Butch

I get those exact same symptoms when asked for a 1.5K BF and 5K LT!. BTW Nice way for the Wok N Rok people to show us exactly how not to run a potentially successful business in Pattaya, poor customer service especially when they're queuing up!. A friend told me anecdotally about the customer service there, basically it sucked and because he compained they banned him, so fuck them, they deserve to fail if that's their attitude.

LOL That's some positive thinking there!

Great reports Evil, thanks for posting, especially enjoyed the Casa comparison , 3 years and the have a formula that seems to work so have stuck with it. One small question, the maple syrup at Secrets, was it a substitute or the real thing?. I know it's a bit pedantic but flavoured "corn syrup" vs genuine Maple can make or break a pancake breakfast for me.

Bloody hell Bullfrog, no excuse mate! .But It's an occupational hazard when flying these days it seems. It's not as if Boots don't sell deodorant in the Departure hall. My biggest problem though is stifling farts. For some reason when we hit 30k feet guts just fill up with air, recently when we landed in BKK I continuously farted between stepping off the plane to the VIP meet and greet at the end of the corridor. Every step I took I let one out, all silent and non smelly (to me) though.

Ever since the tragic MH17 event, I think Airlines are these days slightly more careful about where they fly over. I seem to recall the reporter saying that the previous flight over that area prior to MH17 was an EVA service, possibly to or from AMD or CDG.

Hi Bazle Don't think so mate, it's almost impossible to work out what is going to be on what service on any given date without having the rotation info that EVA has. A call to EVA prior to booking might be worth a stab, but not sure if they'll be able to tell you. I'm in total agreement with yourself, +40 pax and taking out a set of toilets is not going to be a great idea on a full flight. Even if it means paying more and going Thai or possibly exploring the ME Carriers might have to be an option, but I prefer direct. They've also changed the seat pitch from 32 to 31 pn the 3-4-3 planes. Failing that it's Deluxe on EVA. Thai still run 3-3-3 on their 777's from what I can see. Let us know how you get on, will be interested to hear. Cheers Butch

I thought they were only running the 3-4-3 on the USA / local SEA routes. They are reconfiguring each plane as it goes into D check by the looks of things. Anyway here's a link to the EVA seat map; http://www.evaair.com/en-global/flying-with-eva/fleet-facts/passenger/777-300er.html?filter=&fleet=777-300ER

Interesting stuff guys and thanks for the responses. I'd not actually taken into account the rotation of the Earth concerning flight times and the fact that many flights go "over the top" rather than across. Damn, it's fuddled my brain now.

Let me put this to you guys: Let's say I live in Boston or NY, either / or . If I want to travel to the following destinations, is it better to go East or West, also how long will it take? Boston / NY to Dubai Boston / NY to Bangkok Boston / NY to Melbourne Boston / NY to Cape Town Not interested about the cost, but the travel time / connections / stops and direction of travel.

Hi Odense He works to a budget on a daily basis, worked out to within 50 baht. What he saves one day he puts in a jar and has a blowout at the end of the month. By blowout I mean he has 3k baht in his wallet to spend as he pleases. He is single, lives in a small rented apartment over on the darkside and spends a majority of his time over there, never leaves a tip and if he's on a night out he'll get loaded on Mekhong an hour before. He gave me a hard time when I tipped my girl 200 baht and he tipped his 20, but I told him it's my money and I'll waste it as I please. The odd thing is that before he moved out there he was a typical 2 week millionaire, fair play to him, he soon switched out of "holiday" mode and into "I'm the cheapest cunt going" mode when he arrived. He did retire 15 years early. What is quite funny is that his Thai is excellent, almost fluent actually, and he will stand and argue for ages to save a few baht if he thinks he's being hit with the "farang price". I couldn't retire to live like that, and I'm sure many of us wouldn't, but I've known this guy 30 years and he looks a lot better since he left the UK for LOS, whatever the cost.

A couple of places on LKM do 99 baht breakfasts, one is opposite the Devils Den which is very good indeed for 99 baht (can't recall the name of the place). Someone did point out to me though (an Expat) that 99 baht a day for a breakfast x 30 days per month is 3k baht per month , or 36k pa! (give or take). He said it eats (pardon the pun) into his monthly food budget.

...And the rest as they say, is history. We flew Jet Blue within the USA last year, I was very impressed indeed. Free snacks, great legroom and great customer service.

Not wanting to threadfuck (sorry GP), but what is the Qatar FF program like?

Chicken bone in chicken kebab shocker. It is a very popular stall, my mate's missus only lets him out on the promise that he brings her home one of the chicken kebabs. Even the local Thais eat there which is a sign it's half way decent. Are you sure it was a bone and not a bit of hard gristle?. Easily done.

BA are getting a real hammering here in the UK from the media. They've done away with free food, squeezed more pax in economy by changing seat configuration and now this issue raises its head again. Coupled with problems in Europe regarding new security procedures, it seems that actually getting to or from your holiday destination is more stressful than being at work!.

It might well be, but that still does not stop EVA and others like Cebu Air from doing it. They may do it under the premise of "maintenance" or "failure", either way it happens. as with any industry (and mine is certainly no exception) the regulations can easily be circumvented by way of an excuse, work around or equally feeble reason.

The noise restrictions were not applicable just to the sonic boom, I was always under the (possibly mistaken) idea that it only went Supersonic over water. I know that noise restrictions did away with the VC10 as the Conway Engines were too loud for local environments such as LHR, that, and an ageing airframe (also I believe a VC 10 almost hit mach 1 on an occasion and had a high speed cruise of M.094. Anyway, the future of Long Haul won't include supersonic. We need to ask if the investment needed from the manufacturers would be returned, and perhaps until engine and airframe technology gets to a point where creating supersonic capable airliners with a low fuel burn becomes relatively cost effective I don't think we'll see it. Maybe we'll see more long haul direct flights, saving fuel on landing and take off, and the Airlines becoming more flexible according to passenger demand, as we have already seen in some cases, noteably EVA cancelling flights with low numbers to shunt them onto another later service. (Cebu Air are notorious for this as well, internal RP flights getting shunted). Either way I believe the next 5 years will herald some big changes in Long Haul flight as the sector becomes more competitive.

My recent trip was with EVA and they are running 3-3-3 in Econ. I actually sent an email of thanks to the HQ because the CC were supremely professional in dealing with a passenger who kept demanding beer and wine, and was sat in the aisle adjacent to me. He got a little bit loud and annoying, until the senior CC came up to him and told him in no uncertain terms that anymore demands made of the crew for alcohol or indeed anything would not me met, and if he kept on asking for service via the call button he would be classed as disruptive and the Captain would be informed. I gather the message was understood loud and clear because we never heard a peep out of him for the rest of the flight. EVA still run a decent operation, we left SVB 1.5 hours late though. I do feel for the CC because the girls were very busy all flight. When they switch to 3-4-3 I'll either stop being such a cheap cunt and fly Premium or switch to Thai.

Bullfrog, if you're flying out of T2 EVA you can check in anytime and dump the bags off at the counter (it's all done electronically) so if you have a day pass, rock up early and avail of it. I've never used any of the lounges but T2 is not the cheapest place to buy food and drink. Good idea for booking FT at SVB, I had it this time and the immigration queue was crazy, the girl told me it was 50 minutes to get to the front.

Don't airlines bunker fuel or something, i.e they don't pay higher prices in any given country, it's all one cost ? (might be way wrong on that though). I can't see how brexit will effect UK travellers any more than enoying a piece of halibut makes you a jehovahs witness.

Erm...that's pretty much what I said in my first post, which I explained as to why in my second.

Prices on the U.K. / Asia seems to be seasonal, but back in the 80's there wasn't the demand that there is today. I do believe that there will be an increase in costs , but it might well come through greedy govt taxes than actual fare increases. As you say, prices now compared to 10 years ago are comparable or cheaper, however all airlines seek to increase revenue and they will do that one or more ways, increase capacity or increase base fares, reduce weight to save fuel or reduce the overall cost of service to themselves. As for BA entering the budget market, well they obviously realised their business plan was flawed trying to corner one area of the market and needed to change. When they're faced with Airlines like Cathay offering the same route for similar cost, it's a no brainer and BA will never be able to up their game to that of Cathay, so it's easier to drop their game to the level of Garuda instead and prices accordingly. Like yourself I've no love for BA whatsoever. They are a national embarrassment and a disgrace to the whole industry, their behaviour towards Freddie Laker should have made peope realise that!. As for your point about biz / econ, I can't really follow your logic here GP. You ask me why the airlines are removing biz class seats and replacing with economy to prove a point I made earlier?. I said it is the least profitable, which it is per PAX. Econ pax will never be priced out of long haul because like putting the price of petrol up by 10p, people will still buy it as it is now a necessity for many and not a luxury. The airlines know that, but they're not stupid either which is why they inflate prices at school holiday periods and peak seasons. People still pay the price despite it being 30% higher. The answer is also simple: Not everyone can afford to fly biz. Although the biz classes and premium economy offer a higher profit margin, they don't actually make more money or profit for the airline due to the fact the ratio of biz to econ seats is so much smaller. Like supermarkets making £10 on a bottle of champagne as opposed to 2p baked beans. There will always be a demand for all classes of seating. As costs increase, I think the econ pax will feel the pinch in some ways but perhaps enjoy some benefit in others. As planes become quieter, faster and more advanced, it might come at a cost of reduced legroom, worse food, less allowance and less personal space.

Economy class is the least profitable and most popular class there is, so it makes commercial sense to reduce costs and increase revenue within that area. In some cases the service is improving , but not all. The issue is Goldpanner that if perhaps BA et al don't increase capacity within that area of the cabin, fares might increase, same goes for EVA who are far from being a "scum" airline, just check out Skytrax giving them 8/10. If you refuse to fly airlines with whose business model you don't agree with then the list will get ever smaller. We sometimes fly business to Manila or wherever , and 3 biz tickets don't come cheap on Cathay but I can also afford it and it doesn't have any impact on my holiday costings at all, I certainly don't look at flying econ as a saving in that case. As for weight savings, I read ages ago that by reducing the size of cutlery and other items on a fleet of Aircraft, the airline managed to save XX amount of dollars on fuel over a year.

Hi, This is my fave sub forum, it yields the best information and has actively saved me money by heeding the advice from Goldpanner and others. I think we're all planespotters to some degree. Personally I'm fascinated by the level of engineering that goes into them. As we've all been flying for a good number of years, I expect we've all seen the changes to Long Haul developing. I think it would be interested to have a discussion on where we see it developing from where we are to say in another 10 years. The introduction of the 777-333 I think made a major impact on the way airlines operate, not as much as the advent of the 747 but still ,quite considerable. The long range, lightweight, efficient and advances in technology probably improved the profit margins for many operators and for some the 777 might have been the saving grace. However, in the coming years I think we'll see an increase in passenger capacity at the sacrifice of comfort (EVA increasing their 777 fleet to 10 abreast in econ for example). More composite materials and structural improvements to airframes will see fuel burn decrease and tech improvements might see lighter materials being used in the plane, again saving fuel and increasing margins. I even , honestly believe that it will come a time where pax are given discounts for being under their allowance in baggage over the default allowance (maybe when you buy the ticket for example you can opt for 20kg instead of 30). We might see the removal of meal services, or like BA have done, replace some items for cheaper alternatives. Even perhaps the removal of IFE and instead pople offered to hire an Ipad for the journey with internet and pre programmed entetainment, removing the heavy IFE screens and boxes. Lastly, a few questions: Will direct services long haul remain at a relative premium?. What will we see in the next generation of Airliners?. Do you agree with my meandering thoughts above?. Cheers Butch

That's actually a bloody good Happy hour deal for a GGB. 53 odd baht for a bottled beer? Yes please.