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40 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

I was in a lot of fights in my former employment. 

 

My feeling is even if you are older, be prepared.  Some basic self defense training is essential I think, especially here where parking in a parking space or saying one thing can lead to confrontation. 

Same here.  Over a 20 year span many times.  Some people did not like getting handcuffed and certainly did not want to go to jail.  A guy I used to work had part of his ear ripped off by an unhappy customer.  

The US has other ways for gambling addicts to get even worse.  1) Sports betting is getting almost out of control 2) Lottery tickets can be bought in most states 3) Once your son turns 18 he can legally  go into any casino. The US has more casinos in more states than most countries. Many of the Casinos not in Vegas or Atlantic City are technically on Indian Reservations.  Once he gets to the US maybe a call to Gamblers Anonymous might be worth it.  Good luck because an addict will always be an addict. 

8 hours ago, Mike Lister said:

There may be some add-ons to that price such as the cos of biopsies.

3 years ago I had the combo(Gastro and Colonoscopy).  Had a polyp removed and biopsy was done.  Back then the total came to 39000.  Probably I will do the same sometime 2025 if I am still in CNX.  I have had two Gastro's and one Colonoscopy at Ram Gastrol and so far no complaints.  In 2019 the Gatrol was 17,000.  

From Chiang Mai Ram:

Just got a call from an 877 number.  The caller sounded very professional and knew my name and was a USAA Member.  I knew right away it was a scam and told him Fxxx Oxx.  I then called USAA Fraud and got this reply.  Go to the USAA website and send us an email with the details of this fraud call.  What a relief.  USAA Fraud now can go back to denying my legitimate charges whenever I use a foreign merchant.  In the past my attempt to pay for a Visa on the E-Visa site was always declined to due fraud.  ????? I had to switch to debit card in order to pay for the visa.  

Been with USAA since 1988.  The downward spiral of USAA began with the hiring of Wayne Peacock as CEO. Peacock has no military experience or association. I have not been hacked (at least not yet) but getting simple things done with USAA credit cards has been difficult.  Their entire fraud detection alert system. is a catastrophic failure.  I tried to book a domestic fight on Thai Airways with my USAA Visa credit card.  I got a fraud alert on the USAA app and a text message asking "did you make this purchase?".  I replied Yes both time and it still got declined.  I am not surprised at JimGant is going through.  

I flew in Monday night from Incheon S. Korea.  The plane was about 70% full but immigration at CNX only took about 20 minutes to get through.  Got out of the airport 45 minutes after landing.  Really did not see huge crowds the last two days.  I guess the  surge will occur for Lunar New Year? 

2 hours ago, heybruce said:

In the case of senile old fool Trump, absolutely nothing qualifies him.

 

In the case of Biden, we have decades of experience, first hand knowledge of nuclear doctrine (among other important topics) as it evolved from cold war MAD and the importance of the nuclear triad (things that I don't think Trump understands to this day), respect for expertise, understanding of how world affairs are negotiated in the best interest of the country (as opposed to the best interests of Trump's questionable businesses), etc. The list goes on and on. 

 

Simple minded fools think that any job they know nothing about, such as the Presidency, is simple.  Intelligent people know better.

 

In general, President Biden knows what he's doing in office.  Based on Trump's multiple business failures, legal problems and performance in office I don't think Trump ever knew what he was doing or worried about the consequences of his actions.  He just did whatever kept him in the limelight.

 

Not the sort of person I want to hold the nuclear codes.

The Southern Border? 

At least two barbershop in CNX that I know of charge 200 Baht. I will not complain about CNX prices because last week I paid $35 for a haircut at a barbershop in Southern California  

9 hours ago, StayinThailand2much said:

 

Which is stupid, as many study the Thai language at a school in order to qualify for the ED visa. With a retirement extension, no need to spend money on Thai language courses, meaning loss of income for schools, and tax for Thailand... LOL

The counter to this argument would be those on Non O or OA spend money while in LOS as well.  I would venture to guess some on O or an OA would spend more money  while residing in LOS.  I am an OA and Pacific Cross in Bangkok(A Thai Insurance company is very happy when I pay my annual premium without filing a claim). 

A school that is aware of what  Immigration might be thinking would discourage people over a certain age from applying for an Education Visa.  A few year ago I knew a person in CNX who was almost 60 and tried to obtain an Education Visa but the school advised him a Non O Retirement Visa would be a better.  The school even directed him to a local agency to obtain the Non O.  This person has been extending the same Retirement Visa for the last 5 yeas with the same agency.  In this case the school did him a huge favor.  

3 hours ago, ChristianBlessing said:

You base your "categorical" statements upon anecdotal observations and how people and places "looked" to you. That a barber shop owner who just opened his shop is struggling, whether he's an immigrant or not, is hardly news. 

 

But the empirical data reflects a different reality. The US economy is the strongest of all developed countries. It may take a while for most Americans to come to realize this given the heated anti-incumbent rhetoric of the coming election season. 

 

I too have been back for the past two months and everywhere I look I see hope and heightened expectations, tempered only by the fear of a reversal driven by ugly partisanship. Like you, I hope that fear is unfounded.

 

 

Have you been to Los Angeles County lately?  Have you been to San Francisco lately? It is not pretty.  What people say on a survey can be different than what they actually feel or do.  Of course I know families that have one, two and even three Tesla's and they rarely feel much pain.  When I was working and was making a lot of money I felt none of the pain that I see.  Why is the US economy so strong? What about the 31+ trillion in national debt?   California has a 68+ Billion budget deficit and no one seems to care.  This is concerning to me because my retirement pay comes out of Sacramento.  "Empirical Data" does not feed you.  I went to three other barber shops in the same area and they were all busy.  All asked me to make an appointment for next weeks because they charged the bargain price of only $20 per haircut.   Also, for the first time I was offered $100 dollar bills when I withdrew money from a Bank of America ATM; I guess a $20 dollar bill just is not enough.  Money or lack of money has always been the great equalizer.  Just imagine if welfare payments, SSA, SSI or SSID payments are delayed?  i know many who rely on those payments to get by. 

I have been back in So Cal for the past two months and I can say categorically these allegedly positive economic numbers mean nothing to most Americans.  “GDP grew at 3%” and “335,000 jobs added”(most were probably for Christmas).   What does this got to with the cost of lunch.  The cheapest lunch out for me was $10 dollars.  The average was around $15 to $17 dollars.  The only stores that’s were full of shoppers were 1) Wal Mart 2) Target 3) Dollar Tree 4) 99 Cent Store.  I took a stroll through a local Kohl’s  and it was like a ghost town.  The local people I spoke to had the look of despair and most just wanted to make it to pay day or the end of the month.  Even with some fast food places offering entry level job at $20 per dollar an hour many people looked somewhat anxious.  It looked like those fast food places that started out at $20+ per hour were operating with a limited number of employees.  

The most interesting person I spoke to was a barber.  The barber just opened up his shop and came from Vietnam 10 years ago.  He said “ I never knew life would be so hard in America and my wife just wants to back to Vietnam”.  HIs barber shop charges $25 for a man’s haircut and he was just barely getting by.  I will never say anything bad about the 150 Baht haircut I am used to getting a local shop in Chiang Mai. 

For the first time in my life I fear the future of America.  I fear some kind of internal conflict will be triggered not by politics but economics.  I hope I am wrong.  I look forward to going back to LOS. 

Eric Clapton's son, Connor, was also four when he died in a similar way.  The song "Tears in Heaven" was written as a tribute. 

Not surprised by the Chinse but how the British Police Officer responded was surprising.  

1. Which Embassy/Consulate are you dealing with?

2. Have you set up an account with: thaievisa.go.th ?

2 hours ago, new2here said:

Those BKK-LAX/JFK non-stops were a good idea.. but largely fell victim to timing .. once fuel skyrocketed, that A340-500 quad-jet just become impossible to operate profitably on those kinds of “long, thin” routes.. 

 

The other issue is that as I’ve noted earlier US-TH traffic is skewed to the leisure end of the spectrum.. making any kind of ultra long haul US-TH non-stop very difficult to operate without consistently filling the premium end of the cabin.

 

once TG went back to the single-stop routing (be that via JP or KR) on the 777s, they then ran smack dab into some of the most competitive and seat-saturated (lots of available seats) markets, with more than a handful of both Asian carriers flying this same US west coast JP/KR market, as well as US carriers too.. making it hard for them to compete and gain any real marketshare.

 

MH tried the same thing; KUL-NRT-LAX and they too couldn’t make it work long-term either. They could fill that -400 easily.. but they filled it largely only in Y and with few true paid C/J seats.. 

 

I think that one big “strike” against TG is something that’s out of their direct control. Unlike SIN, BKK/DMK really has little true international connection traffic.. domestic, sure.. but as is common, domestic has to operated by a Thai carrier, and most every domestic route is covered equally or more by a LCC..  So anyone choosing to fly TG, is pretty much locked into terminating in TH.  SQ by comparison, carries much more connection traffic beyond SIN.. and the north asian carriers like OZ/KE or JL/NH carry a massive amount - taking a lot of pricing pressure off their US-JP/KR sales quotas… all to the detriment of TG when it comes to flying to/from the US.

Last time I flew TG to the US was back in 2013.  They were flying a B777-300 ER and the routing was BKK-ICN-LAX.  The stop in ICN was about 2 hours.  I do not see TG ever flying to the US again.  

27 minutes ago, BusyB said:

 

I think you mean A340. The A350 prototype was only completed in 2012.

 

TG had quite a few 340s which were gas guzzlers they found hard to sell off. There never was a -400 version.

 

Personally I preferred the -600 version, with the downstairs bogs. Never had to wait long 555 cos they were all grouped together. And LH set up a snack point at the foot of the steps, so you could pick up some snax and a drink before climbing back into the main cabin.

Yup. 340.  Thai offered a great Premium Economy back then for just slightly more than Economy.  

44 minutes ago, new2here said:

The problem for US origin is somewhat two-fold.

While BKK has traditionally been a high demand market, and flights will “fill”, the issue largely is that the demand for US-TH seats falls disproportionately into the economy cabin and far less into premium cabins.. and for nearly all carriers, it’s their premium cabins that drive their revenue- disproportionately so .. not economy.  

 

That’s also why you see many carriers who operate 777s and other larger wide-bodies, configure them into 2 (or more) “layouts” one being a “high premium” with larger C/J cabins, a modest PE cabin and therefore smaller traditional Y.. the other is the “high-density”, which may have a much smaller C/J, may lack a PE, but has a much larger Y cabin.    That’s what tend to see coming here — whereas flights to SIN might see the high premium, reflecting a much larger demand for paid premium seats.

 

The second issue for US carriers is that right now, they can deploy their long haul fleet to European markets where demand is much firmer, premium seat demand still strong, as opposed to markets in Asia like BKK.

 

Last time I flew BKK to LAX nonstop was back in 2008.  It was on Thai Airways on an A350-400.  The plane was half empty because of the amount fuel needed to fly almost 9,000 miles nonstop.   I believe Air Canada is planning a Vancouver to BKK in the near future.  

12 hours ago, stats said:

Their BKK to LAX flight I just checked shows them using the AIRBUS A350-900 for the Taiwan to LAX segment...

 

Anyone flown on one of those before? Better or worse than EVA's 777s?

 

Many times with Singapore on the A350-900.  As a passenger it was a nicer experience.  The EVA 777 from TPE-LAX and back was nice back in 2018.  The last two times I have used Korean Air from CNX to LAX (CNX to ICN on an older A330 and ICN to LAX on a A380).  So far KAL has been good. Round trip economy is usually around $1,000 (give or take $50).  I prefer KAL KE 17 because it arrives at 0940. 

2 hours ago, eisfeld said:

 

Maybe read the article again. The reason for the sale is not that "people do not want EVs". Hertz just wants to improve their profit margins. The company has cashflow issues which are widely known. They are trying everything to generate free cash flow.

Possibly.  I am currently renting a Hertz vehicle from LAX.  They were pushing a Tesla at check-in.  I am renting a Nissan Altima and the Tesla was 30% cheaper.  When I made the reservation the cheapest car available was the Tesla.  Even the lowly Chevy Spark was more expensive than the Tesla. 

A criminal background would ease any concerns. One can pay for such a background check. If the DUI was a misdemeanor (most DUI's are) the records in most cases are not retained for 30 years.