Gus

I got an e-mail from Eva today, Premium Laurel is £1998 inc for LHR-BKK return if booking before June 20th? for travel until next year but not over Christmas.

Unfortunately not.

Maybe everything will be working better when the new T2 opens in July, I have no plans to go to Thailand before November so any problems should have been ironed out by then. :)

The seat selection 100 day process does not necessarily cover all the seats on the aircraft.

I received an e-mail from Eva today stating that it was now possible to self tag your baggage at LHR, perhaps getting in training before the move to the brand newTerminal 2 in July. Would I be correct in saying that using this method to check in you could check in say 5 hours before the flight? I think there will still be the standard check in desks for passengers who like to choose their seat on check in which presumably will open 3/4 hours before the flight

Desmond, you and Molly could try the Ma Maison, just down the soi a little. They have different grade rooms, but they do have a pool. I like soi 13 and have stayed at ma Maison more than Sandy spring.

Sailfast It may be that because of UK airport taxes it may pay to book Newcastle-Amsterdam-Bangkok rather than UK-Bangkok. Although taxes are due to fall :) next year in the UK you pay more tax for the longer flights. No doubt Cheshire Tom or another BM will give you the different options. Getting a train from Stockton via Darlington to London should take just over 3 hours, a ticket bought in advance but collected on the day wouldn't be too expensive.

Apparently the two airline tickets bought alongside the false passports were sold from a Travel agency in Central festival Pattaya, they were for KUL-peking-Amsterdam.

I had 4 seats on the way out, hoping to get the same on 910. FWIW I have always been a big fan of EVA but, IMHO the food was slightly better on TG, even had smoked salmon sandwiches, the AVOD was better than BR and also the drinks were more forthcoming, although I don;t go too mad. TG will now be my first choice but TIT so things may change. I am now having a time out in Bang Saphan, lovely place but if you are after company, then bring your own. ps: a couple of good movies are Rush and Closed Circuit.

I've posted you up Martin, finding a 10 year old post you deserve it. Rumours of the forums demise are somewhat premature. ps: Less posts is just a general internet forum thing, not Pattaya or Thailand related, many non LOS forums I use have a lot less posters than Pattayatalk.

marleyboy Well done for the 3 seats, I am hoping to be equally lucky. I guess that although you arrive in BKK at 0620hrs, it is basiclly a day flight, if you return on TG910 you should sleep well on that flight. I have booked a seat a couple of rows from the back, there maybe a little loo flushing noise and a slow exit from the plane but mai pen rai. Have a great time.

After all my huffing and puffing I have today booked my flight to Bangkok. I booked through WestEast with Thai Airways, I phoned the agents up on a normal landline 0208 7418988 and the £12 price match that saved me covered my £12 C/C charge. I wanted to use my credit card rather than my debit card as I have 16 months interest free on that card. I am going on TG911/910 which is the 747 aircraft and there tends to be more empty seats on those flights than the 916/917. Thanks to my expertflyer seat plan and a very helpful chap at WestEast I have booked the seats which I wanted. Whether my plan works , who knows? :) Once I arrive in Thailand I then just have to overcome the protests, and the bars closure for the election and Maccha Buddha day. Thanks to the BMs who have given me some tips.

The first time I flew on an aeroplane was in a Dan Dair Comet, a Genoa to Gatwick charter flight. I don't think that I was asking about entertainment boxes on those aircraft. :)

I looked on Planeplotter for todays TG911 and the aircraft was HS-TGZ, a bit of Googling and I saw that it was a retro fitted 744 with AVOD. I understand that sometimes ops problems can lead to changes, as long as it's not a Dan air Comet, then I'll be OK.

Cheers Tom. The expertflyer site is pretty good as under flight availability it shows the different seat fare bucket classes and under the seat map section it shows which seats are already booked. Whilst this is not written in stone it gives you a good idea on how full the flight will be, there is definitely better availability on TG910 and 911 because of the bigger aircraft and many passengers like the evening outbound flight on TG917. I am still a little confused about which 747 is used on the TG910/911 flights, is it one with the AVOD entertainment system or is it still the large screen in the centre, or can it even change? At least BR has AVOD and also aisle row G doesn't have an entertainment box in front, but having said that, if there is no AVOD then there won't be a box to worry about. :)

I have just joined expertflyer.com on a free 5 day trial, this web site shows seat class availability. Eva yesterday bumped their Elite fares by £80+ for when I want to travel so I have looked at Thai availability. An example of Economy availability shows the different seat fare bucket classes, Y9 B9 M9 H9 Q9 T9 K9 S9 V9 W0, to me this indicates good availability in Economy but obviously not the 81 seats as shown. Eva flights for my out and return flights do not have such a good availability as TG, so I may go Thai economy. Probably TG910 and 911 with the 747 will be better as they have more economy seats than the A340-600, plus I like 747s more than the A340s.

Aren't Phillipines airlines soon going to be flying direct LHR-Manilla?

But is the election going ahead? 12 months ago the GBP was around 47thb now it is around 53thb, as the actress said to the Bishop, "Every little bit helps" or similar. :)

I have only looked at page 49 so these may have been mentioned before. Lemon Tree and Wake Me Up are both still popular in the bars, even though they are now a bit Old Hat. From my early trips to Thailand there was Cheeky Girls and also a big favourite, Nu Virgos, Stop Stop stop.

Jacko, No, that is afterwards :) Nightrider, I have looked at skyscanner before and maybe it is a good idea to have alerts sent to me. marleyboy, Yes, I thought about doing that, maybe get a cheaper price and see what seats are available before paying.

I have just checked out the WestEast web site and for late January the fare is £613 for Economy and £879 for Elite so that I am now considering buying the Elite ticket. The Elite cabin is very basic and you need to be in a decently positioned seat but £260 difference is not too bad. Why is it that when I fly, the first seat to be fully reclined is always the one in front of me?

I have just arrived back in the UK after a month in Hua Hin, too old for Pats now. :) I will probably go to Thailand again in late January, I have just been accepted for a Tesco Credit card with 0% interest for 16 months, I would only use this card to pay for a Business class ticket and set up direct debit every month to pay it off within 12 months. With Emirates free pick up etc plus lounge access that would save me the best part of £100 on my usual plans. I have to do some careful sums because the air fare would be subsidised by only taking a TG say every 3 days, which would be enough for me now,both mentally and phyiscally :) if I hire a car for a week that is also subsidised by not taking a lady. I know that would be no good for you under 50s but after about 25 trips to Thailand the novelty of having a TG every day is wearing off a bit now. Turkish have a good deal from Birmingham in business, I think they are an OK airline as well, just that the connecting times coming back are poor.

I always fly Eva from LHR to BKK but their flights are nearly always full, even on Mondays and Tuesdays and that means the seating is somewhat cramped. Eva Airs fares are usually the lowest for direct flights, also the airline is now known and used by many families, couples etc, so with these combinations plus the down sizing of the aircraft I expect BR067/068 to be usually fulllish. The Premium Economy (Elite) fares are about £400 more than economy and in my opinion not worth it. Therefore I am assessing alternatives. Thai fly twice a day to BKK from LHR, is the mid day flight less crowded than the night flight? Also is the midnight return flight less crowded than the mid afternoon flight. I can book for any day of the week to help with the seat availability. Emirates business class is only £1900 with free pick up and drop offs, plus a business seat on the A380 from Dubai to BKK, but it is nevertheless still money which would be better spent elsewhere. :-)

The girl walking in the black dress; immediately behind her at the bar, a Falang seems to be having a nice feel of the spinners Toot. :)

It would be great to fly First Class, but then downgrade for your next flight ? even Business Class would disappoint you, as for going back to the zoo ? It doesn't bear thinking about. :) A few years ago I flew back to BKK from Chiang Mai, Business class on a Thai Air 747, that was cool, upstairs in the bubble, and very little more cost than an economy ticket, I doubt they do First class on that flight. ps: Most of the TG flights on the Chiang Mai run are old A300s I believe.