CheshireTom

There are 4 pages of over 200, generally crap, reviews on Skytrax. You can go very, very wrong.

You must be confusing them with some other airline. They didn't have any fleet to replace or update 10 years ago as they only received their first aircraft in 2003/2004. Can anyone confirm what the situation is with their biz class? I flew in the narrow herringbone layout a couple of years ago and thought it was claustrophobic and pretty crap overall. I notice they are saying biz class is now 1-2-1 in line with that offered by Oman Air and Singapore Airlines. I would hate to fork out the cash expecting the new biz class and ending up with the old layout/design.

That's exactly the point I was making. It's 8 across (2-4-2) on their A330s.

The change in airframe from a 330 to a 77W will make a big difference to Joe Bloggs in economy if he's flying Emirates.

It shouldn't put you off ... 14.5 hours outbound and 18 hours on the return.

Sam, Netflights.com appears to have availability around your dates. There is availability on other dates but the return dates are throwing up lots of 26-29 hour trips.

I'll keep your dates in mind and drop you a line if I see anything.

Sam, I was sure I posted this in response to your earlier post, but it seems to have got lost in cyberspace somewhere. On Sunday I was getting cheap prices for March, but yesterday (Monday) nowt was coming up at all and I had to piss around with dates to get similar results. FWIW - prices for travel on the A380 on all 4 legs were around 125 quid more than the standard A330/B777.

You need to be careful. They have a totally separate fee for golf bags and scuba equipment - and they won't offset it against your 15/20 kg supersize thing, or whatever. IIRC, sports equipment is more than double the cost of "normal baggage".

That's one of the biggest downsides in Pattaya for me - the lack of decent music venues. There used to be a club in the Siam Bayshore called Le Telephone (I've no idea if it's still there - it was a long time ago) but I'm sure I was the only customer most nights I went in. It was a bit of a shame, because the (Filipina) singer was excellent. I seem to recall there was a bit of a crackdown on foreign musicians in an effort to promote "local" talent (some rule that only 5* places were allowed foreigners - or something along those lines) and a few venues disappeared from the scene almost overnight.

You answered your own question - different attitudes/interpretation of the rules at different embassies/consulates. What are the numbers? I would suspect that most border runs (as opposed to full-blown Visa runs) are guys doing the 90 day stamp on multi-entry O and B-Type visas and/or 60 day stamps on multi-entry tourist visas.

I thought the funny part was that the expat partner felt the need to interrogate the poor Thai bird as to WHY she put the scissors on the microwave. It reminded me of a line straight out of the excellent, 'Culture Shock! Thailand'.

No haircuts on Wednesday is the norm ...

I've had a good look at the T+Cs on eBay and I'm pretty sure you're allowed to advertise the same kit on both eBay and PattayaTalk simultaneously. I certainly can't find any rule against it. Kinda refutes the "limited market/lower price" theory.

Very much so. I sold my Canon a few years back and it was the lenses that made the money, not the camera. The deal the OP has offered is pretty good for a novice getting into Digital SLR photography. He can bin the camera at some point down the line but the USM lenses will still (potentially) give several years use.

CheshireTom didn't start a pissing contest. He posted an accurate reply to your stupid question and ludicrous claim. You still owe the OP an apology for calling his integrity into question.

Seems like you've landed yourself a real good girl there, Jacko - a great sense of humour and incredibly observant. Well done, mate!

LOL. If you thought I was irritating before ... I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, Jack. eBay is an auction site, the prices you have quoted are the latest bids for items currently under offer. They are not the prices you pay. However, the site has a useful function to let you look at the actual prices the same, or similar, items have sold for in the recent past. I particularly liked the description of your 136 quid, 10-22mm lens .... Below are average "sold" prices on eBay UK for the quoted items over the last week. 350d plus basic lens - 175 quid EF-S 10-22 USM lens - 464 quid EF-S 60mm USM lens - 245 quid Speedlite 430EX flash - 160 quid Lowenpro bag + cards - 10 quid So, there you go - over 1,000 quid. You can offer the OP your apologies below or, get yourself some links or screen shots to show the selling prices you claim.

There's almost 1k GBP (2nd hand) of kit offered, incl the camera (which is relatively cheap, compared to the extra USM lenses). Seems like a reasonable deal to me.

Oman seems to be a good choice at the moment but, as you say, you have to choose your return dates carefully. If you do, the timings are on a par with the other Gulf carriers. Good prices for their biz class which is as good as First on Etihad.

Yes, I'm aware of that, but both Emirates and Etihad have removed the seat maps for that particular aircraft from their respective sites. I fly biz class these days and Qatar's biz class, particularly on its 777s, and Oman Air's is a much better choice than Etihad - IMHO. Oh, and they sponsor those bastards at Eastlands.

What happened to the retrofit? Business Traveller and FlightGlobal, both reputable sources, reported the airline was reconfiguring the Y cabins in its 77W aircraft to 10 across. Notwithstanding the seating issue, thanks for the multitude of reports you've put on the board over the last couple of days.

Aren't the Etihad 777s on the BKK route configured 10 across (3-4-3) in economy?

The UK APD element is only 75 quid. If only is the right word.

And a great place to meet 'normal' Thai girls (apparently). Just make sure you always carry a few spare, shiny, new 1 Baht coins.