FlyingThai

The general rule for most if not all countries is that you HAVE to enter on your passport of local nationality (if any). You can leave the country on whatever passport you wish.

16 hours ago, CNX69 said:

Will he lose his Thai medical coverage? His wife was retired government teacher 

 

I was able to transfer all her money to his name only personal KasiKorn bank account. 

Are you the manager of her estate? I'd be extremely careful about initiating any funds transfers from a deceased persons banks accounts to whomever. Even with a will it takes just one jealous and disgruntled relative to cause a lot of problems.

5 hours ago, DouglasTsui said:

replying to Jack54,  Why would they ask for TM30? UNless you're a Landlord yourself, CW won't be asking you to begin with. 

For the first visa (Tourist Visa to TE) at CW you definitely have to provide your TM.30 that's well documented. I stayed at a local hotel and had them provide me a document. No problems. Simple one year extension not sure, never had that case.

Why doesn't the OP or his friend contact the morons at TE and have the concierge take care of it?

9 minutes ago, Maestro said:

 

Bank interest rates are near zero. Hopefully, they don't go and gamble with the money in casinos or the stock market.

Bank interest rates are zero but that won't help you if you can't find bank to lend you money. And no bank will lend money to airlines right now, only governments do in form of bailouts. Some airlines like IAG have raised cash by issuing more stock.

Lufthansa Group was totally on it's ass a few months ago having exhausted all avenues. Banks wouldn't lend them any more money and they were short of going into administration before the German/Austrian/Swiss and Belgian government provided bailouts.

5 hours ago, KhaoNiaw said:

Which means prohibited from entering or taking up residence in the Kingdom.

If it's as well enforced as Elephantiasis just ask the German Beggar if they ever denied him. ????

4 hours ago, greggraham said:

You should have your passport at all times. 

True in theory but impossible in practice if you use an agent. They will keep the passport and give you a copy until the process is completed. Meanwhile the passport will go "on tour" to whatever immigration office they are using.

2 minutes ago, Maestro said:

A quick web search brought up this link with helpful information about a person's rights with regard to the cancellation of a flight of an EU airline departing from or arriving in an EU country.

Having rights and enforcing them are unfortunately two different things. Most airlines are simply ignoring legitimate passenger requests at the moment. If you incur damages you have to sue them or file an official complaint with the national regulator. The courts already have tens of thousands of cases and will be busy for years.

12 minutes ago, Maestro said:

I am not sure how it is with flights from Thailand, but I believe an EU law or decree compels airlines to rebook you on a new flight with its own or with another airline for any cancelled flight terminating in an EU country. Perhaps somebody knowledgeable with this legislation will come and post a link to it.

EC261/2004 has in part been paused during the pandemic but the airlines still have duty of care. Since we're within a week of departure the airline is responsible for providing a rebooking. The OP should contact the Austrian Airlines reservation office demanding the change. But by the book he has to contact the travel agent and they have to do it.

11 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

You figure they're making money on the float?

 

They're tracking demand this way. The entire Lufthansa Group does this and there have already been police reports and lawsuits in Germany against this practice. Lufthansa just ignores it and continues, this way they get a free loan for several weeks.

Just now, Maestro said:

Even when you book a flight through a travel agent, is it not usually the airline that informs the traveller directly changes or cancellations of a flight?

No the airline will send a system message to the issuing agent who then informs the customer.

More often than not the airline doesn't even have proper or current contact information for the passenger when booked via OTA unless the frequent flyer number is in the system.

Interestingly enough I just tried a dummy booking on OS website and they would sell flights for the 25th SEP.

3 minutes ago, Maestro said:

 

Take immediate action to block the card issuer's payment to Gotogate. The credit card company probably has on online form for this.

You can't "block" a payment that has already been authorized and processed. Your only course of action if a payment has posted is a chargeback pending investigation by the bank and merchant.

1 minute ago, Dellamorte said:

I've already tried with my credit card company. They are on the case, but they told me that a chargeback would probably take around 15 days.

 

According to Google Flights the flights existed, also on Austrian's website, but at the Austrian website it said that the tickets could only be booked via phone. I thought that was some technical issue, so that's why I used Gotogate. Never again.

Good luck! Hopefully they'll find a solution. Austrian has a reservation office in Bangkok as well, you could call there tomorrow if you can get through. Or email: [email protected]

A chargeback will always take up to three months for final resolution because the merchant has several weeks to reply to the case. Ideally they'd auto cancel before it even tickets and the authorization would just drop off.

2 minutes ago, Dellamorte said:

Yes, normally I always book directly through the airline's website. In this case there some (technical?) issues on Austrian Airlines' website which made the flight unavailable for online booking. On Austrian's website I was prompted to call them to book the tickets, but when calling I could not get through, even after long waiting on the line. So then I decided to do it through the travel agency listed on Google Flights.

 

Gotogate has been around for many years, so I didn't expect any trouble, but I obviously regret it now. I see on different webpages that a lot of people have recently had similar experiences with Gotogate.com. They cancel your ticket short time after they've been booked, blaming it on Covid, and then just hold on to the money, not answering mails, phone, etc.

 

 

There is unfortunately no way to rebook to another flight. They only provided one option: to ask for a refund. Seems very dubious, more like a scam really. But pretty f****d up in this already difficult situation.

And you didn't think that error on the OS website was suspicious? It emulated because these OS flights don't exist.

Did you actually get ticket numbers or just a reservation code? Without ticket numbers no payment has been taken yet, just an authorization.

Try it for a long time to reach the OTA (G2G) or call the Austrian Airlines hotline, asking them for irregular operations handling and the Lufthansa rebooking. What date is your flight?

14 hours ago, Mormolin said:

Have to leave too...

Leaving girlfriend behind. She can't even come with me to Canada because of closed border.

Canada does allow non-citizen common law spouses and other categories such as caregivers and tutors to enter the country but assuming she is Thai that might be a visa issue. She doesn't have a valid tourist visa right now?

That's not a good idea at all you should extend your visa while still on the amnesty.

You can always pay an overstay fine at the END of your trip when departing or get another extension.

35 minutes ago, Caldera said:

Their desire to charge 40 Euro seems to outweigh any other concerns, which is insane considering that there's not a lot of time left.

Totally in line with their usual approach to service and problem solving. Useless!

Doesn't make any sense. You can invest a tiny amount into a business together with a partner and would be eligible for a work permit. Someone who has a million dollar square to play around doesn't need a work permit in Thailand of all places.

5 minutes ago, GeorgeCross said:

 

they had the capacity during the Big Joke era. there was almost daily press conferences of them literally rounding up 100s per day. trust me if they decide thats what is going to happen then that is what is going to happen. 

 

Hard to justify during an ongoing health crisis but yeah, all this is purely theoretical. Looking forward to watch the developments though.

8 minutes ago, thai999 said:

I got an appointment already. They needed 5 days for giving an answer and now thanks to them the time is so close. I live in Isaan, for me it’s over 500km to Bangkok, which is the nearest Embassy. Can only fly. Taxi will take to long.

We are just like a dog for them, I hate them. 

If you need any help send me a PM I don't live too far from the Embassy. Never expressed anything within Thailand so not sure how reliable that service is to reach you within 24h.

20 minutes ago, tabbycat said:

Again, if this results in a terrible PR crisis for the Thai government & police rounding up thousands of tourists on overstay, I expect the amnesty to re-start very shortly afterwards ????

They have no capacity for rounding up thousands of tourists on overstay so as much as those still here when the amnesty expires deserve to get their wrists slapped I highly doubt anything is going to happen.

There won't be any "PR crisis" either. After all the blame for people not being able to get an extension even on tourist visas solely lies with their own embassies that refused to issue them letters.

43 minutes ago, jonga80 said:

Thai Visa Centre offered me Volunteer Visa 3 months 25k and one year 35k, that was 2 months ago. But maybe now is more expensive. 

The 1 year option is only available if you currently have a Non-Imm visa in your passport. Otherwise (like from an Exempt Stamp on Amnesty) they can only do the 15 month one.