Alex wrote: ↑Wed Dec 22, 2021 12:08 pm Well that was short-lived, but I'm not surprised. To me it just confirms that you cannot make any plans, as things can and do change quite literally over night.

ExPenhMan wrote: ↑Wed Dec 22, 2021 3:34 pm

Alex wrote: ↑Wed Dec 22, 2021 12:08 pm Well that was short-lived, but I'm not surprised. To me it just confirms that you cannot make any plans, as things can and do change quite literally over night.

Yes, indeed. A pile of people in my condo just flew out to the UK, US, France and elsewhere the last few days for the holiday period, some of them teachers due to return early January. They're screwed If the gov extends the suspension period, which I think is a given.

Oops, it just hit me, as I write this in Pattaya, where I am for a week. What if Bangkok or Chonburi locks down?

Cowshed Cowboy wrote: ↑Thu Dec 23, 2021 12:14 am

ExPenhMan wrote: ↑Wed Dec 22, 2021 3:34 pm

Alex wrote: ↑Wed Dec 22, 2021 12:08 pm Well that was short-lived, but I'm not surprised. To me it just confirms that you cannot make any plans, as things can and do change quite literally over night.

Yes, indeed. A pile of people in my condo just flew out to the UK, US, France and elsewhere the last few days for the holiday period, some of them teachers due to return early January. They're screwed If the gov extends the suspension period, which I think is a given.

Oops, it just hit me, as I write this in Pattaya, where I am for a week. What if Bangkok or Chonburi locks down?

A Christsmas sesh in the Buakhow/Lk Metro area ?

The largest European travel company, TUI Nordic, has reportedly cancelled chartered flights scheduled to bring some 30,000 tourists to Phuket from December to April next year.

“The company’s announcement came on December 25, a couple of days after the government suspended the Test & Go scheme, which allows registrants to enter Thailand without having to quarantine,” Angkhana Thaneswisetkul, president of Phuket Hotels Association (Kata and Karon), said on Sunday.

The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration announced that no new Thailand Pass applications would be accepted from December 22 midnight. The aim is to curb Omicron infections and the situation will be re-evaluated on January 4.

In case the Thailand Pass and entry process wasn’t complicated enough with enough forms for you, the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand has added a public health form required for all international passengers to Phuket to fill out before being allowed to get off the plane. The new rule, a Notice to Pilots, was published in Thai only yesterday afternoon and shared late last night by the Public Relations Department of Phuket.

“Today (24 Dec 2021), the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) has issued a pilot announcement (NOTAM) informing airlines around the world that it is compulsory to distribute documents for entering the country from the plane and inform passengers to have the completed entry documents ready before leaving the plane. Because there are still international passengers who have been approved to travel to Thailand, therefore to reduce congestion in the airport and to comply with disease control measures… [airlines must] hand out public health forms and the form of entry into the country from the plane, such as the consent form for the second test for Covid-19 by RT-PCR method, for passengers to complete.”

UPDATE: Yesterday it was reported that Europe’s largest travel firm TUI Nordic announced it had cancelled scheduled chartered flights to Phuket from December to April next year. We’ve since been contacted by TUI Nordic to say that the information, originally published by The Nation, was incorrect.

A Phuket representative was quoted originally, but the Senior Product Manager of TUI Nordic, Pontus Svensson, says that TUI Nordic will continue services into Phuket, and also, because of the changes to the government’s Test and Go arrival program, happily reroute TUI passengers through Phuket, where the Sandbox Program is still accepting applications.

“Customers that have booked holidays outside of Phuket, will be contacted and offered to change their holiday to Phuket instead – and for the ones that had time to fill in Thailand Pass before the restrictions changed, their holiday remains unchanged.”

ExPenhMan wrote: ↑Mon Dec 27, 2021 3:49 pm

Headline: 30,000 European tourists cancel yearend trip to Phuket

The largest European travel company, TUI Nordic, has reportedly cancelled chartered flights scheduled to bring some 30,000 tourists to Phuket from December to April next year.

“The company’s announcement came on December 25, a couple of days after the government suspended the Test & Go scheme, which allows registrants to enter Thailand without having to quarantine,” Angkhana Thaneswisetkul, president of Phuket Hotels Association (Kata and Karon), said on Sunday.

The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration announced that no new Thailand Pass applications would be accepted from December 22 midnight. The aim is to curb Omicron infections and the situation will be re-evaluated on January 4.

More gobbledygook, blah blah blah -- if you care:
https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/40010466