13 Best Ways to Earn Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus Miles [2023]

Thai Airways is known as one of the top airlines in the world, particularly for first class. As a Star Alliance airline member, there’s no shortage of ways to fly on Thai Airways. Not so obvious, however, is how to earn Thai Airways miles.

Their frequent flyer program is known as Royal Orchid Plus, but for the sake of brevity, we’ll be referencing Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus miles as Thai Airways miles.

There aren’t too many ways to earn Thai Airways miles, but there are still a variety of opportunities for us to explore. Let’s get started.

Table of contents

Sign Up for a Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus Account
Earn Thai Airways Miles With Credit Cards
Earn Miles through Shopping and Dining
- Thai Airways Dining Partners
- Thai Airways Health and Wellness Partners
Earn Miles Through Travel
Specialty Earnings for Thai Airways Miles
- Thai Airways Promotions
Final Thoughts

Table of Contents

Sign Up for a Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus Account
Earn Thai Airways Miles With Credit Cards
Earn Miles through Shopping and Dining
- Thai Airways Dining Partners
- Thai Airways Health and Wellness Partners
Earn Miles Through Travel
Specialty Earnings for Thai Airways Miles
- Thai Airways Promotions
Final Thoughts

Sign Up for a Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus Account

Signing up for a Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus account is made easy by their online website.

Here’s how to register:

Visit the Thai Airways Registration Link.
Check the box that says I accept Royal Orchid Plus Terms & Conditions
Click Next
Populate your personal information, contact details, preferences, and credentials
Submit the online form
You’re registered!

You’ll be able to earn Thai Airways miles from any sort of qualifying activity, whether it’s on flights or shopping with their partners.

Now that you’re set up with a Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus account, let’s get into the best ways to earn Thai Airways miles.

Earn Thai Airways Miles With Credit Cards

Earning Thai Airways miles is made easier by the transfer partners it has. Redeeming Thai Airways miles for business and first class will take a lot of miles, especially when redeeming for multiple people or a family.

The best way to accrue Thai Airways miles is through the methodical use of point-earning credit cards.

We have quite a few options here, and although we’re focusing on the options for U.S. credit card holders, there are actually a lot of options for international card holders, too!

Citi ThankYou Rewards Credit Cards (Best Option)

Without a doubt, the best way to earn Thai Airways miles quickly is by transferring points from Citi ThankYou Rewards. Citi ThankYou Rewards Points transfer at a 1:1 ratio in increments of 1,000.

In order to transfer points from Citi ThankYou Rewards, you’ll need to have a credit card that not only earns ThankYou Rewards Points but also has the points transfer functionality.

For example, the Citi Premier Card makes you eligible to transfer ThankYou Points to airline partners, while the Citi Rewards+® Card doesn’t. You must have a Citi Premier or Citi Prestige® credit card to transfer points to airline partners.

Once you have either of these two cards, you’ll be able to multiply your points by leveraging bonus categories as shown in the list below:

Category	Applicable Credit Cards	Bonus Points
Dining	Prestige Card	5x
	Preferred Card	2x
	Premier Card	2x
Supermarkets	Rewards+ Card	2x
Gas stations	Premier Card	3x
	Rewards+ Card	2x
Entertainment	Preferred Card	2x
	Premier Card	2x
Hotels	Prestige Card	3x
Cruise Lines	Prestige Card	3x
All other purchases	Prestige Card	1x
	Rewards+ Card	1x
	Premier Card	1x

There are essentially 4 credit cards you can use to earn ThankYou Rewards Points as shown in the chart above. Using these bonus categories will dramatically accelerate your ability to earn points.

Hot Tip: Want to know how to earn more Citi ThankYou Rewards Points than you thought possible? Check out our complete guide on how to earn 100,000+ ThankYou Points in 90 days!

Marriott Credit Cards

When it comes to points flexibility, Marriott takes the cake. Marriott has traditionally been known as a hotel currency, but there are, arguably, better ways to redeem Marriott points for flights than hotels.

With 40+ transfer partners to choose from, there’s no shortage of ways to creatively use your points.

The main difference between Citi and Marriott points is their transfer ratio. Marriott points transfer to most of their partners at a 3:1 ratio, meaning you’ll receive 1,000 Thai Airways miles for transferring 60,000 Marriott points.

Additionally, you’ll receive a 5,000-mile bonus for every 60,000 Marriott points you transfer. This means that you’ll receive 25,000 Thai Airways miles for transferring 60,000 Marriott points.

Yes, you’ll need more Marriott points since the ratio is 3:1, but the ways to earn Marriott points are much more plentiful. The best part is that both American Express and Chase have Marriott co-branded credit cards.

Recommended Marriott Cards

Refer a Friend for Bonus Miles

By utilizing referral bonuses, you can help your friends and family earn points and reward yourself.

American Express has the Refer-a-Friend program, which allows you to refer your friends and family to virtually any personal card in the American Express portfolio when you have a personal card.

If you have an Amex business credit card, you can refer to almost any business card. To begin referring your friends to American Express, you’ll need to log in to your online account.

Chase also offers a similar Refer-a-Friend program, though you can only refer a card to friends if you currently have that card.

Hot Tip: Referral bonuses are subject to change. Using referral bonuses is an excellent way to increase your points balance with very little effort.

Citi is in the process of implementing a referral program for its credit cards. At the moment, the most applicable credit card from Citi is the Premier card.

Although the referral bonus isn’t available online and is only available to those who’ve received an email or letter, pretty much everyone who currently has the Premier card has gotten some form of communication enabling them to begin referring others.

Other Credit Card Partners

Thai Airways has a number of co-branded and non-co-branded credit cards that earn Thai Airways miles. However, these are only available to cardholders who are residents of other countries.

For those who are located abroad, you can learn more about international credit card partners from the Thai Airways website.

Here are the options for (international) co-branded credit cards:

Co-branded Credit Card Issuers
American Express	AEON
Citibank	KTC
JCB	Sumitomo Mitsui Bank

Here are the options for (international) non-co-branded credit cards:

Non-co-branded Credit Card Issuers
American Express	AEON
Bangkok Bank	Citibank
Central Credit Card	Diners Club International
Kasikorn Bank	Krungsri
KTC	SCB
TMB	UOB
Government Savings Bank

As you can see, there are many options to earn Thai Airways miles internationally, more so than in the U.S.

Earn Miles through Shopping and Dining

If you need some ways outside of credit card spending, or perhaps in conjunction with credit card spending, there are a few ways to earn Thai Airways miles quickly.

If you’re in Thailand, you can eat at several restaurant partners to earn Thai Airways miles. Alternatively, Thai Airways has a few health and wellness partners that you can use to accrue extra miles.

Thai Airways Dining Partners

Thai Airways has a relatively small list of dining partners, and all are located in Thailand. Most of these partners are restaurants located in hotels, so you’re somewhat limited there.

Still, if you’re planning on eating there anyway, you’ll be pleased to know you can earn Thai Airways miles.

Here’s the list of dining partners (1 Thai baht = THB):

Property	Restaurant	Type	Mileage Accrual
Dusit Thani Bangkok	The Pavilion	International	500 THB = 50 Miles
	Hamilton’s Steak House	Steak house	500 THB = 50 Miles
	The Mayflower	Chinese	500 THB = 50 Miles
	Thien Duong	Authentic Vietnamese cuisine and modern Thai	500 THB = 50 Miles
	Lobby Lounge	Modern Thai	500 THB = 50 Miles
Dusit Thani Hua Hin	Steak & Seafood	Seafood	500 THB = 50 Miles
	Authentic Royal Thai Cuisine	Thai	500 THB = 50 Miles
Dusit Thani Laguna Phuket	La Trattoria	Italian	500 THB = 50 Miles
	Casuarina Beach Restaurant	Seafood	500 THB = 50 Miles
Dusit Thani Pattaya	The Bay	Italian	500 THB = 50 Miles
	The Peak	Chinese	500 THB = 50 Miles
Dusit Thani Dubai	Benjarong	Thai	500 THB = 50 Miles
	PAX Italian Restaurant	Italian	500 THB = 50 Miles
Dusit Thani Manila	The Pantry	International	500 THB = 50 Miles
	Benjarong Royal Thai Restaurant	Authentic Royal Thai cuisine	500 THB = 50 Miles
	UMU Japanese Restaurant	Japanese	500 THB = 50 Miles
Dusit Island Resort Chiang Rai	Chinatown	Chinese	500 THB = 50 Miles
	The Peak	Steak house	500 THB = 50 Miles
dusitD2 Chiang Mai	moxie restaurant	World cuisine	500 THB = 50 Miles
dusitD2 Phuket Resort	Flavours Restaurant	International	500 THB = 50 Miles
Dusit Princess Srinakarin, Bangkok	Square One	International	500 THB = 50 Miles
	Cantonese and Szechuan	Chinese	500 THB = 50 Miles
Royal Princess Chiang Mai	Jasmine Restaurant	Thai	500 THB = 50 Miles
Pathumwan Princess, MBK Centre, Bangkok	Kongju Korean Restaurant	Korean	500 THB = 50 Miles
	Citi Bistro	All day dining; International	500 THB = 50 Miles
	Loop Italian Terrace and Bar	Italian	500 THB = 50 Miles
Chatrium Hotel Riverside Bangkok	River Barge	International	500 THB = 50 Miles
	Pier 28	International	500 THB = 50 Miles
	Silverwave	Chinese	500 THB = 50 Miles
The Sukosol	Lin-Fa Chinese Restaurant	Chinese	500 THB = 50 Miles
Yellow Orchid Restaurant	Suvarnabhumi (OPC Building)		500 THB = 50 Miles
	Chiang Mai Airport		500 THB = 50 Miles
	Chiang Rai Airport		500 THB = 50 Miles
	Krabi Airport		500 THB = 50 Miles
	Phuket Airport		500 THB = 50 Miles
Puff & Pie Bakery House	Rak Khun Tao Fha Building		500 THB = 50 Miles
	THAI Head Office		500 THB = 50 Miles

As you can see, most of the dining partners are located in hotels. For more information, visit the Thai Airways website.

Thai Airways Health and Wellness Partners

Thai Airways’ main health and wellness partner is Divana. Divana has 5 locations, all of which are in Bangkok. Divana is a wellness spa, where you can experience massages, body and facial treatments, along with other wellness and medical therapies.

You can earn 50 Thai Airways miles for every 500 THB spent there.

In addition, you can also visit the Devarana Spa at Dusit Hotels. There are 4 locations in Pattaya, Hua Hin, and Chiang Mai. You’ll earn 50 Thai Airways miles for every 500 THB you spend at Devarana Spa.

Earn Miles Through Travel

As you might imagine, the best ways to earn Thai Airways miles without credit card spending is through travel. You can earn a lot of Thai Airways miles through paid travel on Thai Airways, travel partners, and hotel bookings.

This section is focused on using paid travel through partners and Thai Airways to rack up tons of Thai Airways miles.

Airfare and Airline Purchases

Thai Airways Boeing 747 - First Class — Thai Airways Boeing 747 – First Class. Image Credit: Cherag Dubash

One of the best ways to earn Thai Airways miles quickly is by purchasing tickets to fly on the airline’s flights.

For every flight on Thai Airways, you’ll earn at least 500 miles, with the exception of some booking classes.

Check out this chart for the definitive accrual of miles on Thai Airways:

Class of Service	Operating Booking Class	Percentage of Actual Miles Flown
Royal First Class	F / A / P	150%
Royal Silk Class	C / D / J / Z	125%
Premium Economy Class	U	110%
Economy Class	Y / B / M / Q / H	100%
Economy Class (Discount)	T / K / S	75%
Economy Class (Discount)	G	50%
Economy Class (Discount)	V / W	25%
Economy Class (Discount)	L	No miles
Ineligible Booking Classes	O / I / X / E / N / R	No Miles

Keep in mind that if you pay for an upgrade at the airport, your mileage earning will be based on the original fare instead of the upgraded fare.

Interestingly, you won’t earn any bonus miles with Royal Orchid Plus elite status. Instead, you’ll earn a one-time Tier Status Threshold Bonus each time elite status is attained or retained as shown here:

Royal Orchid Plus Membership Tier	Tier Status Threshold Bonus
Basic Status	0 miles
Silver Status	3,000 miles
Gold Status	5,000 miles
Platinum Status	10,000 miles

Thai Airways also publishes the flight distances of all their routes.

Remember that the terms and conditions for earning Thai Airways miles are subject to change at any time, so be sure to verify all the information with Thai Airways.

Crediting Partner Airlines to Thai Airways Miles

If you’re planning on crediting partner airlines to Thai Airways miles, you have 3 options:

THAI Smile (Thai Airways’ regional carrier)
Nok Air
Star Alliance Airlines

Let’s start with THAI Smile. If you book a THAI Smile flight sold by Thai Airways (with a TG 4-digit flight number) or sold by THAI Smile (with a WE 3-digit flight number), you’re eligible to accrue THAI Smile miles as shown in the following table:

Class of Service	Booking Class	Actual Miles Flown	Minimum Miles
Premium Economy	U	110%	500
Economy	Y, B, M, H, Q	100%	500
	T, K, S	75%	500
	G*	50%	500
	V, W	25%	500
	L, O, I, X, E, N, R	0%	No miles

*When flying in a G booking class, you’ll only earn 50% of actual miles on TG 4-digit flights and no miles on WE 3-digit flights.

With Nok Air, the mileage accrual is much easier. There are 3 fares:

Nok Lite
Nok X-tra
Nok Max

Travelers earn 0 miles for Nok Lite fares, 150 miles for Nok X-tra fares, and 250 miles for Nok Max fares per sector flown.

Our last way to earn miles flying on a partner airline is with Star Alliance airlines. Most airlines have separate accrual rates for each airline in the alliance. However, Thai Airways keeps it simple.

You’ll accrue miles as per the following chart:

Class of Service	Actual Miles Flown
First Class	150%
Business Class	125%
Economy Class	100%

Make sure you understand the terms and conditions of earning miles from Star Alliance travel.

Overall, there are a ton of ways to credit partner airlines to Thai Airways thanks to the large network of airlines from Star Alliance.

Car Rentals and Other Ground Transportation Partners

Thai Airways has 5 car rental and ground transportation partners:

Partner	Bonus Miles	Partner	Bonus Miles
Avis	500 miles per rental	Hertz	500 miles per rental outside of Asia, 250 miles per rental within Asia
Budget	500 miles per rental	Sixt	500 miles per rental, 1,000 miles per Sixt limousine transfer
Blacklane	2 miles/$1

In addition, you’re eligible to stack promotions to get discounts and earn double or even triple miles, which we’ll discuss at the end of this guide.

Thai Airways Hotel Partners

Thai Airways has a ton of hotel partners, and you can earn up to 750 miles per qualifying stay. You can also earn miles based on spending activity with hotel partners.

Thai Airways doesn’t publish the earning structure for every partner. When making a reservation, you must insert your Royal Orchid Plus membership number online or make your reservation through the call center.

Here are That Airways’ hotel partners:

Hotel Partners
AccorHotels	Chatrium Hotels and Residences
Dusit Hotels & Resorts	Hyatt
Intercontinental Hotel Group	Karaksa hotel
Langham Hospitality Group	Minor Hotels Group
Okura Nikko Hotels	Shangri-La Group
Marriott	Sukosol Hotels
Worldhotels

It’s easy to find a hotel that fits you and also enables you to earn Thai Airways miles with so many brands to choose from. For more information on their exact terms and conditions, visit the Thai Airways website.

Thai Airways Hotel Booking Portals

Thai Airways partners with hotel booking portals to enable travelers to earn Thai Airways miles.

Here are their hotel booking portal partners:

Booking Portal	Miles Earning	Booking Portal	Miles Earning
Kaligo.com	Up to 20 miles/$1	Agoda	Up to 10,000 miles with PointsMAX packages

Be sure to confirm that the prices you’re getting are not significantly higher than the cheapest available rates. In other words, it’s best to shop around before committing.

Thai Airways Communications Partners

Thai Airways partners with Travelling Connect, which is a mobile network for international calling and texting.

You’re eligible to earn miles for up to 4 mobile phone numbers (including your own).

The way it works is that Travelling Connect partners with other networks in a variety of different countries and offers miles depending on what network you’re using, what country you’re using it in, and what activity you’re doing.

Here’s the complete chart of partner networks:

Country	Network	Miles per minute outgoing call	Miles per minute incoming call	SMS and/or Data
Asia
India	Vodafone	1	1	–
Kazakhstan	Kcell	3	–	–
Maldives	Ooredo	3	–	–
South Korea	KT	1	–	–
Thailand	True Move	3	–	–
Vietnam	Viettel	1	–	2
Europe
Armenia	Beeline	1	–	–
Montenegro	T-Mobile	3	–	–
Turkey	Turkcell	4	–	1 mile per 2 SMS
Middle East and Africa
Afghanistan	Roshan	2	–	2 per MB
Algeria	Djezzy	7	–	–
Bahrain*	Zain	3	3	3
Kuwait	Ooredo	4	–	–
Seychelles	Cable & Wireless	5	–	4 per MB
Sudan	MTN	2	–	–
Oceania
Fiji, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu	Digicel	3	–	3 per MB

*When using Zain in Bahrain, you’ll earn 3 miles per 1 Euro.

Your specific mileage accrual is dependent on your exact travel situation.

Specialty Earnings for Thai Airways Miles

The last method we’ll be discussing will be categorized as a specialty earning method. There are ways to multiply your Thai Airways earnings.

Thai Airways Promotions

From time to time, Thai Airways will run promotions with its partners. Some promotions are for redemptions while others are for mileage accrual.

For example, Hertz partnered with Thai Airways to offer a global sale that allows members to save up to 20% and earn 1,000 miles per rental, which is a fantastic deal. Other promotions have historically included opportunities to earn double or triple miles.

It’s definitely a smart move to take advantage of these promotions when they come about. Follow the Thai Airways website to learn about the latest promotions.

Final Thoughts

There are plenty of great ways to earn Thai Airways miles.

Royal Orchid Plus is a worthwhile frequent flyer program to look into. Although they pass on fuel surcharges, the available transfer partners along with the ability to book Star Alliance flights make this program worth looking into.

If you spend a lot of time in Thailand, you’ll notice that there are tons of ways to boost your mileage balance even more. Now you have an idea of the best ways to earn a lot of Thai Airways miles.

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Featured Image Credit: Cherag Dubash

Frequently asked questions

What are Thai Airways miles?

Thai Airways’ frequent flyer program is called Royal Orchid Plus. The miles that you can accrue and spend are Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus miles, or Thai Airways miles for short.

Which credit cards earn Thai Airways miles?

You can transfer Citi ThankYou Rewards points and Marriott points to Thai Airways.

The best way to leverage credit card spending is with Citi ThankYou Rewards Points-earning cards. The best way to earn Citi ThankYou Rewards Points is via the Citi Premier℠ and Citi Prestige® credit cards. If you have one or both of those, you can also earn points by spending on the Citi Rewards+ Card or the recently discontinued Citi ThankYou® Preferred card.

To earn Marriott points, you can use the Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card, the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card, and the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card.

There are other co-branded and non-co-branded credit cards that earn Thai Airways miles directly, but these options are for travelers based in Asian countries like Thailand or Japan.

What are Thai Airways miles worth?

The value of Thai Airways miles is variable. With lower-level economy redemptions, your redemption rate might be close to 1 cent per point. With first and business class redemptions, you may get a cent-per-point value of 5 to 10.

A 5 cent per point value is like getting a $100 ticket for 2,000 miles.

How do I transfer Thai Airways miles to a spouse?

Unfortunately, you cannot transfer Thai Airways miles to other people. What you can do, however, is use award nominees to redeem awards for family, friends, or anyone else. You can nominate up to 5 names for free.

Who are Thai Airways' partners?

Thai Airways partners with all Star Alliance airlines. Additionally, they’re partners with Nok Air and THAI Smile (their budget airline).

They partner with the following hotels brands:

AccorHotels
Chatrium Hotels and Residences
Dusit Hotels and Resorts
Hyatt
Intercontinental Hotel Group
karaksa hotel
Langham Hospitality Group
Minor Hotels Group
Okura Nikko Hotels
Shangri-La Group
Marriott
Sukosol Hotels
Worldhotels

When do Thai Airways miles post in your account?

Generally, Thai Airways miles take up to 3 days to post to your account. If they still haven’t posted after 15 days, you can use Thai Airways’ online claim service.

Are Thai Airways miles refundable?

Yes. For travel dates or flight number changes on domestic travel, you can pay a $16 or 500 THB fee per person per reservation.

Domestic award tickets can be redeposited for a $60 or 1800 THB fee.

For international travel, the only changes that can be made are flight date and number changes. The fee for international award cancellation and re-credited miles is $125 or 3750 THB for regional routes and $190 or 5700 THB for intercontinental routes.

When do Thai Airways miles expire?

Thai Airways miles expire after 3 years. Specifically, they expire at the end of the quarter, 3 years after mileage accrual.

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About Stephen Au

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Stephen has been privileged to enjoy many premium cabin products and 5-star hotels. As one of the foremost experts in credit cards, over the past 4 years, he has amassed a portfolio of over 70 credit cards, both personal and business. Stephen has personally tested, first-hand, almost every major rewards credit card on the market today, spanning banks such as American Express, Bank of America, Barclays, Brex, Capital One, Chase, Citi, City National Bank, U.S. Bank, and more.