Gus

When I came back on 916 it looked like we were heading for Ukraine, I immediately thought that things were now OK, but fortunately we kept north of Ukraine, I have noticed that some days TG come towards the UK from Copenhagen direction.

I returned to LHR this week from BKK on TG916 and noticed from the IFE that we took a northerly route from the Caspian Sea flying over Voldograd, Minsk etc. The Eva Air took the usual route over Baku, Bucharest, Prague and Antwerp (all approx) Now I have checked on flightradar and the Thai flight is normally 25 minutes quicker than BR between BKK and LHR by going north. These are the same type of aircraft at the same time of day. Could it be that Eva being Taiwanese do not have an agreement to use Russian airspace whilst Thai do? I think for the return flights the routes are very similar. TIA

Not as though I will ever be using them but BA are now jumping on the 10 abreast bandwagon for their 777s. I flew on TG917 last week and managed by hook and crook to get a 3 set to myself, but I did find myself wondering where airlines can find room for an extra seat on the 777. What do you think, 12 armrests if made 1" narrower is 12", 2 aisles made 3" narrower is another 6", that's 18". Not much fun for passengers or cabin crew, I guess this is the price we have to pay for low fares.

I have to admit that after making around 30 round trips to BKK with Eva I have now switched to Thai. I liked BR loads, but the problem I found was the flights were very popular and more often than not you were unable to stretch out. With Thai having a 777 and also A380 daily from LHR there are more empty seats to stretch my legs, I did get DVT on a flight to BKK about 4 years ago.

I think it may be a year or so before the LHR aircraft are meddled with, we can only dream about the old Evergreen Class seating. :) If any BMs are mathematicians this would be a good project for you, how many flights does the aircraft make in a 12 month period, what percentage of flights are 100% full with the current layout, what net profit will the new layout give taking into account the extra fuel required for more passengers,but how many will be 100%, more baggage, loss of cargo which I believe are at higher rates, well you can see where I'm coming from. :) Maybe, just maybe Thai will not start meddling as they have the 777 and also the larger 380 every day on the LHR route.

Butch Have a look on Flyertalk/Airline mileage programs/other Asian airlines. There are 5 pages about this on their forums, it is the new aircraft first "(All the new 777-300ER that are being delivered now and still on order (B-16728 and higher) will be 10 abreast in Y)" These will be followed by other aircraft when they have a major exam. Also Cathay going down this 10 abreast road, I guess in time Thai will as well.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but the inevitable is in the pipeline, BR are going 3-4-3 in 777-300ER Economy/Coach class. The good news is that there is no great rush for them to change the fleet, I understand the USA and Asia routes will take the hit first. I think that Europe is OK for 2016 but 2017? I doubt it. The European/USA/Australian/Canadian etc body is larger than the Asian frame by and large and on a full flight it is not going to be very pleasant. I will be booking TG in the next day or two, not because of this 3-4-3 business but on the LHR-BKK route BR is usually pretty full whilst TG with its 2 flights tends to have more empty seats. You can go through the booking process with TG and see how many empty seats are on your flight for that day, it is not 100% but definitely helps. Of course if you cannot choose your days your options are limited. Chok Dee :)

Just out of interest, what sort of money does an airline pay an airline caterer for the usual economy tray of say, salad,main course, desert, bread roll etc. I bet it is not that much.

I go there (Hua Hin) nowadays rather than Pats. Hua Hin is better for the more mature Falangs . I have been to Thailand over 30 times and spent 6 weeks and then 4 weeks in HH this winter, but if you are under 40 you will soon be bored with the nightlife. When I first went to HH about 10 years ago I was ready to move on after a week, but now my sights are a lot lower and i do not bother with bar fining every night like I used to. This helps the money last over a longer period and Jings Guesthouse provide decent rooms at a good price, right in the middle of the action as well, yet the rooms are more or less free from the din on the soi outside. At night times I sometimes visit the Fishing Piers area or the night market where Big leos are 90 baht. Soi 80 has never really touched the spot with me, I think the Soi is better if you are living in town and better known to the girls. Soi 88 has a big live music plaza with Big leos at 60thb and plenty of cheap food, it may be possible to pick up a friend there. So HH is definitely not Pattaya standard, the girls/bars are more laid back but I did notice that the girlie numbers are down and the standards are not as they were 5 years ago, but you should still have a good time even if you move on after a week. ps: I enjoyed the photos.

Just a bit of info, I was looking at the professional pilots forum pprune, and it appears that many flight crew with EK are leaving the company as soon as they can, for various reasons I believe, but the geographical position of Dubai means many night shifts.

Also of course with EK you get the free chauffeur driven Limo transfers, enjoy. :)

Yesterday I came back to LHR on TG916, I enquired at BKK how much it was to upgrade and he told me 41,000 THB, thanks but no thanks. I had checked seat availability about 3 days before and it looked like only 16 empty seats but the guy on the desk told me that there would be no one sitting next to me, in the event I had 3 seats so I am very very glad I didn't go for the upgrade. A bit of excitement at LHR, a couple of armed police boarded the aircraft and took a way a male passenger aged about 30, he was sat just 2 rows behind me.

grimsby, Thai offer a paid upgrade subject to availability on thr LHR-BKK route. This has to be done at check in and costs about £600+ one way. On Wednesday I wii be seeing if it is available on the BKK-LHR leg,

I am sure I read somewhere that Thai were going to remove the TG916/7 LHR Boeing 777 flights for the summer but they have now decided to retain them, whether that is because TG do not want to lose a slot at LHR, maybe?

I agree with you Jacko, fortunately I am now retired and can travel when I want, so I usually fly Mon-Wed. For next weeks flight with Thai I have been checking what empty seats are showing on their web site, about 100 outbound so I should be OK to spread out. The reason i do not fly Eva so much is, A, because they bumped the premium Economy price up so much and B, Economy is normally full and you're unable to spread out.

I have to agree with what you are saying about LHR staff, I always have to have an additional hand scan because my metal hip joints set off the alarm, I just bite my bottom lip and think of Thailand. Having said that on my return once an obese english secuirty woman asked to look in my case, I said to her,"What do you think that I have in there my Thai girlfriend"

Cheers FBF, who do you book your China airlines flight through, Skyscanner?

Thanks for the input guys, as the OP I will just re-iterate my thinking. On the Thai web site you can book your seat in advance, so therefore you can see how many seats are available, although i think this method is only 90% accurate but at least you get a good idea. This way if your holiday is flexible you may be able to move your flight by a day or two to find more empty seats and the chance to spread out, which I like:) For my trip out at the end of January there are currently in the 120ish empty seats available depending which day/flight I go for. For the return it is in the 90s with still 8 weeks before the flight so it may well drop down to nearly zero. I am a big chap and a full 13 hour return flight can spoil my holiday. If that were the case then I would seriously consider paying £600 at Suvarnabhumi for an upgrade. I know Eva and Thai have occasional business offers but usually the business class is around £1900, my way would work out at around £1150. My mate got me thinking along these lines because it is something he does on Emirates to birmingham, the one thing that puts me off Emirates is they put another seat in economy rows so that they are 10 across, hopefully Eva and Thai don't copy them.

Due to UK tax regulations it should be cheaper to upgrade on the BKK-LHR sector than the LHR-BKK sector, anyone know how much? I am assuming that LHR-BKK is £620+ about £80 tax.

I note from the UK Thai airways web site that standby upgrade tickets may be available at an extra £620 + tax, is a similar arrangement available at Suvarnabhumi? My thinking is that if I check out the Thai web site seat availability for my return trip and economy is looking full then it may be worth paying for an upgrade, the taxes from BKK to LHR will be less than the other way round and the flight back drags as UK BMs know. I find that the last few days of my holiday are spoilt by not looking forward to being cramped into an economy seat for 13 hours.:)

Any board members able to update the IFE positions on the 777-300? TIA

I have just returned after 6 weeks in Hua Hin. BR067 and 068 were 98% full both ways even for Tuesday out and Wednesday return. Standard Eva service/food /movies very average.etc etc My suitcase was 21.4 out and 21.1 return (didn't bring one back) :) with no problems. At BKK I went through the VIP channel, I just told the girl I was Jet Sip, for the return no need as the queues were light. I invested 1600thb in the Evergreen lounge at BKK, twice as much as when I last used the lounge but it has had a huge refit, including warmer for the toilet seat.There were several buttons as well but I thought it best not to touch those, anything could have happened.

spud Everyone has much heavier baggage on their return, usually by around 45Kg.

marley Have you looked at bangkokflightservices.com then scroll to premium airport service, it is 1600thb with a buggy and fast track + 400 for additional pax, without a buggy it is 850 and 600. I too go back to the old Evergreen Class but Elite fares are just so ridiculous these days, I can't go on Thai because my trip is over 30 days and TG charge a lot more than BR. I think that Eva and Thai secretly depart from Gatwick cos after passing through security at T2 it seems like you walk to Gatwick before reaching the aircraft. Never thought that I would miss T3, but I do now. :) Just out of interest any idea how much passengers on BR are charged for extra Kilos, I always take a lot of clutter with me?

The baggage allowance in Economy is a meagre 20Kg, any board members know how strict they are at LHR since T2 opened? I believe that it is not Eva staff who work on the baggage check ins? Thanks for the info Butch.