randolpho2

ATL and CVG (Terminal B? - Behind McDonalds in the food court) both have smoking rooms.. ATL being the better example, as it will be your launching off point. Might be a bit of a pain for you BigD, you would have to do PHL-ATL-NRT(or ICN)-BKK on a Skyteam (Delta/NW/Korean) conglomeration of flights in order to take advantage. Delta has really been pushing the new DTW gateway they picked up from NW for Asia and steering away from the ATL Skyteam connections as of late, as far as pricing goes. The smoking availability is one of the big factors of why I go Elite with Delta for my business flying.. it makes life so much easier. In ATL the lounges are available on pretty much every concourse (one on each side of the terminal from the central escalators), and are fairly convenient. The only one that is a big pain is the E Concourse, which handles most international departures.. that lounge is way down at an isolated corner that is a bit of a hike. Just come off the escalator from the trains, go straight past the food court on your left, Delta Sky Club/Duty Free on your right, and follow the hallway to the right... continue all the way down almost to the end. You will see a Coca-Cola vending area, and the smoking lounge is down a short hallway on the right.

Hey guys, in order to bring some civility back around here... not that I don't mind seeing BigD vs. someone other than ROLAND for a change. Does the CX transfer in HK require a Chinese transit visa for Americans? I have flown through ICN and NRT myself, but never HKG so am not aware of this... I appreciate your help! Randy

I guess it was good luck, but I should be more specific... it was a 3/4 size refrigerator... not your typical full-size home refrigerator. I was thinking full-size in relation to a normal minibar. And you were one room away, I was in #203, where my 3/4 was... I'd have let you borrow part of it!

I have stayed on both the 2nd and 6th floors, and both times had 2 TVs and a full-size refrigerator... might be luck of the draw though?

I am one of the big Residence Garden fans on here, and would definitely recommend it. The fact is that RG is not WAY too far from Walking Street at all, and IF it isn't oppressively humid, then the walk isn't too bad. Otherwise, you can easily get a baht bus, but at night it may be just as easy to get a motorbike driver to run you back for 20 baht per... I have done that on many occasions and never had much of a problem.

Looks like prices are FINALLY starting to come down from the mid-South for March departures... $780 ballpark for DFW and IAH on AA/EVA, flight times are a bit dodgy, but it beats paying the $1000+ that it has been!

BigD, as usual you are awesome... hope it works.

On my last trip I did the flight from Atlanta to Tokyo in cattle class on Delta, and it would be really difficult for me to recommend it, but again that was on Delta, not Korean Air and more than anything it was simply the length of the flight that did it for me, as service was typical for US airlines... nothing special, but certainly not bad. As far as Korean goes, the one major disadvantage if you plan on staying awake on the plane a bit, which I do, they do not have personal video screens, and a very limited entertainment selection. One plus is, they always close with a video of a Korean variety song & dance show (in Korean) towards the end of the flight, which can be entertaining. Another thing to consider is what I did on my first trip. You are probably flying from TPA, MCO, or MIA all of which are more than likely going to take you an intermediate stop to get to the west coast. See if you can arrange a flight to the west coast (SFO-LAX) for one price ($200-$300 r/t @ 5-6 hours), get a room at an airport hotel for $40 with priceline.com, wake up refreshed the next day and do the long haul with one of the deals on China Airlines for $600-$675 r/t or so. Your total cost ends up being around the same $1000 the ticket from Florida usually costs, and you break up the trip going out there so you are not totally zombified. It is really up to you though... from experience, the ATL-ICN-BKK route is pretty rough as you can end up with a nasty layover in Seoul if you aren't careful, but it is liveable, and once you get to BKK and you walk off that plane you won't care at all about the time you just spent. Oh, and if you do end up having to choose, Thai Air is awesome from Seoul to Bangkok! Just my two baht...

www.airasia.com... They can get you into Kuala Lampur real cheap.

Sounds like you are describing Climax Beer Bar, as mentioned above... bottom floor underneath Polo on the left.

Now the question is... will TG pay the extra 5 baht for the in-seat video screens that they passed on for the 777s?

I just stayed there at 1350B/day, but then again this is low season... I dunno this might be one for Pete to investigate, hash out, etc. Also make SURE you try your booking through the direct link from this website... I was not allowed the FLB rate on walk-up last week... I had to fill out the form and make the reservation that way in order to get the rate. Randy

My mattress was harder than a ladyboy on the first night of Cobra Gold, so no you were not alone. That was another contributing factor to moving to the Residence Garden.. though I have to admit the price was very nice at 650B, but I couldn't deal with the noise primarily.

I stayed in 103 as well... and yes that was the spot. Were you the one that left the half-empty bottle of baby oil under the end table?

Hey guys! I am currently sitting in Incheon airport waiting out my 5 hour layover to get back to the States I just wanted to let you all know that I stayed at the Roof Garden on the first couple nights of my trip but there is some pretty damned loud construction starting up across the road that got me up at 8:00 both mornings, so I moved over to the Residence Garden, tried and true, it didn't fail me, even with the new building going up across the street there, the noise was negligible... I will give a more detailed trip report with some pics when I get back to the States... I just wanted to give everyone a heads up about the construction at Roof Garden. Cheers! Randy

They are also known to moonlight as Farang Volunteer Police... but that is another thread for another time..

If it is any help, I just saw a flight on Asiana (a Star Alliance member) out of SFO-BKK for $720ish around those dates... I caught it on Travelocity of all places might be worth check out. FYI, EVA for the same flight is $670 all-in. Randy

I am heading out on Delta/Thai August 18th out of Little Rock and paid $942... it sucked considering that winter fares go in the $750-$850 range on United, but what can you do? If anyone else is locked into dates and has to make a departure in August from the Midwest or Midsouth US, there are several airports if you use Orbitz that have the $942 price available even today.. the next closest is in the $1200-$1300 range on United

I will be ecstatic when the Thai ORD-BKK nonstop opens up... even if they tack on a 10% premium on the N/S like Singapore is doing with the EWR-SIN route. My route next month is a pretty asinine menagerie of flights, and it will be nice to just go MEM-ORD-BKK (United/Thai Star Alliance flights). As of this trip, and kind of relating to the longest trip ever question, I am going LIT-ATL-NRT (Delta) NRT-BKK (Thai) which is not TOO bad other than the 14 hour ATL-NRT leg (at least on a 777) Coming back however, I have BKK-ICN (Thai) ICN-DFW (Korean), 4 1/2 hour layover in Incheon and DFW-LIT (ASA/Delta Connection). Total time coming back roughly 29 hours + 2-3 hour (rush hour) cab ride PTY-BKK and 1 hour drive home from LIT. All in, about 32 hours.... but worth every stinking minute.

Good luck to all on their bookings. I have to agree with centcm on the routing through the west coast with an overnight stay. I did that last time going through San Francisco, and got a room at the Hyatt Regency Airport for $38USD + tax with free airport shuttle on Priceline. It makes the travel time significantly longer, but I would much rather do that and arrive rested (if I have the extra day to spare) versus slogging the whole 28-30 hours westbound in one go.

Afraid you might have to check www.priceline.co.uk, or one of those snazzy Brit travel agencies that always get mentioned around here to get it down to 650 EUR for those dates... (I am assuming you meant July, and not June?). The best I found was kind of a cockamamie mess for around 1000 EUR, taking you from Ljubljana to Stansted on Easyjet, then requiring a transit on the tube over to Heathrow to pick up GulfAir through Abu Dhabi taking you into BKK. Just know that the Easyjet portion is going to run you about 160 EUR inclusive from Ljubljana to Stansted (1 flight daily). Alternatively, for the same time range, you can fly out of Vienna on Emirates, through Dubai for 870 EUR (+ taxes), which I found on www.expedia.co.uk. Like I said all these Brits around here know a lot more about the flying scene from London if you want to go that route, but that is what I could find... Randy

One word of advice just from a quick once over of flights for that date range... if you live near the border (as most of our Canuck friends do), wherever you may be, drive south, and start from a US airport, preferably one serviced by United, if you are not near Seattle, where you can pick up EVA. Fares are far more expensive on most flights from YYZ or YVR compared to flying from Seattle, Detroit, or Chicago, just for instance. What you will find is that in the October time frame, if you can get to an airport serviced by United (or United Express) you essentially get the flight to the hub (be it Chicago, San Francisco, etc) free, and can then make the hop across the pond from there. If you are not near a major hub in Canada, and have to fly Air Canada Jazz, Tango, WestJet, or even worse Bearskin Airlines (yes there is an airline called that in Ontario ) into Toronto or Vancouver, you are looking at quite a steep add-on to your fare right up front. Just my two baht, but of course only you know the true value of your time in the hassle of crossing the border, and the drive from wherever you call home to the nearest two-bit US airstrip. Happy travels! Randy

Passenger Facility Charge is a fee that each individual airport determines and collects for themselves. It covers the cost of runway/facility improvements, etc. etc. etc. The US prob leads the way in all of the fees we have to pay on our tickets (though at least we don't have a $12.50 USD departure tax) We still have the Sept. 11th Security Fee along with may other various taxes. Randy

That you did, sir... many thanks from a fellow fat ass! Randy

kj, Do you just fly Southwest to LAX and hop on EVA there? Just curious, as it might be cheaper (and better) on EVA vs. United, even though I have to go to the west coast to grab the flight. Do you book through EVA directly?