khunjeff

Glad to see they're focusing on only the most important crimes 🙄

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

an inspection [] revealed...that out of 228 escalators, 47 were found non-operational, and 22 out of 133 elevators were also not functioning

It took a special inspection to notice that 69 escalators and elevators were out of order?!?

4 hours ago, Cabradelmar said:

This new scheme covers anyone injured (without insurance) or killed, though a nominal tourist tax on all tourists

The much-discussed tourist tax is not mentioned anywhere in the article - this appears to be a separate scheme.

9 hours ago, ChaiyaTH said:

Why are the few rare foreigners not paying, a huge threat to the healthcare system

They're not. Even if you believed all the stories about non-paying tourists (mostly generated by one particular director of one particular hospital on one particular island), the unpaid cost would have averaged out to less than 10 baht per foreign arrival. The "solution" dreamed up to this problem was the 300 baht tourist tax mentioned above - I think we can all do the math on that.

8 hours ago, impulse said:

Seems like it would be simple enough to add $5 to the tax on international flights and nobody would even know the difference

Yes, they could easily have done that. But they wanted only foreigners to pay, and the airlines told them there was no way to collect a charge that only applied to certain passengers. So, the whole plan has been (temporarily?) shelved.

11 hours ago, sandyf said:

Heathrow is about the only airport in the world that sets out to make a profit

AOT is a for-profit public company, and posted a net profit of 8.8 billion baht in fiscal year 2023.

14 hours ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

I  think you may have missed  my point where when introduced the Thai Pm said he knew the tax changes  would be unwelcome but it was to help the poor.............then gives the rich a tax free  visa

Your timeline is backwards.

The Royal Decree instituting the tax exemption for LTR holders was introduced in May 2022, before the current PM was even in power. The Revenue Department order regarding overseas income was issued in September 2023.

9 hours ago, tandor said:

...at the extra cost.

If you're talking about US passports, there is no additional fee getting the larger passport book - and it's now given automatically if you apply abroad.

17 hours ago, Caldera said:

I'm not sure of that will be a big improvement, as the current system (pick-up at designated gates) works well. I guess we'll see.

I think this will mostly be of use to people who don't normally use Grab and may not understand how to use the service. For regular users, you're correct that the current system works perfectly fine.

8 hours ago, jackinthebox said:

Mr Sittra claims that the network generates ฿100 million a month from criminal activities across the kingdom
much more for sure. I would guess 100 million USD a month

Remember this one from over a year ago? And whatever happened with it? Oh, right - nothing.

https://aseannow.com/topic/1285260-chuwit-bombshell-claims-massive-organised-met-police-racket-nets-central-fund-324-mb-month-sky-arrives-in-bangkok/

14 hours ago, Cabradelmar said:

I don't know what this immigration official is talking about... and while it might not be fast, it surely exist (they even call it fast track)... 😂

 

12 hours ago, claffey said:

Yes this is at the very end of check in near the tourist customs claim desks and the China Air check in counters. Over 70s and young families can use it. It's free from what I observed. 

8 hours ago, DavidH51 said:

When we arrive at BKK after after flying business class, they allow us to use a special immigration line but I don't know if it called fast track.
Also my wife and I are in our 70's and I think we would go to the special line if we flew economy.

1 hour ago, Ralf001 said:

No fast track lane ?

 

The BOI one I use is imaginary ?

 

https://www.boi.go.th/upload/fast_track_lane_93062.pdf

 

 

Again, they are not saying that Fast Track doesn't exist, and are not saying that authorized passengers are being charged for the service. Fast Track obviously is real, and anyone in one of the permitted categories can use it for free.

What they are claiming - absurdly - is that Fast Track service isn't being corruptly sold to unauthorized pax, even though exactly that type of sale is widely advertised and has been used by commenters on this thread.

2 hours ago, webfact said:

He said that AOT is committed to providing convenient, fast, and safe transportation options for passengers.

Is this the same AOT that opened Suvarnabhumi with a system that would have required arriving passengers to take a bus to a remote transportation center in order to get a taxi, because they wanted to try to force people to use AOT's own "limousine" service? And that then had to hurriedly backtrack after the public outcry and set up taxi dispatchers at card tables on the pavement outside of the arrivals area?

And the same AOT that installed giant rotating turnstiles at the departures level to prevent people from walking out to get into incoming taxis?

Yeah, I thought so.

Here's what's advertised by the airport operator itself:

2 hours ago, JoePai said:

2 hours ago, NanLaew said:

Ah, so those golf carts from two different companies that I observed whisking passengers from their international arrival gates to immigration yesterday are fakes and don't exist.

 

I see.

Expand  

Thai Elite maybe

No, there are other cart services that are not connected with Thai Privilege, and they are advertised all over with packages that include Fast Track immigration. Even AOT itself sells this kind of service through its "Sawasdee Pass" scheme.

55 minutes ago, Presnock said:

I just changed from retiement to the LTR, and plan on using the non-existent fast track service if I go through a Thai international airport.

LTR, SMART Visa, Thai Elite, and a few others are specifically authorized to use Fast Track. The article isn't saying that Fast Track doesn't exist, just making the ludicrous claim that the privilege isn't being openly sold to pax who don't qualify to use it.

7 hours ago, webfact said:

in 2023, [] Thai citizens receiv[ed] an alarming 79 million dishonest messages and calls. This figure presents a notable 18% rise from the 66.7 million deceptive calls and messages recorded in 2022.

Those numbers seem way, way too low. That would mean fewer than two scam calls per phone number per year, and pretty much everyone I know or have read about receives far more than that number per week.

Kasikorn can produce a one year statement while you wait for the same 100 baht price as a shorter one, so you might as well get the longer version just to be on the safe side. And in my experience, it shouldn't matter whether you update the bank book before or after the letter is issued (since you're actually allowed to get the letter up to seven days before the appointment).

1 hour ago, Sydebolle said:

Revamp the entire immigration; unload 90% of all those forms, forget about blue-inked signatures on photocopies etc. etc. etc. It is tedious, repetitive and - in some cases - rather insulting

Entering the country as a tourist at the airport - which is what is under discussion here - does not involve any forms or signatures.

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

This Act outlaws any form of advertising that displays, directly or indirectly, an alcoholic beverage’s brand or trademark.

Other than the nonstop giant billboards everywhere showing the names and logos of the biggest beer companies - but oh, sorry, those are actually advertising "club soda" and "mineral water"...

1 hour ago, josephbloggs said:

They did that quite a while back.

Really? I last rode the ARL less than two months ago, and the empty, unusable baggage car was still on the train that I was on - and I've never seen an ex-Express train without it. (All the former Express passenger cars were converted to the City-style beech seating years ago.) 

"But she and her four colleagues, who are all members of the [Lawyers'] council, have agreed that they cast the province in a negative light and that the message in the advertisement is degrading to women, as it likens them to food, which constitutes a libel"

The billboards may be clever or stupid depending on your point of view, but how they could constitute "libel" is utterly beyond me.

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

With the Airport Rail Link’s extensive reach, stretching further since its last overhaul in 2018

Its "reach" is exactly the same now as it was in 2018 - there have been no extensions to the system since it opened.

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

CP Group has pledged hefty investments to enhance services and expand capacity

The ARL has had insufficient rolling stock since the day it opened, which is why the frequencies are so poor. Neither the SRT nor CP have shown any interest in spending money to buy more trains.

Meanwhile, the stations are still gloomy and stifling, the guards still blow their whistles in passengers' ears, the seats are still narrow and uncomfortable, and the exteriors of the trains show no signs of ever having been washed.

30 minutes ago, newnative said:

Nice if they added reserved seating and express trains from Makkasan.

Very unlikely anytime in the foreseeable future. The express trains never made economic sense, and would still run mostly empty if they were brought back. That being the case, CP should finally convert the unused baggage cars on the former express trains to accommodate passengers - it's ridiculous that those trains run with one empty car, even years after the express service was discontinued.