WilliaminBKK

Is my two year old allowed to bring in a 18 year old single malt?

I was a little surprised at what I found, most places ciggy's & alcohol you must be of legal age.....anyway this IATA link says each passport holder, assuming your toddler has their own passport you would be fine.

http://www.iatatravelcentre.com/TH-Thailand-customs-currency-airport-tax-regulations-details.htm#Import regulations

OP

On Board check this link - EVA Duty Free Magazine

http://evaair.themecool.com/eBook_Mall/e-books/sky_shop/112012/index.html#/166-167/

TPE I've never had enough time to purchase duty free, sorry I can't help with prices.

Duty free simply means there is NO duty/tax from the country you depart from, as others have said your allowance is one litre and anything above that will be confiscated and or fined so stick to one litre don't start your holiday on a bad note.

May I ask if it would be possible to add aircraft type flown and seat configuration, eg B777/300ER economy 3/4/3?

From BKK to SVO A330-300 2-4-2

From SVO to DUS A320-100 3-3

From CDG to SVO A320-100 3-3

From SVO to BKK A330-300 2-4-2

Great idea Tartempion.

Beanno can you confirm Aeroflot is dry from BKK to SVO ? I've read lots and would love to hear a first hand account.

Craig maybe we can also add where the ticket was purchased - airline direct, wholesaler, agent etc

As above, I put cling film over the toilet bowls. I returned once and the bowl had completely dried out and was seriously stained I had to replace the gasket and the odours well just say I learnt my lesson. Closets open to allow air flow, and in terms of little friends I spread borax everywhere. Locks on windows and doors, and best if a friend can do a monthly inspection, flyers, delivery attempts etc.

I wont fly into the US nonstop from Asia. I used to go to Cuba often for holiday and I was flippant once when questioned about the stamps in my passport so I said I have another passport would that one make you happy? opppps big mistake, I think I'm a marked man

Now I only fly to Canada and do the pre-clearance in Canada they seem nicer and the process isn't nearly as long.

I think it's a stupid rule. You have to show it when you start your journey, not the return leg.

I had my cards stolen once (no loss as I blocked them ASAP), but when I told both Qatar Airways and Thai in advance they refused to do anything. I had to get a new paper ticket from Qatar and Thai Airways issued me a new one as well.

<deleted> you have your passport and photo ID and they still won't accept it's you unless you have a piece of plastic with no photo.

Idiots.

I certainly realise why most consider this to be idiotic, however it isn't as much the airline that dreamed this one up it is more the banks and processing firms.

You show your cc at the start of your journey so your record (PNR) is updated that it has been verified hence the reason why often it isn't necessary on multiple flights.

In the new age of so much credit card fraud banks now insist the card be verified, Verified by Visa and Mastercards fill in pop up only satisfy's some banks and in the actual merchant agreement it is a condition that the card be used in a POS machine or presented/verified in person.

So the airlines that impose the rule are being directed by their banks, is there a better system? perhaps as the chip cards become the norm.

I've had to decline payments for fraud on my credit card and it wasn't pleasant at all, I have no problem with added security.

Indeed good news for the region.

SQ just sold their 49% share in Virgin to focus on India/China - combined population of 2.7 billion, FD gets it carve out a niche.

For those interested look at the range of the A320. I would shave a few cm off that map, the LCC's usually are packed, but you can clearly see the the region has huge potential.

http://www.airbus.com/aircraftfamilies/passengeraircraft/a320family/a320/performance/

I would recommend that if you pay for some else's air ticket that you take several steps to insure that their travel is smooth.

1.) When issuing the ticket have the agent annotate the record with the details you provide such as " This ticket is for my wife, and I am paying for it with my credit card, her name is, and she is traveling without me. My name is, my telephone number is, please contact me if there are any issues when my wife checks in for her flight at BKK on date."

2.) Double check with the airline to confirm this detail has been added to the record.

3.) Write an authorization letter, with the same details, for your wife to carry. Include copies of any correspondence (emails), print-outs of itineraries, and even proof of payment (copy of CC receipt).

I would also add you can visit a CTO -Ticket Office in any city show your CC fill out a form and they will make a note in your PNR

When you say AF is it a KLM code share?

Take a look coach tours, it may be of interest - they are not that expensive, makes it super easy to see lots in a short period. You can book your Bangkok to London and in this case the tour starts and ends in London.

In terms of hotels in London & Paris I usually stay at the Citadines in both city's, close to your budget and self catering.

In terms of your airfare there is a pinned thread above to find decent deals, if you decide to fly into London and out of Paris choose multi city on most search engines.

Sights and things to do, Lonely Planet offers some really sound advice.

http://www.cosmostoursandcruises.co.uk/holiday/a-taste-of-europe

http://www.leger.co.uk/Destinations/France/Tours

Rather than turn this into a TG bash fest.

TG is one of 13 carriers so far to have engaged in this cargo practice and there is more to come, I commend OZ for being so diligent protecting consumers & cargo forwarders. When the UK/US/CA/EU start to take the same action & dig deep into this fuel surcharge money grab lots of carriers are going to be in hot water not only cargo but passengers. (Keep your tickets copy's for all air travel )

As for the offence, let's turn back the clocks. Every bean counter from every airline globally was learning about the "new fuel surcharge" revenue stream $20 $50 $100 $200 $300 - let's test the market and see what sticks. The news makes it sound like they sat around a table and fixed prices rates when in fact they simply were following one another, fares and rates are filed so it is fairly simple to copy each other.

I'm sure the bean counters involved are not having a good day, however the 7.5 million is only a drop in the bucket.

Apparently some of the other airlines accused or who have admitted their guilt in this (http://en.wikipedia...._cases#Airlines) which so far has resulted in 100-Million in fines ... Qantas, British Airways, Singapore Airlines ($23-million fine) Air France, KLM, Martinair Holland, Cargolux, Cathay Pacific ($23-million fine), Emirates ($10.3-million fine), PT Garuda Indonesia, Korean Air, Malaysian Airline ($6-million fine) , Japan Airlines, Air New Zealand

Those who admitted their guilt decided to pull the band aid off quickly-good for them. There are many more who are still trying to sort the mess out as their local anti-trust rules would then apply if found guilty abroad.

Never a problem, I've even filled a thermos with double cream- butter by the time it arrived but still yummy.

Draftvader please share what does your cheese man do? I will be travelling this week and want to bring back some cheese.

William

My local cheese shop will vacumn pack hard cheeses for me and they then last forever. I buy softer cheeses in a firmer pre ripe state cut have to consume fairly quickly once home.

Concur, Vacuum is the only way to bring aroma rich foodstuff in your regular baggage. Even brought some " Limburger Kaese " once, and I can guarantee the aroma is very rich

Good luck

Yermanee

Yermanee I can smell that cheese from here, I'll admit I love it as well.

Edit: Spelling error oppps

Never a problem, I've even filled a thermos with double cream- butter by the time it arrived but still yummy.

Draftvader please share what does your cheese man do? I will be travelling this week and want to bring back some cheese.

http://www.teddingtoncheese.co.uk

Get your order in now and you could have it delivered to you to an address in the UK. The Barkham Blue is exceptional. About £25 will get you a whole cheese. If you have the opportunity to travel to Teddington then do. The Richmond shop is not as good (Tony's words (the owner)) as the Teddington shop. If you get there early (i.e. 10-11am) then he will happily share cheese with you. His roquefort is amazing. Also check out (well, actually check out as much as he is willing to share):

Rachel

Sharpham Brie (a British Brie)

Scrumpy Sussex

Stinking Bishop

Cornish Yarg

Gorwydd Caerphilly

Celtic Promise

Cabri

Raclette

Tomme De Marc

Here is a picture of our wedding "Cheese" cake (i.e. NOT a cheesecake. Our actual cake was Belgian Chocolate).

We have some Barkham Blue and Montgommery Cheddar left in our freezer (the Blue freezes REALLY well, the Cheddar...not so) for Christmas. I'm going to bake some wholemeal bread, we have Bunter's Pickled Onions and a number of Devon Chutneys that my Mum bought over in her last visit. Perfect Christmas lunch to keep us going until the BIG meal at 6pm (need dark to see the tree properly whilst we eat).

If you get a chance to visit Teddington Cheese then let me know how you got on.

What what what, you had that at your wedding .........that looks absolutely AMAZING, bloody creative- why didn't I do that

My local cheese shoppe in town I still think repackages Waitrose cheese, I am checking the site out now. I'm home for Xmas then off on a trip and can have it delivered before my return to LOS.

On the tourist count, it is complete tosh. They are clearly counting in-transit folk and whatever else. The real tourist number is around 15 million.

You suspect that that 5 to 8 million people (about 50%) of international visitors at the airport are actually people with connecting flights but for some reason decide to go through the immigration lines at the airport only to have to re-enter security and immigration lines? What would be the purpose of so many folks doing this when smoking is available in the airport and all the shops are located within the international area? Do this many people really book flights on separate itineraries causing them to have to go out and recheck their bags?

I am not saying the numbers are perfect but just don't believe they are that far off and if somebody passes through immigration then they should be counted as a visitor and would guess just about every other country defines visitors the same way.

do tell me where and how they do the numbers with evidence of course, since you love to post links

Data on on arrivals and departures are based on arrival and departure cards collected at land, air and sea borders. This provides country of origin and length of stay as well as statistics on volume at each entry/exit point including the country of origin using this immigration point. Spending is done through surveys. Internal tourism is done through surveys and data collected from from Thais who stay overnight at a hotel.

This information is available on the UN World Trade Organization site which you are welcome to visit but you have made clear you will not let facts stand in the way of your claims that international visitors are on a decline in Thailand and have made clear you won't believe any data from Thailand unless you think it backs up your claims but even those links you have provided discredit your claims or are completely irrelevant. The facts are that Thailand is a top international tourist destination, other countries in the region are also seeing similar growth in tourism, the airports continue to see record number of passengers each year, hotel construction is booming, in 4 of the last 10 years Thailand has been clear to state they had a decrease in number of international arrivals, more routes and frequenies of flights to Thailand over the years to meet demands ....... but why bother you with facts as I have already stated and you have made clear, you won't let facts or reality stand in the way of your very illogical belief that tourism in on a great decline in Thailand.

Nisa very detailed thank you, I would just like to add - residence entered is also a factor. In other words a Thai living abroad for more than 10 months would either be classed as returning resident or visitor.

There is logic behind the system

Yea.....finally a topic that we all agree on and as one poster said the label could use a softer glue that could be easily peeled off. and so true that the labels are always placed on the most important areas of English, as if they don't want us to know. I've spent a lot of time looking thru the stock of cans to find one that maybe got placed in the wrong place, revealing more English.

Does anyone know any secret tricks to removing the label?? I've tried peeling it off carefully from all angles, but it always pulls the english text off.

In terms of labels on paper, I used to have a heat gun and it worked fine. FYI on glass the remaining glue I use vegetable/olive oil - works like a charm, other than that I am like you - actually comical we all relate, can keep me occupied for an hour

I mean just how hard is it to heat up a can of Campbells tomato soup?

You have to heat it ?? Learn something new every day. Next you'll be telling me that I have to add water to it as well.

Its a requirement to have the contents/instructions in Thai which is understandable but, as said, why do they have to place them over the English version ??

I will take a wild stab at this.... because THIS is Thailand?

I mean what imported, pre-cooked or processed, canned or packaged food product is so hellishly complicated that one needs to read the bloody instructions?

Is this just a guy thing? Most blokes happily buy [insert technological gizmo of choice here] and don't bother to read the manual and manage to work out how it is done. Since when has RTFM applied to a can of baked beans?

It's a little more than beans for me, I'd like to know the sodium, calories and vitamins.

Never a problem, I've even filled a thermos with double cream- butter by the time it arrived but still yummy.

Draftvader please share what does your cheese man do? I will be travelling this week and want to bring back some cheese.

Thanks also for the variation on a theme. They all sound ideal for the cooler weather here in Chiang Mai.

One of my recipes suggests soaking the green split peas in water and a bit of bi-carb overnight. This softens them up before the boiling process.

As I mentioned before, adding some slices of rookwurst- smoked sausage - is so nice.

I also chop the pork into chunks. wow, I'm getting hungry!!

Hi Masuk,

Soaking in bicarb is supposed to cut down on flatulence, I think it's a only for short soak and my Nan used to tell me it kills the thiamine/ vitamin B1.

A long soak will render the skins soft and easy for cooking, a short soak where you boil for 3 minutes then let rest I've found to be not as good. Even with mushy peas I use the long soak and I don't use the bicarb tablets they provide.

I'm hungry as well

You can also use yellow peas, chick peas I think you are on your way to making cassoulet.

http://www.food.com/recipe/french-canadian-pea-soup-soupe-aux-pois-67430

http://www.crumbblog.com/2011/03/quebecois-penicillin-traditional-french.html

Sorry to hear your news.

I had dengue about 6 years ago and still panic when I see a mosquito.

Your advice is wise, I waited a few days to go to the hospital -stubborn stupid idiotic mistake on my part.

Get better SwissMate78.

Then perhaps PATA can offer more than 144 seats per year to solve this supposed problem & help develop a training programme for hotels and tour operators. The Philippines is a poor example, the 26K take courses to work abroad, not to work locally as the tourism industry is dismal there.

In terms of languages France has almost 80 million visitors annually, I speak French and am still treated like crap. I'm sure a Russian doesn't go to Paris expecting to speak Russian in hotels, on the bus, in restaurants, tourist attractions etc. If there is so much demand for Thais to speak a language other than English it is a tour operators problem that they don't spend the money training their staff. If Russian/Japanese/Korean are needed why not send Thais to Russia to learn the Russian. I do think all this language concern will be eased in a few years with technology, there will be an app for that as they say.

PATA should be focusing on train the trainer, the above sounds like a Friday night pub crawl- I can't find staff & I wish the Government spent more money helping me instead of building new roads and airports.

In my experience there will always be a pool of candidates if the salary and work conditions are decent, after all most think tourism is glamorous, look at airlines a job is announced and thousands of qualified staff apply.

I would but you don't believe the numbers, so what is the point. GDP is up across the board the SET is up what is 34% or something like that. Sound like bad times to you? S&P is happy with Thailand and predicts good things.

If there are not enough people in your hotel go out and get them. It's not rocket science. The only rays of gloom and doom anyone hears about the Thai economy are from Thai Visa and the opposition newspapers. S&P and Bloomberg are not among the doomsayers because they have no vested interested in Thailand failing.

What does GDP and SET have to do with hotel doing well.?

Tourism is only 6 % of GDP which is a tiny %, furthermore if fewer tourists spent more money it will not have any affect on GDP .

But please provide names of hotels who are doing very well, at maximum occupancy.

Tourism is actually 7.1 % 2011 and should reach 8.5% 2012

Occupancy doesn't mean the hotel is profitable - look around at the mega brands in BKK do you think investors would build a Kempinski to toss money into the wind ?

If anyone has actual facts to disprove the data please feel free to post, I would be more than happy to be a social gadfly with the TAT & others in the New Year.

The numbers have increased for the last 10 years, the new markets China, Korea, Russia are filling in the gaps.

If you've read the AOT figures for Feb-Jun, OTA pre-bookings, Pegasus forecast, Galileo/Sabre/Amadeus/Abacus system reports, PATA from October, BSP ticketed figures from zone 2 & 3 to Thailand, Zone 1 to Thailand is a moving target because of last minute bookings, SKAL MOU, WTM Annual report on Thailand and let's see what else.........toss in IMPACTS biz plan for 2013 with projected numbers. All of that will give you a pretty good idea of the market.

I'm confident the numbers will be fairly close, since I'm vested in the industry I do care & am open to learn from experts on TV.

Oh sigh.

Folks, CMK and Nisa are actually spot on. You may not agree and that's fine however I do this for a living in the airline sector and work very closely with the TAT, hoteliers in Thailand and all across Asia. What is reported is as good as it's going to get for any TB/CVB.

I have no issue with the data -+10%.