PeterRS

Fine if you are one of those 8 passengers. But what about the others who were all on time? I agree there are two situations here. Connecting perhaps from a transpacific flight at Narita to one departing for another Asian city is basically a hub and spoke operation. Not so long ago in the case of US based airlines, the Asian sector started in the late afternoon or early evening and was the last flight of the day with the return being in the morning. Holding that final sector for passengers from a delayed incoming flight was therefore not a major inconvenience for the airline or the rest of the passengers. Now that hub and spoke operation is nothing like before as more partner Asian airlines have taken over the Asian sectors. JAL and ANA for example fly into BKK, drop their passengers and then fly another load overnight back to Japan. So holding a flight at NRT for the 8 delayed passengers has very definite ongoing consequences for an airline working to much tighter schedules. On the subject of delayed passengers on their first flights of a trip, many airlines have a note on all boarding passes that passengers have to be at the gate up to 20 minutes before departure time. Despite this I have been on quite a few flights where passengers are late purely because theyve been doing a bit of shopping, forgotten the time, gone to the wrong gate area...and so on. Yet planes are still held for them. On others, departures have been delayed while the delayed passengers luggage is located and taken off. Both scenarios result in late departures. So I cannot understand why scheduled departure times are not listed everywhere as 15 minutes prior to actual departure time, even on airline websites. Surely this makes sense. At a busy airport and on busy routes, aircraft are allocated departure time slots. Miss the slot on an intercontinental route and you might have to wait on the tarmac for up to an hour before air traffic control can find another slot on the route.

Even with 95% of flights being accounted for, that still leaves a lot unaccounted for. I note you state "OAG must have received data for at least ..." Is it the airlines and airports who select and provide that information? If so how does OAG know it is getting an accurate statistical average and not a deliberately weeded out list? To return to firecat69s point, data based on departure from gates to arrival at gates will be very significantly different from touch down and take off. Since the definition in an earlier posts mentioned departure from gate, presumably it also means arrival at gate. And if that is true then the 14 min 59 sec window probably allows for only a 7 min 29.5 sec delay at each end from push back to arrival at the stand. That really is pretty tight. So a carrier pushing back from a gate at concourse G at BKK 14 minutes 58 sec late but then having to taxi for 15 mins to the south end of the east runway is effectively taking off 30 minutes late. Yet statistically its "on time". Switch to landing. If an aircraft is on time for a scheduled arrival but then air traffic control puts it in a stack because of congestion and it then loses another 10 minutes by being changed from a northerly approach to a southerly approach its arrival is defined as "late" although it is no fault of the airline. What about New Yorks LGA where aircraft crawl along the taxiway for up to an hour despite the distance being very short. Every airline departing at peak time may leave the gate on time but is liable to be pretty ate arriving. There are just so many variables. At busy airports its far from unusual for another aircraft to be late departing its gate. So the arrival flight is held till that aircraft has pushed back. But the arriving aircraft has been very punctual. Who'd be an analyst?

Am I the only one to wonder why the data includes only 80% of flights? Why not every scheduled flight on the database or even just 95%? A great deal can go wrong with the 380,000 Delta flights not included. To go back to the point I made earlier, if 80% of Cathay Pacific flights are included but the periods during typhoons are excluded presumably CX would appear on that list. Not that it matters other than to the airports and airlines. But it seems an odd way to go about statistical analyis.

In my experience weather is often a major contributing factor. Once flying from SFO to Miami on an early morning flight the AA plane landed a few minutes early. Although there were heavy black clouds moving in we expected to get to the gate on time. Then on the taxiway the rain thunder and lighting started. Since ground handlers must stop work during electric storms we sat there for all of 110 minutes before moving to the gate. MIA was like a disaster zone. I missed my connecting flight and could only get one the next morning. firecat69 is spot on. its a crapshoot. But do your research beforehand and you maximise the chances on an on time arrival.

Ah but numbers often lie! It all depends on how those numbers are arrived at and the underlying facts behind the numbers. Weather inevitably plays a role. Honolulu has great weather. Its home airline has a small route structure. Just compare the route structure with the far larger SIA or Lufthansa! So the chances of overall on time arrivals are obviously higher than an airport like Hong Kong which has to reduce movements and sometimes close during the annual typhoon season. OTP is usually more dependent on the airlines than the airport. The dreaded phrase delayed due to late arrival of the incoming aircraft is heard at all airports and a delayed incoming flight almost inevitably means a delayed outbound flight. Then again the more airport movements at any airport the greater the chance of delays. Then airports with more long haul international flights tend to be less good in airline OTP than those with just domestic flights. Haneda is probably top of the list because it is largely a domestic airport that was opened up to some international flights only a few years ago. Vastly more international flights operate out of Narita. so its not a surprise that Narita isnt on the list.

Wrong forum. Very few Thais read this forum and even fewer would have time to accompany a guy theyve never even met. If you are prepared to pay a daily fee there will be lots of money boys interested. But dont expect any to speak good english.

From what I read at a distance, the Scottish First Minister is moving closer to having another leave the UK referendum. It would not surprise me if this time it passes with a considerable majority, even thgouh the economic arguments this time around seem far less favourable. If memory serves at the time of the last referendum oil was priced at over $100. Even then new fields would have had to be opened up to balance the books. Now oil is half that price. How do the books now balance? Historically though the Scots have always looked outwards. Their persecution by the English resulted in the need for a vast number of Scots to seek their fortunes and livelihoods around the world. I guess that must be ingrained in their DNA

Agreed 100% with ryanasia. A stupid thoughtless comment. There are apps showing flights in real time. Check Iraq and Syria and youll see only domestic carriers anywhere near that land mass. Theres a reason Middle East airlines have great safety records. Did z909 avoid British and Irish carriers during the 20+ years of the murdering terrorist insurgency in nearby Norther Ireland. I suppose z909 also avoids all flights into Paris, Marseilles, Brussels, Nice, Istanbul, Sydney, Columbus Ohio, Hanover, Cologne, Manchester, London, Berlin, Moscow, Manila and lots of other cities, trains in Europe - o and Bangkok and most of the south of Thailand! All have experienced terrorist attacks in recent years. Best stay at home z909.

Was twice in Hong Kong over the Chinese New Year period and it was all but dead. Like Kuala Lumpur vast numbers had returned to their home towns in China or migrated to warmer climes for the holiday. There was one float parade and a few lion dances about. Best should have been the stunning 20 minute fireworks displays over the harbour. Several million US$ literally go up in smoke. But even they were a bit disappointing as both times it was spoiled by low clouds and no breeze to blow all the smoke away. Hong Kong can also be pretty cold at that time. In Thailand Chinatown in Bangkok was much more fun.

Anyone interested in #888 better make that interest felt soon. 8 is a lucky number to the Chinese and 888 is about a good as it gets! With Chinese New Year approaching, soon gays from China, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan will be heading to Soi Twilight. Ive no doubt thats one reason the boy chose the number 888.

And that is not a veiled suggestion? That certainly is a veiled suggestion! The idea that it is you who is being harassed is ridiculous! If you stop your one man crusade to find out another members source of income Im sure youll be left in heavenly peace.

Thick? Wooden headed in my view as well as rude and bordering on harassment. Abidismaili has already pursued this on one board under a different name and got nowhere. So now he brings over to this one. IMHO all his probing and all the veiled suggestions (nod nod wink wink) that christianpfc probably gained his income from some unsavoury and possibly even illegal source is totally ridiculous. Yet he goes on and on and on... Yawn yawn! So boring

What's your beef abidismaili? Why this concentrated focus on christianpfcs finances and your narrow minded views on his future employment? It really is none of your business. Looking at your alter ego's comments on the sawatdee forum as pointed out by christianpfc you have an unusually creepy obsession with aspects of his life, earnings and potential future employment that have nothing to do with anyone other that christianpfc himself. You may be happy telling the world how much you earn and can save. I can't think of any other poster here who has done so. Just accept the fact that some people in this life like you prefer an easy life with regular steady employment and occasional holidays. Others like christianpfc take calculated risks preferring to experience living in other countries long before retirement comes along. How they finance themselves is exclusively their own business. In any case, as has been pointed out, you have been through all this before on sawatdee.

Thanks for clarifying. My memory is misty and I must be thinking of the rebranding of Crazy Dragon under a new owner.

I heard that was called Crazy Pub. Surely Crazy dragon opened much much later?

Im surprised. I thought Crazy Dragon didn't open till at least 10 years later. Was there an earlier Crazy Dragon?

Is this an ad for some supposedly glamour competition? If so I've never heard of it. And seeing these guys I dont want to hear about it again. Ive seen far better looking guys on Silom, Orchard Road, Bukit Bintang and so on. Id choose none but there no box for none.

Whyever would you think the gulf state airlines are due for a fatal crash? Simply because the 3 main carriers have a perfect safety record and therefore the law of averages says theyll not keep it that way much longer? By that reckoning Cathay Pacific hasnt had a fatal crash since 1972 when a bomb expolded and killed everyone aboard. Since Qatar and Etihad were founded well after 1972 I suppose youll avoid Cathay too.

Spoke to the local Hainan Airlines office. Although the website states the BKK to Beijing service only has first and economy, in fact it should be biz and economy. They don't have an F class. Confusing for those not aware of it, but great for those wanting a cheap biz fare to the US on what is clearly an excellent airline. So far it seems they have non stops to Chicago, Boston, Toronto, San Jose and Seattle with feeder arrangements from a few other cities.

Following on firecat69s checking, I checked a notional biz class return booking BKK to Chicago in March. All sectors are ticketed as I, the lowest of the discounted biz class ticket codes. But without a biz class that doesn't make sense. Ive done some round the world biz tickets where internal US flights are in first class if there is no biz class. But the code for those sectors is usually the lowest discount first fare A. Ill check with Hainan Airlines direct in BKK to try and clarify.

Thanks for the info. Thats great to hear. Seatguru shows there is no biz class on the 737s flying the BKK to Beijing legs. So I just wonder if you are on a transpacific biz ticket, do you get an automatic upgrade to F out of BKK? I know seatguru is sometimes out of date so is there now a dedicated biz class cabin on the aircraft? My only concern would be booking transpacific and then discovering there were too many biz passengers transferring to transpacific or other long haul with the result some might then have to be downgraded to economy inter Asia. That Id hate. If its guaranteed F class to and from Beijing Ill have no hesitation in using the airline in future.

Ive thought about Hainan Airlines a few times and am impressed that Skytrax has given it a 5-star ranking for at least the last couple of years. The price is always great. The problem for me is it uses Beijing as its international hub rather than Hainan. Whenever Ive checked this has meant a 5 hour overnight flight from BKK to Beijing in a 737 with no biz class and only 8 F class old fashioned recliner seats, a very long transit time and then the 787 on to various US cities. Does a biz class tkt out of BKK guarantee F class to and from Beijing? Even then, after the flat bed seat from Chicago or wherever, Im not sure Id be so happy spending 5+ hours at the end of the trip either in cramped economy or in an F seat with just a small recline. So Ive stuck to other airlines for now.

A late 20s guy is able to move to Bangkok? Good for you. Guess you either have lots of savings or have a job there. As for Soi Twilight, I think its possible you mean the touts who try to get you to come into their bars. There are lots of them and they are persistent and can be annoying, often grabbing you by the arm. But they are harmless. Just smile, shake your head and say no. As calluna15 says dont lose your cool. In Thai eyes it makes you look stupid. In many years of visiting that soi I have never had any tout trying to sell underage. I really doubt thats the reason.

These offers are almost exclusively provided by banks to customers in the USA. The offers have been around for many years, each gives you a ton of miles for minimal guaranteed expenditure, you can close the card account after about a year, and theres absolutely no reason why they should stop any time soon. US citizens can also get the same sort of deals with cards associated with hotel chains. Those outside the US can only look on with envy!

Take away the trip reports and what is now left? Precious little. The Beer Bar used to be popular forum here. Now its all but dead. The first page has threads going back to January. Gay Asia a lot less. Gay Businesses have few posts except those about Pattaya. The information pages at the start of the site do offer some useful info for newbies but far too much of it is out of date. One of the listed restaurants died about 4 years ago. Going back to the reports, the level of detail has been raised to a new level in one member's recent reports. He reminds me of one poster who split the membership years ago by flooding the Board with hundreds of photos of ladyboys from a Pattaya bar. Since this poster admits he's bisexual, perhaps he's the same guy. I have no idea. I suppose if you don't like them you just put the poster on ignore. But ignoring posters often ruins the progress of a thread. I'm frankly with the OP. But I assume were in the minority because readership here certainly seems to be on the increase.