CheshireTom

growler, It is 2-4-2 (normally AC-DEFG-HK) in Elite and 3-3-3 (normally ABC-DEG-HJK) in Economy. Tom

It seems Manchester will eventually get its Thai flights after all. From the Bangkok Post ....................... "Thai Airways International is spreading its wings to five new destinations: Moscow, Johannesburg, Berlin, Sendai in Japan, and Manchester. The scheduled flights to Moscow and Johannesburg are set to start in November and December respectively, while flights to the three other cities are expected to begin between 2006 and 2007...................... ..............Three or four flights a week are planned for the service to Manchester, the airline's second serving city i

misterhandy, Thai AirAsia is now booking through until the end of March 2006. Prices from/to Singapore are from 230 Baht each-way plus the add-on taxes etc. Tom

Hub, Without referring specifically to LA, I agree with you entirely re the testing procedures, however, a test for chemical 'A' will not necessarily detect chemical 'B'. I think that's what folk refer to as keeping one step ahead of the testers as the Balco cases highlighted. I don't think Marion Jones has ever tested positive for anything but you've got to wonder about the coincidence of her slump in form coming around at exactly the same time as the testers found out what exactly it was that other athletes alleged she was on. At the end of the day, it is not sports fans who a

BigD, Are you the full shilling, or what? All I said is that I can't get my head around how he has continually beaten all those cycling guys that are on drugs and have admitted that fact ............. somebody mentioned David Millar as a prime example. Another poster said that Florence Griffith Joyner was one of his favourite athletes. Her legacy is a couple of ridiculous world records and an untimely death. But, just for the record, she never once tested positive. As I have already said, LA will now have his day in court to put over his side of the story. As for try

BigD, Sometimes I wonder if you are really that thick or whether you have to work at it. The allegations were made in a book, LA Confidential, excerpts of which were reprinted in The Sunday Times. LA is currently sueing Times Newspapers and the case will be heard in London sometime at the beginning of Nov. LA will have his day in court to establish whether or not he did, or did not do, what has been alleged in the book. If he thought that The Times would back off under the threat of legal action he has made a serious miscalculation. The contents of the book and the newspaper exce

spike, "Thank God Tom was not a testing judge or Lance would not have won 7 Tours." And LA's lucky that the London High Court Judges aren't either. From Reuters today ....... Armstrong loses London court joust Seven-times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong suffered defeat in London's Court of Appeal on Friday. Three judges ruled that a London newspaper was entitled to argue that it could print a story containing allegations that Armstrong had taken performance-enhancing drugs. The cyclist has denied taking banned drugs. The judges agreed with The Sunday Times ne

livermore, I think the rules say that you declare prescription drugs or banned substances before the event, not after it; even if it is only for a sore bum. I think LA employs folk so that these little nuances called rules are adhered to. The fact that triamcinolone can also be ingested orally to help improve lung function is purely coincidental, of course. I suppose since the UCI is an international organisation LA can claim that he didn't understand the rules since they were written in French. It reminds me a bit about the difference between Linford Christie and Ben Johnson ..

themook, I think we've all set out our stall re Lance and I think it would be accurate to say that he is a controversial champion. Of the other US sportsmen in my lifetime that I would consider great (or at least who have given me the most enjoyment), not necessarily athletes, I would rate: Tiger Woods (I am lucky enough to live about 40 minutes from Southport and Royal Birkdale so I may even take a trip up there this weekend to see Michelle Wie - frightening ability for her age!). McEnroe and Connors - some great memories of two great competitors. Ali and Leonard - made

livermore, Your second paragraph says everything about your mentality. No-one has got a downer on LA because he is American so your little jibe about British cyclists is irrelevant and really does show what you know about cycling or are you one of these armchair coaches that cheers everyone on ...... as long as they're waving the stars and stripes. The "he has never tested positive" argument was, as I have already stated on this thread, identical to that used by Kostas Kenteris, Flo Jo and Marion Jones to name but a few. It was good that you brought up the case of David Millar sinc

farman, To travel out on Xmas day Airfaresbasement has Qatar @ GBP 568, Gulf at 601 and EVA @ 658. http://airfaresbasement.com/ Airroutes has Sri Lankan @ GBP 577 Airroutes.com Thomas Cook has Gulf @ GBP 592 and Lufthansa @ 632 thomascook.com Expedia has Gulf @ GBP 570 and EVA @ 621 Travelbag/e-bookers has Jordanian @ GBP 525 All of the above are available and include all taxes. There are loads of flights around, even more so if you travel on Boxing Day. As for buying now or waiting ...... simply speaking, there is a 50% chance the fares will go up a

themook, I would disagree that he didn't just come from nowhere. Prior to winning the tour he had competed four times previously and managed to finish only once, when he came in somewhere around 20th/25th or thereabouts. I think you would agree that is not a particularly strong pedigree by any stretch of the imagination. You are right to say that he has lifted the sport to new heights but there again so did the East German swimmers and Chinese runners in their particular events. Tom

BigD, Thank Christ for that. I thought for a moment you were going to claim to be related to Stephen Roche. BTW, no need to spit your dummy out. Tom

Gary, No, I never mentioned anything about his nationality and it seems that it is only you that finds it somewhat relevant. (Kostas Kenteris is Greek BTW and sorry about my earlier spelling). I was actually a big fan of Greg Lemond when Channel 4 in the UK first started programming the tour. But if you think I'm critical, just bear in mind that it was fellow-American Greg that labelled LA as "the greatest fraud in the history of the race". If you read my first post in this thread I had already anticipated the same old Yank bashing arguments from the likes of you when I wrote

themook, "He trains harder than most guys on the tour; he also concentrates on winning this race almost exclusively." Unfortunately, this is identical to the defence offered by Kosta Kederis when questioned about his form and choosing to compete in one major competition each year. Oh, and the standard "I've never tested positive" reaction which, in LA's case, isn't quite true. Tom

Bill, Chuffed means pleased........... Tom

echster, I will avoid any A v B comments as well as I am a little bit biased since we build the Airbus wings up the road from me just outside Chester. I do think the arguments tended to get a bit polarised on the question of hub-to-hub or point-to-point and 10 years ago none of us were probably looking at Dubai, Doha and, to a lesser extent, Abu Dhabi emerging as major hubs. I would agree that the best economy trip I've made was in the SQ 777ER from Manchester to Singapore but I don't know if that was down to Krisworld and the amazing SQ girls. Whatever the case, it was a very pleas

Samsonite, I'm well aware of the arguments put over by various pundits on discussion boards and I could pick and choose pro-Airbus comments from the multitude of A v B threads available, however, I've noticed that all that does is bring out folks deep-rooted prejudices. Personally, I've flown on a multitude of Boeing and Airbus aircraft and for a traveller it boils down to how the airline operates the aircraft in terms of furbishment, service etc that counts, not whether the aircraft was assembled in Washington or Toulouse. I realise that you may be a trifle miffed that some European

Somebody needs to tell that to the guys at UPS and Fedex .............. Didn't Boeing mock the A380 saying there was no market for larger aircraft? Tom

echster, Thanks for that. Tom

If it is a discounted ticket it refers to the return date. You can normally change the return date after the date of outward travel (i.e. once you are in Thailand) either for free or for a nominal charge - in this case 75 quid.

Matty, Much as I would like to admire LA as an athlete I can't get my head round how was always beating the guys who were on some of the most advanced performance-enhancing drugs on the market. I guess I'm a bit too cynical. Before the usual suspects mention Yank bashing, I had exctly the same cynicism when grandad Linford Christie was still competing at some ridiculous age. Whatever happened to the Scottish guy who built his own bikes from washine machine parts? Tom

Neither Tiger Airways nor AirAsia flies BKK-MNL other than via SIN/KUL respectively. Thai Air Asia has been touted to start the route but nothing has appeared in its schedules yet. Tom

I think you'll find that only Thai, Philippine and Kuwait Airlines fly MNL-BKK direct. It may be worth comparing the price against AirAsia via KL or Jetstar/Tiger Airways via SIN. Tom

echster, The Swiss site shows Thai operating A346 7 days a week on their codeshare but the Thai site shows EQV (star alliance site shows a MD11) as the aircraft type so it all gets a bit confusing. A couple of months ago on their investors presentation TG were unambiguous in saying the 346 was for European secondary routes (everywhere except FRA and LHR), Auckland and Tokyo now they seem to be all over the place. It really makes you wonder if they do have a strategy. Personally, I think they've got way too much capacity at the front end of the aircraft for some of the routes they ar