Keeps

I think Thai Air Awards is the overall name of the program. Cash plus miles is an element of the overall program. From the link below, it would seem that the lowest redeemable amount of points from London is 72,000 for an upgrade. I believe you have around 40,000? If you are keen to offload them now it would seem that Cash plus miles is the only current option. If the current miles have a long expiration date and you will be taking future trips (plus the current planned trip) you will probably accumulate enough miles for an upgrade. Be mindful though of Richard's comments above stating how difficult it is to redeem the points with Thai Air. Also, if it is the same as EVA, not all fare types allow you to redeem points to upgrade. Seems like you might be best to redeem the points for the saving in ticket price. https://www.thaiairways.com/en_TH/rop/Redeeming/Redeeming_Award_UpgradeAwards_onTHAI2.page?

Sorry, I was responding to a message from spidermike007 regarding EVA Air, not Thai Air. Seems that it is far more difficult to use Air Miles with Thai then it is with EVA. Also, I always use mine for upgrades on booked flights as opposed to rewards ticket which also seems much easier.

The mileage doesn't expire for 3 or 4 years which is more than adequate for someone who uses the airline fairly frequently. I had already stated that not all fare class/types allow an upgrade. It is still good value to pay an extra couple of hundred pounds for a ticket that does allow an upgrade. In my recent experience, the next class up usually costs in excess of £500 extra one way. The upgrade option is financially more beneficial than offsetting the points against the fare. I only need to do two round trips London - Bangkok to earn more than enough points to upgrade one leg either economy to premium economy or premium economy to Royal Laurel.

From the link you provided it does look pretty straightforward. Looks like you select the Cash + Miles at the payment stage:- It is a great way and great deal to redeem a small or large amount of miles, it’s up to you. Simply follow the online booking process and after selecting the secure online payment option proceed as follows: • Select the Cash + Miles option • A prompt allows you to log into your Royal Orchid Plus account using your membership number and PIN • Choose from a range of miles according to the destination and class of service of the travel itinerary • The cash portion for travel is then recalculated and online payment can be completed in either local currency or U.S. dollars • You will then receive your booking confirmation and confirmation of miles used separately by email. When using the Cash + Mile option it’s doubly rewarding. Redeeming miles reduces the cost of ticketed travel, while Royal Orchid Plus miles are earned on all eligible fares. Make the most of your miles with Cash + Miles at thaiairways.com

That saving does sound about right. I use EVA Air who are also part of Star Alliance. I think last time I looked the saving was around £120 for 25,000 points so comparable. However, with EVA there is the option to redeem points for upgrades which I prefer to do. Not sure if the same option is available on Thai? Eva have economy, premium economy and Royal Laurel so the upgrades are anything from around 25,000 points to 60,000 points depending on booked class and which class you are upgrading to. I believe Thai only have economy and business so not sure this is an option? Also have to be careful when using this option as not all ticket types/fares allow an upgrade. On the EVA website the option to redeem the points against fare is at the payment stage. There is a "slider" to pick how many points you wish to redeem. You do have to pick the "Cash and Miles" option right at the outset when booking if I recall correctly.

This one. It's the liberal sprinkling of fag ash that really makes it delicious.....

Aussies.

They look very tasty I suppose though that you have the benefit of a good spud being in Oz? Hard to make a good homemade chip with most of the potatoes in Thailand.

Going forward, you might want to keep your eye out for the Crosse and Blackwell version. Supposedly only started producing this in November 23 as a reaction to the withdrawal of Campbell's. This might start filtering it's way through to the ex-pat shops in Thailand. They also make condensed cream of mushroom and condensed cream of chicken.

Campbell's have stopped producing the condensed tomato soup. It is being rebranded as Batchelors but is NOT the same recipe. It is much sweeter. I know my mother in the UK is pretty pi$$ed off by this. She said the next best thing is Heinz reduced sugar tomato soup mixed with a little tomato juice from a carton. Sad as it is, she is a bit of an aficionado when it comes to her tinned tomato soup and knows what she's talking about. 555 I did see that ebay had some 6 packs of the Campbell's condensed tomato soup selling for £50. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news....

Not entirely convinced this would work. They do specify on the website that they want to see a confirmed E-Ticket (as stated in the OP's initial post). I don't think an itinerary without confirmed ticket would work.

Seems like the problem may be that he is applying for the Visa from the Thai embassy in the UK but his flight to Thailand is from the US. Not sure what the answer to this is. I don't know if he should be applying for the Visa from a US embassy. I wouldn't have thought so as he is merely working there, not permanently residing. Hopefully, someone will be along shortly who can provide a definitive solution.

Australia - says it all really about the mentality of the natives.

Do you have any self awareness whatsoever? Do you ever read your posts before you hit the submit button?

Firstly, I doubt it and secondly, I doubt it.

The point is that my 5-7% ROI is pretty much guaranteed and is both what I want and what I require. This will hopefully enable me to live a long and enjoyable retirement. It is entirely aligned with what I planned to achieve many, many moons ago. I have no more than 2.5% of my pot in any one particular share, fund etc so the possibility of all investments failing is remote to say the least. Back in the day, did you sit there and hope that someone would invent some new currency that goes up and down likes a whores knickers and that you can only actually spend in relatively few instances? Is/was this your retirement strategy? You seem to conveniently forget that some people may have bought in at a much higher price than it's currently trading at. I'm sure many people have made lots of money from it. I'm also sure that many people have lost plenty. It generates no ongoing income stream other than selling a portion, hopefully when it's worth more than you paid for it. As I have already said, I'll stick with my current way of investing thanks. It works for me.

Or 100% loss if/when it all unravels. I'll stick to my relatively safe current strategy and take my 5-7% thanks.

No. Far too speculative for my taste. An investment like that would keep me awake at night. I predominantly hold a diversified portfolio of funds and shares. I also keep a cash buffer of two/three years expenditure in case the markets takes a fall (like during Covid) and you don't want to be selling any holdings at this time. A cash buffer is also useful when buying opportunities arise (again, like during Covid). Whilst saving I mainly invested in growth funds and shares. Now I am nearing the time when I need to generate an income, I realised some large profits from some of these investments and reinvested in income funds and shares. Some of the large UK financials are yielding 7-10% per annum. I keep growth holdings aswell to balance the portfolio. I am by no means an expert in this field, far from it. I have however done my homework over the years and have come to a landing on what will hopefully work for me and provide a steady, growing income during my retirement years.

£800,000 should comfortably generate 100,000 THB per month without reducing the capital amount to any large degree (obviously subject to market fluctuations). Just depends on how much per month somebody needs. As a general rule of thumb, dependent on your capital being invested (and doesn't need to be in anything too risky) you should be able to generate/spend 4% per annum of capital without ever running out of capital. In fact, it shouldn't even reduce greatly over time. Inflation will need to be taken into consideration though along with tax. Personally, I have my SIPP which I can drawdown on if required (I am now 55 years old). During my "saving" years I built up a healthy pot within a Stocks and Shares ISA rather than just going down the pension route. This is withdrawn tax free in the UK. I can in theory take up to my personal tax free allowance from the pension and top up the income from the ISA, also tax free. Tax of any significant amount will only come into play when I get my state pension which is some 12 or 13 years away. I have heard of it referred to as the 25 rule. Work out what you need per year and multiply by 25. That is the pot of money you will need to generate your required monthly income.

I think the overnight security guards just got peckish.

Robby Krieger

I'm starting to think flyingtiger's earlier post had some merit..............

Johnny Marr from the Smiths is pretty good. Does a very good cover version of one of their own songs aswell

Why has somebody posted a sad emoji to the above post or am I missing something? This is clearly a helpful post, providing useful information. There really are some sad, spiteful, people using this forum. I despair at times.

Not sure about experts, but certainly plenty of w#nkers on the forum. 555