soi3eddie

7 hours ago, webfact said:

Bangkok Biz News reported that the Thai Foreign Ministry was acting on calls from the Prime Minister to increase the number of foreign tourists by relaxing entry requirements.

Seem's to me that they are running out of ideas and starting to mildly panic as the economic devastation sets in. Whilst what they really need to do is get the quarantine requirement down to no more than 5 days. That would be the tipping point for many wishing to visit. After all if you've spent a day (or 2 days from North America) getting here than 2 of those quarantine 5 days would be welcome to catch up on sleep and relax. My mother is booked to visit from UK mid January for 18 days - BA haven't yet cancelled the flight - but the last thing she wants to do is quarantine. She might be pursuaded to do 5 days but not longer. 

8 hours ago, webfact said:

while Chiang Mai is the most popular destination among travellers.

Wrong. WAS the likely most popular destination until travellers cancelled due to Covid fears.

1 minute ago, GinBoy2 said:

Another piece of delusional TG thinking, that these aircraft have any resale possibilities.

 

There is a reason that this lovely airframe is already showing up in the scrap yards.

They are unprofitable for most airlines, and no secondary market has materialized.

 

But like with the A340-500's I'm sure they will just keep them on the books, confident that there is some stellar deal just around the corner

Essentially Thai Airways has no assets of any realisable value. At this stage further liabilities should be eliminated. They should sack all staff and rehire only the best and most reliable. Any future operations should be scaled down to likely profitable routes using only modern and fuel efficient twin jets. Stop all the freebie travel for staff and influential people as a first move. 

It seems Thai Airways has now added two A380s to the list of aircraft to be flogged off. 

https://www.executivetraveller.com/news/thai-airways-is-selling-off-two-of-its-airbus-a380s

6 minutes ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

Are you sure about that?

 

"Taxi passengers travelling to and from Don Mueang and Suvarnabhumi airports are now subject to a luggage charge."

 

It appears, they also charge for baggage when you are traveling to the airport.

It appears you are right in what was reported. Though, a few weeks ago I had two ladies stay with me in Bangkok who were going onwards to live overseas. They had shed loads of baggage including two huge and heavy cases. On getting a Meter Taxi the driver helped load the baggage and made no mention of any additional fare. I guess it depends on the driver. Apologies if my comment was misleading.

Thai Airways is wise to hold off until mass tourism returns. The routes Chiang Mai and Phuket are only realistic as subsidised feeder routes into their international connections of which there are currently none without severe restrictions. Nobody here is going to book Thai when domestic fares on Low Cost Carriers such as Nok, Air Asia, Thai Lion and Vietjet are so cheap. Besides; using B777 on routes such as these is insane and probably couldn't even cover costs if full in all classes.

Not surprised. My ex and her family are from Pak Poon district. I used to stay there a lot and bicycle these districts. Lots of waterways and very easy to flood as the rivers come down from the mountain to the low land on route to the sea. Some 10+ years ago brother-in-law was talking about setting up a crocodile farm (for the skins and meat). I don't see what the problem is, the locals will soon have the crocs on the BBQ. Nam Jim spicy sauce at the ready!

Another tragedy on Thailand's roads. CB150R so likely "boy racer" going too fast leading to lost control.

43 minutes ago, webfact said:

 

Meanwhile, Pol Colonel Sangkhom Tadso, chief of the Tak immigration police, has been transferred to another region for repeatedly failing in his job.

 

No sanctions or dismissal for repeated failure. Just moved to a different region to fail in his job there too.

20 minutes ago, Topcroc said:

I recently purchased a house with a stand-by Gen set. Battery was U/s so purchased new battery. As main power is pretty good gen set does not get to run very often.

I ran it about 6 weeks after new battery fitted and again a few weeks after.

Due lack of use new battery is dead. Have had on charger 24 hours set MIN charge and battery not accepting charge. Set on MAX 24 hours still not accepting charge.

Battery type is:FB Premium MF sealed 12 volt.

 

Any tricks available to solve issue or do I buy another one??

 

 

It's unusual for a battery to not "accept" a charge. Normally batteries take a charge but may not hold it for long. Have you got a multimeter to check battery voltage and charger output? That would be my first try. Batteries should be disconected from fitment circuit before charge. Some battery charges may not allow a charge if the battery voltage is below a certain threshold.  

32 minutes ago, keithet said:

I had to renew my passport a couple of years ago. My current license that will expire next month has my old passport number on it. 

 

My old and new passport have a stamp from imagration transferring old to new and new from old. Will this be a problem? Or can they update the new license with current info? 

Just be sure to take both old and new passport and it won't be a problem. They will then put new passport number on new licence.

I had a problem at Morchit DLT in 2017 when they wouldn't renew my driving licence because it had my old passport number on it. The hard faced madam on the desk was adamant "mai dai!" unless I could show the old passport (which was 6,000 miles away). I asked her to talk to a manager and still same. I asked to speak to manager myself and explained situation. She was very helpful and agreed that an emailed copy of the old passport would be acceptable. I had a scan of the old passport on my laptop so was then OK.

1 minute ago, Peter Denis said:

Yes, that's correct.  But unless he can make use of the Embassy issued income letter method, the financial requirements are way lower when applying for reason of marriage.  When using the funds-in-bank method opting for the retirement reason means you permanently park +400K on your Thai bank-account compared with the marriage extension.  So unless 400K THB is peanuts for you, the additional hassle by opting for a marriage extension is well worth it.

Didn't mention the financials as parking 800K permanently is no problem.

The turning point in Thailand opening borders to mainstream tourism without restrictions will be when Vietnam opens. Once Vietnam relaxes their tourism restrictions the Thai authorities will <deleted> themselves that another country may become more popular. To see how soon the Thai borders will open just watch Vietnam.  

2 hours ago, Peter Denis said:

When you apply for the 1-year extension based on your original Non Imm O-A Visa and you do this for a different reason than RETIREMENT (e.g. marriage, Thai dependent children, ...) the health-insurance requirement is NOT applicable.  So if he is in that case there is no need for him to convert to a Non Imm O Visa, a switch to a Non Imm O Visa would only be relevant if he can only apply for his Non Imm O-A based extension for reason of retirement (as that requires a mandatory Thai IO-approved health-insurance policy).

>> I compiled a comprehensive guideline document outlining all options/details on how to do that, just PM me if you want to receive a copy.

Thanks. Yes, no insurance requirement is why he converted to marriage extension. Next year he will convert extension to straight non-o retirement with no insurance. Why not stay on marriage? Because the renewal is easier on non-o retirement (no visits etc.). 

Wasn't expecting to see Scott Mallon running but could have been entertaining. I think he would claim the title of the original "An American in Bangkok" though.

<deleted> me is it 1st April already?

On 12/7/2020 at 11:43 AM, Caldera said:

As long as quarantine remains as it is, the "convenience" of the visa application process hardly matters - you either have the time and the money to be able to afford 14 days in quarantine or you don't. And even most of those who do might still not consider it worth the trouble!

 

So true. Right on point. Unless quarantine comes down to 5 days then don't expect many more "tourists". Until then the Thai government and tourism authorities can dream on.

12 hours ago, kiwikeith said:

As most expats are on retirement OA and many are over 76 they will be the most effected, even if you are under 76 you will still need to have COVID-19 insurance from a Thai company when you renew your visa. 

Really? I don't think that most expats are on OA retirement. From the many foreign people I have met recently they are either on: non-o marriage, non-o retirement, non-o supporting Thai children, tourist visa amnesty or B Visas. Only 1 or 2 out of many dozens I met are on OA. In fact, I know one OA who just converted to marriage this year and will convert again to non-o next year - just to avoid the insurance issues. 

How about a Thai Visa poll; Question: Are you on Non-O retirement, Non-O marriage, Non-O Thai children, OA retirement, OX retirement, B Visa etc.? Would be interesting to see the proportions of those of us here on TV in the different categories.

7 hours ago, jomtienisgood said:

And they are lucky EU doesn't hold a grudge concerning Brexit.....

555 Are you kidding? Certainly the main EU players really do hold a grudge against the UK Brexiting. France is tied in knots worried about where they can get fish from. Very little territorial waters and fish stocks for the French compared to the UK (as it currently stands until Scotland leave the UK). The EU will miss the UK financial contributions and they hate us. How dare we divorce their BS nonsense! No wonder the majority in UK who voted, voted for Brexit. 40 years too long.

24 minutes ago, mrmicbkktxl said:

I want to buy a new water pump but I actually have no idea which brand or models are good. I saw Mitsubishi (AUTOMATIC PUMP MITSUBISHI EP-305 R 300W) at Home Pro 7190bt.

Question is that a good pump?Right now we have a Hitachi P250GX2 and I'm unhappy with it, a lot of problems with air and it's very noisy,also pressure in 1st floor not really strong.Open for suggestions,thanks.

I installed the Mitsu EP305 contsant pressure pump last year at GF's house in Buriram. Fed it off a storage tank and I have to say the pressure was immense. Good things about these pumps are that they are relatively quiet and there is no pulsing of the water flow. First time I installed such and I was highly impressed. Shop around at other "sheds" such as Global Home or Thai Watsadu and you find same item for lower price.