wpcoe

Here's a picture that shows better than my attempt to describe above:

14 hours ago, ncc1701d said:

What’s wrong with “Angle-flat”? They are still flat bed. I believe a lot of business class are the herringbone design or some variant of that.

19 hours ago, tso310 said:

Standard business class these days, wish I could afford it. Of more interest is that both the Cathay 900 and 100 series have Premium Economy.

 

I think you might not understand what "angle flat" seats are?  It does not refer to flat seats, parallel to the floor, that are askew from the aisle (i.e. not parallel to the aisle.)  Rather they are flat, but angled from a higher head height to a lower foot height, in some cases the feet being basically on the floor.

Consider it like lying in bed with the head of the bed about three or four feet higher than the foot of the bed.

1 hour ago, KhunBENQ said:

Does not match data from seatguru:

https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Cathay_Pacific_Airways/Cathay_Pacific_Airbus_A350-1000.php

 

Economy: 9 seats in a row, 3 groups. 32 inch pitch, 18 inch width.

Premium economy: 8 seats in a row, 40 / 20 inch.

Business: 46 angle-flat seats with 180 degree recline

Angle-flat seats???   They had to chance to make a world-class interior configuration, and they went with angle-flat?

Word of caution to anybody who self medicates for gout:  Monitor your kidney and liver functions.

The first medication my doctor had me on was Allopurinol and my liver function test results went through the roof.  She worried that if I continued with Allopurinol I might face liver failure.  Ditto for the second med she put me on, whose name I currently can't remember.  I'm currently taking Sulfin which brought my uric acid and liver function test to the lower end of normal.  I'm also on Colchicine/Colcine.  Once I've maintained the good blood test results for six months straight, she said I could stop Colchicine.

And, I still had a gout attack four months into my good test results (including low uric acid) period.  Nothing out of the ordinary in diet that I could think of.  I didn't understand my doctor's explanation, but she was quite confident that such random attacks can occur even WITH normal test results AND on Cochicine and Sulfin.  To help with this latest attack she added on an anti-inflammatory (Prednisilone) but cautioned to only do it for a short period of time due to concern for the liver again.  I'd heard that before when I was taking another anti-inflammatory (Voltaren) for lower back pain.

Each body can react differently, I'm just cautioning to watch for the side effects.

I think reliability should be fine.  Speed?  Now, that's another issue.

I've never enjoyed making sushi an entire meal, either.  To me, it's okay as an appetizer, but enough is enough.  Even when I lived in Tokyo and friends would take me to (expensive) sushi restaurants, I never really felt like I had a meal.

I need to rethink my 3BB plan if I go ahead with tentative plans to split my time between Thailand and another country.  Would save more money by suspending for even one month than take the 8% discount for prepayment.

The suspension must begin/end on a billing month begin/start date?

49 minutes ago, 1duckyboy said:

Smoke detectors?

Do *you* have a smoke detector in your bathroom?  The article said he sealed the door gaps with tape.

When you suspend service with 3BB, does that mean you pay nothing for those three (or however many) months?  Or, is there some maintenance fee that must be paid while the account is suspended?

On 7/1/2018 at 4:03 PM, bkk6060 said:

I come from LA and the Narita to BKK on ANA is mostly those cradle seats not 180 degree in business at 6'-3" I hate them. What a way to ruin a new 787...  Plus, ANA planes are like a sauna from my experience.

So Asiana may be cheaper and flat all the way.  Sounds like a winner to me.

On 7/1/2018 at 5:22 PM, bubba said:

By the way, you will not get "flat all the way" on OZ if you get one of the old A330s or 747s that they fly between ICN and BKK. It will be back in the cradle for you on those.

It has become more of an black art than a science in trying to avoid those infernal "cradle" or "angled lie-flat" seats on the intra-Asia flights out of BKK.  OZ can be an A330 (angled lie-flat) or an A380 (true lie-flat).  NH can be a 787-8 (cradle) or 787-9 (true lie-flat) seat.  Schedule changes abound making an advance booking a crap shoot as to what type of seat you'll actually get.  </rant off>

On 7/5/2018 at 10:59 PM, dabhand said:

Could be a new mall / another Big C / hospital or who knows.

I'd be delighted with any of the above.

On 6/4/2018 at 9:14 AM, Sheryl said:

That is IMG and specifically this plan

 

https://www.patriotamericainsurance.net/patriot-america-insurance/

 

Although the website says it is for non-US citizens it is also for US expats on short term visits to the US, I have verified that directly with the insurer and had this policy myself for several consecutive years.

I'm still under Medicare age (63) and haven't extensively researched its ins and outs yet, but if you were 65+ would you still feel a plan like IMG is worth having for USA visits, or does Medicare (with Plans B & D) pretty much cover similar expenses?

On 3/22/2018 at 6:18 PM, Taggart said:

I've read where cherries can help people suffering from gout.  I'm not over there right now, but very expensive in Thailand from what I've heard.

I've also read that and apparently *black* cherries can be beneficial.  Most cherries are *red* cherries and apparently don't have the beneficial effect.  Even in the USA I couldn't find black cherries.  Let me know if you find them in Thailand.

Oh, great.  Now I have to be paranoid about losing the card.  

Thanks for the clarification about what the card is.

The new card is only on the "Thai payment network" & (Chinese?) UnionPay network, and not on VISA or MasterCard networks?  That is a huge change.

(Okay, we can get back on topic, which I believe was the Thailand Elite Card program.  )

What is a "Union Pay" card?  I have one of these:

I don't think I ever used it for an online purchase, but wonder if I could.

I usually go mid-afternoon.  By then, the wait is usually minimal.  Generally try to avoid Mondays & Fridays (or first/last days of the work week when holidays make for long weekends).

For passport page copies, I usually go to the photo/copy place directly outside immigrations and just say "Retirement visa" and they've always been good.  Just not worth my time trying to figure out what exactly is needed for any given transaction.  Be sure to autograph each photocopy.

Why is this in the Jokes forum?  

Thanks to the OP for bringing up this topic.  I see that clinic every time I come home from the main BH-P,  but it never even dawned on me that they could do things like replace dressings instead of trudging up to North Pattaya.

Moral & ethical considerations aside if you actually plan to still live in Bangkok, if you (at least attempt to) file Forms TM.30 and TM.28 at Udon Thani, they might consider that you have officially changed your residency to there and henceforth let you do one-year extensions there.  However, from that point on all your Immigrations issues will be dealt with in Udon Thani.  e.g. You can't pick and choose to file extensions in Udon Thani and 90-day reports in Bangkok.

On 6/24/2018 at 12:01 PM, JoePai said:

Strange, I never get messages and it always works perfect - from any of it's many worldwide connections and recommend Pure

+2 (assuming Stocky was +1 about PureVPN)

I don't think I've ever seen a more opaque thread on ThaiVisa.  Shall we all just start speaking in code?  

Thanks.  Good to know, and folks who have had Lasik really do need to know that.

One scary thing (for me) since I'm  squeamish about my eyes, is that apparently the behavior of an RK-modified cornea can be unpredictable, meaning the doctor can never be sure how things will turn out until after the surgery is done and healed.  The "good news" is that they can re-do the surgery if needed, but that's not something I really want to think about...  

Found out from Dr Roy at Rutnin Hospital in Bangkok (thanks, Sheryl, for the recommendation) that among other eye issues I have is that when the time comes for cataract surgery, the normally routine surgery can be compromised by the RK (radial keratotomy) surgery I had done on my eyes back in the 1980s.  RK surgery entailed making manual incisions in the cornea to reshape the surface to better focus an image on the retina.

He said that because of my RK history, when the time comes for cataract surgery -- and it appears it will come as I currently am at level 1 (out of 5) in development of cataracts -- my recovery period can be a month or more, whereas a non-modified cornea can have a recovery period of as short as a few days.  Furthermore, he said that not as likely, but still a relevant concern, is that the surgery itself can be compromised by an RK-weakened cornea.  Yikes!

There's been much talk about Lasik here and I've never heard of such a risk or delay in recovery for cataracts later in life.  Is Lasik sufficiently different from RK in that it does NOT compromise/weaken the cornea and therefore does NOT interfere with cataract surgery and recovery?

If I knew someone considering Lasik, I wouldn't want to freak them out if it's a non-issue, but if it is -- or can be -- an issue I think they should be aware.

3 hours ago, Kerryd said:

I strongly suspect that this program is designed as a "pre-screening" app to cut down on the number of people that show up without the proper paperwork (which happens all the time). You will submit electronic copies as per the checklist provided and someone checks them.

If everything is OK, you will be given a date, time and "queue" number for Immigration, where you will be expected to show up with all those same papers, printed out and signed. Someone will verify them and take your passport and tell you to come back the next day to pick it up.

Exactly how I suspect the program will work.

However, optimism does spring eternal for some other folks who think this will wipe out stacks of paperwork and generations of bureaucratic mindset and tradition.  

4 minutes ago, fimo said:

I agree but that bureaucracy is "internal" and that new process goes in the right direction: even the "internal" process should speed up.

The last officer in BKK will have a clean desk (not filled with ton of papers) and he wont need to wait for the post office brings the papers from Jomtien to BKK.

I just had the vision of that officer (who should have a clean desk) printing out all the submitted digital documents so s/he has a pile of papers to justify his job.  Yeah, I'm a cynic.