neilri2001

Sorry for the tardy response. I haven't checked in for a couple of weeks. I didn't pay the extra. I convinced the guy that it would be in his best interests to convey me for the agreed fare. Not typical behavior for me as i always think it a good policy to avoid confrontation in foreign lands but rip off taxi drivers are a bug bear of mine. It's also one of the reasons ( other than safety ) why i have never taken a motor cycle taxi in Thailand.

In 30 years of visiting Pattaya the Eastiny on soi 8 probably ranks as the worst hotel that i have stayed at in Pattaya. To cap off a very poor experience the taxi back to the airport arranged through the hotel tried to extort me for a higher fare than agreed by leaving the motorway and pulling up in a very quiet area. Ive no idea whether or not anyone from the hotel was in on this.

PE on the 787-9 tends to be 2-3-2 rather than 2-4-2 . I think the dreamliner will be switched from an existing route as if it was brand new it would probably be a 787-10. For whatever reason BA doesn't tend to put the better equipment on the BKK route even though load factors tend to be fairly high.

If you're flying from the UK ( specifically within easy reach of Heathrow ) to Thailand in Business Class then EVA is pretty much untouchable in my book. The only negative is the day flight on the way back.

Apparently they are working on a software fix rather than re configuring the plane! The specific situation is apparently when the plane might need to climb very sharply and very quickly such as when aborting a landing. Personally i think that the legacy carriers should differentiate themselves from the low cost carriers rather than go head to head with them but apparently in steerage price is still the main driver for a majority of customers.

BA and Lufthansa are having to leave the back rows of their new "densified " A320 neo's unsold because of safety concerns caused by uneven weight distribution. The planes are now basically too heavy at the back which could be dangerous under certain specific circumstances. Serves them right for joining the race to the bottom in my opinion.

My brother flew Emirates economy from Birmingham and he seemed fairly content with the experience. If the price is genuinely approaching EVA's premium economy fare then for me Eva would be a no brainer. I'm in a minority but i didn't go a bundle on Emirates Business. Despite the nice lounges at LHR and BKK and good IFE the seat width was a miserly 19 inches which is firmly in premium economy ( at best ) territory

At the end of the day we all choose to spend our time and money the way that we see fit. Personally i have never flown a low cost airline such as Ryanair or Air Asia in my life and would never fly long haul on any aircraft with a 17 inch wide seat unless it was the last flight out of a war zone. If finances dictated that i could choose two trips flying economy or one flying business i would choose the one flying business every time provided that it was on a decent airline. That is my choice. Others would choose a different option. That is their choice and i respect their choice.

I don't personally travel economy but to answer your question EVA, Thai and BA all have wider seats on flights from London to Bangkok departing on Tuesday. EVA's economy seat is wider than the premium seat on TUI. I didn't check indirect flights but seatguru.com is an invaluable resource for this type of information. Anyone with a body shape larger than skinny is going to have a pretty uncomfortable time in a 17 inch wide seat even if they get an extra inch of seat pitch.

Granted. But the seats are only 17 inches wide!

I know everyone is different but if someone offered me a free week in Thailand but with the proviso that i would have to fly on a Thompson charter flight i would stay at home

I haven't flown on EVA for three years but must have had over 20 flights with them in premium economy and business going right back to the time when the London flights used to stop off in Vienna and i have to say that personally i have never had a bad flight or even what that was significantly delayed. Maybe the original poster was just unlucky. Sometimes you only get a complete picture of an airline when things go wrong. Some of the middle eastern airlines have great hard product but a poor reputation for customer service . BA may have many faults but if things went wrong i would feel more co

For those of us who make use of Avios points and Amex two for one vouchers to facilitate trips to Thailand BA have just loaded an additional 50,000 business class reward seats across their destinations. There is currently good business class reward availability to / from Bangkok across May and June 2019. Be advised that these reward seats usually go fairly quickly

I agree with you that Hilton Pattaya is over priced but with exchange rates being what they are i'm not sure how many nice guest houses you are going to find in the 750 baht ($25) range

I would guess to a certain extent on whether you had status with either chain. Diamond membership would typically get you a good upgrade ( often to a suite ), free breakfast for two and executive lounge access with free refreshments throughout the day and a light evening meal with drinks. With status i would choose The Hilton, without status probably Avani as The entry level rooms at Pattaya Hilton are a bit over priced.

Anyone taken the flight to UTP yet? would be nice to have a review

I think that the new airport / terminal will have opened in Muscat by the time that you fly so you may have a better transit experience than reportedly on offer at present

Sometimes you just have to love the English translation of Thai names. The first time i went to Chiang Mai i was recommended to stay in the Pornping hotel but i didn't as i had to leave my hotel contact details with colleagues and family in the UK

I still tend to use a hotel safe with an emergency fund hidden in a locked suitcase. I tend to stay in five star hotels in Bangkok and 3/4 star hotels in Pattaya. I've never stayed in a guest house or apartment partly because of perceived fears about security / theft. Whether or not these fears are backed up by any hard evidence is another matter. I always leave a daily tip for the maid. Partly because i feel they deserve it, partly to cover additional towels and the like and partly out of a belief that if they are going to steal they are less likely to steal from someone who tips them!

Qatar Airways has launched a 15% discount code on the base fare, valid in Economy and Business, for flights from the UK on four new routes: Canberra Chiang Mai Pattaya Penang The promo code to use on the Qatar Airways website is FLYQRUK. You need to book by 17th February for travel by any point until 1st February 2019. “Peak black out travel dates apply.” Meanwhile, if you can connect to Dublin easily, you can save 15% on Chiang Mai, Penang, Canberra, Bangkok, Sydney, Bali, Perth, Kuala Lumpur, Melbourne, Auckland, Cape Town, Singapore, Johannesburg, Lahore and Hong Kong

For board members based in Holland / Begium or for UK members who are prepared to position themselves in Amsterdam you can get BA business class return from Amsterdam to Bangkok via Heathrow in Business class for 1349 euros if you book by Sunday. Availability appeared to be pretty wide open throughout 2018. If you want to get off at Heathrow and not have to take the final leg back to Amsterdam the advice appears to be either to do hand luggage only or to book the final sector from Gatwick so that you get to pick up hold luggage at Heathrow. If you did this too many times BA might cotton on

According to the Head for Points website ( which alongside the Flyertalk premium fares forum is a good source of information for discounted premium fares ) Garuda Indonesian is offering return business class fares from Heathrow to Bangkok via Jakarta for £1080. The London to Jakarta legs are normally on the 777 which has a 1-2-1 seating layout in Business. The fare is apparently only bookable direct online with the airline.

There is a thread on The Whisper started by Evil back in October which contains lots of pictures and opinions

I would use more temperate language than Goldpanner but i have to confess that i am still slightly apprehensive about transiting in the middle East. As i don't live a million miles away from Heathrow i am fortunate to have a wide choice of direct non stop flights to Thailand and elsewhere and consequently have only traveled via the middle east on four occasions over the past 30 years. My two flights via Dubai on Emirates were separated by more than 20 years but the transit experience on both was not especially pleasant. My one experience with Qatar was fine as was my most recent flight on Gul

I stay at Hilton's all over the world and have been to the Sky bar at Hilton Pattaya. I just felt that, in common with many sky bars in Bangkok , it's not particularly good value for money. The Sky bar at Serene gives you a great view at a more modest price