Tahoe_Bill

Flew with them once about 20 years ago (IST-FCO) so I’m far from qualified to comment, however here’s a link to Skytrax passenger opinion page: http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/turkish.htm As far as on time, I got the following data from flightstats.com: DUB-IST TK1976 (Monday & Thursday) on time pct. 44% Or DUB-IST TK1978 (Tuesday, Friday & Sunday) on time pct. 23% IST-BKK TK60 (Daily) on time pct 65% BKK-IST TK61 (Daily) on time pct 68% IST-DUB TK1975 (Monday & Thursday) on time pct. 61% Or IST-DUB TK1977 (Tuesday, Friday & Sunday) on time pct. 51% Hope this helps. Bill

The only thing I can see, that is even close to reasonable is Air France(AF) from 8275 baht R/T (inclusive) if booked in advance on the Air France or Orbitz pages. AF164 operates on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday: BKK-SGN and returns to BKK on those days as flight AF169. Currently Thai Airways (with some cheaper Star Alliance code shares) and Vietnam Air also service Ho Chi Minh City non-stop (direct). You may be able to get a better price by booking with a Thai travel agent(?). Good Luck! Bill

Boeing Invites the World to View the 787 Premiere http://www.boeing.com/commercial/news/2007...070628a_nr.html

Never stayed at the “big boat” as I was advised that BG joiner fee was hefty. Not sure of what you are looking for but here are some options that may fit (based on North Pattaya {Soi 2 – 3} being your preference). Looking for an “upscale” location with a great beach view and Girl friendly (according to friends that previously lived there): Mark-Land Condos which is a short walk north of Royal Cruise may fit your requirements. Sunshine Vista – Soi 3 no beach view but a nice (upscale) place. SabaiInn / SabaiLodge; Not quite as upscale as above but (as of last visit to each) good, defiantly above acceptable level. Having stayed at both properties, I prefer the Inn but YMMV. I’d probably be remiss to not mention the Welcome Inn. Okay rooms (try to get a ground level room that boarders the pool). On site afternoon/evening P4P action in your room or a ST room at an additional fee.

Never stayed there but I did check out Thai Garden Resort a while back. Nice place although a little pricey (compared to condo) and maybe a little too far north. http://www.thaigarden.com/t3/english/index.htm Bill

Although it's been a while since I've eaten there, Don Joe's on Walking Street has always had quite tasty pizza.

I’m thinking trying Malaysian Air on my next return from the states. I know they got a 5 Star rating from Skytrax, economy graded out at 4 Stars. I looked at their website and the economy seats look pretty good 34” pitch with seatback video monitor etc. Has any one flown with this airline lately and if so what is your opinion on the flight and service? Since I’ll have a couple hour layover at KUL, I was also curious about the airport shower service (availability and price). TIA; any info is appreciated. Cheers! Bill

Yep, Per their webpage, 32' pitch and seatback monitor etc. on the refitted B767 aircraft. http://www.bruneiair.com/services/economy_class.asp Cheers, Bill

The Seat Guru URL was posted to a thread a couple years and I've found it very useful: http://www.seatguru.com/index.php Site provides seat pitch, width, available electronics and reviews of good and bad seats (by aircraft type) for the folowing airlines: Air Canada Air France Air New Zealand AirTran Alitalia America West American Airlines ANA Asiana ATA BMI British Airways Cathay Pacific Continental Delta Emirates Frontier Hawaiian Jet Blue KLM Lufthansa Maxjet Midwest Northwest Qantas Singapore Air South Africa Southwest Spirit Swiss Thai United US Airways Virgin Atlantic Westjet Cheers! Bill PS; thanks to the original poster of this URL.

Generally both will work although I did stay in one hotel that was flat only. If for some reason the plug doesn’t work in the socket you can always go to Big C and buy a 79 baht surge protector which will accommodate both flat and round plugs. With the less than perfect power grid in LOS a surge protector may not be a bad investment anyway. Cheers! Bill

Before moving to LOS, I stayed at Yensabai Condo 7 times between 2003 and 2005. 5 of the 7 stays were in the 1 Bedroom apts. (@about 1000 baht / night. These usually require a very early booking due to the limited number available. The other 2 stays were in studios apts. Nov 2003 @ 500 baht /night and Oct 2005 @ either 600 or 650 baht / night. Some of the advantages besides price are: Fairly well maintained apartment as most apartments are owned by farangs and are rented out by Pattaya Rent a Room (PRR). A large refrigerator that you can stock yourself (no mini-bar checkout horrors to worry about). A microwave as well as a hotplate or built in cook-top and most of the apartments have a coffee or hot pot. A short walk (or is it stumble) home from Hollywood Disco which is about a block and a half away. Also within walking distance (3-5 minutes) is Tukcom (IT City) which contains various electronics stores/kiosks as well as a couple places to eat and a couple of coffee shops and banking facilities and an ATM or 2. A little further down the street is the entrance to the Soi Bocow outdoor market. The biggest negative is that it sits at the edge of a gay bar area. There is a way to come and go without having to go past the gay bars. My TGF didn’t have any problem with the Condo location and I’ve never been approached by any of the bar boys(?). As far as getting to Walking Street there are motorcycle taxis right outside the property gate. The cost is about 20 baht to walking street. As another option is to walk past Hollywood Disco to Pattaya South Rd and take the baht bus to the corner of Pattaya South Rd and 2nd Rd. This will cut out about 2/3rds of the walk. A couple things to keep in mind. Since this isn’t a hotel you only get weekly linen and towel changes. You’ll need to provide your own soap shampoo and toilet paper. You’ll also need to provide your own beverages to include drinking water. These can be purchased at one of the neighborhood convenience stores. I hope this helps if you need further info PM me. Cheers! Bill

FYI, Mahan Air only received 2 stars (poor) out of a possible 5 star rating last year from startrax. http://www.airlinequality.com/Airlines/W5.htm The link to customer comments is an interesting read. Maybe the famous quote is true; “let the buyer beware”. Cheers! Bill

Druid, Hopefully this thread will be of some help. Bus departs 9:00, 11:00 & 15:00 Cost 120 baht http://www.pattayatalk.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=25739 Cheers! Bill

L4F, Have you checked the China Airline’s (CI) website; http://www.china-airlines.com/en/index.htm I’ve found that quite often you can save $50 - $100 when booking directly with CI. I’ve got a friend coming from SoCal (LAX) to Thailand in mid-December and he said he saved about $75 by booking via the CI website. Cheers! Bill

I took the Vientiane to Udon bus yesterday, and all the farangs on the bus were handed a brochure for the New Suvarnabhumi bus service. The busses are the painted “60th anniversary” yellow and appear to be 1st class not VIP busses. According to the schedule it appears that there 3 trips in each direction daily: Busses leave BKK at 9:00 11:00 and 15:00 with busses traveling the opposite direction leaving Pattaya at 9:00 11:00 and 15:00. Any further info / experiences with this service are appreciated. Cheers, Bill PS here’s a link in Thai to the BKK bus, I couldn’t find it on the English pages. http://www.transport.co.th/news_suwanapoom_1.html

Same same as Bill Russell (30 days) except that I went to Nong Kai Immigration Office for my visa extension. You’ll need 2 copies of the extension paperwork (similar to your original visa request) and passport photos as well. In my case it would have been quicker and easier and cost me about the same to go to Laos instead.

Hey Pattaya Mad, I live in KK and Thai Air is the only game in town (Air Asia pulled out over a year ago). If you are in the LOS you should be able to get a r/t ticket for about 3500 baht from a travel agent (that was what I was quoted earlier this month). As stated before Udon is your best bet for cheap airfare. As also mentioned bus travel is another option. The best bus co. for this route in NCA from Mochit. Aircon VIP bus with extra leg room electronic seats with massage feature etc. priced at 384 baht one way for the 6 hour trip. http://www.nca.co.th/web/thai/ I’m currently in the States taking care of some business and will be back next week and am debating the cab ride to Mochit and the 6 hour bus trip vs the 6 hour layover at BKK and the hour flight to KK Cheers, Bill.

VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) I’ll be taking up residence in the Kingdom next month and since my apartment has broadband access, I was thinking about bringing a Vonage setup with me. Basically this would allow me to make unlimited calls to the US over the internet and also allow friend and family in the states to call me (over the internet) via my Vonage US phone number. I have friends that use the service in other countries (Korea and England) and it seems to work well. My questions are; can I legally use VOIP in Thailand, is anyone currently using VOIP in the Kingdom? TIA for your responses! Cheers , Bill

Oops, NRT to BKK UA 881 not the return trip as I posted (UA882). UA 881 and UA 882 are about same same, pax load. I forgot to post that you can purchase annual Economy Plus access at united .com ( http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,51326,00.html ). No guarantees. Happy travels. Bill

Moby69. Basically Economy Plus is reserved for “Elite†Frequent Flyers (ie Star Alliance gold or above and infrequently for silver level members). UA BKK-NRT(UA 882) is a very popular and is usually full thus it provides for minimal chance to get a economy plus seat without FF status. As a Star Alliance gold (UA Premier Executive) customer on a couple of flights out of BKK I’ve been relegated to regular economy seats. For what its worth you might consider Thai Air as their economy "seat pitch†is almost the same as UA Economy Plus. Cheers! Bill

Just saw this on the net: Emirates to announce major Boeing 777 order http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051119/bs_af...us_051119162358 Cheers Bill

I’ve stayed at YenSabai Condo during each of my last 6 trips and I’m booked to stay there again in a few weeks. I generally stay for 12-17 days and find a condo/apartment more conducive to a normal lifestyle when compared to a hotel. I like the fact that I have a kitchen with a “full size refrigerator†(or kitchenette in the studio apartments) although I rarely cook more than a meal or two per trip. The pool is nice and there are a couple of restaurants (one owned by a French guy with his Thai wife and the other by a guy from Belgium) located just beyond the front gate. I usually book a 1 bedroom apt. which allows me to escape to the living room to watch TV in the morning while my tilac sleeps off the previous night’s activities. I’ve never been hassled/harassed by any Arabs or gay prostitutes in the area although at night my TGF (tilac) and I usually take a motorbike taxi to and from walking street. Remember that is a condo and not a hotel for more info try a search on Yensabai or Yen Sabai and there is plenty of info available. Here are a couple (or 3) pix of my June 2005 apt. Cheers Bill

Eric, I forgot to post the link for the "New York Express". http://www.thaiair.com/Travel_Destination_...thai_to_nyc.htm I hope this helps. Cheers , Bill

My last trip I flew the New York Express: nonstop JFK-BKK round trip on an Airbus A340-500. Check in at JFK was handled by Swiss Air personnel in Terminal 4. If you are a Star Alliance Gold member or booked in Business Class, they’ll direct you to their lounge. You’ll arrive and depart Bangkok using Terminal 2 (Gate 56 if I remember correctly). The aircraft was new and it seemed that the crew were still working out the bugs on the outbound flight (end of May) ie. there were problems with the on demand video system freezing the movie then jumping ahead in the movie; and the second meal was at least an hour later than was announced at the start of the flight. Everything was smooth on the return trip. One word of advice is that if possible avoid seat F as the entertainment hardware is located there and it cuts down on your leg room. The seats were generally comfortable and I think provide more pitch and width than EG Deluxe. Seat pitch was 42 – 43 inches. The seats recline was similar to business class in that the further you reclined the further the bottom of your seat traveled forward. The seats all have adjustable leg rests. Seat width 19-20 inches and the armrests are tiered so that your arm is resting either higher or lower that the person sitting next to you (a nice feature). There is an 8 inch personal video screen at each seat that has interactive on demand movies games etc. Service was okay although I expected a little better after being pampered on TG’s shorted flights. If you are a frequent flyer make sure that your fare will accrue miles.

Assuming that Tukcom is the IT City et al. on So. Pattaya Rd. Then I will post the following observations: If you are in the area then they can cover a lot of your non bar needs. There are two banking facilities and multiple ATMs to cover your financial needs. There is a food court (mostly Thai) in the basement. Pizza, Japanese food (maybe only noodles?) and one or two other places to eat are located on the entrance level. Also on this level you’ll find a Starbucks and a Timeout Ice cream cart that employs “an exceptionally cute Thai womanâ€. Most electronics are also available on the 2nd – 6th floors. I didn’t find everything that I was looking for but I was pretty much happy with the selections (although in retrospect some items seemed to be cheaper in BKK).