CheshireTom

All Thai's booking classes qualify for air miles. Economy Class – Y, B, M, H, Q, T, K, S 100% Economy Class (discounted fares) V, W 50% Premium Economy Class 110% Royal Silk Class 125% Royal First Class 150% Tom

partyanimal, Some are, some arent. Each airline sets its own restrictions, including ff accumulation rules, for the various classes. A simplified explanation of the various codes is: First class codes A, F, P, R, Z On domestic flights, F commonly indicates first class on a two-cabin plane. If a three-cabin aircraft is used, P (for "premium") may be used to distinguish the higher level of service in first class. The R code indicated supersonic transport and is no longer used with the retirement of the Concorde. The A and Z codes may indicate a first class ticket whose fare

BigD, The airlines that fly from the UK to LOS operate under a totally different business model from their US counterparts in as much that they don't have huge, unprofitable domestic networks to subsidise so the fuel price analogy is way wide of the mark. Over the last 8 months prices from UK-LOS have been on average 5-10 percent cheaper than the same period last year even with fuel surcharges taken into account. Given the number of middle-east carriers on the LOS route it is a situation that is unlikely to change drastically over the next 6-9 months as most fuel will have already been h

makavelli, The cheaper prices you see are from one of three sources,: Firstly, one-off offers through agents...... normally have restrictions and a "book by" date. For example Malaysia currently has a great offer for departures 1-31 May 2006. These offers can appear at anytime up to the week prior to travel. A decent suggestion is to go to the main agents' sites and sign-up to receive their newsletters. Secondly, the airlines own yield-management systems. This is where the number of seats available in each booking class (Y, V, H etc) on each flight is automatically adjusted to

I used them last year. They are an excellent airline using brand new aircraft(effectively part of Lufthansa nowadays) and Zurich is a great, no-hassle transit stop. The MAN-ZUR-BKK flight is, I think, the quickest door-to-door service that you can get from from any carrier up north. An additional bonus is that they are now part of the Star Alliance so if you are in Thai's ROP programme you can now transfer your miles over. The MAN-ZUR leg is "cosy" on a small Embraer aircraft. Flights from MAN generally tend to fluctuate at the moment between 440 and 520 quid (a bit more for Singapo

If you are booking whilst in town it is a safer bet just to nip into the Bangkok Airways Office on 2nd Road behind the Montien/Hard Rock Hotels. They often have special deals that can only be booked in Thailand. Tom

Thai is currently offering a companion fare (2 pax must travel together) through flynow.com for GBP399 incl all taxes. The deal is valid for departures 1-30 Sep. There is also a similar deal incl return flights for a side trip to Phuket, Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai for GBP414 Tom

winnie, I'm sure he'll cotton on to your endearing qualities! Tom

Baz, 78 points for the midweek games .......... I'll hang on to the 1k for now, if that's OK. Tom p.s. Just goes to prove there's no skill involved.

Joe, No, mate. It is celebrated on the full moon of the 11th (?) lunar month. Basically, it means that the rivers will be at their highest level then and that links in to the river goddess etc. It really is worth making the effort to get to Chiang Mai, Ayutthaya or Sukhothai for the festival proper. Tom

Joe, 15 Nov for the actual full-moon krathong launching stuff but in places like Chiang Mai the festival runs from 14-16 Nov. Tom

eltilza, travelhouseuk.co.uk is certainly a fully-owned, trading subsidiary of Polani. If you need confirmation, go to the ATOL website that I linked to in my previous post and enter the ATOL number 5311 in the quick search field and it will show the connection quite clearly. The following are all trading names of Polani Travel Ltd: Eazy Travel Flightcatchers Fly the world 4 less Sky High Flights Skyhigh Holidays T K Travel Travel House UK Travel Land Travelmint Tom

eltilza, travelhouseuk.co.uk should not be confused with Travel House Group and I am surprised that they are allowed to operate under that name. Travel House Group (THG) is part of the TUI/Thomson/Lunn Poly group of companies and is entirely above board. travelhousegroup.co.uk only acts as an agent for, and is part of, a company called Polani Travel which is co-located at the same address in Hounslow. Their details are easily found on the net. Their website, although it appears quite professional, is actually a knock-off of Travelmood's (www.flynow.com) website. You would be was

Hotel bookings in November are more likely to be affected by Loy Krathong than Thanksgiving which tends to pass pretty much unnoticed. Tom

Samsonite, The new wing of the Nova Park fits the bill as does the Welkom Inn. The new wing at the Mike Orchid may also have a similar set-up. Hotels tend not to have a "private entrance" due to the likeliehood of guests doing a runner. Tom

upena, That's not always the case from UK. For instance, one of our main agents (Travelmood/www.flynow.com) has Malaysia Airlines at GBP385 incl all taxes/surcharges for travel LHR-BKK during 1-31 May 2006 (alternatively it is GBP299 to Kuala Lumpur then a short hop for around GBP40 return on Air Asia up to BKK). Outstanding value for what is generally considered to be the best economy product of all the airlines. Likewise, EVA Air's new premium laurel class from LHR during late Sep-late Nov was being sold for less than GBP900 during June; the same seat is now 50% more expensive. To

You've obviously never taken the skytrain from Mo Chit to the Asia. Nothing new there then. How's the travel agency coming along? Any word back from Thai?

marleyboy, Old BKK hands wouldn't take a cab to the Asia. Much quicker and more convenient to get a cab down to Mo Chit station (N8) and take the Skytrain from there. The Asia is directly connected by an elevated walkway to Ratchathewi station (N1) (7 stops down the line). The cost is 30 Baht or invest in a 1 or 3 day tourist pass at 100/280 Baht respectively. It also has the advantage of affording great views of places like Victory Monument along the line. The Asia hotel is a bastard to get to from the airport by road (on the wrong side of the dual-carriageway) and you will l

Jambo, It's many years since I flew Qantas (HKG-BKK) but they seemed pretty decent and I think they are still well-regarded. The only obvious downside I can see is that, like BA, they cram in their passengers quite tightly. Probably OK for an hour or two but would do my head in on a 12 hour flight. If you have a trip booked on the new EVA aircraft (post Sep 15th) I would wait until I had made that trip before booking. Besides better Jan fares probably coming along towards the end of Oct, the 777 is a hugely more comfortable aircraft than the old 747s. Tom p.s. I hope you ha

All the info you need, and more, is at ajarn.com. Personally, I think that Pattaya would probably be the last place that I would recommend a newbie to embark upon a TEFL career in Thailand. There are much better places to discover Thailand unless he is just looking to finance a mongering existence. Tom

The Markland (Beach Rd/Soi 1) is a decent enough hotel and is 27 floors high. Even if you don't stay there the Sky restaurant is worth a visit.

terry, I don't know too much about the hotels you mentioned, however, for spot-on 700 Baht a night up until the 31 October, the standard rooms at the Sabai Inn are hard to beat for value for money in that particular price range. Tom

The place is called Soleil de Siam. It seems X-Zyte is on the map simply as a landmark. Tom

Those guys in the south who may normally travel through LHR may want to check prices for the next few months through Gatwick as there appears to be a bit of a price war going on with the three mid-east carriers. Etihad is offering flights LGW-BKK for 399 quid and both Emirates and Gulf Air 407 quid (both prices incl all taxes) for travel Sep-Nov. Use the Pricerunner site to search for the best prices across the main agents. (ensure that you enter the airport codes in caps i.e. LGW and BKK). Tom

Baz, Looking at the table you're probably not far wide of the mark! Tom