nrasmussen

Yes, that was something that they introduced sometime last year. They required one of the following documents to be shown on a video call: - Work permit - Alien identity card - House registration - Driving license - Student certification letter I used my Thai driver's license.

And that would be AirAsia.

Apparently my problem seems to be my inability to be understood correctly. To clarify my original comment: While I'm perfectly aware of foreign travel advisories recommending that the southern provinces should be avoided, I do find it hard to believe that the Thai government should have issued warnings that tourists should not travel to Hat Yai.

"[...] the Thai government has warned tourists not to travel to [...] Hat Yai". Really? I find that hard to believe.

I agree completely. I've been living in Hat Yai since 2015 and never felt anything but safe.

I stand corrected. In that case I'm very much looking forward to reading the crash investigation report.

The most recent items valued above ฿1500 that I bought from Lazada and Shopee were ฿7700 (shipping ฿52) and ฿13000 (free shipping), respectively. They were both shipped from Hong Kong and arrived without any duty, tax or fee to be paid.

So how much personnel do you think it would take to gather and safely escort some 160 people in darkness and rain to the terminal building? Based on the level of complaining by some passengers for having to sit and wait for just one hour, just imagine the outcry on social media if instead they had been forced outside and herded like cattle in the pouring rain. If anyone is to blame it would be the airport for taking too long to get adequate transportation available.

Having passengers running around in the dark and rain, tripping over runway and taxiway lights and signs and other installations, possibly falling into ditches, and even risking getting hit by emergency vehicles, are accidents waiting to happen. Taking all this into consideration, the captain's decision was obviously to not let the passengers out until he was confident that it could be done safely; I will be very surprised if the investigation report will say otherwise.

For a captain the safety of the passengers is more important than not inconveniencing them. It seems like he handled the situation correctly and made the right decisions that resulted in no one getting injured.

Absolutely. I would trust the captain to make the decisions necessary to ensure the safety of everyone. If he unnecessarily had ordered an emergency evacuation into the dark and rain it is likely that there would have been injuries.

Since there wasn't any fire there was no need for an emergency evacuation. An evacuation has the risk of people getting injured (happens frequently), so it's only done if necessary. If I had been a passenger on that flight I would certainly have appreciated that I was able to remain safely seated instead of having been forced outside in the dark and the rain.

I had a similar experience at the regional tax office in Hat Yai. I even had a letter in English from my home country bank stating that they required a Thai Tax Identification Number (TIN), but the answer was that if I was not due any tax in Thailand I could not get a TIN issued. Later I found out that I could get withholding tax from my Thai bank refunded. So going back to the tax office armed with the appropriate document from the Thai bank I was finally able to obtain a TIN.

It would certainly be convenient if they could manage to make a combination flu/COVID-19 shot.

Very strange that they want to transfer the refund to your bank account. Every time I have had a refund they just put it back on my credit card within a few days.

Songkhla Immigration in Hat Yai requires advance booking through the LINE app.

Out comes the straw man; I think we're done here.

Prepping for the worst by having weapons in one's home is living in fear in my book.

That may very well be true, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it, and I'm definitely not going to add to the craziness myself.

Keeping weapons in the car? You must be joking, surely.

Kind of unsettling that so many people apparently live in fear in their own home and feel that they need to have weapons to protect themselves.

In my home country the law simply specifies that it is illegal to park closer than 5 m to a pedestrian crossing, and we do have proper driver's education, so no need for ugly zig-zag lines.