zink

I usually give 5-10% tip IF the service was good and I am paying the list price. This applies to traditional massage, not so traditional massage, restaurants, taxis, etc...

If the service has been really, really good, then I might give more, like 15-20%. If the price is negotiated beforehand, I don't give a tip (unless the service has been really, really good).

I recall that a minimum wage in Bangkok is about 180B per day, many Thais are working at least 9 hours in a typical working day. Thus, the minimum wage is about 20b/hour, something to keep in mind when giving tips....

Wonder how much Nok-Air's load-factors will fall, as a result of this, not being able to use them when connecting with international flights ?

the load factor will GROW, not fall, because almost no NOK AIR passenger is going on an international connecting flight after, and DON MUANG is much more convenient to get to and away anyway.... and hasslefree...

I will much more consider to choose NOK AIR in the future than I did before....

hope Airasia and 1-2-go will follow soon - then BKK finally has its LOW COST HUB

Sorry, but I don't follow your logic ?

Existing connecting-to-international passengers will not fly Nok, because they end up in the wrong place, so their numbers will fall. Nobody wants to add 4-5 hours to their journey, by an unnecessary connection by bus, between the 2 airports.

Existing domestic passengers, or those connecting onwards with Nok Air, will see no change, and continue at current levels. You will still need to allow at least 3 hours to connect-on to another Nok flight, as I do, regularly.

So how can this translate into a HIGHER load factor ?

And if Don Muang really is more convenient to get to, what does that say, about the new aviation-hub of Thailand & S.E.Asia ? ? !

Lastly, if a Bangkok-area Low-Cost Hub was ever needed, why did it not emerge previously, at U-Ta-Pao for example ?

It's worth remembering that low cost carriers as Nok Air or Air Asia, don't offer connecting flights. Using them before an outward flight is very risky, even if they use the same airport as other carriers. Besides, ride between two airports takes 1-2 hours instead of 4-5.

There is a lot of international charter traffic to Utapao during the high season. Thus there are definitely more than just a handful international flights.

We know the problem what is the solution, back to Don Muang is my idea

I have no idea if this even makes sense but:

1. U-Tapao was built for heavy military aircraft including B-52's

2. I know for a fact that during the 1st Iraqi war (Desert Storm) it handled USAF C-5's ferrying

matierial to the mid-east.

3. Would U-Tapao be an acceptable temporary airport? Is the road infrastructure viable or could it be improved to carry the traffic?

Just an idea.

Uhm, U-Tapao has been used for years (decades?) as a passenger airport...

But if you pay, that is prostitution and prostitution is illegal. How does that work?

Buying and selling sex isn't illegal in Thailand, running a brothel is.

Here is a quote from Wikitravel: http://wikitravel.org/en/Bangkok#Prostitution

The age of consent is 15 but a higher minimum age of 18 applies in the case of prostitutes.

....

Technically, some aspects of prostitution are illegal (eg soliciting, pimping), however enforcement is liberal and brothels are commonplace. It's not illegal to pay for sex or to pay a "barfine" (a fee the bar collects if you want to take an employee away).

Is is the fault of western culture again?

No mention of the Japanese influence? No mention of the influence of Thai owned brothels/karaoke bars that are everywhere?

Well I guess at least the brothels put a value on virginity.

Of course they do, don't you see that:

- Decent Thai girls do not work in those places

- Horny Thai boys can visit those places, thus they don't have to pressure their decent girlfriends into sex so quickly

Thus, those places help decent Thai girls to maintain their virginity

I doubt that Thai workers will pay >100B for airport link when they can pay 35B for a bus that connects most of the Bangkok to the airport.

I thought in such cases transportation for the staff is subsidized by the employer...

I doubt that the employer will subsidize >200B return-trip for airport link to the employee that earns 300-500B/day...

It's a vital link to the city for the thai workers of the airport who have to make this trek everyday and at all different hours. They cannot afford to pay taxi fares twice a day to the airport and back. Also in certain times like holiday periods and traffic hours, it would be faster and easier and cheaper to use the train. Also using the train would seriously reduce chances of accidents since you are not on the highway or roads.

I doubt that Thai workers will pay >100B for airport link when they can pay 35B for a bus that connects most of the Bangkok to the airport.

The airport link would also be useful for those who don't go to/from the airport, since the airport link is supposed to have 6-7 other stations (beside terminal stations). However, the pricing system should be unified, passengers shouldn't pay twice if they transfer from MRT/BTS to the airport link.

depature tax 500...well not that great but better than 700 that it will soon be...

I wish people would quit whinging about the <deleted>' departure tax. It's a pittance for money saved elsewhere during travels in LoS. Sure $20USD is a bit excessive perhaps, but it's not as bad as many other places.

If you want to look at real examples of "highway robbery" there are many other better examples:

- Tokyo Narita: only reasonable ways into town are Narita Express train or Limousine Bus, roughly $35USD and $30USD, respectively, each way.

- Japanese taxis: approximately $6USD just to open the door and get in. Taxi to Tokyo from Narita, fugettaboutit.

- "Free" rental car shuttles at any US airport are anything but free. They charge you about $10-$15USD for the privilege of getting driven to/from the terminal to the rental pickup location.

- Rental car surcharges (read "taxes") typically amounting to between 20-30% of the total charge at the large US airport.

- A few years ago I went to Turkey for a weekend in Istanbul. I had to buy a visa at the airport. $40USD for the privilege of spending money there all weekend.

So what the heck. At my favorite eating corner at Ploen Chit (Sukhumvit & Wireless), I can get all the fresh fruit and hot food I can eat and still have a hard time spending more than 80ThB. There are few if any places in the world where the same can be true. If that means I have to pay a few more baht to leave the country, then so be it. Visits overall are still very reasonably priced, despite some of the attempts to do some gouging at the airport.

I don't understand why some people talk about cost of visa on arrival when the discussion is about airport tax. Cost of visa on arrival in Thailand is about $27, that's not cheap either and it's higher in e.g. Cambodia. It has been mentioned before that the 700B departure tax would be higher than in most countries in the region (Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam).

About the transportation cost: in Singapore passengers can buy 33B ($S1.4) MRT (subway) ticket to reach any MRT station in the city from the airport.

I've been through the new airport a dozen times now. I personally find it disturbing how they place form over function but that's another topic.

My question is about a desk and sign before Immigration that says "Visa on Arrival". Confused tourists look and wonder if they need to queue up to move on. All the staff wear official uniforms but not exactly like the Immigration staff. The sign says something about a tourist visa and the cost is only 1000 Baht. Then there is a logo stating it's "Thailand Longtime Stay Co. Ltd".

I have a business visa, so I skip on by, but if I were a tourist I'd assume there is a new visa fee and have a stop at this desk. Correct me if I'm wrong but tourists from most countries DON'T have to pay a 30 day tourist visa fee, right? Is this a private company feeding on peoples confusion having been on a airplane for countless hours and in the flurry of international travel? If so, it's purposly confusing for profit. My last flight was from Europe and the queue was full of Brits on short holiday. I'll totally lose all faith in AAOT if they allowed a scam like this before immigration.

Any feedback/comments please.

I'll be through back out and in a few more weeks and I'll take photos.

No, there is almost 200 countries in the world, but only about 40 of those qualify for visa exemption in Thailand.

It's natural that Visa on Arrival desk is before the immigration, since at immigration you need to present a valid visa (or qualify for visa exemption).

Or you can use some agency that will arrange visa for you (they will take care for "invitation"). If you want to get a tourist visa to Russia, don't go directly to embassy.

Of course an agency will mean less Soviet-era hags looking down on you from their counter, but the costs are still there, I'm sure that if you'd see a breakdown there would be a charged fee for the invitation.

My point was that the cost of Russian visa is quite reasonable using an agency (for one year multiple-entry visa, the cost is comparable with the cost of Thailand one year visa).

What do you mean? One year, multi-entry tourist visa to Russia costs about 100 euros for EU citizens and the price is supposed to decrease from the next year. Thus, one year visa to Russia may actually be even cheaper than one year, multi-entry visa to Thailand. I don't know what do you mean by "tourist voucher system".

If you don't know about the tourist vouchers it means you must have used a guided tour or an expensive hotel (and even they charge separately for it usually)...I actually wanted to do independent travel in Russia, which is impossible without a tourist voucher. It's basically an official invitation that everyone needs when getting the visa...if you stay at a nice hotel, they can fax it to you (for a usually annoyingly significant fee), or it can be arranged by the travel agent and included in your tour price. Either way, it's an official tax paid for precisely NOTHING.

Or you can use some agency that will arrange visa for you (they will take care for "invitation"). If you want to get a tourist visa to Russia, don't go directly to embassy.

Well Zink, as for visa costs for Cambodia - this is an interesting topic in itself

I really don't understand what's happening - I'm only a relatively short walking distance

from the Cambodian Embassy in Bangkok so I prefer to get the Visa in advance

rather than on arrival. Last month I only went for a week so I got tourist visa

at the Bangkok Embassy where I was charged 1200 THB.

Hmm...in the beginning of October I got a visa from them for 1000 Baht + 100 Baht for same-day processing. If you want to pay precisely 25 USD, you could always get the electronic one online

It's still a lot cheaper than places like Russia or New Zealand...Russia, especially, with their mandatory "tourist voucher" system is a much more blatant (and EXPENSIVE) ripoff.

What do you mean? One year, multi-entry tourist visa to Russia costs about 100 euros for EU citizens and the price is supposed to decrease from the next year. Thus, one year visa to Russia may actually be even cheaper than one year, multi-entry visa to Thailand. I don't know what do you mean by "tourist voucher system".

About Cambodia visas: I remember reading that the price for the visa on border is $20, even if some official will try to ask more (like 1000B), real price is still $20.

Last month I was at Phnom Penh airport where waiting in the departure lounge

I overheard four American tourists who complained at the visa charges and the high departure

tax imposed on departing passengers. Their overall assessment of Cambodia

they said was " disappointing " partly because of this constant feeling of being

overcharged everywhere you go.

To put things in perspective, departure tax at Phnom Penh is $25 (which is less than 900B). That's not much higher than departure tax at Bangkok since next February (700B). If I remember correctly, visa should cost $20, this isn't so expensive compared to visa costs to other countries.

All I see is ho humm ramblings about nothing as well; the klong is nothing but a shallow pool of mud and the tone of the thread really has none. I find it amusing though that the airline would spout off about cancelling the contract in the first place. Since the jet really has no competition; the Boeing jet is not even in the A380 class, should still have a clear viable market for which Thai would propose its use, unless of course their thinking on the routes it has planned for really has no viability, which means who knows what !

Thanks,

Randy

What's so amusing about it? It's a normal practise to receive more compensation/better discounts for future purchases from the company. For example, Emirates that has ordered 43 A380's has threatened several times to cancel their A380 order.

Airbus has much more to lose if airlines cancel orders since they haven't sold that many A380's and few cancellation would put whole project in jeopardy.

I'm not sure whether I'm right, but I believe having read somewhere that there are about 70 million of Thais in this country and about 70,000 foreigners at the same time. So all these foreigners who invested so much and so drastically improved everything in this country make just 0.1% of the population. The industry they support most is probably the beer brewing. No farangs in rice farming and export, and almost none in garment industry.

Those numbers cannot be true. According to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangkok#Demographics there are about 500000 legal and 400000-600000 illegal foreigners in Bangkok alone.

Here is Bangkok after sea level has risen by 5 meters: http://flood.firetree.net/?ll=13.9421,100....amp;m=5&t=1

(note the area around the new airport, maybe they should consider express boat route to the city center?)

Pap, don't know how to break it to you, the skytrain will never reach the airport. Yet more poor planning.............

Care to elaborate? I did read that the actual planned station is under the Novotel next to the airport, with an underground passage way to it. But it's still considered to be the airport even though it might be a 5-minute walk. Hopefully they'll have moving walkways in the passageway.

That's not the skytrain that's a separate airport link with separate tickets, etc. If you want to reach skytrain from the new airport you need:

- first take airport link to near Petchaburi MRT

- move with your luggage to MRT (and buy another ticket) and take MRT to Sukhumvit

- move with your luggage to Asok skytrain station (and buy another ticket)

Slightly off-topic, but here is an interesting article by Asian Human Rights Commission on current issues: http://thailand.ahrchk.net/mainfile.php/ge...37/?alt=english

Flew into and out of both international and domestic terminals recently including flight on AirAsia. Didn't see any problems but then again I don't directly see AirAsia's costs for operating out of the new airport. It would seem to me that they would lose business if a traveler has to land in one airport then transfer to another for a connecting flight. I for one would trade the convenience for the money savings and just fly Thai air.

I don't think this is a big deal since AirAsia doesn't support connecting flights (even if you land to the same airport, you need to receive your luggage and make another checkin). In addition, there is direct 35B bus route between two airports.

Several persons in this thread have inquired as to whether under 20yo's are children. In fact, they are. By Thai law, one does not reach the age of majority until 20, until which point every decision they make (including dating) is theoretically subject to parental approval.

"Steven"

What are you talking about? Even the age of consent in Thailand is only 15. This includes Male/Female sex, M/M sex, and F/F sex.

This is technically true, but there is an "age of majority" legally which is 20, until which time the parents must also approve of anything that happens to their children for it to be legal (technically).

"Steven"

According to CIA factbook, the age limit for voting for example is 18 and not 20 years.

Ban on under-20 girl presenters/dancers urged

BANGKOK: -- The Culture Ministry will push for a new ministerial regulation that will ban students under 20 years of age from working as scantily-clad product presenters and dancers at events.

The Culture and Education ministries will soon meet to discuss on the issuance of the regulation.

"The regulation can be issued under the Children Protection Act and it can take immediate effect," Ladda Tangsupachai, who heads the Culture Ministry's cultural monitoring centre, said Monday.

....

Are 19 year olds children?

....Mr Somchai said a possible cause of the problem was that taxiways had been completed as long as two years before the airport was opened on Sept 28. After being completed, they had been left unused long enough to deteriorate, he said. Aviation Department director-general Chaisak Angkhasuwan said the cracks found did not show the airport construction was substandard......

Basically he is saying that:

- if the taxiway isn't used it will deteriorate in two years

- if the taxiway is used, it won't deteriorate

I love those excuses, yeah the problem is somewhere else and not in the construction....

Btw, what would happen if they have to close down a whole runway, just in time for a high season? That would halve the capacity of the airport...

I have to admit, it's the only country that's asked me for a boarding pass as I left the flight.

That is the airline not the country.

Cathay Pacific is either worried about security issues, or

idiots who get off at the wrong place.

Hmm , get off at the wrong place ?

They running buses or planes ?

(Or airbuses.)

Yes, get off at the wrong place. For example ticket for: X - Bangkok - Singapore may be cheaper than equivalent ticket for: X - Bangkok. Thus airlines may want to check that people who bought ticket to Singapore aren't leaving in Bangkok...

It is a standard practice everywhere that the boarding pass is checked at the immigration. The aim is to prevent non-passengers from accessing international area.

They will ask you for your boarding pass stub, and check the number against the entry on your Arrival/Departure card. Don't know why, but I guess it is the new policy.

According to instructions at Don Muang immigration, the boarding pass must be presented when entering the country.

This policy isn't new, it just looks like they started enforcing an old policy.