfer) |
Hotel partners | IHG Rewards (5:1, 6 weeks transfer), Marriott Bonvoy (3:1, 4 days transfer), World of Hyatt (2.5:1, 6-8 weeks transfer), Accor Live Limitless (2:1, 4-6 weeks transfer) |
Co-Branded credit card in the US | None |
Point/Miles Conversion Chart
Pros
- Excellent Thai Airways service
- Miles can be used to pay for lounge or baggage
- Access to the Star Alliance network for flight options (temporarily unavailable)
Cons
- No instant transfer partner
- Partner flights can only be booked by phone
- Fuel surcharges
- Very expensive costs in miles for long haul award flights
Excellent for
- Thai Airways flights from Bangkok to Japan in First class for 67,500 miles one way.
- Thai Airways flights from Bangkok to Australia start from 47,500 miles in Business Class and 90,000 miles in First Class one way.
- United Airlines direct flights from the US to South America for 65,000 miles in Business Class one way.
Insider Tip
- The best way to redeem your Thai miles is to use them for short or medium-haul flights.
- Most one-way awards are significantly more expensive than half of a round-trip flight, so it’s always better to book round-trip flights if you have the balance necessary for it.
- Overall, Royal Orchid Plus is not the best reward booking program for Star Alliance. There are many other options that could work better. We advise you to take a look at Aeroplan, Avianca LifeMiles, ANA Mileage Club or Kris Flyer.
- Partner flights are not displayed online. In this case, try to check through Expert Flyer service or Aeroplan/United websites. If award seats are available, call Thai Airways to book using miles.
- Currently, the Star Alliance awards are temporarily unavailable for redemption using Royal Orchid Plus miles. And we do not recommend transferring any miles to Thai due to their current financial situation.
Do you use this program? Share your experience and tips in the comments below. Your thoughts would be very valuable to us!
Choose where you are going from and to by selecting the respective zones. There are two ways to choose your origin and destination - you can either select the zones they fall into on the map or by clicking on the bars above the map and entering the city name or airport code into the search fields.
- Choose one of the three point combination options which is applicable to you. If you don't have any miles in any airline accounts you can leave those fields blank.
- Input all of the different points you have on the credit cards you are planning to use. You can enter as many as you like. If you have multiple cards on one name from the same bank you can combine and enter the total amount of points between all of your cards.
- Enter all the miles you have in airlines frequent flyer programs on the left hand side following the airlines name.
- Once you input the information, click on the analyze button at the bottom of the page.
- The analyzer will offer you the optimal transfer combinations to explore as well as pros and cons of each.
- Review analyzer recommendations. Total number of miles is not the only consideration you should take into account. Analyzer will give you additional information about each program to make the right decision. You can also download results to a pdf and even send them to others if you like.
- Proceed to check availability with respective airlines. Do not transfer any miles until you confirm the desired option is available on the airline’s website. Note the transfer time and hold the reservation if possible before transferring any miles.
- Remember all transfers are final as you would not be able to send the points back to your credit card. If your trip is cancelled your miles will go back to the respective airline account.
- Transferring points to airline's frequent flyer programs is not the only way to obtain the award ticket. You can also redeem the points through your credit card directly by using the Book Travel option. You can find out more by checking out our Credit card reward tab on Wikimiles home page.
- WikiMiles Crew is always here to answer any questions. For an additional fee we can also assist you with the bookings. Use the Contact us section to reach out to us.
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