FalangBaa

this again? As a flight attendant for over 25 years and currently a Purser on Etithad I have to say that upgrades do not happen on board just because your wearing a nice suit and flash a big smile at the young pretty stewardess. The young pretty stewardess is very junior with no authority and doesn't even work in business or first class and in fact would need to get authorized by the Purser or Flight Service Director. Believe me I've heard every imaginable story from passengers once we close the door on why they should be upgraded. Someone mentioned they were upgraded by the Captain as they knew him. That can happen but these days rarely as even the Captain would need to submit paper work on why later on. An upgrade on board can happen if there is a problem passenger or a medical emergency. But again everything is from beginning to end is now documented on flights. You csn upgrade at

This is, quite frankly, a load of rubbish and if you don't even know how to spell the name of the airline (Etihad, not Etithad) I'm sure you don't work for them. I have been upgraded several times for precisely the reasons you say are impossible, but not on Etihad, which I have only ever used once.

I always seem to manage to get an onboard upgrade to Business for free if I flash my million-dollar smile to the most attractive hostess and ask nicely in my best Queen's English. It usually works on the airlines I travel on. After all, if the plane is flying with those seats empty, the additional cost to the airline of upgrading you is minimal (cost of slightly better food, a couple of glasses of champers, etc.) and it's a good deal for them in view of the likelihood of turning you into a more loyal customer. Of course, being well dressed and well groomed certainly helps. A well-cut suit can earn you a plethora of free advantages.

Sure

Earlier answer on first class traveling:

My 300-euro flight from Bangkok to London via Kuala Lumpur next week on a 5-star airline (Malaysian) with a 5-star plane (A380) is looking more like an excellent deal all the time. Honestly, who except someone who's obscenely wealthy or who works for a stupid company that likes to waste its (or its shareholders') money thinks it's a smart idea to fork out almost 5,000 euros to sit inside a metal tube for 12 hours when other people sitting inside the same metal tube and arriving at exactly the same time are paying only 300 euros to sit inside said metal tube for 12 hours?

I can assure you that I always wear a suit while travelling and appear well-groomed and I have been upgraded many times. Yes, I like to travel in style and get upgrades, but I like to save my money too and always pay the minimum possible price for a flight.

I always seem to manage to get an onboard upgrade to Business for free if I flash my million-dollar smile to the most attractive hostess and ask nicely in my best Queen's English. It usually works on the airlines I travel on. After all, if the plane is flying with those seats empty, the additional cost to the airline of upgrading you is minimal (cost of slightly better food, a couple of glasses of champers, etc.) and it's a good deal for them in view of the likelihood of turning you into a more loyal customer. Of course, being well dressed and well groomed certainly helps. A well-cut suit can earn you a plethora of free advantages.

This is when you really know you're living in one of the most primitive Third World countries in Asia. Bangkok, for all its superficial sheen of sophistication, is just a heartbeat away from the ricefields.

In most countries, even a one-day national power outage would be unimaginable and economically catastrophic. The fact that they are actually EXPECTING an 11-day power outage says it all really. This country is a joke. Then again, I'm hardly surprised, considering that a couple of years ago they blocaded their biggest international airport for weeks!

Not an outage, but a shortage. Vastly different things.

Huh? Explain to me how an outage "vastly differs" from a shortage. If there's not enough electricity to supply everyone who wants to use it, some people will have an outage. Cause and effect. Shortage is the cause, outage is the effect.

"Will be traveling in two weeks to Thailand for 8 months with my new Dell Latitude laptop.

Would just like to verify if the computer peripherals accompany me, are packed correctly for TSA screaming."

As long as they only scream at you and don't do other things, for example, screening, you won't have a problem.

Actually, it's when they stop screaming at you and fall silent or walk off and talk among themselves in a separate area that you really have a problem.

I can see the next promo from TAT. "come to Thailand where you can dump your load in style"

Unfortunately, that would also be open to misinterpretation as an incitement to sex tourism, which is definitely NOT what Thailand aspires to be (officially).

Where does Thailand rank for happy endings? I bet it's in the top 10!

If you refer to the climactic type of happy ending, it's definitely in the top 10; however, if you refer to foreigners who come to put an end to their lives while happy (thanks to the haze of drink or drugs), Thailand is definitely no. 1 in the world, with the help of its plentiful high-rise tower blocks and generously low balcony railings. New TAT slogan: "Thailand... A Great Way to Go."

This is when you really know you're living in one of the most primitive Third World countries in Asia. Bangkok, for all its superficial sheen of sophistication, is just a heartbeat away from the ricefields.

In most countries, even a one-day national power outage would be unimaginable and economically catastrophic. The fact that they are actually EXPECTING an 11-day power outage says it all really. This country is a joke. Then again, I'm hardly surprised, considering that a couple of years ago they blocaded their biggest international airport for weeks!

They need to educate Thai women on how to eat and exercise because the #1 tourist draw of beautiful and slim women is dwindling as more and more women bulk up at an alarming rate.

Yes...plus the 'Tom' phenomenon that is spreading like the plague...

...not to mention the 1.7 babies-per-woman, on par with dying Europe..

Enjoy the current 'boom'....it may be Thailands last

Ah, so this 1.7 babies per Thai woman figure explains what I've been noticing here in the Magical Kingdom. There are far too many people walking around who are "0.7 people" - only seven-tenths of a fully developed individual, intellectually or physically speaking. A disturbing trend indeed.

Frankly, I don't believe that ANY chilled or frozen burger on sale in Thailand, outside of a gourmet restaurant (think 300 baht+ burger) would contain as much as TWENTY PERCENT MEAT(!!!!), even if those are 2 different meats. By the way, when they say "pork meat" or "chicken meat", they mean "pork intestines", "chicken eyeballs", etc., when they refer to burgers in Thailand. Hey, eyeballs are not vegetables, so therefore they are meat. What are you complaining about?

My 300-euro flight from Bangkok to London via Kuala Lumpur next week on a 5-star airline (Malaysian) with a 5-star plane (A380) is looking more like an excellent deal all the time. Honestly, who except someone who's obscenely wealthy or who works for a stupid company that likes to waste its (or its shareholders') money thinks it's a smart idea to fork out almost 5,000 euros to sit inside a metal tube for 12 hours when other people sitting inside the same metal tube and arriving at exactly the same time are paying only 300 euros to sit inside said metal tube for 12 hours?

First class Lufthansa 783 11h 15m or Lufthansa 782 10h 40m sleeping in a bed

Your flight is either MH797 16h 55m or MH783 19h 15 m in a very small seat

Nope, it's MH004 on the A380, takes 12.5 hours (direct, with no refuelling stop in Middle East) and I've flown the A380 before and the seats are not excessively small. Sleeping in a bed is irrelevant since my flight leaves at 9:30 a.m. and I can never sleep on planes anyway.

My 300-euro flight from Bangkok to London via Kuala Lumpur next week on a 5-star airline (Malaysian) with a 5-star plane (A380) is looking more like an excellent deal all the time. Honestly, who except someone who's obscenely wealthy or who works for a stupid company that likes to waste its (or its shareholders') money thinks it's a smart idea to fork out almost 5,000 euros to sit inside a metal tube for 12 hours when other people sitting inside the same metal tube and arriving at exactly the same time are paying only 300 euros to sit inside said metal tube for 12 hours?

No more sharp drops on the cards like in the first 2 months of 2013, but it's down to 44.35 now and I expect to see around 43.50 by the end of March. Then a continuing gradual decline throughout 2013, ending the year at about 39. Yes, I said 39. May bounce back to 45 or so in mid-2014, but you will NEVER see 50 baht to the pound again.

I can see some stupid comments here from people again who think to know all Thailand than any others here ...... bla bla bla ....

This tourist has been murdered RIP , just because he is Russian I can read some stupid hypothetical answers , what a shame to be born Russian apparently for many of you, well I remember before the Russian , were the Brits , the Germans and other western European with same issues in Pattaya. Remove all Russians from Pattaya and it will be a dead city.

At last, someone starts saying something sensible. Pattaya as a dead city sounds great to me. More undead females to go around...

I'd be willing to take the risk. 2,000 baht off is not to be sniffed at (going to be 50 quid before too long) and the risk of anyone being a victim of credit card fraud is still very low. What makes you think a reputable worldwide company or its employees who desire to keep their jobs and avoid prison would attempt fraud with your credit card number? Or are you one of those paranoid maniacs who thinks a malicious third party is going to be listening in on their phone conversation somehow? Relax. 2,000 baht is 2,000 baht. I found a 100-baht note walking down the street yesterday and I'm still ecstatic over it. By the end of next year, 100 baht is probably going to be worth about £10, so I'm hoarding huge wads of 1,000 baht notes now. (Don't trust sterling.) No, not inside my mattress.

In the case your describing, all the foreigners that are thinking of spending their Holiday in Thailand can't afford to come anymore. And I don't think that Thailand will let that happen as Thailand needs Tourists.

It's already happened and Thailand still has tourists.

There's a noticeable increase in tourism from non-Western countries. Loads of Indians, Chinese, Russians rockin' up at Swampy.

I guess the days when Westerners could regard Thailand as their own private Disneyland are coming to an abrupt and ignominious end with Tom, Dick and Harry's barstools being taken over by Raj, Xeng and Dmitri.

Except that Raj and Xeng don't even drink, so the barstools are only occupied by Dmitri, plus a specially reinforced barstool for Dmitri's 200 kg wife.

The higher the cost of living, the less competive they become and the faster they decline, with the exception of one country. . . China.

China is not a capitalist country

Best laugh I've had all week!!! I would guess you haven't spent much time in China, because it has got to be one of the most capitalistic, money-driven countries on the planet. The ethos of young Chinese is: get rich quick even if they have to destroy their own health, the country's environment and the social fabric in the process. Consumerist displays of conspicuous wealth symbols are everything in China these days.

By Coconuts Bangkok

A slew of unregistered tourists on Khaosan Road.

.

Is that the proper collective noun for tourists?

I thought it was either a gaggle or a herd.

.

In Pattaya it's known as a 'rash'

Oh, really? I think you forgot the initial "t" on that, or actually I have heard that the accurate collective noun for tourists in Pattaya is a "gulag".

Thailand has virtually zero facilities or infrastructure for disabled people anywhere, even in Bangkok, but you can forget about the provinces. How many people in wheelchairs do you see out and about in Thailand? Almost none, because it's just too difficult. In most cases, they are confined to their homes. In my opinion, being disabled you'd be much better off staying in England, despite the worse weather.

Perhaps if you started looking for Thai girlfriends in the teaching faculties of the best Thai universities, or in the boardrooms of the top 100 Thai corporations, or perhaps at your local art gallery, opera house or Bentley dealership, your experiences might be somewhat different; not that I'm insinuating anything at all about the kind of places you might be meeting them at now. Perhaps it's just time to change the type of woman you're dating if you find the overall experience dissatisfactory.

Actually, you don't need to add salt to your printer to make it work properly. That's nothing but a myth. It's your dishwasher that needs to have salt added. Hope this helps, or perhaps you meant to write "Epsom salts".

Approximately 3 million baht? I hope no Thai "ladies" will be reading this thread, or you may find yourself receiving numerous friendly PMs.

Oh, *THAT* type of grass...

You guys are throwing your money away. I'm living like a king in Chiang Mai on about 3,400 baht a month. Room: 2,000 baht a month including all utilities, WiFi, 60 TV channels. Very central location inside moat. Laundry: 100 baht a month. Transport: Free (mountain bike). Fine dining and entertainment: 1,300 baht a month including getting drunk EVERY night. Ladies: free of charge, several times a month. Different lady every single time. This is the life. I have a nice income from abroad, I'm in my early 40s, retired, and I can save the equivalent of US$ 2,500 a month to make provision for my older years. Life doesn't get much better than this. I will never leave.