sick_puppy

For me, Cathay Pacific wins hands down. SQ in second place.

The hotel rooms also suck. Think Motel 6 with some sort of Rock & Roll poster on the wall.

Don't count on the AA miles. Per AA.com , only B, Y, and H fares earn miles in economy. Everything else earns zilch on AA. Still a great airline, and HKG has got to be my favorite airport.

You aren't trying hard enough then. some tips... 1. Be VERY flexible with your dates 2. Look for obscure routings. Instead of SEA-NRT-BKK, look at SEA-SFO-NRT-BKK or SEA-LAX-NRT-BKK as well. 3. Look for Star Alliance bookings as well. AND, as per Number 2, be creative with your city pairs. for exampe, you could book SEA-SFO-KIX on UA, and KIX-BKK on TG. 4. When you call UA to find availability, and some drone in India says there is no availability, say thanks and hang up and try again. There are A LOT of lazy and stooopid customer service agents at UA. 5. Go to www.flyertalk.com and read. A lot. Actually, this should be tip #1. It isn't always easy, but I have never had a problem using my UA miles. I've gotten biz class on TG, NH, SQ, OZ and UA. I even got SQ from SFO to HKG in March to see the HK Sevens, and it will be in their new biz class as well (sadly a 77W, I had hoped they'd put the WhaleJet on that route).

Ya beat me to it Bob. Your Mexican food is very good!

Never bought the certs ... that's why I was asking. I too hate hardcore timeshare pitches. I can (and have) said no, but my time on holiday is worth way more to me than the money I would save going thru that kind of hassle.

YIKES!!! Thanks Redwood

I was browsing ebay, and came across a few listing for this: View Talay The seller does have a good rating (100%), but that little voice in the back of my head is saying, "if it looks too good to be true, it probably is". I do not know anything about the location or condition of the property. Anyone else bought these?

From the March 14 Bangkok Post http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/14Mar2007_news09.php THAI could unload four new Airbus jets Thai Airways International's commerce department has asked the airline's board to sell its four brand-new A340-500 Airbus passenger jets. THAI vice-president for commerce Wallop Bhukkanasut said the the four-engined jetliners consume a lot of fuel and offer limited seating capacity. The proposed sale has put on hold a plan to next month add two more non-stop Bangkok-New York flights to the current five flights a week, he said. The route is now served by Boeing 777-200LRs, twin-engined jets said to be more economical than the Airbus jets. THAI has taken delivery of three of the A340-500s, the fourth to arrive next month. Gee, now all they have to do is find someone crazy enough to buy the planes. My guess is this story is far form over. Airbus isn't exactly alone in this. The MD11 was delivered overweight, and has largely been taken out of passenger service.

The big issue here is that the A345 is overweight and does not have the fuel efficiency that Airbus promised. To even make the ultra-long haul flights, they had to reduce the weight, and thus no First Class (seats are too heavy), only AC with Premium Econ (42" pitch) and regular Economy with 36" pitch (versus ~32" for most airlines). So despite high load factors, the plane just does not carry enough people. (BTW, SQ claims they do not make money on their A345 ultra long hauls either). To another poster's quest about why they do not just increase the price due to the benefit of a non-stop? This only applies for those who live in LA or NYC. For everyone else it is not a nonstop, nor is it for anyone connecting beyond BKK. So coming form SFO (for me), it is just as easy to connect in HKG as it is to connect in LAX. Actually, its much nicer to connect in HKG ... the LAX TBIT is a pit! Oh, and Asian fares, compared to Europe on a per mile basis (especially premium fares) are brutally competitive. TG's problem is that they cannot economically re-deploy the aircraft. The A345 is pretty specialized for ultra-long hauls. Everyone now knows that the A345 is a dog, and they'd lose millions of $ selling the aircraft. So they may be stuck operating it at a loss, and hope to gain "prestige" and connecting traffic thru BKK. Obviously, based on the conflicting press statements, TG has not figured out what they are going to do yet.

I'm on the (only) United Airlines flight, arrives at Swampypoon at 11:10pm on March 26. I've already booked with Mr. Toom. If anyone would like to share the ride and cost, drop me a message

Air mattress on the beach? I dream about on air mattress on the beach. I stay in a cardboard box in a sewer with 50 other blokes. We work 26 hours at the local mine, drink battery acid for breakfast, and ...... oh wait, is this where I go for an argument?

You might also want to try Priceline. 5-star hotels on Sukhumvit ... namely the Marriott, Sheraton, or Westin ... can be had for ~$100US. All are nice options than those previously listed, all are guest friendly, and all are great hotels in good locations. For Priceline tips and bid histories, check out bidding for travel. The site is run by a real bitch, but has good info.

Cookie: I cannot email via info@jasminemansion.com ... yahoo calms the address does not exist. Kindly respond via pm

I do not often go out of my way to recommend businesses, but I am making an exception here. I have used a few laundry shops in Pattaya, and find most of them overpriced and offering SLOOOOOW turnaround times. The quality of the job is often spotty. Last trip I found a place that actually does a good job at a fair price, and they turn around fast. The place is Porn Laundry (no, I do not have any financial interest). They are on 2nd road Soi 14, across from beach road Soi 12. They are cheaper than everyone else, turn around in ~6 hours at no additional charge, typically round down the charge, and are very pleasant to deal with. The only problem is getting to the shop. If you look down soi 15, you see nothing but a big construction mess. Walk don there anyway ... there is a bit of a path around and thru the construction. The hop is near the end of the soi on the right hand side. I pity the owners, as they are really getting screwed by the construction, and could use the additional business. Just my 2 cents...