sandyf

I asked the question and don't need any more info. Maybe the admin can transfer the notifications to you.

Not according to the keyboard warriors, but as far as they are concerned nobody can do anything right in Thailand. Like everywhere else there is good and bad and the electrician we use is excellent, far neater and more logical than you see in the UK. Bodgit & Scarper are very well known in the west. I suspect there is more to this than the media have indicated.

Yes there has been a lot of new developments go up since I first came. Mikes was about the only one in the old days and they had no toilets on the ground floor.

How can a country that claims to be the most advanced in the world start shouting election fraud every 4 years. The world shakes it's head in amazement.

When I first came to Thailand in 1999 toilets were a lot scarcer and more disgusting than they are now. I spent some time looking around hotels asking prices and using the toilet, whether necessary or not. When out and about if nature called could just walk straight into a hotel knowing where to go.

The OP was resolved back in January, would think it is time to close the thread.

You are right in one respect, no country is a dictator, only the people in charge. Both the US and European countries have had dictators in their history, and the US may well be in line for another.

I am quite familiar with Zimbabwe, I was an RAF apprentice when Ian Smith declared UDI, all the Rhodesian apprentices lost their passports and were deported. Lost count on the number of times the Zimbabwe currency has been redenominated. I am too old to get concerned over things that may never happen, particularly when I have little to lose. Man has been trading since he first walked the earth and that is never going to change.

Indeed, I have done A gate to C gate on the bus, through immigration twice, real PIA. Came back on Monday and that was B to C, still involved walking about a mile.

Quite. A friend of mine came with Turkish earlier in the year. He is in his 70s and has mobility issues but thought it much better than the main terminal. Coming with Qatar this weekend, could be a bit disappointed.

Never going to happen, there is always the option of redenomination. Currency will always have a value. A few years back Turkey turned 1 million lira into 1 lira overnight.

I came back Monday evening and not very busy at foreign passports. I use Thai passports and nobody waiting. Getting the bag was a different matter, a bit chaotic in reclaim hall, I came off a 380 and seemed to take forever.

Here in Chonburi there was only the dry season and the wet season. When I first come here the dry season usually followed Loy Krathong and lasted till April/May time, sometimes even into June. In recent years however we have started to see rain in Jan/Feb. We don't have mains water, just use stored rainwater, so the change is quite beneficial.

A few more lessons and you may see the difference between "checked" and automatic gate control.

Apologies, appears English is not your first language.

Wrong, my boarding pass was not checked before going to the auto gate. Second comment also wrong, NOBODY gets an exit stamp from an auto gate.

Why get hot under the collar over something that has not been said. The OP does not say that there will no longer be a boarding pass. The OP implies that facial recognition will replace a function currently provided by the boarding pass. Many airports now require passengers to scan a barcode on the boarding pass to get to security area, a funcion that could be replaced by facial recognition. When I left Thailand a couple of weeks ago there was no boarding card check prior to security, although there has been in the past. Maybe they have already run down the staff. Some years ago I flew with Easyjet and they had no boarding passes. You were given a queue number at the gate and took the first available seat. No wrong seats to worry about.

Not when I left earlier this month, went through an auto gate using facial recognition. IO looked a bit puzzled when I came back, no exit stamp.

Doesn't pay to believe media headlines.

You should be more careful on what you say, how false information is spread. Your words "Most of the fees and surcharges are airline generated, and not government." The IATA code list shows over 90% of surcharges applied to fares are paid to governments. People are free to request a detailed breakdown from the airline if they get hot under the collar. Do you really believe that the Thai airlines do not follow the IATA guidelines even though committed to do so.

Quite, it is problematic for airline surcharges to be selective. The only one I am aware of is the UK's Air Passenger Duty which is based on ticket fare class, something the airline can recognise. Passengers nationality and visa status are non starters.

You need to explain how that works at land borders. The air tickets have been done to death, any online approach could only be done through the embassies/consulates such as ETA and tourist visa fees. The end result could well be manual collection by some other means, like you get in other countries.

People are free to imagine what they want, not going to change anything. Tourist tax is not unique to Thailand, you can't always get what you want and sooner or later they will follow the leaders.

You are wrong, the codes are applicable whether identified or not, and if you looked at the list there are very few paid to the airline, mainly those that were once referred to as fuel adjustments.

That is not true, my niece did her BA in clinical medicine at university in China. What they do have to do is part of the final year as an intern at a hospital in Thailand before they can apply for a licence to practice in Thailand. Covid started during her internship and as she could speak Chinese was seconded to do assessments on the Chinese tourists at the time.