CheshireTom

With Etihad running daily services from Gatwick from 12 Oct at less than GBP 350 incl tax (at the moment they are 3 x weekly), I can't see any reason to even consider Phuket Airlines except for the nostalgia factor of flying on ancient aircraft. Tom

Seemed to be working OK for me. Not much to see unless you are interested in visiting Singapore or flying from Singapore. Tom

Sukhothai and Ayutthaya provide the best settings for the historical theme of the festival. Given a choice of Bangkok or Pattaya, I would probably opt for Pattaya because it is more compact and the whole length of Beach Road is an eyeopener as literally hundreds of Thais are involved in making the krathongs during the day prior to the festival proper in the evening. Tom

BigDUSA, SQ struggtled to get slots at JFK for the non-stop service at the times they wanted - that is why they go into EWR. I would imagine that TG will come up against the same problem so it would be no surprise if they also go into EWR rather than JFK. It will be interesting to see what seat configuration TG comes up with - circa 17 hours in economy doesn't sound like fun at all. :crying Tom

A couple of years since I stayed there but there was a 25m covered training pool at the Thai Garden Resort on North Pattaya Road. According to the website it looks like it is still there. Thai Garden Resort Tom

bj1, Not quite sure what you mean by "hi-so crowd" - sounds a bit like the Bangkok Tonight board ............... Upper class Thais do exist in Pattaya - we even have our own Thai princess in residence (I think she lives next door to Hilly!). You can regularly spot her driving around in her VW Beetle ...... Tom

The Sabai Group markets the Lodge as a resort hotel and the Inn as a boutique hotel, a distinction that seems to work for them. They appear to have big plans for the refurbishment of The Weekender (some of the Lodge staff will move there) and it will be interesting to see what standard the refurbishment brings the place up to. Location wise it would be hard to beat. Personally, I prefer the Inn, especially in the more humid months, where I can enjoy sport on TV, snooker or pool and of course afternoon tea in air-conditioned comfort. Tom

SoCalGuy, The three nearest are all on 2nd Road at the junction of Soi 3 (Sabailand), Soi 4 (Thai Palace Hotel) and past Soi Zero outside Tiffany Show. Tom

papalazarou, Firstly, I am speaking off the top of my head here so I could be completely wrong but I will check tomorrow (Mon) to see what the score is. First of all TG announced the upgrade of the 747 fleet including new style seats in First and Business. They added that personal IFE would also be installed - I assumed that would only by in the new seats as there was no plans to change the economy seating to incorporate personal IFE. TG then appointed consultants to carry out a full review of their corporate image including aircraft paint jobs and internal designs. As far as I a

flighty, They are commencing Gatwick flights 3 times a week from 1 Sep and daily from 12 Oct. I'm not sure on connections to/from BKK at the moment but will check them out when they release full details of their winter schedule. Tom

riceboy, Wasn't it the "good old American Marriot" that got bombed in Jakarta? Tom

Gus, Not as much as Evergreen or economy. From what I recall, you have floor mounted bins running the length of the upper cabin (for sticking reading materials, blankets, shoes etc) so the seats are offset into the cabin a bit more rather than flush against the fuselage. Regards, Tom

Gus, The Dynasty upgrade is the full business class product less the baggage allowance and mileage accumulation i.e. business class food and service, lounge access at Amsterdam and Bangkok and business class seating but only 20 kgs baggage and economy mileage accumulation.. A lot of guys seem to book through Gazelle Travel and give them the thumbs up - their contact details are: Newcastle Office: 27 Ridley Place Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8JN Telephone:0191 261 8616 Fax:0191 261 8624 Email:newcastle@gazelle.co.uk They have a website but it wouldn't work for me: Gazell

Gus, The full pax 380 and 386 seat configurations are identical to the combi in the first two sections i.e. from the nose to the front door and from the front door to the front galley. However, you are correct in that any of the full pax configurations can be used on the LHR route and so any pre-assigned seat allocation becomes a bit of a lottery. The various seat maps are below: Eva Seat Maps - 747 I would agree that going on the "combi days" makes sense if you are flexible in your planning. IMHO the uncertainty of the EVA seat configuration from LHR makes the China Airlines op

Etihad are currently around GBP 375 incl tax ex LHR from most agents from 1 Sep up to 31 Oct. They are commencing Gatwick services (3 days a week) from 1 Sep, increasing to daily flights from Oct 12 so I would imagine their prices for Nov will be around the same mark. They should haves released their full winter schedule and prices by the Aug Bank Holiday weekend. Tom

landy2a, I have a Rolex Cellini with the transparent workings even although I believe Rolex have never made a transparent watch! That said, it is a very good dress watch. Basically, they are kinetic automatics and the reverse is transparent. They (or similar makes - Gucci, Dior etc) can be had from Decar or St Louis on 2nd Rd for circa 2-2.5k baht. PM me if you need photo directions or any pics of the actual piece. Regards, Tom

ting_tong, And I bet Mr Wong hasn't stopped laughing since! Tom

sabaidii2, Thanks for that. Tom

drpaul, Got to disagree with you. The baby basinets are located at row 20 next to the forward bulkhead in Evergreen Deluxe and are normally allocated to families with infants. Rows 20-22 should be avoided unless you enjoy the sounds of crying babies. Several other of the "favoured seats" (Row 26 and the exit seats on Row 27) are only allocated at the airport and priority is normally given to Gold and Silver Card members of their FF programme. They can, however, be put "on request". Seats 27 D and G are normally the only two seats with extra legroom that are available for free allo

jacko, Dynasty Class is business class. The fare from Gazelle and others is a Dynasty Class upgrade from economy. You now get all the Dynasty Class perks less the enhanced baggage allowance and you only earn economy class miles. With China Airlines you can pre-allocate your seat 90 days in advance. Row 10 on the upper deck gives you lots of extra leg room regardless of the version of the aircraft they are using on any particular day. See below for the seating plans of both the 747 configurations used on the AMS-BKK route. China Airlines 747 Seating Plans Regards, Tom

step, EVA has four different seat configurations on its 747s, all of which appear on the London-Bangkok route. The different seating plans are shown here: EVA 747 Seating Plans You can pre-select your seat up to 100 days in advance by calling their reservations on 0207 380 8300. Regards, Tom

jacko, The Dynasy Class upgrade on China Airlines is excellent value from Manchester (or anywhere in UK for that matter) if the flight timings suit you - Thai cabin staff on the AMS-BKK leg is an added bonus. Other than them, Swiss at circa GBP 1,300 (make sure it's Swiss and not the Thai codeshare) and Qatar at around another 100 quid both have new aircraft (A340/A330), good cabin staff and good IFE. Tom

Emil, All good news for the guys that prefer N. Pattaya IMO. I also read on another thread/board? that the Regent Marina Hotel on Soi Zero had bought up the whole street opposite the old bus station and was actively marketing the area and letting the units; again, good news. Tom

bouncer, You can knock 90 Baht off their web price and elect to forego their breakfast(s). High season (Feb) would therefore be 800 Baht per night for a single/double room. They generally do not discount, even for walk-ins, except for long stays i.e. 1 month or more. You need to specify that you do not want breakfast. If you do a walk-in you would be likely to be allocated an inside room which are very dark and a bit noisy at times. You should specifically request an outside standard room. I can't see that they will piss around with their rates too much for this coming high-season