tso310

Time for the girls in the resorts to drop the English and German lessons and pickup on Mandarin and Russian.

If you are flying BA to LHR you are going to run into the evening rush hour on the M25. A direct flight from LHR to Glasgow may cost you more but there will be far less hassle. Expect at least a 90 min journey time. If you are arriving on a Sat or Sun then no problem, if its a Friday I wouldn't even try it. If you can book a private taxi then they usually reoute around the likes of Chertsey etc. Also I believe that there are major road works on the M23/A23 going on which could also impact the journey tie. 

Gosh Hsbc,

that calculator thingy u need to carry around to log in....

Couldn't agree more. To be fair they are a decent bank. When someone cloned my bank card they spotted it before I did. They sorted it out quickly and no money was lost. 

Isn't it also a fact that there are fewer people actually working as farmers these days. Looking at my wife's village in southern Buriram, the village is empty except for old people and school children for most of the year. The majority of people either work in one of the factories on the outskirts of Bangkok or are building labourers in places like Chonburi. Quite a few factories have also sprung up locally, chicken and rubber mainly.

I think the Chinese are retaliating due to the number of their citizens appearing on Border Security: Australia's Front Line (Nothing to Declare in the UK). 

As a destination for non backpackers Thailand is now, for Europeans, been there done the shopping, culture, beach etc. Now its time for somewhere new. When most people can only afford one long haul holiday a year why should they keep going back to the same country. With the world cup providing some great images of Brazil and throw in MH17 I can see people turning to south america for something different this winter. The days of high levels of reasonably well tourists from Europe has come to an end. 

As far as the LHR routes are concerned. They took to long to refurbish their B747s with an IFE system. Failed to deal with the competition from Emirates and now Etihad and Qatar. Just look at how many Thais use EVA on the LHR-BKK route. Always has been cheaper than Thai but the price gap has widened significantly over the last few years.

With Malayasia Airlines going down the pan there is an opportunity for Thai to pick up extra passengers. Whether this guy can do any good remains to be seen. The airline has suffered from overmanning and over generous perks for too many years.

Back in the 80s when I was travelling regularly between London and Bangkok the flightpath went over Kabul. You could see the flashes of the Russian artillery firing, the shells hitting the ground and something on fire. The point being that the Taliban then had stinger missiles but hand held missiles then and now could not reach an airliner at over 30000ft at 560mph, so it was safe. Obviously something has potentially changed with the type of weapons being supplied.

To update the info I posted on another B787 thread

The CNX flights should be but not necessarily on everyday

TG102 BKK0750 – 0910CNX 787 D
TG110 BKK1310 – 1420CNX 787 D
TG120 BKK1840 – 1955CNX 787 D

TG103 CNX1010 – 1130BKK 787 D
TG111 CNX1525 – 1635BKK 787 D
TG117 CNX2055 – 2215BKK 787 D

TG120/117 operates Day 135

THAI this week has further revised planned Boeing 787 operations, which sees the inaugural service being delayed by 17 days. The Dreamliner is now scheduled to enter service on 25JUL14, instead of 08JUL14. In addition, planned Boeing 787 service to Tokyo Haneda from 01OCT14, is now moving forward to 01SEP14)

Planned Boeing 787 operation as follow.

eff 25JUL14 Bangkok – Chiang Mai up to 3 daily (until 31AUG14; Previously eff 08JUL14)
eff 08AUG14 Bangkok – Manila 1 daily (until 31AUG14)
eff 01SEP14 Bangkok – Tokyo Haneda 1 daily (Previously eff 01OCT14)
eff 02SEP14 Bangkok – Perth 5 weekly

Boeing 787 schedule for Tokyo Haneda and Perth is only listed until 25OCT14.

Hope the download speed is faster than the trains. But great news anyway, and yes, they'll need to provide more electrical sockets. I presume they'll be using a 3G signal, how many connections can that handle?

Actually pigeon post would be faster than the trains.

I thought Sepp Blatter was already lobbying for the 2026 World Cup to be in a nearby star system. 

what about Wadsworth 6X or Castlemaine XXXX.

Looking at the Thai aircraft register most small planes, and there are not many, seem to be owned by flying clubs. Interesting very few biz jets considering the number of billionaires in this country. Kingpower has a Gulfstream but most seem to be owned by Mjets a private charter company.

Based on schedule update around 10/11JUL14, THAI has cancelled planned Boeing 787-8 operations onBangkok – Manila route. Previously, the Star Alliance member planned to operate the Dreamliner aircraft on this route from 08AUG14 to 31AUG14, on daily basis.

TG620 BKK0740 – 1155MNL 777 D

TG624 BKK1515 – 1930MNL 777 57

TG621 MNL1305 – 1520BKK 777 D

TG625 MNL2030 – 2245BKK 777 57

None. Her Thai passport and id card are in her farang name. Don't forget surnames have only been in use for about 100 years I believe hence the common use of first names whatever the situation.

There is a map in the Bangkok Post of the restricted areas which are huge. It will make flying between Bangkok and the regions more direct and especially for say Ubon to Chiang Mai. The current air corridors are getting rather crowded.

The CEO of Thai AirAsia welcomed the move, saying flexible airspace use will save time and fuel because airliners will not have to take detours to avoid restricted military airspace..

.

BANGKOK, July 15 (Xinhua) -- The Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) has agreed to a proposal of allowing commercial flights through restricted military airspace at certain times, local media reported Tuesday.

The Aeronautical Radio of Thailand (AEROTHAI), which controls the national air traffic, has negotiated with the RTAF about the flexible use of military airspace for more than a decade, AEROTHAI president Sarinee Sangprasit was quoted as saying.

A joint civilian-military committee and working panels will be established to work out details concerning the proposal.

Major airlines including the Thai AirAsia and Thai Airways International have reportedly voiced support for the civilian- military cooperation, saying that flexible airspace use will help improve efficiency, reduce costs and promote the growth of the aviation industry.

today I hear KAN air is to start flights to Surin later this year ,,,,any info on this

I believe this comes from a Bangkok Post article stating the airline is trying to acquire 2 ATR72s.

The expansion envisages the introduction of 4 new routes Chiang Mai - Ubon, Chaing Mai - Hua Hin and Bangkok - Surin, Bangkok - Mae Sot. The airport was refurbished last year but the expected Nok Air flights never commenced. Can't remember who the last airline to use the airport was, possibly Air Andaman which was years ago. Brother in-law lives near the end of the runway.

Interesting that the ATR72-600 didn't get a look in. I wonder if it was the extra seating that made the difference ? I see that Bangkok Airways recently ordered 3 more of them.

'The new ATR 42–600 and 72–600 feature a number of improvements over previous versions. They are powered by the newPW127M engines, which enable a 5% increase in takeoff power called for by a "boost function" as needed, only when called for by the takeoff conditions. The flight deck features five wide LCD screens (improving on the EFIS from previous versions). A multi-purpose computer (MPC) aims at increasing flight safety and operational capabilities, and new Thales-made avionicsprovide RNP capabilities. Finally, the aircraft feature lighter seats and larger overhead baggage bins.'

Not surprised to see this on the Buriram route.  The right size and more economical for these sort of routes. 

One thing that the search for MH370 showed is that most of the nations in this region don't really want to work together.

The Chinese tourists coming to Thailand are the new middle income earners. They are no better off than European low end tourists in monetary terms. The ones with serious money are travelling to France, Germany and when they can get a visa the UK. Today there are 5 flight just to Shanghai from CDG. A lot of 2 and 3 star hotels in BKK now depend on the Chinese trade.

I know they can be noisy and rude but travelling abroad is new experience for them.