Xircal

You'd have thought Bill Gates's former co-founder could make a significant contribution to the search effort instead of wasting money looking for World War II shipwrecks: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/04/us-billionaire-paul-allen-discovers-wreck-of-japans-biggest-warship-musashi

I think the first thing the new CEO needs to tackle is the ambiguity found on MAS site pertaining to booking flights.

For example, a flight between Amsterdam and Phuket via Kuala Lumpur on June 1 and return on June 22 would cost €175.

But then, surcharges to the value of €395,96 are added to the bill. However, there's a complete lack of information as to what these surcharges comprise of.

In the Terms and Conditions specific to the chosen flight, there's a reference to "Surcharges", but nothing which explains how the above figure has been calculated. There's only a vague reference to a €50 surcharge each way if the flight departs on a Friday or Saturday. My chosen dates in the screenshot were for an outbound flight on a Monday and a return on a Sunday.

I don't like that lack of clarity and that's one of the things which needs to be addressed to instil confidence in the airline again in my opinion.

Isn't this the same with all other airlines, and at that price I don't think you will find many other choices.

Well, according to EU law all elements of a given ticket price must be clearly specified and the total price dislayed before the passenger commits to the booking. http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/enforcement/docs/airline_charges_report.pdf

Seeing that the new CEO is a German national, he should be aware of that fact.

I think the first thing the new CEO needs to tackle is the ambiguity found on MAS site pertaining to booking flights.

For example, a flight between Amsterdam and Phuket via Kuala Lumpur on June 1 and return on June 22 would cost €175.

But then, surcharges to the value of €395,96 are added to the bill. However, there's a complete lack of information as to what these surcharges comprise of.

In the Terms and Conditions specific to the chosen flight, there's a reference to "Surcharges", but nothing which explains how the above figure has been calculated. There's only a vague reference to a €50 surcharge each way if the flight departs on a Friday or Saturday. My chosen dates in the screenshot were for an outbound flight on a Monday and a return on a Sunday.

I don't like that lack of clarity and that's one of the things which needs to be addressed to instil confidence in the airline again in my opinion.

Don't know why they would want to brag about this, I am sure they sold the rice at a big loss.

... as apposed to sitting on the rice ? In any event no price was mentioned.

Rice keeps almost indefinitely if stored correctly, so it would be better to sit on it than sell for a pittance (if that's what happened).

So here we have a fair number people out of work and over there, we have beaches strewn with litter, fag ends, empty bottles and all manner of crap.

So put the two together and have the Phuket administration permanently employ these individuals as beach cleaners. Problem solved!

OP, you said you speak fluent Thai. That being the case, why couldn't you have translated the form the officer printed for your friend? Would've saved you a lot of hassle.

Also, what were you doing in the intervening two hours you mentioned? Did the officer mention why you had to wait so long?

As for the demand for fingerprints, the policeman might have been antagonised by your attitude. But since you provided them even though you hadn't committed a crime, it might portray you in a bad light.

Always best to diffuse the issue in a situation like this especially where the police are concerned. Just smile and wai in the appropriate places and don't adopt an aggressive tone regardless of how aggrieved you might feel because if you make a Thai 'lose face', it could blow back on you quite dramatically especially where law enforcement is concerned: http://www.andrew-drummond.com/2015/02/foreigners-quietly-having-visas.html

Tragic story but the Thai coroners finding of poisoning by DEET may still be correct. Even though DEET is not supposed to be lethal if used properly, it has been

known to be mixed in to party drinks to cause some kind of high. It may be that DEET was ingested directly in small quantities, and these particular girls had a very adverse

reaction to it.

I think we can assume you have not read the coroner's findings. They explicitly rule out DEET poisoning along with a detailed explanation. They had to do this as this was the erroneous finding (excuse / speculation / whitewash ) of the Thai Forensic Science Dept.

Please familiarise yourself with the Canadian coroner's findings before spreading incorrect conjecture.

@ Briggsy,

I think you've misinterpreted Nobrainer's post. The coroner said that he didn't think DEET was to blame since when used correctly to kill insects, it's not considered to be toxic. Absolutely correct.

However, what the coroner failed to take into account was the use of DEET as an ingredient in Thai cocktails i.e. the type sold in buckets: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-sisters-died-in-thailand-from-drinking-deet-1.1153094

So in effect, the Thai authorities would be correct in their assumption that DEET poisoning was the cause as Nobrainer correctly pointed out.

A couple of young girls brought Phosphine with them on a trip to Thailand? Why is that more likely than the hotel was using illegal pesticides? When has the legality of something been much of a barrier in Thailand?

I agree with you. It's highly unlikely that the girls brought this substance with them considering its toxic properties: http://www.epa.gov/airtoxics/hlthef/phosphin.html

Doesn't sound like something you can just pop into your local pharmacy and buy.

Seems to me most things described here there are rules and laws against etc, whats is sadly lacking, is the Police and other Officials actually enforcing them, ie: doing there damn job properly !

Its only when the learn there are consequences to actions will there be a difference,

The main problem is their upbringing. If they've grown up in some godforsaken village where the houses comprise of a few sheets of corrugated iron nailed to a wooden frame and where there's no such thing as a weekly garbage truck doing the rounds to collect the bags, then of course they don't have any concept of tidiness.

Walk around any village in Isaan or nearby provinces and you'll find plastic bottles and the remnants of old cartons strew at the sides of the roads and all manner of junk just lying around.

And when the girls from these villages move to somewhere like Phuket to work as bar girls, they bring their habits with them. I read on news media every day about beaches strewn with litter, but how do you change people's habits when nobody has ever taught them to think of the environment before throwing litter on the ground?

Sell them to the China: http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-c1-china-cockroach-20131015-dto-htmlstory.html

because they want to eat toxic poisonous salmon ?

The word 'poisonous' is superfluous in your sentence since if something is 'toxic' it means it's poisonous: http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/toxic

I agree with the Thai lady who was offended. I certainly wouldn't want to go to a toilet and find a naked bloke in there.

I noticed on Tech News that the Blackberry Slider was briefly mentioned, but nothing there about the Leap.

It appears to be aimed at the budget market and at only $275 seems to be a good deal considering that Blackberry's phones are secure.

Here's a hands on: http://crackberry.com/blackberry-leap

Or, from the horse's mouth: http://uk.blackberry.com/smartphones/blackberry-leap.html

OK, thanks everybody. I've just downloaded Opera and it has no problem getting to the Nationwide International login page.

So Firefox is the problem. I like its addons too much to ditch it over this one problrm. Thanks again.

That might be because you appear to be using a BETA version of Firefox i.e. 37 which hasn't yet been approved by your bank.

The current version of Firefox version is 36 and I can access the login page you mentioned using that version without a problem.

Don't understand 'My bad'. Is that a typo and was supposed to be 'My dad'?

So presumably, you're using your dad's phone.

Anyway, it'll depend on which GSM frequencies the phone supports as to whether it will work in Thailand. See this Wikipedia article for an explanation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM_frequency_bands

The price is not 10,000 its 997. Why freak out? Besides, if you're going to Patong you're gonna get ripped off anyway.

You're missing the point. I'm not the least 'freaked out'. I was merely illustrating that sometimes marketing tactics are absolutely ridiculous.

And no, I've never be 'ripped off', ever. I always research a project albeit booking a hotel room or buying a phone. If the price doesn't match the specs I would expect to find, I simply won't buy it.

But better book quick! They've only got 2 rooms left.

That's the same tactic as inflating the price which is then 'discounted' did you but know it.

dont get too worked up. shop on the internet as you would on the high street. visit various travel agents and take the best deal.

next.

I wasn't worked up for that reason. It was just that ludicrously inflated price which was then 'discounted' to an equally ridiculous figure which put my back up.

But I've noticed that Thai hotels are back to their old tricks again i.e. "Not many tourists around? Put the price up!"

Prices generally have been increased significantly compared to last year in spite of the recession in the EU and other Western countries.

Maybe the Chinese have plenty of dough to chuck around although I can't imagine that that's the case somehow.

each and EVERY hotel provides the price information and agoda, booking.com, asia travel etc ONLY place up the info

they have ZERO control on the price

I worked for Planet holiday before it was agoda

travel now

priceline

Hotels are not allowed ( in the contract) to undersell the price they provide agoda an others

Sometimes u can get a cheaper rater if u walk in but never booking online unless its a hotel that does not honor their contracts.

Aha, that might explain why C&N doesn't appear on Agoda because they offer a discount if you book directly with their site.

I am a hotel manager and I can assure you that both "strike-through" and best rates are set by the hotel and the hotel only. If hotels are not listed, it is because they do not want to pay the (very) high commission.

Useful to know.

I know booking.com charges 30% which I assume gets added to the room rate and I would imagine that Agoda does something similar.

I regret to say that this morning at least, it's now down to 3,71

I think Sweden has taken a leaf out of Draghi's book. The whole of the eurozone is in recession with deflation at -0,6% so the ECB is hoping that by trashing the euro, it'll make exports more attractive.

Once that happens, the euro/SEK should head north once more and we'll be back to inflationary pressures again. That will necessitate raising interest rates which in turn will raise the value of the currency.

Just the old 'boom & bust' scenario all over again.

Please export to the Netherlands ("dinsdag overdag" means Tuesday during the daytime).

it is 100% the HOTELS who do the administration.

agoda is only offering the PLATTFORM to sell rooms.

Hotels are being taught how to use the said platform properly and perform a proper administration of their data.

some hotel staff just don't know how to....... that's all.....

I don't think that's the case because if it was, every hotel would join up. But go look for C&N Hotel on Agoda and you won't find it.

Also, although it states in Agoda's Terms and Conditions that the hotel is responsible for ensuring that prices are accurate, it doesn't mention how those may be applied. I can't link to those directly by the way, so just fill in some fake details for Country and Area to view the page.

In this particular case though, I think it would even be beyond the imagination of a particularly greedy thai to envisage that the room price originally cost 10,000 Baht a night had been reduced to 997,50.

If I see something like that I immediately think it must be located next to a stinking cesspit to warrant such a reduction.

Hotel rates set by the hotel.

Strike-through rates invented by Agoda,

Fact!

Yes, exactly. That's the point I was trying to make when I said that it looks from the way it's written that it's the bargain of a lifetime.

I really can't believe that Agoda has the temerity to quote reservation rates which are so erroneous and misleading.

I'm currently searching for a decent, but cheap hotel in Patong in June and find hotel booking sites like Agoda useful because they include a map of where the hotel is located. But that's as far as it goes because they are always more expensive than the rates quoted by the hotel itself.

But this was the most outrageous rate I came across today. It concerns the PL House which is located in a dingy alley near Jungceylon. Agoda quotes rooms reduced from 10,000 Baht to just 997,50 and 10,000 Baht to 2,850 Baht. Sounds great eh? You'd think you were getting a real bargain wouldn't you?

But nothing can be further than the truth because if you go to the hotel's own site, you'll find that the low season rates are just 990 Baht a night. Even if you were to book peak season, you'd still only be paying 2,590 Baht. http://www.plhousepatong.com/rates.html

So where they got the figure of 2,850 Baht from is beyond me.

And last, but not least, here's the Google Street View of the hotel. Does that look like a place that would cost 10,000 Baht a night to you?