lounge_lizard

I sometimes see UK newspapers on sale in shops - the price tag is mostly 200 baht.

As at yesterday, PBG had the Daily Mail and USA Today Robin Hood in the Avenue also had a good selection - Mail, Sun etc.

If it should happen, it will cut both ways - Europe based airlines will need permission to fly into and out of the UK. I think that there are may more of them. The bureaucrats would love it (more paper to shuffle), but the EU politicians would find themselves being heavily lobbied by some of their own powerful interests.

Thank you Frosty I wasn't online at the time, but your efforts are very much appreciated.

I tell everybody that I come to visit friends, so it would look a bit odd if I stopped suddenly

for the real TT booths, look for this sign

I.m sure there are several factors involved, cost being only one. Others might be congestion in the arrivals hall and availability of gates

Could well be so, but I would have thought that the buses and drivers would cost more than opening the gate - either way, the xost would only be a small proportion of the operating cost.

I'm not sure that it is entirely up to the airline - when I worked in civil aviation (many years ago) gates and/or parking were allocated by air traffic control.

Just a heads-up. I've been having trouble using the forum's Agoda link. This is what I get: I can get into the Agoda site by entering the URL into Firefox, but not through the forum.

I wouldn't be too sure about that. These sites just use search engines that work entirely on the published schedules. I can't speak for All Nippon Airways, or for Tokyo Airport, but I've been caught out by short transit times with middle east airports a couple of times over the years. In each case, there was a half-hour delay on arrival, and a long queue at security before we were allowed into the transit area. The onward flight was not held back, and they re-ticketed me onto the next available flight. However, I had to find a way to re-book my transfer to Pattaya, and tell the hotel that I would be arriving the next day.

There's many a true word spoken in jest

Could be good for tose of us who are a bit broader than average across shoulders (or across the middle), but I wonder what the cost would be.

I used them in February/March - Economy class Heathrow to Bangkok. Price was good - just under £400. Service was nothing special, but OK. I found the food acceptable, wine was served by the glass. The only predictable downside was a very long (overnight) stopover in Bahrain on the way back. The air conditioning was really fierce. It was so cold that I was forced to put on the winter clothes that I had worn on the trip to Heathrow. I can't blame them for the only other problem. About two hours into the flight from Bangkok to Bahrain, a woman passenger started kicking up, and the cabin crew decided to restrain her. She spent the rest of the flight shouting for a lawyer and a doctor. She may have been deported for visa overstay, but most of her shouts were rather incoherent. That could have happened on any airline.

You're right. Istanbul Ataturk would be much more difficult as at many of the gates, passengers are led outside and bussed to the aircraft. This would leave plenty of opportunity for a bent ground worker to pass something to a cleared passenger, negating any check at the gate.