CheshireTom

Jack, The only thing that is dishonest is the owner of the guest house posting recommendations for his business on the forum whilst posing as a satisfied customer, likewise in the hotels review section. Oh, and folk such as yourself recommending the place based on your stay in the guest house of the same name which actually closed over a year ago. Emil, You forget that in one of his many Walter Mitty moments, BigD already ventured into the Pattaya hotel business (The Alamo Hotel?). Somewhat predictably, like his teaching career and Pattaya relocation, it proved to be short-lived.

Jack, Nobody said, or implied, that the majority of positive reviews in the hotel review section came from Pete the owner. However, as I said, over 30% do and only one by BigD. I think you're getting confused with the Hotels and Accommodations Section. Two different parts of the board.

No, BigD, I looked up Sky-Top in the hotel reviews section and noticed that over 30% of the positive reviews and recommendations for the place were from the same person who, as it turns out, is also the owner of the place. It really makes a mockery of the whole purpose of the reviews if the owner is not only recommending the place but also bumping up the ratings for the place at the same time. http://www.pattayapages.com/reviewpost/sho....php?product=81 I am sorry that you really don't seem to care for the Search function on this forum, however, it is really quite a useful tool. For example, it can show you the number of times that you have plugged the Sky-Top on this forum but, perhaps less conveniently, it also shows that your relationship with the owner is somewhat more than that of just another guest. To quote your own words ...........

BigD, The answer is simple. If you don't want to invite opposing views of the Sky-Top then don't bring up the subject. You don't have to search the forum for posts that the owner, albeit pretending to be a satisfied customer, has made. The link is actually in the hotel review section. Jack, You lost me somewhere along the way. The reference to Paddy has nothing to do with nationalities, that is the guys's name. Doh!

About the same as Pete the owner is a good guy, whereas Paddy next door is a psychopath. Well, if there is one sigle good reason not to stay there, that is it. The price has increased 33% since last year ........ and that's the "rates from" price notwithstanding any high season supplements. The website is decidedly lacking on actual pricing information. Is Pete, the owner, not a member on this board? Magpie? Funnily enough, it seems he can't make up his mind if he is a satisfied guest or the owner of the place. http://www.pattayatalk.com/forums/index.ph...sult_type=posts

Has it moved nearer to that bar at the end where one of Sky-Tops guests murdered the owner then? Considering it was a police station previously I think that would have been on the cards. How about important things like fire escapes? According to their website the base price has also gone up 33% from 450 Baht to 600 Baht.

I don't even bother with the lounges in UK .... a waste of time and effort. In my experience, Qatar's Premium Terminal in Doha has got to be hard to beat. This is how Skytrax saw things in this year's awards. Interestingly, only three from Europe and none from the US. FIRST CLASS LOUNGES 1 Thai Airways - BKK 2 Qatar Airways - DOH 3 Lufthansa - FRA 4 Cathay Pacific - HKG 5 South African Airways - JNB 6 Malaysia Airlines - KUL 7 Korean Air - ICN 8 Singapore Airlines - SIN 9 ANA - NRT 10 Asiana Airlines - ICN BUSINESS CLASS LOUNGES 1 Virgin Atlantic - LHR 2 Cathay Pacific - HKG 3 Qatar Airways - DOH 4 Qantas Airways - SYD 5 Gulf Air - BAH 6 Malaysia Airlines - KUL 7 China Airlines - TPE 8 Swiss - ZRH 9 Asiana Airlines - ICN 10 Air New Zealand - AKL

Jack, The figures are also totally inrrelevant since the place you stayed at has since closed.

Given your track record on this board, I think that goes without saying.

Gus, Yes, the fee is 80 Baht per kg plus 7% VAT on their dometic flights and they do tend to be quite strict, certainly at Suvanabhumi. Depending on how long you are in Chiang Mai it may be worth either using the left luggage or storing some stuff at your hotel if you are returning there. The express boarding is a bit hit and miss because you tend to find that every "elderly person" or "young child" is accompanied by 22 family members and it does become a bit of a scrum. In any case, (certainly at Suvarnabhumi) you only end up being first onto the bus, rather than first onto the plane. Tom

There are several shops that sell better quality copy accessories. It depends on how much your friend wants to pay.

Brian, The airline would still have to fly the aircraft to the next point on its itinerary to pick up its next load. So they would still have to pay the full tax on the empty flight. The EU rules on passenger compensation for delays/cancellations are now quite onerous for the airline and are designed to prevent such instances occuring. I used to pay around 400 quid to fly to LOS from LHR or Amsterdam in the mid-late 80s. Given the improvement in the aircraft, flight schedules, facilities, entertainment, food etc the actual airfares now really are a bit of a bargain and, notwithstanding the cost of fuel, they are likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. Things will continue to improve as far as standards and choice of services are concerned. For the guys going out non-stop from LHR, Qantas, Thai and BA will all be introducing new A380s on the route over the next few years and EVA is introducng their improved 747s shortly. Oasis is already doing low-cost fares to Hong Kong (Hong Kong Express and, shortly Thai Air Asia will give a low-cost option to connect to BKK). AirAsiaX is due to start flying from Stansted to Kuala Lumpur next year. For the guys up north both Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong are rumored to be reintroducing non-stop services early next year and the increase in pax numbers on Emirates, Qatar and Etihad should see increases to their frequencies over the next couple of years. Tom

Err, well that's the plan. At the moment you pay taxes of either 40 or 80 quid on the flight out of UK. That is to disappear. The government will then tax the airline, not the passenger. The airline passenger actually does quite well as far as taxes are concerned. There is no duty on aviation fuel, nor is there VAT applied to the cost of flight tickets. I wouldn't moan too loudly ........... Except that you will then have to pay Dutch or French passenger tax. It's not something that's exclusive to Brits.

flighty, At the moment these are only proposals but effectively they are saying that the tax will be the responsibility of the airline and not the passenger. The tax is to be calculated per aircraft according to the distance flown i.e. it will be more if you are flying to LOS non-stop from London than it would be to, say, Tenerife. Good points and bad points ......... The tax is now the responsibility of the airline. Therefore the basic ticket price will increase but the taxes element will decrease. Not good news if you are flying non-stop to LOS from London since the tax will be applied according to the distance being flown. However, Qantas, BA and Thai will benefit since they will all be operating the A380 from LHR and the tax will be able to be spread over many more passengers than EVA for example. It really won't make much differnce to ticket prices. The airlines will charge whatever the market will bear.

BigD, You started a thread praising the fact the 787 was on schedule to fly in 2007. It seems to me that you have had precious little to contribute since that was proved to be just another one of your Walter Mitty moments. Don't you ever get anything right?

Jon Markman on MSN Money. Pretty good call by him, don't you think? Can you please try and post in the correct threads though. This is about aircraft delays. There is another thread (the kicking Euro butt thing) for the WTO nonsense etc etc. It would be a shame if people got sidetracked.

Notwithstanding the fact that ongoing launch aid only exists in your fantasies, do you think the EU taxpayer is in the least bit concerned what some Walter Mitty in Philidelphia thinks? The answer, of course, is that they, quite rightly, couldn't care less. Lets get back on topic ....... how's the home made ship coming along? Is that BigD's home made ship that he's going to pilot to Laem Chabang to start his new life ........

Well, since BigD changed the name of the thread to what it is now the 767 tanker delay is 100% on-topic, isn't it? Anyway, since I know you are so fond of cut and paste, here'sa little ditty for you ........ not from one of those Euro social rags either ....... the emphasis is mine And Scally, this was written almost 18 months ago ............ a pretty accurate prediction of what was likely to be the outcome of Boeings promises of we deliver on time, to spec and within the budget

Yaaaaawn. Óriginality is obviously not your strong point.

Scally, Hub posted about the delay with the A400 some time ago together with the perceived financial implications of that delay. Airbus has confirmed the delay. It's not something that's entirely unexpected hence EADS shares actually went up on the news. The engine provider (Europrop) will take most of the financial hit. What it does demonstrate though is that both Boeing (Dreamlifter, 787, and 767 tanker) and Airbus (A380 and A400) struggle to launch a new aircraft ....... the reasons are irrelevant. What's all the nonsense about "social welfare problems"? Sounds like you have issues that you are just going to have to deal with.

I used Etihad to MAN in Feb/Mar of this year. I didn't have time for much of a look around in Abu Dhabi but I'm pretty sure I had a ciggie in one of the coffee shops in the rotunda part of the terminal.

Yet, funnily enough, if you head over the border to Siem Reap, six and seven year-olds can speak English really well.

If you have travelled just recently it would haave been in the middle of Ramadan.

I wouldn't take that as being the norm. Qatar's average load factors to/from LHR, MAN and BKK are all in excess of 80%, hence the 340-600 on the LHR route, MAN shortly being upgraded to A330-300 on all seven days and the 2nd daily flight to BKK being introduced. Whilst the entetainment system is very good it is some way behind what is offered on Emirates and Singapore's newer aircraft. If you are travelling via the middle east in economy the biggest difference is in the seating layout. Qatar is 2-4-2 (330), Etihad 3-3-3 (777) and Emirates a ridiculous 3-4-3 (777).

The aircraft have long been complete. They will be delivered to SQ according to the airline's schedule. Remember mango ...... Google is your friend. Remember to set your video recorder for Monday ........