Wozzit

I have a lot of issues with the new airport but the taxi's?! You eat in the food court, walk outside one minute and maybe stand a minute in the queue, tell the person where you want to go - and go. trip back to the flat is about 250 incl airport B50 chg.

I agree. I have never had to wait more than a few minutes for a taxi. And I have noticed from the paper the dispatcher hands out that some drivers have to wait well over an hour before they get a fare.

The quickest way to take care of the problem is to make all prostitution illegal.

I'd suggest the complete opposite. Make prostitution legal, after ensuring that you have a proper legal framework to vigorously prosecute underage sex etc. That way you get rid of most of the corruption that is rife in the prostitution business virtually everywhere.

This had to happen. It probably a good thing. You'll "hopefully" see performance of voip, web mail, etc.. improve. Torrents are drain especially since most peers exists outside of TOT, if you look at an average torrent drainer using a steady 1mbit the economics just dont make sense. I cant even buy full transit routes on 1000mbit commits for < 550baht/mbit (or anywhere near that). So hopefully TOT stop, separate, or traffic shape them.

Ideally I'd like to see torrent drainer pay a massive premium. Part ignorance for most windoze users as the systray hides the little U, but wow imagine how fast the internet would be in Thailand without torrent drainers.

Ends rant.

Can someone kindly explain in layman's terms what this is all about. I haven't a clue about torrents, drainers, transit routes, traffic shape etc. Sorry, but I know I am technologically challenged.

Ok, let's try this again, since I can't post Excel in here.

Here's something TAT might want to take a look at:

International visitors to Vietnam in July and 7 months of 2010

July 28, 2010

International visitors to Vietnam in June estimated 410,000 arrivals, increasing by 51.1% over the same period last year. Total international arrivals in 7 months reached 2,920,521 representing a 34.9% growth.

July 2010 (estimate) = 410,000

Accrued for 7 months of 2010 = 2,920,521

July 2010 vs June 2010 (%) = 109.1

July 2010 vs July 2009 (%) = 151.1

7 Mos 2010 vs 7 mos 2009 (%) = 134.9

Granted, while the figures are not as high as those of Thailand (ie. 14 – 15 mil), the growth rate is one that Thailand could only wish they could see.

I would state that if I were a TAT official, I would be worried about the numbers and growth rate, but with typical Thai arrogance, they probably just shrug it off as meaningless, and claim "This is Thailand, and people will always prefer to come here."

Comparing a mature tourist market like Thailand's to a far less mature one like Vietnam's really does not present an accurate picture, unfortunately. I have no access to the statistics, but having recently been in Vietnam, I have seen the number of new hotels going up. I have also noticed the major increase in the number of airlines flying in to the country. When you start from a low base, the annual percentage increase in such a situation is bound to look far more impressive.

Suvarnabhumi International Airport to improve quality...

For one, sort out the issue of bussing people to and from the aircraft for Pete's sake.

The problem is they can't sort that out! There are just too many flights and too few air bridge gates. It's that simple! There's only one relatively quick solution to that particular problem – move the low cost carriers over to Don Mueang. If the AOT takes the SIngapore/KL route and builds a cheap low cost carrier terminal at Suvarnabhumi, those passengers will still have to walk to the planes. But passengers on full service airlines will have a far better chance of getting air bridges.

If BKK really does want to be in the worlds top 10 airports, it's management should invite the executives of one of those highly rated airports to evaluate what needs to be done, rather than bounce the issue around 'in house'. These people either do not see problems from the passengers point of view, or are aware but won't admit it because that would imply that they haven't been doing their own jobs properly.

They have just done that! They've appointed people from Seoul's Incheon airport as their consultant. Incheon regularly hits the top three airports in the world list, apparently.

(also strange, that these drugs are easily passing the security controls at the departure airports)

I'm not sure, but I suspect few airports check for drug in bags leaving on departing flights.

Why bother!!! It has been the TOP low class airport in the world since its first day

I'm no fan of Suvarnabhumi, but I guess it's not really as bad as some make out. I go in and out 15 or more times a year and can list dozens of faults that remain unrectified since opening. Inadequate airline signage on the road leading to the airport, too many signs once you are past Immigration at eye level and therefore impossible to see, an Arrivals area that is a compete disaster, poor F&B outlets etc, Re F&B, I like the food court in the basement of the east wing despite it being expensive, but the ones in the main departures 'corridor' are not just expensive they are really badly managed. For one recent early morning departure, I wanted a quick coffee, fresh orange juice and a croissant. I could only get all three if I purchased the American breakfast at 350 Baht + service. The continental breakfast - at a whopping 340 Baht! - did not include a croissant. When I asked if I could have the American breakfast without the eggs etc., I was told 'No!". Unbelievable!

I read yesterday that someone or some department is suggesting the issuing of smart cards which can be used at Immigration to speed the flow. The problem, apparently, is that passports have to be stamped, and it is the act of placing the stamp on 2 documents that seems to take the time (you could have fooled me!). So why do they not do what Hong Kong does? Permit Thai citizens with smart ID cards to use these cards in automatic scanners. The freeing up of a lot of Immigration staff will then make it so much faster for the rest of us. But i guess that's too obvious!

Will they never learn? Single woman coming from Addis Ababa, unknown guy from Ghana asks her to take a suitcase to Bali via Bangkok, doesn't know it contains drugs? It's hard to have any sympathy for such people.

In my opinion, one of the major disadvantages of Nok Air is that they fly in and out of Don Muang Airport. Hopefully Thai Tiger will realise this and not follow suit.

In my opinion that is the big advantage of Nok.... It is faster to get downtown from Don Mueang than from Suwannabhumi.

Agreed. I still maintain the government should keep Don Mueang as the low cost carrier hub. Even Tony Fernandez of AA wants that now, having originally been totally against it. Suvarnabhumi cannot absorb many more smallish aircraft that eat up runway space and have to load and unload on the tarmac because there aren't nearly enough ramp gates.

I read in the Pattaya Daily News that the Thai internet cafe owner, the one allegedly running the pedophile ring, making films with the boys under his control, and renting them out, has been granted bail! I find this to be yet another extraordinary twist in an extraordinary case. How much was the bail, and who posted it, I wonder? And is it usual in cases of this type that a alleged mastermind of such a 'ring' is permitted bail?

In relation to Mr. Pletnev’s ongoing “child sex” case in Thailand, Pattaya Daily News can confirm that a former Thai associate of the famed musician, Mr. Traiphop Bunphasong, has now been granted bail by the Thai courts.

http://www.pattayadailynews.com/en/2010/08/03/bbc-edinburgh-festival-carefully-monitor-pletnev-case/

The travel agents in Tehran must be doing a lot of Bangkok bound ticketing business.

Yeah! One way tickets!

If the child sex offender have nothing to hide, why is he on a run? Sound like a plot in one of Ford movie, the fugitive or something like that.

Get your facts straight! It has been alleged that he is a child sex offender. Nothing has been proved.

I have not seen any comments yet in the media regarding certain seeming similarities between the situation Mr Pletnev now faces and those of the composer of which he is one of the greatest interpreters - Tchaikovsky. I find some of these similarities uncanny. Like Tchaikovsky , Pletnev is very much a wanderer. Like Tchaikovsky, Pletnev is also a composer. Like Tchaikovsky, Pletnev is not someone who seems to enjoy life in the public gaze. Like Tchaikovsky. when he died, Pletnev is now 53.

Like Tchaikovsky, Pletnev is a gay man - both working in a profession far more homophonic than, for example, the theatre or ballet. It is now generally believed that Tchaikovsky's death, contrary to the story put about for nearly a century that he died of cholera, may have been the result of a "court of honour" of his fellow graduates from the St Petersburg Imperial School sentencing him to suicide on account of his homosexuality. Hounded to the end.

Notable too, I think, is that Tchaikovsky's last symphony, named the Pathetique (meaning "passionate" and emotional" rather than "pathetic"), was completed just weeks before he died. Hopefully Mr Pletnev may be able to find some inspiration in the dreadful situation he now finds himself in to work on a similar masterpiece.

There is a more recent thread -

Acclaimed Russian Conductor Mikhail Pletnev Cancels British Concerts

I have never known of a double suicde in the uk , unless both parties are terminally ill .. Was the wife ill ??

There was a particularly sad case last year. A Englishman and his Japanese wife doted on their only child, Sam. When he was about 16 months, he became a guadriplegic when a woman drove into the car Sam's mother was driving. The couple spent all their time looking after him and he was, by all accounts, a very happy little boy. He then suddenly developed meningitis and died aged 5. Totally distraught, he couple drove to a cliff top and, with the body of their son in one backpack and his toys in another, they jumped to their deaths. The article posted below ends : "Tragic as it is, they seemed to know their own minds – and there was probably nothing anyone could have done to prevent this sad act of desperation."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/5438383/Beachy-Head-The-Japanese-tradition-behind-the-family-suicide.html

The Edinburgh Festival and the London Prom Concerts are two of the most prestigious music Festivals in the world. If ever there was proof that the charges here are having a major impact on his career, this is it. Like other posters, I totally agree that if he is proved innocent or the police, contrary to reports from the NGO, find they do not have enough evidence to take the case to Court, I hope he gets the best lawyers around to sue whomever he is able to sue for libel, slander, damage to reputation and loss of earnings. I repeat again, this is on the assumption he is cleared of the charges.

What must be especially galling for him is that the world's press now have this case back in their pages, with some repeating some of the initial allegations which the police later said were not true. For example, this from today's Guardian on-line newspaper in the UK:

"Police searched one of his homes, confiscating material in connection with an investigation into a paedophilia ring. Prosecutors told a court in Pattaya that the search yielded several "compromising" photographs of Pletnev with underage boys."

As we know, nothing like this was found in his homes!

I only just read to day that the total number of votes for Bangkok was - wait for it! - 16,000! I thought this was like one of the Skytrax airlines and airport polls which have millions voting.

yes,THAI operating routes must not be affected by the service offered by the new budget carrier

Then where on earth will the new carrier fly? THAI has 10 domestic routes at present, so presumably that rules out much of the country, including the heavy traffic Chiang Mai and Phuket routes. Eve if THAI wants to give up many of these, surely Nok has first call on them? THAI also flies to most major cities regionally. If the new airline is going to be stuck with secondary cities, it will surely not survive.

Poor girl. I hope they find the gang that hired her. You guys don't even understand the half of it when you say you have no sympathy etc. Sme thing in these cases happens about the same way they do with human trafficing in the UAE etc. They take the girls and threaten to kill their entre family if they don't prostitute themselves and even recruit others. Also if any of you were raised in a third world country where you see your own family and many people starving every day and have no prospects of making money through and honest living you all might just do the same.

Noone knows this poor girls personal story yet so lets stop all the smart remarks and THINK.

Many of you sit on your high horses collecting pensions etc living like kings here in LOS and never even think about the poor. Many of you even contribute to their sad lives by using them as prostitutes etc so try not to be so judgmental until you hear her side of the story.

Whilst I abhor the trafficking of human slaves and my heart bleeds when I hear about what happens to these poor girls after they learn they have been duped, as I said in my post #29, I cannot see how this compares to gangs recruiting innocent girls as drug couriers. In other words, I am trying to see it from the gangs' perspective, not the girl's. A poor innocent abroad arriving at a large airport is bound to look nervous, no matter if she knows what is in her baggage or not. She is a magnet for the customs and police officers, especially if she is alone and arriving from a country known to be 'suspicious'. So the chances are huge that she'll be found and the drugs confiscated. In that situation, what do the gangs gain?

Besides, the gangs must also know that certain airports are more difficult for drug couriers than others - and Bangkok has to be one. If I was flying someone with drugs from Peru, I'd do everything I could to skip final stop airports like SIngapore, KL, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Taipei. Although I have little clue about customs checks in other airports, I'd perhaps be tempted to route her on Vietnam Air to Ho Chi MInh or Hanoi and from there by road to the final destination. I've never found customs in Vietnam very efficient!

I've never seen a "very expensive" flight on Air Asia, and I use their search engine regularly. Sure if you don't book in advance you won't get a cheap price, but "very expensive".

I just checked for August 5:

Bangkok - Chiang Mai 1,732 THB

Bangkok - Phuket: 1,676 THB

Bangkok - KL: 2,788 THB

Just to be accurate, the fares you quote do not include the taxes and fees. For Bangkok to KL you have to add Bt. 700, plus the costs of any non-cabin baggage you may have and on-board food. Granted you don't need a meal on a short flight, but Air Asia, like most budget carriers, does not permit you to bring food or even water on board, even on their relatively new long haul service Air Asia X.

The longer this goes on, the more the so-called hard "evidence" we were told about at the outset seems to disappear. And what has happened to the spokesman from the NGO, Supagon Noja, I wonder? This is the man who was quoted around the world saying, "I'm very sure he won't come back to Thailand. We've been working on this case with the police for a long time now and finally had him arrested - and he's gotten away so easily." (quote from The Nation on 8 July). Khun Supagon seemed to be surprised when he did in fact return, but saw the opportunity of twisting the knife by adding, "we are convinced that we can convict him." (The Nation on-line 19 July). SInce then, this eager spokesman has not spoken! I wonder why.

If that is the picture they were showing all over the news, the 'boy' looked between 22-25 years old. Don't know about you, but I consider a 25 year old a man.

I agree the 'boy' in that photo looked around mid-20s. But that is not the accuser. It was a framed photo in Mr Pletnev's house which the media, following the police into the house, seized on with their accustomed glee. It clearly showed the two wrapped up to the nines, so was certainly taken in a cold climate. I don't know who that young man is, but I feel sorry he has been dragged into this case.

Yeah, that's the only guy I had seen in a photograph with him, I did not know they had one of him and the accuser.

I have heard there is one of him and the accuser sitting on a boat with some others. But not in any compromising position. I thought it had been published somewhere, but I cannot find it now. So I cannot vouch for the accuracy of this statement.

It can only be good for competition to have a new Airline such as Thai Tiger, as AirAsia fares are usually VERY EXPENSIVE nowadays, unless you book during one of their twice-yearly ZERO FARES - promotions when they introduce their new summer- or winter-timetables.

Yes, and when you book on Air Asia's 9-months-ahead zero-fare or low-fare promotions, if traffic patterns change for any reason, you'll find your flights cancelled and alternates offered - usually ones departing at the crack of dawn or late at night. And if you have booked and paid for a connecting flight on another carrier, be prepared to lash out a lot of extra cash as the chances are you'll miss it.

I'll be more prepared to believe 'official' statistics when I see that airlines have restored their schedules to the same level as last summer. Many are still operating flights in and out of Bangkok on a reduced schedule.

Many mulls have no choice. The drug gangs hold their family's hostage well they make their runs.

If that's their modus operandi, I don't quite understand it. Anyone who is scared just cannot act naturally on arrival at a strange airport. Immigration and customs will notice sweat on her forehead. Her nervousness will also be picked up by the cctv cameras dotted all over the place, plus by the security and customs people behind their dark windows. So the chance of this person succeeding in getting the drugs through are minimal. What use is it to the drug gangs to have their drugs discovered and confiscated? Provided drugs are sealed in such a way that sniffer dogs and scanners will not pick them up, the gangs really need experienced actors - not young ladies scared out of their wits.