RandolphGB

Cute way of looking at things. Bless you.

AOT made 18 billion Baht in profit ($500m USD) in the previous financial year. They are one of the world's richest airport operators. Thai airports are, coincidentally, some of the worst and most dangerous in the world (see the case of a woman's legs being chopped off by faulty travelators at DMK). This is daylight robbery in plain sight. Not a penny of the extra revenue raised will be invested in improvements. Instead, it will disappear on opaque contracts and executive pay.

The chances of them reinvesting in airport facilities is slim-to-none. The funds will disappear into the black hole that is Thai finances.

Thais exploiting Thais, who would've thought.

The aircraft are wet-leased, which includes the crew. This is very useful for seasonal spikes, such as the high season, to meet demand, without long-term leasing or buying new planes and hiring new staff, that will then be out of work in the low season. Banning wet leases means that there will be crowded planes, more delays and higher prices, which is far worse for the customer. Thai industry groups are against it because this will put them out of jobs in the long run.

What local producers? Almost everything on Shopee is made in China or imported and then sold locally. Sounds like just another way to collect revenue that will mysteriously disappear into the black hole of Thailand's public finances.

People who can, buy, people who can't, tell everyone else not to.

Buy a condo to live in (or house if you really don't care that your wife's clan will have it eventually). Your peace of mind and quality of life will be much better than renting, which leaves you at the mercy of an obnoxious landlord or landlady. For property investment, Thailand is not worth it. Even run-down condos are overpriced and leave little room for doing up and flipping. Rental yields are lousy and the housing market is illiquid and bureaucratic - much better to put that cash in a public company with a decent 5% dividend.

This is fine for a gap year but eventually they will become liable to pay tax in Thailand and need something more stable than a DTV.

Let Thailand and Cambodia sort it out among themselves with the other Southeast Asia nations. They don't need the US interfering for its own political gain.

Thailand needs parliamentary privilege, as there is in the UK. Without that, they'll be stuck in an endless cycle of petty law suits holding them back from any meaningful progress.

Employment laws should be changed to allow foreign carriers operating subsidiaries in Thailand to bring in more of their own pilots. AirAsia, VietJet and Lion Are are the main operators domestically anyway so they're competing among themselves not with native operators. Thai Air and Nok Air have proven that they can't successfully operate low cost short haul flights, despite all the advantages they receive, while Bangkok Airways only survives because of its Koh Samui cash cow monopoly.

Education is not important. Thais don't need to know history, geography or rational thinking. They certainly don't need the language of dirty farangs. Mathematics, yes, because Chinese are good at that. But most important for Thai children is that they love the country, love the flag, love Buddhism and crawl when they are ordered to. This is what makes a good Thai. Not education.

They voted for the wrong person. Democracy has never existed in Thailand. It has always just been a face for the west. 'Land of smiles' to collect the tourist dollar. The country is a military-monarchal state propped up by Buddhism and business monopolies.

Just like the majority of Thais then.