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Your narrative about what happened and the timeline is completely different to everything I have read, including UA's own timeline as Munoz set out in his letter to UA employees.

There were several issues. Mainly I think the problem is one of corporate culture. Front line employees are not given any leeway to handle a situation like this with some common sense. And since this was United Express it means that these are the least experienced, most poorly paid employees. According to UA's own telling it wasn't until after the flight was fully boarded that the deadheading employees showed up at the gate saying they needed to be on the flight. Certainly it's much easier to deny boarding before people have boarded. They should have kept offering more compensation until they had takers. But since the rules only require them to pay 4x the one-way fare paid, it was cheaper for the airline to just kick people off the plane and pay them a couple hundred bucks. And since all the airlines really care about is their shareholders and not their customers they do whatever is cheapest for the airline. Offering a voucher and a flight 24 hours later isn't especially enticing to most people. Especially once they're already on board and ready to go. Most people don't have the flexibility to agree to a 24 hour delay. Perhaps if they had offered a flight on American an hour or two later it would have not caused so much trouble. But again it was cheaper to only offer their own flight the next day. I swore to never fly on UA again after they screwed me over on the way home from Asia a couple of years ago. Again it was a United Express issue. Since UA decides to contract out these smaller routes to regional carriers in order to save themselves money they don't have as much control. But their livery (or a version of it) is on the side of the plane so they get the (deserved) blame. UA really is a horrible company with terrible customer service. Maybe this will be the wakeup call they need. But I somehow doubt it when the bottom line is all they really care about. But ultimately I agree that UA won't suffer too much. There's not much competition left in US aviation. So when people don't have a choice other than drive or fly they're stuck. When it comes to no-shows I'd guess that a large part of the time it is due to missing a connection rather than people buying a ticket and just not showing up.

depending on when you plan to be there in April it could be Songkran time...so be prepared for that. as for how much to tip, I think your numbers sound very generous. But those who spend more time in BKK will be able to better answer that perennial question

I've done the Pattaya - Bangkok transfer on Sundays a few times and never noticed it taking any longer or being any more traffic than other days. I usually check out of the hotel around 11 and get to BKK by 1. But it's been 18 months or so since my last trip so maybe this is a new issue? I stayed at the Crowne Plaza on my last visit. It's quite nice. As an IHG platinum (just for having the IHG MasterCard) I was upgraded to the club level automatically. The best thing about it is that it's just around the corner from Sala Daeng BTS (and Lumpini MRT) for getting around town. I suppose if all you're interested in is seeing the boy bars that might not be so enticing, but if you plan to see the city a little it's helpful since it's a shorter walk in the hotter parts of the day. It's not a long walk from Soi Twilight though either. The only thing I didn't like about the hotel was that you have to take 2 elevators every time you leave or arrive since the main lobby is on the 23rd floor or so. Given how expensive the gogo bars/drinks have become I don't spend much time there any more. If you plan to use the hook up apps it doesn't matter too much where you stay. But for a first timer for sure you should check out the gogos while they still exist. On subsequent visits it's worth branching out a bit.

they've been cracking down on Uber and Grab. Most likely it's just low season

because if there's something BKK needs more of it's condos and shopping malls

I saw this news yesterday. I will be there in November so I am hoping the crematorium will be open to the public. I saw the one for his sister several years ago and it was really beautiful. This should be even grander. It will certainly be a historic event

I love Taiwan in general. Taipei is great city. Very easy to get around. The rest of the island has some beautiful scenery.

thanks for posting this. I had no idea this was going on

It's often said that most sex worker clients are Thais, not foreigners. So, I'm not sure what effect this would have on tourism in any case. More supply doesn't necessarily mean more demand. It just drives down (theoretically) prices until and unless demand does catch up to supply. At least that's basic economic theory. But I don't know that that's ever applied in Thailand.

if they have a big following, getting tickets can be difficult. The entire Japanese concert ticketing process is byzantine and weird. But there are services to help if you need a ticket but aren't in the fan club.

HKG has a plethora of male massage spas. Prices certainly higher than Thailand but not outrageous. On my most recent visit I had a good time at Aloha Spa. I was only in town for 24 hours though so I didn't have time to explore the scene much. Taipei also has a number of male spas with lots of cute guys. The apps are pretty popular there as well. And Foutainhall has told us about his experiences at the hot springs there. Indonesia the apps were also pretty popular when I was there...at least on Bali anyway. Met a MB on Grindr there. Lots of guys on GR as well in Jakarta and elsewhere. Headed to Seoul in a few weeks. It will be interesting to check things out there. Looks like there is a handful of massage places there. Prices similar to HKG, Taipei, Singapore. I haven't encountered anywhere in SE Asia that is like Bangkok or Pattaya, really.

I agree that could be a great location for them. You have the people who like to hang out at Soi 4 who might pop in to take a look since it's right there.

I don't necessarily agree with regard to facilities. If you just want a quick rub and then sex, sure. But personally I much prefer a proper massage table for my massages. I find that much more comfortable. And some massage shops have very nice rooms. Plus your sheets, towels, etc. won't get oily or "dirty" if you go to a shop.

I like your style. And your taste in boys.

I stayed at the Crowne Plaza Lumpini on my last visit and seem to recall the bed there was pretty comfy. The only thing I didn't like was having to take two elevators every time I arrived and left. Location is great though right at the corner of Silom and Rama 4. Siri Sathorn I mentioned above was always pretty good too. And the Grand Hyatt. I found the beds at Tarntawan like concrete the one time I stayed there long ago. And the Triple Two Silom was the same. I'm trying out the Continent Hotel near Terminal 21 when I am in town in a few weeks.

at home less often than monthly, but not never traveling...depends where I am and what else I am doing. If I am not touring around and just taking it easy probably every few days in Thailand. In other places it depends somewhat on the going rate where I happen to be. But when I was in HK a few months ago I did 2 on a 24 hour layover. As for bed vs table, I'll take a table 10 times out of 10. On a bed I have to twist my neck into an uncomfortable position that is not conducive to a good massage. If all you want is sex, then I suppose a bed is better. But if you want a proper massage I don't see how you can get one without a table

apparently there is a big party in the works https://www.travelgayasia.com/event/formosa-2017/ (I asked about which NY since there are so many...Chinese NY, Thai NY, NY NY...)

which new year?

Not necessarily expensive. I use miles for my flights. Hotels can be cheap or expensive depending on what you need.

Get Global Entry and you never have to talk to US Immigration. No one really ever asks me. Sometimes my mother will ask if I haven't already seen everything there. But she has never been interested in travel herself so I think the fact that I love to travel is odd to her. I typically combine Thailand with at least one other destination. But I don't go more than once a year or every other year. It's a big world with lots of places to see.

I used Blurb for several years to make hardcover photobooks after my trips. I went for the big format "coffee table" size. They are very nice to have but they take up a lot of room at that size. So I've skipped the last few trips. I also shoot with Olympus OM-D cameras now so they are much smaller as are the lenses. So it's not a hardship to carry my gear around like it was when I was shooting Nikon.

If you haven't already booked hotels it might be too late. Myanmar has a real shortage of decent hotels, hence the high prices as noted above. The balloon ride in Bagan was definitely one of the highlights of my trip and worth every penny to me. I guess there are several balloon companies now. I presume they are all offering pretty much the same product. The sky looks really crowded in the recent photos I have seen. We lucked out the morning I was there and had a flight that lasted about 1:15 due to light winds. The captain mentioned that most flights are :45-1:00 Frankly 5 days is barely any time at all by the time you factor in travel between places. Personally I would wait until I had enough time to really do the country justice. Or limit yourself to two places. I don't know exactly how much damage was done in the recent earthquake that appeared to knock down a lot of the monuments at Bagan. I spent close to 3 weeks when I went. It's been a few years since I was there. Internet was generally terrible and almost unusable in most places in those days. But I presume things have improved some since then. I believe there are ATMs there now, but having relatively new USD is a a good idea in general. I really enjoyed Inle Lake much more than I expected to. It was cool and crisp when I was there. Being in the mountains was nice after spending a couple of weeks in the tropical heat. For me Mandalay was the least interesting of the places I went. Here's a link to a trip report I did for FlyerTalk

I mostly shoot scenery... buildings, landscapes that sort of stuff. But also lots of nature, insects and wildlife. I don't do a lot of "street" or people shots. And I never photograph my romantic partners unless they specifically ask me to. But I would never share them without permission. I also usually end up with a few thousand shots on a trip. But a lot of them are the same subject just from different angles or HDR sequences. On my recent trip to Sri Lanka I think it was something like 3000 shots in a little under 3 weeks. Culling and editing does take some work. Some one else used to claim they limited themselves to something like 5 or 10 pictures a day which they further limited to just a few from a whole trip. I never personally saw the point of that. Some days will be more photogenic than others so why artificially limit yourself? But to each, his own.

Yeah, I'm not sure that finding a connection in a massage shop is especially likely. While some guys are more interactive or chatty than others, I think it's always a bit of a crap shoot. And guys come and go at a lot of places. I think DM's advice is spot on. That's not to say I haven't had some very good experiences at a variety of places. But I've had mediocre experiences at the same places. I go to Prime if I am mainly just looking for a good massage. The guys there are pretty well trained. But if it's really busy (as it tends to be) you don't really get to choose your guy. On my last visit the masseur was not necessarily some one I would have chosen myself. The massage was fine, but he wanted to do other things and I just wanted a massage so it was a bit of an uncomfortable situation. I had quite good luck at Banana last time I was in BKK which was right before they moved to their new location. I haven't been there since they moved. Lots of guys on PlanetRomeo and the apps. I've had lots of guys message me on Grindr, Hornet, etc who claimed to be masseurs. I generally prefer a massage shop that has proper massage tables. There used to be an excellent website that reviewed all sorts of massage places. But the author simply disappeared a few years ago. Some one will remember the name of it...not that it matters since it's gone now. It had a ton of great info.