realfunster

Blimey, and many on here are quick to criticize the Thais for being money obsessed… In response to your specific comments, as the article notes only Taiwan and Nepal have taken this step so far, so not sure how Thailand has lost ground on this issue. I would have thought that Thailand would have been seen as a pretty welcoming and tolerant destination for LGBTQ+ for a long time already? A brief Google indicates lots of potential legal/rights/societal challenges (and I don’t mean just not being able to marry) for LGBTQ+ across most of SEAsia and Asia, I didn’t bother checking Malaysia and Indonesia for obvious reasons…. Anyway, a decision to be applauded and let’s hope the Senate dinosaurs don’t block it.

Likely not the only incentives on offer.. Sending Thai government officials to be indoctrinated/turned in a foreign country, what could possibly go wrong….

A look at their Q3 2023 financials shows a lot of significant matters identified by the auditor. Looks like IT have got into bed with various governments for concessions including Myanmar, Laos and Mozambique. Seems these “assets” are unraveling now. Not an expert but doing business in these countries would seem excessively high risk… After debacle at Stark, the last thing the SET needs is another major corporate scandal.

Kinky. He may have actually "enjoyed" that ?

Indeed, been this way for at least 15 years ?

Well put. Like a few others on this thread, the emotional reaction came out first for the poster you responded to, without an effort to understand the situation at hand and make a fair and balanced assessment . Responding to to headline - quite common these days..

You’ll know the ins and outs better than me but aren’t these kind of services provided by the airport or another agency and not the actual airline itself ?

It seems difficult to wind this back both on retail and production. I expect some tightening of licensing & regulations may be implemented. These might, coincidentally, limit the licenses to, ahem, “approved”, producers and vendors to reap the benefits. For sure, there’s been foreign companies investing heavily in this space, and setting up production facilities here for export back to US/Canada. It would be disastrous for foreign investor confidence and possibly lead to legal actions if they fully retrace to the previous laws.

Sorry to hear about your problems. I think you are misunderstanding the budget airline business model. One of the most complained about airlines is Ryanair, their customer services department have the charm of a hungover undertaker, yet it continues to go from strength to strength. Cheap as chips prices for a very basic and inflexible service - all variations/add ons from the standard package to be paid for. People keep returning for this very reason. A few unhappy customers griping on the internet does not put anyone off, let alone hundreds. In fact, I think they even enjoy the complaints and they spin it as evidence that they are constantly fighting to keep their prices down.

Yep, nail meet head. I’m sure there’s plenty that AOT and the Government could do to reduce prices unilaterally. I am “flabbergasted” your reasonable and common-sense post got two “confused” emoticons. Waiting for those two people to expand on their compelling counter-arguments…

Of course, these figures, like many here, are a complete nonsense. There is no way that such a high a proportion and overall number of people have sought medical treatment for this reason. How do I know ? Literally no-one in my personal/work circle of several hundred has ever mentioned this and I have never seen a sick leave request on the topic.... Anyway, I give these spurious statistics a free pass as they are rightly drawing attention to this issue - which needs urgent action !

Dear Thaiger/Khun Puntid/AI Bot, Could you clarify how is this even vaguely related to the news regarding BAs plans for their business operations globally and across SE Asia ? Answers on a postcard please… Regards, RF.

I'll keep the champagne on ice for now, a quick Google shows a number of airlines airlines had very strong profits last year. Not surprising really, as consumers, we have all noticed the significant fare increases on 2019 levels pre-COVID. Combined with some enforced efficiency measures taken during the pandemic, bottom line should improve. Most fares I have checked over the past year are running 20-40% above 2019 levels. One wonders if there is some price-fixing going on in the industry... As for THAI specifically, one swallow does not a summer make. There are years of mismanagement and a toxic culture to address. Let's see how they progress with a normalising global airline industry over the next couple of years.

If the Thai interest rate (2.5%) starts getting nearer to other countries rates, particularly the Fed (currently 5%+ but expected to drop), that will likely encourage foreign capital inflows, which will strengthen the Baht. Many on here will be changing their tune at that point… Economics is a very complicated subject matter, well above my pay grade, but there might be a train of thought from the Government that an immediate drop in interest rates, further widening the gap with US rates gets them “ahead of the game” and would probably result in a weakening of the Baht. That might be positive for some key economic sectors in Thailand, tourism, property and exports to name but three. Holding interest rates at around current levels with the Fed expected to be dropping rates throughout the year might see the interest rate gap closing and may have the opposite impact.

Ironic, given they are one of the most bent departments in Thailand.

My best guess is that it's a case for Bluetooth ear pods.

I can't speak for others but my own allergic reaction to unfounded conspiracy theories certainly kicked in around the time I got my COVID vaccine. 😉

I think if I knew if was potentially a matter of life and death, then yes I would probably mostly eat my own prepared or production controlled supermarket foods. Realistically, that would likely get boring, so I guess I might start to test out proven safe dishes that are consistently and blandly served across multiple locations e.g fast food chains and maybe develop a trusting relationship with one or two local restaurants but I reckon visiting a new restaurant/food shop whilst on your travels with potentially unfocussed teenagers doing the order-taking and cooking would be putting your personal safety too much in the hands of others.

Someone mentioned the well known UK case involving Pret-a-manger (sandwich shop). The teenage girl in that case injected 2 epi-pens whilst on the plane but still went into cardiac arrest and died. I am far from an expert on these matters but it would appear if someone has an extremely severe allergy, then even the epi-pens are not enough. I don't know in practice whether sufferers can actually be aware of whether they are just severely allergic or potentially fatally allergic to something.

Well, they are certainly convenient and well-run but I do try to support my local Bangkok mom & pop shop as much as possible. I'd rather give my trade to an independent than a monopolistic corporate but I expect I am pissing in the wind and they will gradually all close down in future.

Public sector - meet private sector. The airport is a complete cash cow for all involved (looking at you AOT jacket man) , the only reasons for poor service are incompetence and/or greed.

I feel dehumanized after reading that AI generated word salad.

Starts off sounding very impressive. 100 suspects and a week long operation. Looks like a serious move by law enforcement to rid us of the long-standing drug gangs in that area. Oh I see, nah, it’s just the usual dog and pony show.

Not really seeing how 3x Bangkok projects and 1x Phuket project = "stimulate economic growth etc across the nation".

No offence intended mate 👍