TheFiend

Emirates brought in a charge for pre-booking seats on the cheapest fares. Since then I haven't booked any flights with Emirates..... Qatar is currently my airline of choice for flying from Manchester.....

On two occassions I've done overnight sleeper trains down from Uttaradit down to Bangkok and it is definitely an experience..... takes forever.

I'll still fly into BKK as we fly from there up to Sukhothai.... @Jacko..... It'll save you heading up to Swampy when you head home to Manchester....

https://www.qatarairways.com/en/press-releases/2017/Oct/qatar-airways-launches-new-flights-to-thai-holiday-destination-p.html DOHA, Qatar – Qatar Airways has responded to increased customer demand for services to Thailand by launching direct flights to Pattaya, the airline’s fifth route to the country. The new four-times-a-week service, which starts on 28 January 2018, is in addition to the airline’s existing flights to Bangkok, Krabi, Phuket and soon to be launched, Chiang Mai. The launch of the service to historic Chiang Mai is scheduled to start on 12 December, 2017. Located on the popular southeast coast of Thailand, Pattaya and nearby Rayong are major destinations for sun-seekers looking to soak up the local culture or relax and bask on one of the areas extensive beaches. Holiday-makers on the route are expected to come from Qatar Airways’ extensive network of destinations across Europe and the Middle East. Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said: “We are delighted to announce the launch of our newest route to Pattaya in Thailand, our fifth route to one of Southeast Asia’s most popular destinations. Thailand is continuing to grow in popularity with our passengers, who love travelling to this beautiful country to enjoy its incredible culture, cuisine and natural scenery. "Qatar Airways is committed to responding to customer demand by flying our passengers where they want to go and providing them with our unrivalled five-star service to destinations around the world.” Qatar Airways will operate a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, with 22 seats in Business Class and 232 seats in Economy Class on flights between Doha and U-Tapao Rayong Pattaya International Airport, on its winter schedule. It will be the first five-star Middle East airline to offer flights to and from Pattaya. Qatar Airways’ new service to Pattaya will help to reinforce the strong ties between Qatar and Thailand. Qatar Airways currently operates flights to three destinations in Thailand, with services 35 times a week to Bangkok, 14 times a week to Phuket and daily to Krabi commencing 1 December 2017. From 12 December 2017, Qatar Airways will also fly four times a week to Chiang Mai, which will take the airline’s weekly frequency to 60 flights a week. Qatar Airways currently holds the title of ‘Airline of The Year’ as awarded by the prestigious 2017 Skytrax World Airline Awards. In addition to being voted Best Airline by travellers from around the world, Qatar’s national carrier also won a raft of other major awards at the ceremony, including ‘Best Airline in the Middle East,’ ‘World’s Best Business Class’ and ‘World’s Best First Class Airline Lounge.’ Qatar Airways operates a modern fleet of more than 200 aircraft to a network of more than 150 key business and leisure destinations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, North America and South America. The airline is launching a host of exciting new destinations planned for the remainder of this year and 2018, including Canberra, Australia; St Petersburg, Russia and Cardiff, U.K, to name just a few. Flight Schedules Doha (DOH) to Pattaya (UTP) QR828 departs 20:05 arrives 06:30 (next day) - Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday Pattaya (UTP) to Doha (DOH) QR829 departs 07:50 arrives 11:40 - Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday

MrsFiend won't let me waste money on Biz class tickets for us...... She enjoyed the Biz class experience when we got an upgrade, but she doesn't think it's worth the extra money..... We fly on QR836 into BKK on the 1st of November and it's down as being an A380...... but for the last few weeks A340-600's have been on it.....I'm hoping that if the A380 is swapped off it that I get to fly the A340 instead of a 777.... Fingers crossed it will be an A380 or A340-600...

When I arrive I'm always over my allowance, and I've been stopped on a few occasions for a search, but I've never had them confiscated or been fined for bringing in extra. Usually carry my allowance in a duty free bag with the extra stashed in my hand luggage.

Try a Qatar Nightmareliner.... flights on those are torture!!! Unfortunately I have to suffer them out of MAN,

Yes but these are leased airframes, rather than owned, and the older 777's are about to be replaced with A350's and Nightmareliners, so the average age will be dropping anyway.

Classic!!!!!

It might be surprising but 2 of the top longest non-stop flights are currently operated by A380 . Doha-Aukland Qatar A380 Sydney-Dallas Qantas A380

Planespotters.net lists 17 A380's in service with the latest delivered being 9V-SKT in 2012.

Just for you MrMango the Singapore fleet list is here, including historical ones... https://www.planespotters.net/airline/Singapore-Airlines The current average age is 7.8 years,.... and notice the 747's are listed in the historical list, along with the 2 oldest A380's which are now in storage. That list on "google" that you have quoted is incorrect, don't believe everything that google tells you!!! As for being called an asshole..... Yep, I've been called that before a few times, so your not the first!!!

You really are stupid Mr Magoo.... they are being retired because they are coming to the end of their lease period, nobody is saying it's because they're old!!! As for your argument with regards to the age of the 747's, well they are long gone....... it's obvious you didn't bother to check before posting about their 747's

Their A330's are leased and are currently being replaced by A359's which they are purchasing, not leasing.... 787-10's will also joining their fleet.... The oldest aircraft in their fleet will be the 777's, and some of those are being replaced by A350's...

If you're trying to argue a point at least do some research before posting.... you missed out their A330 and A350, yet include 747 which have all left the Singapore fleet The current fleet age is 7.7 years..... The first five A380 they received are leased, the remainder actually belong to SIA. Those 5 have come to the end of their lease and are being replaced.... So Mr Magoo.... your argument has been destroyed...... nice try!!!

As it stands, 2 Singapore A380 are currently stored 9V-SKA and 9V-SKB, (MSN 3 &5)..... these 2 will likely end up with Hi-Fly who apparently have already got work for them under contract... Singapore will soon start taking delivery of the replacements.

But they aren't scrapping it, it's come to the end of it's lease, and like I posted previously Hi-Fly look like taking them on. They are also early build ones and they are getting replaced by new build. Didn't Boeing have problems with the early build Nightmareliners??? They've only just managed to deliver the last of the terrible teens... years after they were built

I'll stick to street food carts...

Apparently Hi-Fly will be taking a couple of the SQ A380's that are being retired... it's starting to look like there could be a market for used A380's Interesting to note that the number of A380's flying now exceeds the number of Passenger 747's flying...

Just biding my time.... I've already set a date on which I'm going to retire if the expected job cuts don't happen, but the job cuts will happen and it's just a matter of when. They've already stated 3000 roles will be lost, probably starting in about 2 years time.... I'm busy banking credit time as well, each extra shift I work now is one shift less at the end. With carry-over leave added to that total I'm already finishing 2 months earlier than my target date.

Ahhh, but I wasn't a console watcher...... My job was to fix them, and keep them running, a few times got called out in the middle of the night due to fix faults on them....

Well, Westinghouse did use some old technology LOL!!!!...... The stuff we got from you lot was already out of date by the time it was commissioned!!!! DEC PDP11/34s and RL02s.... now them were the days!!! No wonder all this new fangled stuff has you baffled!!!

What???? There's a beach in Pattaya!!! In 12 years of visiting Pattaya I've never gone onto the beach.....much more fun things to do.... :lol:

Just read it, quite an interesting read.... Since my twenties I've lived by the philosophy of just enjoying each day as it comes as you never know when I'll die, although as I am now getting closer to retirement I've been manoeuvring towards ensuring I'll be able to survive financially that period of my life... I want to be able to enjoy retirement and that's what I'm going to do!!!

I've booked my last 2 trips using skyscanner, ensuring cookies etc have been cleared before making the actual booking.... first one was with netflights and the second one traveltrolley....