tso310

3 minutes ago, mrfill said:

So, very easy to check the number of excess deaths compared to a 5 year average then.

1st March - 31 May the figure was 2316 (reported covid deaths 57)

Plus road deaths were at an unprecedented low.

I've posted this in another thread but I think its of more interest here. This is from the Thai Embassy's facebook page which I don't think has been posted here. These clinics will also issue a fit to fly certificate for an additional fee.

On 8/14/2020 at 3:39 PM, Jumbo1968 said:

I thought you had to submit the Fit to Fly Cert. before the Embassy would give you a COE .

There was a list of 5 clinics that the Thai Embassy London put out that would do the Covid-19 test and issue a fit to fly certificate. 

So where are the honorary consuls and what services can they perform ?

I am hearing that these seats are not being readvertised. Is this true ?

7 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

 

Were the flights otherwise fully booked and people couldn't get on ?

The flights are heavily overbooked.

Many Thais also died working on the Burma railroad. 

I've seen an American but this was a couple of years ago. 

35 minutes ago, SVC Porter said:

Economy seat £780

Business£2900

ASQ £1500+

 

They can get in the sea! lol  Are the International schools going to foot this bill?

This has been discussed in the Thai Visa section. I know some of the English teachers in the state schools of the small dusty southern Buriram town we are in and there is no way they, the teachers, could afford it and I doubt that state schools would be allowed to pay. Even some of the small private schools in this type of province wouldn't have the resources to stump up the money for ASQs.

Another aspect that is not known is how many existing teachers returned back to Europe when the schools shut and how many were told contract were being terminated and thus left the country. I don't think anyone expected the international quarantine to last as how long it has.

10 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

Worth noting the scale there is logarithmic.

Correct and UK is total test performed not individual people. However the basic question is answered. How do you detect Covid-19 within the population. Certainly not by reducing the number of tests and how many of the tests have been performed at Suvarnabhumi and of people in ASQs and SQs ? With the Thai level of testing are you surprised that no new positives are being found in the community. 

Special flight from London announced a couple of days ago. This flight is not for Thais. Thais cannot register for this flight.

23 minutes ago, Graemej100 said:

Of course this is great news but I am perplexed and I hope someone here will be able to answer these two simple questions.

Does Thailand do random testing and are there testing stations for the public in Thailand. (I have not seen any.)

I would imagine if the answer to these questions is 'no' then the data that is being published is not factual and is just the usual face saving.

If the answers are 'yes' then......WELL DONE THAILAND!

The Thai data comes from the Department for Disease Control. The UK data is from UK government Covid-19 site. The population difference of the 2 countries is approximately 5% and these are the 2 most relevant countries on this web site.

4 hours ago, KhaoYai said:

Yes but is that a repat flight?  My Mrs says some Thai's in the UK that were previously given repat flights on EVA have been told they are now cancelled and they have to re-book with Thai.  If that's true - good luck getting a refund from EVA.

BR67 is a normal scheduled flight. BR68 LHR-TPE direct. Seems to be once a week currently. Yes EVA did do some repat flights. Through April there frequency dropped down. There was a rumour going round some of the Thai community that Thai were initially unable to perform the repat flights due to non payment of existing fuel contracts. It might be true or complete rubbish. 

1 hour ago, Robin said:

I made the mistake of coming to UK last month, expecting restrictions to be ended soon.  Now it seems that I could be stuck here until after Christmas.  At least I have my own place in UK so no hotel bills.

Why cannot the Thai government adopt the procedures that the UK has;  Give details of your self quarantine before you arrive, and you have to stay there in isolation for 14 days.  But Thailand has always to make things difficult for foreigners.

I should have known better than to expect Thailand to adopt aa sensible pragmatic approach.

I think the answer might well be that testing for Covid-19 in the provinces particularly away from Bangkok is not possible. Its only recently that ASQs in Buriram, 1 hotel, and Phuket, 3 hotels, have been added. I suspect point 6 has been a difficult criteria for these hotels to fulfill. Btw why Buriram ? Can I suggest its to do with the Bhumjaithai Party and who the de-facto leader is and who the current leader is. 

The nature of Alternative State Quarantine must consist of 6 main components:

• Section 1 Building Structure, Security Engineering and Information Communication System
• Section 2 Personnel (must be trained before performing work)
• Section 3 Supplies, office equipment and others
• Section 4 Medicines, Medical Supplies and Personal Protective Equipment
• Chapter 5 Environmental Management And friendly to the community
• Chapter 6 Hospital Partners, Joint Operations and Additional Convenience

I know a family who went to France a week ago. They knew this was probably going to happen and were not bothered as they were working from home.  I noticed that there are still plenty of flights, well Easyjet and Ryanair, between the UK and Spain. Currently about 6 in UK airspace returning from Spain and Portugal.

3 hours ago, KhaoYai said:

 

Does anyone know if the 3 August flights from London on Thai Airways were the only 3 or were they in addition to the usual EVA flights? I'm guessing they replaced the EVA flights?

 

 

3 flights per month is the norm. EVA fly directly back to Taipei and the flight is currently only once a week. The next BR67 flight is 16 August.

Just to remind people this flight is not for Thais.

1 hour ago, beano2274 said:

all flight booking sites still have flights from Europe to Thailand and vice versa available, but the reality is that none are flying, the only airline that will be making any money will be Thai Airways, which if I am not mistaken is now mostly owned by the Thai Government!!!!! Great impartial work from the Government,,,,,,

Hang on, Thai Air making money ! Actually the Thai Government gave up its majority share holding on May 27 https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30388364 this allowed it to go into protective bankruptcy.

3 hours ago, SnipTheCat said:

In my case it was a Boeing 787 from Amsterdam to Bangkok, operated by KLM, I did a quick count and there were about 30 seats in business 8 x 4 and there were 2 missing seats on the last row in center.

Thanks for the update. I know Thai have used EVA from London, I saw a video of a flight on the Thai Embassy London Facebook page. Videos on check in, arrival at Bangkok. Actually quite informative which surprised me. 

18 minutes ago, SnipTheCat said:

Economy seats are given in priority to Thai people, so expect to be asked to take a Business class seat. In my repatriation flight, there were ~300 passengers, I would say 270 Thais and 30 foreigners, all foreigners except for a couple and a family with 2 kids were in Business class.

Nearly correct. They have been using their A350-900s. The booking systems for repat flights are 5 business, 255 economy. The A350 is the most efficient and is being used also to Copenhagen. There have been attempts, as posted in the Thai News section in July from The Nation, to increase the number of flights from London but obviously to no avail.

The BKK-LHR flights were bookable

https://www.thaiairways.com/en_TH/book/offers/special_offers/bkk-lhr.page

Whats annoying is that back in April the Germans repatriated 30,000 of their citizens from New Zealand over about a 10 day period. I posted about this back then. Loads of pics from NZ aircraft enthusiasts as Lufthansa A380s and B747-8s were first time visitors to NZ.

6 hours ago, Aussie Col said:

The junta have no business acumen, so are as much use as chocolate teapot when it comes to sorting out the countries problems.

Well they certainly know about investing in high quality wrist watches. 2nd hand market is always strong.

TAT have been running the new 'Amazing Thailand' ads on UK TV for about 3 weeks now. Obviously getting ready for the return of long haul flights to pre Covid-19 levels. 2023 according to most analysts and airline CEOs. You just have to look at the demise of the B747-400s and A340-600s that are being retired, A380s going into long term storage plus deferments of new B787s and A350s. 

The list is up to 38 hotels now so they are being added to every week. Not sure who is using them unless its Thais not wanting to stay in state quarantine hotels or husbands flying with wives. Is it still the Ambassador on Sukhumvit and some place in Jomtien for the government ones ?

Getting enough rain now is not the problem, its getting enough to refill the reservoirs and the underground aquifers for the winter. Looking at the figures on Thaiwater.net for the major reservoirs, Nang Rong (Buriram province) is a disaster but Ubon looks far better. 

Any reports whether the cows were using their mobile phones at the time ?