CheshireTom

Crackhead, What route did Thai fly from Manchester in the 80s? I thought the bilateral agreement didn't come around until '97. Direct flights to SEA from Manchester don't seem to be unprofitable for either Singapore or Malaysia - what makes Bangkok so different? BA don't want to fly anywhere long-haul from Manchester so it only leaves Thai (Qantas slots are fully taken up at LHR) with bilateral rights to go into Bangkok from Manchester. Thai can't do it at the moment because of a lack of airframes since United pulled the plug on their 747 order. What mainline airline, other than Thai, has flown Manchester-Bangkok? Tom

Crackhead, As everybody in the travel industry knows (apart from you it seems) Thai pulled out of Manchester as part of the deal for them to join Star Alliance so that they would not be in competition with Singapore Airlines. That agreement expires soon. The reason that you can't do direct (as opposed to non-stop) flights from Manchester through European hubs is to do with 5th/6th Freedon rights and crew duty time not passenger loads. It is a problem that Thai continually comes up against as witnessed by their recent decision to pull out of the Geneva leg from Zurich. Your comments re Backpackersxpress and ETIHAB show that you know nothing about either airline. Tom

ETIHAD, the national airline of UAE has recently commenced flights to LHR and BKK. Their initial schedule means that connections are only available twice a week (Sat and Sun outbound and Thu and Sat on the return). Flights are via Abu Dhabi with a circa 90 min connection time. What makes them an interesting player is that they have a premium economy product (49 inch seat pitch) on new A330 aircraft. I haven't managed to get hold of their discounted agents' rates yet but will try to do so over the next few days. Tom Etihad Airways

Qatar Airlines have just been upgraded to 5 Star status on the Airline Quality/Skytrax rankings. They join Singapore and Cathay to be the only three airlines ranked as 5 Star. (and well-desrved IMHO). http://www.airlinequality.com/StarRanking/5star.htm Tom

nidnoyham, Unfortunately, from the perception of your average traveller it probably does. As you well know, that's why airlines spend millions on branding. A duff paint job can have serious financial consequences as the BA tail designs fiasco demonstrated. :crying As it is they are going to have a hard job getting anyone onto their aircraft for them to earn their keep especially with both EVA and Thai still offering flights under 400 quid. Add into that equation the recent arrival of Etihab on the route and the imminent arrival of Backpackersxpress, albeit from Manchester, and the competition is pretty keen. Funnily enough there is no mention of the route nor the aircraft on their website. Tom

BigDUSA, I'm sorry Denny but any airline that can't even afford to paint its aircraft gets a place on my "dodgy" list. They were both parked up in Bangkok a couple of weeks ago and had simply painted "Phuket Air" onto the Garuda and KLM colour schemes. Hardly inspiring stuff. Tom

Phuket Air are using some cast-off KLM and Garuda(?) aircraft on this route. Not an option that I would even consider. Tom

poskat, It is considerably more expensive to buy a one-way ticket London-Bangkok-Chicago. Your best bet would be to purchase a round-the-world fare with either Oneworld (AA and BA/Qantas) or Star Alliance (United and Thai and/or Singapore) from Chicago with stopovers in London (and any other European hub if you would prefer to fly the Europe-Bangkok leg with the likes of LH, SAS or Iberia) and Bangkok. That way you will have more options and flexibility as to routings, date changes and carriers. Personally, I would get two prices - one Chicago-Heathrow return and one RTW with Star/Oneworld - get my company to pay the RTW fare and reimburse them the difference. Generally speaking, deals tend to dry up from UK between mid-July and late-August as the airlines need to maintain some sort of margins with the increased number of child fares occupying seats. Tom

wagger, At least you can acclimatise by nipping down to Portsmouth for the weekend. Tom

Ken, British Caledonian Airways ceased to operate in 1987 when it was merged with British Airways, EVA Airways did not fly until 1991 therefore it is likely any crew etc had found other gainful employment in the intervening 4 year period. British Airways absorbed the planes and crews into its Gatwick operations. British Airways then merged British Caledonian's flight operations with its charter subsidiary, British Airtours. The newly formed airline was called simply Caledonian Airways and adopted the original IATA designator of British Airtours, KG. The legal entity that is British Caledonian Airways Limited remains, to this day, as a subsidiary company of BA plc. The designator BR was not inherited by EVA, it was allocated by IATA (EV was already allocated to Atlantic Southeast Airlines). A few more examples of the same are: TN was Australian Airlines (TAA) now Air Tahiti Nui AE was Air Europe now Mandarin Airlines UN was Eastern Australia Airlines now Transaero TE was Air New Zealand (TEAL) now Lithuanian Airlines BT was Airlines of Northern Australia (Ansett) now Air Baltic EW was East-West Airlines now Eurowings WX was Air NSW now CityJet (Air France) PA was Pan-Am now Florida Coastal Airlines You sure you were a travel agent? Tom

1. Wat Yansangwararam and Wat Phra-Phuta-Maha-Vachira-Uta-Mokat-Sasda. Both are located about 12 km south of Pattaya (just before the turning for Nong Nooch) and signposted from Sukhumvit Road. 2. Horse riding at Horseshoe Point. 3. Bang Saen for a seafood lunch and an afternoon sandwich at Galaxy.

I would have rated British Caldonian Airlines* as a 4 star, but it's no longer in business. In fact, EVA Airlines bought all of British Caldonians assets when it went bust. I'm not sure if any of their pilots, air crews and ground crews went with EVA in it's early days or not. Ken, British Caledonian Airways did not go bust - it was merged with BA in the late eighties, a couple of years before EVA Airways came into being, and became a charter airline (Caledonian Airways). This was sold on a couple of times to eventually end up with Thomas Cook who discarded the whole image to form the ill-fated jmc Airlines. It was never bought by EVA. Their TV ad though is an all-time classic ................ "I've flown with U.S. airlines, and the girls are really nice And those beautiful Far Eastern girls, do splendid things with rice (!) German girls are so correct, and the planes are never late But there's only one girl we want to see, as we reach the departure gate..." Caledonian Girls Tom

stevoh, I flew with EVA First Class LHR-BKK-LHR last month on Thu/Sat flights. In both cases the aircraft were in a 386 seat configuration i.e. 8 First Class upstairs in two rows of 2-2. I would agree with the poster who pointed out that neither First nor Business Class on EVA is a particularly good product. Hopefully they will get some of the 777s on the route soon together with the Premium Laurel and Enhanced Evergreen Deluxe interiors. Confirmation of a significant purchase and lease of both 777-300LR and ER was announced yesterday (Tue) with further details to be announced on Fri. We can but hope ......... Tom

eltilza, Change your return date until after the clocks go back - whatever date that is towards the end of September - the winter schedule should be OK for you. Tom

Pat, I'll look up Mr Wong next week. To find St Louis - from the lights at South Pattaya Road, head north. It is the second last shop about 10 metres before the original Mike Department Store on the left-hand side, next door to a pharmacy. For Decar, continue along 2nd Road and it is the second to last shop before you hit the new shops just prior to Royal Garden.Centre.

pat809, Is Mr Wong The Chinaman that used to have the place on the corner of Pattayaland 1 and Beach Road? Tom

Ben, You can buy them all over the place but you get what you pay for. Copies (not just watches) come in various grades largely dependant on where they are made (Thailand, China/HK, Taiwan or Japan). For the better quality stuff in Pattaya try St Louis or Decar, both on 2nd Road - they both look like bag/shoe shops but go in and ask to see the watches. In Bangkok try Burapa Watch on the 3rd Floor of MBK. You can expect to pay 1,500 Baht upwards at these shops. If you are shopping at these places make sure you know what you are looking for - there is a host of sites giving advice/showing pics although they like to refer to their products as replicas rather than copies. If you want any other info or directions PM me. Regards and happy shopping, Tom

aarmitage, As a rough guide (70 Baht to the UKP): Cigs - 75-85p for 20 (although I prefer to bring mine in duty-free (GBP60-70.00 for 1,000) JW Black - GBP11.00 for .7 litre Gordons Gin - GBP6.50 for .7 litre T-shirts (Polo style) - GBP2.00 each Footie shirts - GBP3-4.00 each (decent quality) Electrical goods vary greatly - last thing I bought was a Panasonic rice cooker - GBP7.00 You'll obviously have to take into account plastic tuk-tuks, wooden frogs, coconut monkeys, "designer" sunglasses, fruit-shaped candles and a heap of other crap that you will no doubt end up buying. Tom

jack, Got to disagree with thaiflyer. You will only be subject to EU rules if you pass through immigration at CDG. If you are ticketed through and merely in transit at CDG the non-EU (1 litre, 200 fags) rules apply. Tom

From next Mon (29 Mar) Qatar are upgrading their aircraft on the Manchester and Bangkok routes to brand new A330 to replace the current A300. With just a one-hour stop in Doha the total journey time is now under 15 hours. If you can fit in with their limited timetable (four-weekly) they should now be a pretty serious alternative to Emirates - especially since they are GBP100+ cheaper in economy. Qatar Airways Tom

Eric, Just treat them exactly the same as you would do a bargirl's family. Tom

A couple of things happening which may interest some of those folks who fly from Manchester. Backpackers’ Xpress have been busy acquiring their aircraft (funjets) (747-400 from Singapore Airlines I believe) and have pencilled in a start date of 1 June although sometime in July/August seems more likely. Not really a charter as their tickets will be fully flexible. Flights will be MAN-BKK with one stop in Delhi and on to Melbourne from BKK. Might suit some of the younger boardies. Karaoke, dance-offs, beer and pizza at the in-flight pub will be among the attractions of the world's first low-cost, long-haul budget airline. BackpackersXpress, the brainchild of Australian Glenn Millen, is set for a June launch, outfitting two chartered 747s with a pub, live entertainment and two enormous VB logos on the engine cowlings. "We're configuring it for fun and one class," Mr Millen said. "Our cabin features are designed around the backpacking culture." Geared towards the half-million predominantly young budget travellers who flock to Australia from the northern hemisphere every year, Backpackers-Xpress will offer open-ended return tickets from Manchester to Melbourne starting in June 2004. Mr Millen said the emphasis was on "education, fun, flexibility and value". "And we won't entertain complaints about noise," he said. As well as karaoke and dance competitions, passengers will be provided with a personal DVD service with 300 titles to choose from. BackpackersXpress Also expect an announcement in the next couple of weeks from Thai regarding Manchester flights via Athens.

laffnliv, They are taking guests now at a (very good) rate of 800 baht. The extension is to be a "Balinese style" resort area and will also house their advertised suites. The rooms in the main building are very tastefully furnished and all have one double and a single bed. I'll try and get some pics this week and post them if poss. If you are willing to put up with the aesthetics of the adjacent construction it is probably a decent choice for the price. Tom

The building to the rear (Soi 1) that was the Sabai Sabai pub has been demolished and a further six-storey, 100 room plus pool extension has now started construction. Expect this work to last 8 months to 1 year. The 16 room extension on Soi 2 is now almost complete and is undergoing internals and cosmetic finishes. Pretty much the same story with the new hotels on the 2nd Road end of Soi 3/4. Both the Bella Villa Prima and Mike Orchid Resort are blighted by the additional Mike rooms being put up between the two properties. Should be nice when it's finished but possibly best avoided for now if you like a lie-in. Tom

rockinjerry, http://203.154.168.55/birts/plantrip.aspx Punch in your trip and the details you want will come up. Pattaya-Samui is a daily flight, as is Pattaya-Phuket (via Samui). Pattaya-Phuket direct flights (1.5 hours) commence on 28 March and fly on Wed/Fri/Sun. Cost of the direct return flight (Pattaya-Phuket) is THB6,880 incl taxes if booked on the website. You can normally get a better deal if booking in Thailand - the Bangkok Airways office in Pattaya is on 2nd Road opposite the Hard Rock/Montien hotels. The aircraft used on the route are ATR72 turboprops. Off at a tangent slightly; the airline will take delivery of its first airbus later this year - somehow they will make BA look a tad boring! Regards, Tom