CheshireTom

sparkey, http://www.bangkokair.com/samui_airport.htm http://www.bangkokair.com/sukhothai_airport.htm The pics don't really do justice to the laid back atmosphere of the airports. Regards, Tom

Roguetrader, EVA is currently available with all the main online agents on the dates you quoted at GBP470-490 incl taxes. Tom

sparkey, Just chill out and get the train down to Surathani from Hua Hin and then jump on the ferry over to Samui. It's a great trip and gives you a good look at Thai life along the way. Regards, Tom

sparkey, The 400 Baht charge is an Airport Maintenance Fee, not a tax. Samui is a privately owned airport, as are Sukhothai and Trat. They are owned and operated by Bangkok Airways. IMHO the extra fee is worth it (100 Baht at Sukhothai) just for the privelege of travelling through Samui or Sukhothai - I assume that Trat is designed to similar standards. Tom

sparkey1, Assuming you travel on non-blackout days, it is 35,000 miles for each intra-Asia journey. i.e. a total of 140,000 miles for BKK->TPE->MNL->TPE->BKK. Tom

Gus, I think you'll find that the LHR-BKK round trip is just short of the magical 15k (14,798 in Evergreen Deluxe). It works out that your fourth trip and every third trip thereafter amounts to a free return upgrade. (Unless you got a bonus mileage for joining online or similar). As Toby says you earn 100% miles for the paid economy class as opposed to the 125% for the Evergreen Deluxe travelled when upgrading. The good thing about Eva is that you can confirm your upgrades at the time of booking rather than 21 days before departure or similar with Thai and other airlines. Regards, Tom

Zeus, Thai currently has an order for five A340-500 which presumably will serve the US west and east coasts. They are however in dispute with the EU about the amount of chemicals in Thai prawns and Thaksin has chosen to link the two i.e. if you don't buy our prawns we won't buy your planes. Notwithstanding that argument, the aircraft are now due for delivery in 2005 (it was originally meant to be this year). If, and when, the aircraft come online it will be interesting to see what seat configuration they decide to go with i.e. whether they adopt the same attitude as Singapore with their two classes (premium economy and raffles) or whether they decide to pack them into economy similar to Emirates. Tom

Valxxx, That's the problem in hospitals. It's almost impossible to tell the difference between a cook and a ........ err gay radiologist. Mind you, they can both be relied on to do a good mince! Tom

Lazyboy, Terminal 2. They went through a phase last year of occasionally going into Terminal 1 (the bags still came out in Terminal 2) but I think that was to do with the building works at the time on Terminal 2's new pier. Regards, Tom

neilri, I fly EVA regularly and tried China last year. The product offered then (effectively Dynasty Class with 20 kg baggage) beat Evergreen Deluxe hands down. China have recently downgraded that product (changed the AMS service to 3 classes from 4) in respect of the in-flight service and lounge access but retained the previous price. China's cabin crew (Thai-based) however leave EVA in the shade. The main reason I stick with EVA is to continue to accumulate miles to upgrade to their premium laurel business class when it is introduced on the London route - I believe it is being introduced to Europe on the Vienna route next month (Feb). For folks travelling from the regional airports I think it really comes down to a preference for the outbound night flight (EVA) or the daytime flight (China). EVA's summer schedule also makes it difficult to make connections to the regions so China is probably the better option in that respect. Regards, Tom

lasingmao, If it is the same as the Sheraton you will get hit for 10% service and 7% tax on what they determine to be the cash equivalent of your stay. Tom

Lazyboy, ??? The address is for Tesco Lotus on North Pattaya Road. Perhaps she lives on the car-park. ;D Regards, Tom

Fatboyfat, The fare seems to be valid for all days up to mid-June except 2 weeks during the easter period - subject to normal seat availability. I had a bit of a nightmare with some supervisor at Trailfinders who insisted the offer was a mistake. I went back to Travelmood/Flynow.com and done the booking direct with them - a guy called David on 0870 421 1460. Being a bit of a cynic (if it looks too good to be true, it probably is!), I elected to pick up the tickets this afternoon from their call centre in Leeds and then confirmed my seat pre-allocation with EVA, so it is a genuine offer. If you are flying from MAN he may try to put you on BA Business Class with a GBP200 add-on price tag. I elected to go economy with bmi for GBP50 add-on. The relevant offer page is below - scroll down to the last two entries for the EVA First and Business Class fares. http://www.flynow.com/site/hotoffers/fligh...asp?region=ASIA Regards, Tom

Hammer, When you get into Pattaya go to the Bangkok Airways office (2nd Rd, opposite The Montien/Hard Rock Hotels). They always have special fares on an A4 flyer but they must be booked in-country. Tom

Baz, I will get you a few! I was already booked with EVA in Evergreen for the end of Feb - whilst digging around to try and find the Thai offer I came across an EVA offer on Flynow/Travelmood for UKP1,440 First Class. A quick call to my own agent (Trailfinders) confirmed they also had the deal and booked me up without any additional charges for changing. I will arrive in town on 26 Feb, staying in Soi 2 but I've managed to work out these baht bus things now so no probs getting up to your hunting grounds. What do you reckon to a French Night in FLB with OMJ as guest of honour? ;D Tom

Baz, When are you next out in Pattaya? Tom

Baz, Emirates is circa 3 hour layover in both directions. Flights from Manchester go out at around 2 and 8 p.m. each day. Be careful with some cheaper availability as some connections are showing a 9 hour layover i.e. fly out on the afternoon flight but get held over for the evening flight connection. If you are in Notts why don't you travel from Birmingham on the Emirates flight from there? You can do a two-and-a-half hour stopover on the outbound and one-and-a-half hour stopover on the return on A330s throughout the whole journey. However, the same principle as MAN applies to Birmingham regarding the cheapest fares = long stopover. Never really looked too hard at Kuwait Air - not flying from MAN, they don't really have much to offer me. If Heathrow was my local airport, of the cheapies, I would be tempted to look at Sri Lankan. They have improved enormously over the last few years, have new planes and Emirates management running the show. Regards, Tom

daveuk, And you will now need your break half-way through the journey. Emirates has recently changed its Manchester operating aircraft from A330 to a high-density (charter) seat-fit 777 i.e. 10 seats across as opposed to 9. On top of this every departure seems to be absolutely packed so very little chance of any extra room being available. Probably better off on the Singapore Airlines non-stop (to Singapore) 777-200ER, a lot roomier with better IFE and cabin crew. Because it flies a more northerly route than Emirates, overall, it only puts 1 hour on the total travelling time to LOS including a 3 hour stop in equally impressive Changi. Some sites summarise Singapore as having 32" seat pitch - that is true on the 747 but on this particular aircraft it is the full 34". Regards, Tom

echster, It says a lot for TG that even the Thai Transport Minister doesn't regard Thai as a premium service. The trouble that Thai have got at the moment is that Thaksin has recently linked the sale of the A345 (and therefore any non-stop flights to continental US) to the EU accepting Thai shrimps/prawns full of chemicals that are banned in foodstuffs in Europe. On top of that their proposed expansion was based on them purchasing seven 747-400 from United who have now pulled out of the deal. One can only assume that they had no use for USD 300m worth of tom yam gung! Funnily enough both announcements came within two weeks of the Thai government offloading a shit-load of TG shares (stock) onto the public. :-/ TIT. A direct flight is one that goes between two points using the same flight number irrespective of whether there is an intermediate stop. A non-stop flight is what it says. Regards, Tom

jimimac, They only started digging out the foundations at the end of Oct/start of Nov and reckon it will take 6-8 months depending on the weather. The plan is for 16 deluxe rooms much the same as around the current smaller pool at the rear of the hotel. I am also there at the end of Feb, staying at the Sabai Inn opposite - 800 Baht for standard room and you have use of the Sabai Lodge pools (the building work is at the other end of the hotel opposite the Thai Pub where the massage, internet, tailor and Zebra Bar used to be). Tom

highlander, They use a 747-400. Seating plan is at: http://www.klm.com/generic/download/timeta...raftSeating.pdf Regards, Tom

Sammy, Apologies if the Bella Prima has changed to a hotel within 6 weeks of opening. I guess they must have changed their business cards as well ......... Tom

Turk, I read the second review and obviously the guy had some issues, however, he didn't seem to appreciate that the Bella Villa Prima is serviced apartments not a hotel and that there are differences, albeit small, between the two. All his negative comments seemed to be generated by his lack of appreciation between the two. He seemed to rant on forever about topsheets - the beds have European style duvets and duvet covers and therefore no top sheets. A lot of his review reminded me of the guy ranting in McDonalds, Bangkok because they didn't do hash browns on their breakfast menu. Safest thing to do is book into somewhere near at hand and take a look yourself when in town. Tom

JohnnyK, I seem to recall reading somewhere that he had moved to the shopping centre on the right just before the dolphin roundabout (coming from Big C area). He was running his electricity from a mobile generator in mid-November after the Sabai folk cut his power to encourage him to vacate his premises. I was a regular at his internet cafe/travel agent and always found him to be a genuine and helpful guy. Tom

BigDUSA, No, ripoff is is when a business associate of a hotel owner posts an erroneous description of that hotel, recommends the hotel to other boardies and states that his review is accurate and that the hotel represents excellent value. I wonder how many boardies booked into these shabby rooms based on your recommendation? Perhaps the no-shows were people who got wind of the fact that the place wasn't as described. As for wiring a 200USD deposit for a 10USD hotel, even in Pattaya that has got to be some sort of joke. Tom p.s. I'll still buy you a drink at the Flamingo if you are around next month.