Trvlr55

She was confused. Said last time, this is what she did, and it all worked out very well. Wasn't aware there was now a machine.

Much can be attributed to the current Thaipass approval process. While some travelers can get very fast approval, due to their country having Vaccine QR codes, and also these QR codes approved by Thailand already. Almost exclusively these are EU travelers, with the addition of Singapore, if I recall correctly. The rest have to suffer, a very very long Que of manual review. Currently it is taking much longer than the referenced 3-7 days. Then if an applicant makes an unfortunate error, say attaching the incorrect Insurance document, out of the 10 or 12 pages Insurance company sends you... the application is rejected outright. Then it's necessary to completely restart a new application after waiting 10-12 days, and they are back in the Que again for another 10-12 days. I spent decades doing testing for new software/Web sites, etc. There is so much that could very easily be modified to make this process much smoother. Both the website, and the process. Would greatly reduce the work load, and increase review times. The support email, and support numbers, is almost like hitting the lottery to get a response from, not to mention if someone from another country is on hold for hours, and then just gets little to no support. They suggest contacting your local embassy, but this only results in the suggestion to go check your review status on the Thaipass website. Probably many people just drop out, and go somewhere else, and Thailand is loosing out on a lot of revenue due to these problems. If the number of people apply that they thought would come, Thaipass would not be able to support this number of applications. Within the last year, of covid, I have traveled to both Aruba, and Costa Rica. Both also have a registration website, where they require a lot of similar information, but these are all approved when you register... there is nobody manually reviewing documents. All destination airports, know entry requirements for all countries, and very carefully review them before passengers are allowed to board; if they mess up, the airlines have to pay for any rejected tourists return flight home.

finally someone that has some understanding of how things actually work, and not hyperventilating over random news. correct they mutate at random, but normally there is a trade off; a variant that is more deadly, normally doesn't have the original admissibility, and the ones that are more transmissible, are not as deadly. All accounts so far is, that it is much weaker, and more transmittable, as originally reported. Now we are dealing with a milder variant, luckily. I've watched US CDC director being questioned one on one by press, and asked directly about hospitalizations, and he changes the subject every time. If there were a lot of hospitalizations due to the new variant, we should be hearing of them by now; the normal rabble of mindless reporters looking for a "quick-fix" news article would be all over it. as for the "early nineteenth C flu", it has been suggested that it mutated out of existence, because that is the most plausible idea. Is there a plausible other reason(s)?? And with medical knowledge being what it was at the time, If people started getting mild cramps and/or headaches, and flu cases started dropping, they'd probably conclude the pandemic was over. they'd have no idea it was still the "flu", also they wouldn't care mych I think. Cambodia has recently changed to only reporting hospitalizations, and deaths "both quite low"; asymptomatic and mild cases are no longer a concern. This is where the world should be heading, moving to living with Covid, not on a useless exercise to eradicate Covid. It's here to stay, for the foreseeable future. i.e. forever. it's endemic worldwide.

it is not a myth. you can quote all you wish from run of the mill reporters, who do little or no research.

completely incorrect about the new variant.... just wrong. Time will tell is all I can say here. Some have seen the end of the world everyday for 2 years. a new a much much weaker variant does not equal more deaths. you might want to read up on the 1917 flu pandemic. Here's a clue: it did not end from shutdowns. it did not end from new miracle vaccines, it ended with a much much weaker variant overtaking the older variants.

What I would suggest?? Maybe that the entire world stop hyperventilating on every press announcement, after almost 2 years... would be an excellent start. Still as of today, as when I originally posted, cases are still very, very mild, or non-existent. < stock market today was way way up on the same news > Now the latest news, is this variant, most likely did not originate in South Africa, and why it's now been found in so many countries already, they were just the unfortunate country to detect & report it. This variant, might possibly be the end of the covid death spiral. If it manages to take over as the dominant variant. If this happens, and there is a better chance of it that the world coming to an end tomorrow... Who would want to keep the entire world shutdown for something less that a mild cold? The PM came out, a month or so ago, and stated it was now time to start living with Covid, and not attempting to wipe it off the face of the earth. That can't be done, it's endemic everywhere. Probably require another booster, or hopefully something comes out more permanent soon. How we start to live with it, is to end these useless shutdowns, ease restrictions, and start getting back to a more normal life. I thought the PM's suggestion was the correct one, and properly timed.

"natural immunity" is actually a real thing, and acquired by contracting a virus. i.e. covid in this case. Studies have actually been done. Roughly equivalent to getting covid shots. That many, not all, governments fail to recognize this is quite another matter. https://www.rockefeller.edu/news/30919-natural-infection-versus-vaccination-differences-in-covid-antibody-responses-emerge/ https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mdch/Waiver_Ed_Natural_Immunity_479884_7.pdf

I believe that OP is incorrect in the original statement: " i.e. Requires PCR test 24 hrs before flight." After careful reading of the email posted here; it states tested within 24 hours... no mention of PCR test required. Huge difference!! To date, US has required antigen or PCR within 3 days, now the time limit has changed to 24 hours, however PCR is not required on Dec 6. possibly other types of tests are also acceptable as well.

Not certain that is correct !! The woman in charge of their version of CDC said all cases are very, very mild. https://www.nbcnews.com/data-graphics/covid-19-hospitalizations-rising-south-africas-omicron-hot-spot-rcna6922 This is quite misleading.... as one could expect from NBC. They refer to omicron, but then state "hospitalizations have went up after discovery of the new variant. They are NOT stating, these are Omicron hospitalizations. If there are "more" please reference a reliable source, and not the normal rag-tag bunch of reporters, who are barely, if at all capable, of reporting a single car accident correctly. "In a statement Sunday, the WHO cautioned against drawing conclusions about a link between the omicron variant and the increase in hospitalizations." Everyone really needs to realize the the world press at this point, is pumping the fear, as typical. It's easier to ride a long term story, then attempt to dig up some real "NEW" news.

I've encountered people here in US, that will raise their price, after not selling at the original price. Never made sense to me... if you can't sell @original price, why would someone think they can sell at a higher price. However is rather common idea of sellers.

I think that the proof, so far for #3, is actually here. US Gvt officials, and officials from other countries, excluding South Africa, when asked specifically about the severity of this variant, and if people are hospitalized, change the subject. This indicates that the reports out of South Africa, is correct. i.e. no hospitalizations, nobody really sick. Viruses like anything else, want to survive. Killing your host, is not good for long term survival. Mutations, over time, get weaker and weaker, and more easily transmittable. "excluding sci-fi movies of course!" Over time, the weaker, more transmittable, simply out-compete the earlier more dangerous variants. This is how the world eventually climbed out of the 1917 pandemic. This is how this one will end. There is no technology currently to prevent the spread of covid. Lock-downs and other measures, do little if anything to prevent the spread. Vaccines help, but there will never be a 100 percent vaccine, that every human can that that is also without risk to every human on the planet. Many reports today saying that this most likely originated somewhere else, not South Africa. They were however the first one to report it, so governments everywhere taking the same knee-jerk reactions they have in the past 2 years. However there is not proof, than any of these lock-downs have ever worked so far. It's now been found in a traveler coming into Thailand, as well as found in many countries in the past 2 days. 38 counties 2 days ago, this has probably doubled as of today. Within the next week, will have been found everywhere, if counties take the effort to look. There's no point in closing the barn door, once all the horses have left the barn. Do we really want to keep the entire world shutdown, for symptoms that are less than the common cold. the flu kills a whole lot of people every year, world wide. pneumonia kills a whole lot of people every year, world wide. lookup the numbers, you will be shocked! The PM stated a month ago, Covid is not going to be completely defeated, ever! We need to start planning to live with it. Now is not the time to abandon this idea, and go back to the failed policies of the past.

https://www.olivelabs.us/blogs/news/covid-19-traveller-testing-at-olive-labs-the-drive-up-self-test no idea, where exactly you're at, if this helps or not. Most US labs are concentrating on just testing, not international travel, and can only "hope" you get results in time, and also not at all familiar with requirements. I chatted with someone on FB last week that had PCR test setup through CVS, but was not RT-PCR, and again, was told, we "should be able" to get results in the 72 hour window, no guarantee. I googled something like; ( PCR test international travel near me ), to find this lab. They can do "same day" at a rather high cost, but is at least available. They also are familiar with what exactly the certificate needs to say, unlike other places, that send it out, which they don't know. Hope that helps!!

night_rider totally lost on what you managed to do, and how. I do understand about US not having a QR code, but not able to decipher what or where you managed to get your QR code. Additionally regarding many, even with QR code, and still not getting immediate approval, there was some info when this website 1st came out. Basically, any computer/computer program can only handle a "certain amount" of concurrent processes. When you run over that limit, depending on how well the program is written, a lot of different things can happen. What they said initially, was that the "overflow" would be send for manual processing. I'm assuming that the input volume is always rather high, and many get pushed over to manual processing. Possibly when there is extremely high volume, this manual re-direction process also fails, then people start to see the I/O error that has been reported. I have many decades of working in IT. The website FAQ states they currently can only accept a very limited amount Country of QR codes, mostly EU; it's spelled out in the FAQ. Then again, is completely unknown if this was updated recently, as they don't post ANY info on the updates; other than to say it's better, and everything is fixed. The FAQ also states that when people re-submit, that any previous application is deleted permanently. However, I've seen many threads recently stating that some have re-submitted, then finally get approval, and then all the past submissions also get approved. Is really difficult to know what is true and what is not. I am at 10 days+ now. Emailed support, @8 days, no response. Emailed, per website suggestion, local embassy, stating mine is still "under review", they suggested I go to website and look for status "which doesn't really help", and what I had told them I was doing. Possible they are interested to assist, but are overloaded with requests, will give them the benefit of doubt assuming this Also possible they'll only jump in if it a matter of a few days, and traveler is at the point they need to cancel. Someone posted a FB messenger contact, and they actually replied to me yesterday "early Friday Thai time", requesting more info, sent that immediately, but then nothing... Frustrating!! Website also states they have support 24X7, but doubt there is many if any working around the clock, understaffed. In past worked for many companies with the same ideas... It's, yet another holiday weekend, and most likely, little or nothing's going to happen, for most until next week at a minimum. wondering if they realize, the millions of $$ they're loosing when travelers end up cancelling, and going elsewhere. Is not as if they really need tourist $$, sigh!!

Which agency please? I applied Nov 24, and only message is "under review". Leaving Dec 20.

you can send them an email and/or call them

Not seeing the concern. should be the standard to isolate people when during the time they are contagious, which is what the article states ATK does, and NOT the total time they have covid. If they are not contagious, there is zero need to isolate. Additionally, all accounts so far for this new variant, all cases are listed as "very, very mild". Slight muscle cramps. No serious symptoms, etc. Viruses, like anything else, want to survive and propagate, so new variants many times gives up lethality for survival. This is what happened with the 1917 flu pandemic. Do we really want to keep the world shutdown, and people out of work, for some mild muscle pain. If so, outlaw ALL exercise, and gyms permanently, as they might be a health hazard. For me, I'm headed to the gym. This is "not learning to live with covid", which is supposed to be where we are headed.

If he acts like a man around the ladyboy, he could possibly end up driving off with the ladyboy, and leaving to GF standing besides the road. 555

First it's important to understand what "insurance" is and what it is not. "insurance" is to pay for covered expenses in case of accident or illness. One can look it up, don't rely on my explanation!! Any insurance policy, will have a 'list of coverage, not by illness, but treatment" i.e. *80% doctors office, 60% hospital charges, X % for medications, X % for ambulance, X % for a specific treatment, etc, etc". No insurance will say, hey if you come down with "X" we're going to write you a blank check for whatever bills you care to submit. If a passenger, on your plane, sitting 4 meters from you tests positive; is asymptomatic; and you are quarantined; you are not, by any definition, medically sick and in need of any treatment. This is the decision of someone other than medical personnel. If you are asymptomatic, you are not in any need of treatment. If you catch covid from the taxi driver, or receptionist, on the way to be tested? OMG, if we've learned one thing in the past 2 years, is that covid is not detectable for 10-14 days from initial infection. How long of a taxi drive you expecting? Pre-covid one could probably drive from England to Thailand in less that 14 days. If a passenger gets quarantined in a hotel, the passenger is going to pay... end of story there's already some discussion here, that if you are sent to hospital, treatment/medications would be covered. 100% doubtful!! would come back to whatever %% coverage(s) are listed in the policy Is it fair? Certainly not, but this is NOT the purpose of insurance... i.e. pay for "any and all costs incurred" that are not medically necessary.

I have had up to 15 rental houses at one time, less now, but in USA. From my experience, occupied you would normally get less, than an empty unit. This would vary a lot however. Savy inventor targeting 1st time investors, would probably want to charge more, if they can get it. My concerns, especially in Thailand is how much could you trust the rental history. How well could you do a property inspection on an occupied property. If a property has not been rented in a long time, and owned by smaller investor or company, they are more inclined to at least discuss any offer you throw at them, just to get out; a big corporation, with lots of resources, will tend to stick it out.

Maybe governments should be mandating sobriety tests before and after flights instead. World would certainly be a healthier place.

"24 Test and Go" From what I read this is still ALL incoming passengers, minus sandbox. Everyone incoming gets PCR tested, and the article did not breakout this, only separated Test and Go, and Sandbox arrivals..... not Fully vaccinated, and not vax'd. In other words is separated by arrival location, and not vaccination status. 0.03% is CDC official numbers, not something, I think or someone else thinks, might be so. Even if one went with 0.01%, then throw in a PCR before departure, that is going to catch the vast majority of breakout cases, and they wouldn't even be allowed to board. Many countries currently are going with this strategy. Others are doing Rapid Test on arrival. Phuket, from what I read, just changed to no test on arrival. The majority of breakout cases, are from people who have other underlying illnesses. Most people with these underlying conditions are already not going to be hopping all over the world. Thailand has recently stated, and rightly so, that going forward we need to start working towards, learning to live with Covid, and not being like China, with the impossible task of completely eliminating it. Covid is endemic worldwide, and sooner everyone comes to understand this, life can get back to somewhat normal. There's no combination of vaccine, and lock-down, that's going to completely eliminate it worldwide.

Very good development!!

One thing left out on these statistics. Incoming passengers consist of 4 completely different categories. 1. Fully vaccinated 2. Unvacccinated 3. vaccinated, but not from approved countries, so quarantine applies. 4. Thai nationals Would be very interesting to know of the 24 from 44,774 visitors, how many were fully vaccinated. Betting it's one of less. This whole thing about 2 rows either side of someone testing positive needing to be quarantined, is quite unnecessary for fully vaccinated travelers. This will be a major reason many will choose not to come to Thailand now. Should just be quick antigen test, and on your way. Breakout cases are running at around 0.03% for fully vaccinated world-wide, then if you add PCR test before flying those odds go way down, and 3 100's of 1 percent is quite low to begin with.

Good info, thanks! For those who think US should have a QR code, you really don't understand how things work here. This is completely a state role, not federal. To change that, is close to impossible... There's Federal jurisdiction, and everything else, is State, and you can't just pass a law, or some edict, and declare it so. Recently went to Costa Rica, and back. They also have a website, and the QR code is generated immediately after completion of web submit. Why?? They have immigration officers, just like anywhere else. From what I've read fake covid doc's are fairly easy to determine. Also anywhere you fly, the airlines very carefully review all of your documents, and will not hesitate to reject you, and deny you a boarding pass. Seen this happen already. Airlines are on the hook if they let someone though that they should have rejected. Thailand could remove a lot of the current issues, just letting the normal document review happen at the departure airport. Anyone "clever" enough to get through the departure airport document review, would be flagged and dealt with at Thai immigration. In US if anyone uses a fake immunization card, it's a felony, not sure how many people would risk prison to go on a vacation.

It's been back 3 or 4 days now. Is it any good? Good question! Not being proficient in Thai, no idea on this important question. On the other hand, Google Translate certainly gets it wrong a lot. In the past, I'd take a translations from both, plus I have a web-link for 5 or so other translators. Both FB and google does not do a good job of what I would call the "target or subject". i.e. I, you, them, we; now, yesterday, future... makes a real mess of it most of the time. Many times, I will translate something from Thai, then take that exact translation, and translate back into Thai, then back to English... if it changes dramatically, I assume it's wrong.