stiffoak571

Coming back from Phuket I was going Thai to BKK then Eva to Heathrow - bags checked in and I was actually amazed they reappeared at Heathrow - pleasing amount of cooperation between airlines.

And Patong please! There are times when a queue formed by my bed with people trying to sell me stuff.

Although did get best foot rub ever on the beach so shouldnt really complain!

They wanted £3000 for LHR=BKK return -no economy available and on the return 1st class only!

Last year same flights £650

Im flying with Eva

And the planes were very old 747s with no real facilities onboard - too uncomfy to notice the food

I might be coming late March - but only recently had an operation so no booking yet - last night looking at Thai - want to go:

LHR-BKK 3 days

Phuket 7/8 days

then back

The price was an astonishing (this is economy by the way!):

£1350

even BA are doing LHR-BKK for £600

what is happening? I would prefer to book Thai even though the 747s are rubbish just for the ease of transfer and dont like stopovers flight is long enough

So what should I do wait for these "magical" fares to appear?

Coming back to BKK next Easter - flew Thai last time - planes were poor - old 747s with no facilities - even my holiday charter flights to Greece on 737s were better equipped!

Agree about price - £650 this year they want £850 next - thinking of going Prem Econ on BA for £100 more

Having recently returned I can say a few things about this:

1.the route down Beach Rd every day in Patong annoyed me due to all the "massage/suit/watches" etc would cross road (not easy) to avoid

2.Im a crap haggler so did less shopping than I would if I felt it was fair (also had one stall where I paid for 5 things and only 3 were in bag when I got back top hotel)

3. can see why some are put off by Bangla - reminded me of Faliraki/Blackpool - certainly sights on soi Croc must take some explaining to small kids!

4. on the beach one day there was a queue trying to sell me stuff when I wanted peace

Of course all of this is my fault becuase I chose to be in Patong - but that's where my dive school was based and in the end whatever "problems" there were it was all worth it for the moments spent underwater at the sights we went to on the dive boat

So that is why on balance I say go to Phuket but if you want quiet with money go BangTao and quiet without Karon/Kata and for energetic singles go Patong

Sunday 23rd March 3.30pm- arrived on Heathrow flight had 2 people in front and done in 5 minutes - bag arrived and out into main area 1/2 hour after leaving plane

Yes agree - use an exit door - I was looking for my car and there are numerous people from hotels etc with signs as you emerge very difficult to find your own took 40 minutes to find that my driver was waiting wrong exit!

Go to India and eat a real curry then you'll never want to even hear about a "UK Curry"

That reminds me of someone who said his pal could not stand the food in India and could not wait to get back to Glasgow for a "Real" curry

I loved the food in India when was there - except their version of hot and sour soup was a bit strange in the Asian fusion restaurant in Le Meridien in Bangalore - it threw my Thai colleague even more.

My Indian pal, myself and his GF ate at the food centre on the 5th floor of MBK and he enjoye the Indian food there (He is very anglophile though and has had full English and roast beef dinners with me)

Singapore colleagues have been known to take an extra bag full of noodles etc on longer trips to India but they are like that.

I will be in Birmingham later this month for just over a week - I have never sampled curry there so am looking forward to it.

In Brum I have always loved the Sher Khan on Stratford road - great Balti

Yeats would be "No Second Troy"

Keats: Fall of Hyperion

Hardy the great 1912-13 Emma poems

Then Whitman - Leaves of Grass

and the then 2 books - both linked

Ariel - Plath

and Birthday Letters - Ted Hughes his memorial to Sylvia which came out just before he died

Am on a fleeting trip back to the U.K. where this morning the news reported a tremor measuring 5.5 at Market Rasen. Who will get the blame for this, I wonder?

just a rumour maybe, but i heard that the UK prime minister has just set up a disaster relief fund for all of the victims in scotland, due to this earthquake in mkt rasen..... needless to say the cost will be collected from the English taxes!

Yes woken from my bed in sunny Stevenage (well not at 1am!) the bed moved which is unusual these days and the hangers rattled in the wardrobe.

Funny how many chimmneys etc have come down - presumably a lot are insurance jobs and then they will find they get no money for "acts of god"

Expect to see Brown touring the afflicted areas on the evening news talking about rescue packages

the English do not write Lester Square and Wooster Sauce, and I have not seen the Thai complaining about it.

I do, every time I hear of someone learning those words.

Has to be said, though, that English must be one real bitch of a language to learn as a second language. Thai is relatively easy, really, in comparison.

The Leicester thing is simple if you know your Latin (?) and all cester/chester etc in UK all come from castra meaning camp and shows where Roman forts existed

I agree about the LHR comments - never had an easy check in at Heathrow and not looking forward to my having to go through it all in March on my way to BKK - only good time was when after standing in a long queue going nowhere for a BA desk in Terminal 3 we were ushered outside and into the separate Club Class check in because of having children.

Normally I will always choose to go from Luton/Stansted

But will get used to the new BKK as I have to use it for BKK-LHR return and also Phuket return as well!

What's wrong with Thai?

Have you tried the Air Transport Users Council?

http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=306

I used them when I was supposed to be flying back from Cyprus August 2006 when Heathrow shut down because of the liquids problem - BA said nothing to do with them but no other flight for 9 days and no accommodation - so had to fly Cyprus air buisness class to get back

Eventually the threat of ATUC/Small claims court + most importantly letter to Chief Exec we got most of the extra money back

Union members include maintenance, clerical and security staff as well as the fire squad.

Seven airports will be affected by the strike including Heathrow, Gatwick, Edinburgh and Glasgow and may be forced to close, said the National Aviation Secretary for Unite, Brendan Gold.

The BAA has announced that they will try to prevent as much disruption to services as possible.

Peter

It will be interesting to see how they try and achieve minimum disruption. If the fire crew are out the airport is shut, period. And I would think they'd get short shrift from the local fire brigades if they tried to draft in temporary cover using their off duty members. They could do what was done during a strike by the fire brigades a while back. Then they deployed the army fire brigade and their green goddesses (fire trucks) but IMO there's no way they could do that on a large international airport like LHR.

The views of all in UK seems to be that these strikes will run and then the talking will start - no way that the airports will stay open - but all seems silly for one of those esoteric disputes that make no real sense even to the people concerned (53% yes for strike on 30% turnout! - so only 15% of workforce actually want to strike!!)

I tried to book online - said the flights were ok but there was no way to pay! then got message that I had to go in person to a Thai office to "confirm" and pick up tickets.

Luckily I was in London the next day so made detour to the office off Piccadilly and paid and got ticket with seats assigned but seems very longwinded compared to Easy Jet - what if I lived miles away and never went to London!

With Thai I could book the seats for the BKK-LHW bits of the route - gone for aisles both times nothing worse than having to push past bunch of strangers if you on window or middle of the middle - and most of flight will be dark anyway - leave 9.35pm so many hours of darkness - also went for aisles with no one yet booked for the other 2 seats by window though will probably change before March when I go

Cant book seats for Phuket even though it says one way will be on 747

Why not go Thai - not really much more expensive and I presume more reliable with more choice of flights

I think positive comments are just as useful - the points about immigration queues and taxis are all valuable for people like me coming over soon

I am a Cottager myself

Yes, definitely too much information there.

In responding to the comment by a Chelsea fan I was identifying myself as being from the other side of the borough ie Fulham and Fulham play at Craven Cottage hence "cottagers"

Safe deposit boxes at reception area covered by motion CCTV recorded on DVR is the best option. For example once doris the maid enters your room you do not know what she is up to..... All she has to do is conceal the item(s) in a used towel, bathrobe etc so any existing CCTV Camera in the hallway only effectively shows time of entry/exit into the room. Then she hides the item somewhere in the hotel and then walks out with it and no questions asked. This is also the MO used if the guest reports something missing/stolen from the room the item is left longer in hiding before it is removed from the premises.

All staff to be security background checked is also a help but never rarely happens as it costs money.

Maybe we should start a honk your horn every time we drive pass the SS&S..........

Much as it pains me to disagree with a Blue from the wrong end of the Fulham Road (I am a Cottager myself) I still want a "safe" safe in my room - had dodgy safe deposit boxes on many trips to Greece - once found my box open on the floor! Also dont want everyone to see how many cards/how much cash Ive got cos as soon as I get my 10000THB to take out for the night you can be sure someone will then follow me round the corner to take it off me - or maybe being from London makes me suspicious - certainly the thread has knocked the hotel out of the running for my trip at easter.

I am looking at booking for Easter and the horror stories about immigration etc make me wonder what to do about booking an onward flight - I will be coming into Suv then going straight out to Phuket and there is obviously a big choice of carrier for the domestic flight

How much time do people leave between advertised touchdown and the possible time for the onward domestic flight?

If I do both with Thai do I stay airside and go via a transfer desk?

Conversely, if I come in on Emirates and go out on Nok/Asia etc will I have to build in time to go through immigration and customs - must be lots of people have had this situation and each airport seems to deal with transfers differently

Emirates is normally the cheapest carrier between UK and Los

nearly choked on my rice whiskey when i read that.. i would substitute your 'normally' for rarely

looking for Easter at the moment and everywhere I look Thai comes out best at £660 return from Heathrow

though some Emirates (with stop of course) are close but other direct flights BA/Qantas well over £700

I use budget airlines all the time in Europe - Easy Jet/Ryanair and very few problems - now I'm looking at coming over at easter and want to do week or so in Phuket then few days in Bangkok - looking at flights etc and was amazed at Air Asia prices - interesting that a 399THB flight becomes over 1000THB when tax is added but even at that it is still under £15 each way!

Silly amounts but is there a catch - something about luggage (Ryanair now down to 15kg here) and do they use the old airport?

Will probably stick with Thai all the way but just find the debate interesting - last time I went to an island went to Samui on Bangkok Air in a propeller driven plane that rattled its way over the Gulf for an hour but was no trouble at all