josephbloggs

21 hours ago, Misterwhisper said:

Yup, just imagine tens of thousands of Thais returning from Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan all at once, joined by tens of thousands more from the U.S., Canada and the European Union and supplemented by further thousands from the Middle East. The Thai government would of course immediately complain how unfair it all is.

 

So the Thai government would complain about it being unfair if Thais staying illegally in foreign countries were deported.

Yes, of course they would.

21 hours ago, blackhorse said:

21 hours ago, secondfusilier said:

Will they be adding more car parking spaces, as they don't have enough spaces at the moment to match the current capacity.
 
Also will they be adding taxi drivers who will  be able to do their job without moaning, ripping of their fare or asking "you give me tip" as soon as your ass touches the back seat?

In the 50 trips I have never been asked for a tip entering a cab

Me neither.  In hundreds of trips.

16 hours ago, CLW said:

 

 

Well, I would pay a fee for a photo taken in case someone doesn't have it.
But not provide the forms of which a copy has a value of 25 Satang and you can fill out by yourself, I don't understand.

And yes, agree with you. This re-entry permit is a rip off per-se.
You paid for your visa already, why you should have to pay again to leave and re-enter the country.
Do you make any more work to an I/O than someone with no visa?

I don't know of any other country that has something similar.
If yes, please someone write it down here.

 

Most countries offer either single entry visas, double entry or multiple entry.  And yes, the multiple entry ones are usually significantly more expensive.  In Thailand you just pay for a visa (or an extension).  Adding multiple entires is optional - personally I always go for multiple entry re-entry permits when I get my renewal as I will use them.  But if you don't expect to be leaving Thailand you can save your pennies by not bothering.  You want a single entry for the duration it is cheaper, you want multiple entries it is more expensive.  So how is this any different from anywhere else? 

In fact you should be thankful - it is more convenient if anything, especially if your travel plans change.  Let's say I go to China. I got myself a single entry visa that is valid for three months.  If I want to leave China and come back within the three months I can't.  I have to leave the country and apply for a new visa - and PAY for that new visa (what a SCAM!!).  I think in most other countries it is exactly the same; if I need to leave the country when I have a single entry visa that visa is no longer valid when I come back (what, another SCAM??).  This is standard.  I can't think of any other countries offhand that give you the option to pay for a "re-entry permit" to keep your single entry visa alive - especially giving you the ability to do it at the airport!  And, to have someone do all the paperwork and photos for you for a paltry 200 baht (with receipt).

It is really is no different to anywhere else, just more convenient.  Seeing scams where none exist will eventually turn you in to a delusional paranoid wreck.  Er......oh.

19 hours ago, KittenKong said:

Just because it has been this way for a long time doesn't make it any less of a scam or any less wrong.

 

If Thailand wants to impose an official extra fee (with receipt) for airport filing, so be it. But as far as I know this extra charge is unofficial and is in fact nothing more than extortion. "Big Joke" should be looking at this, as indeed he should be looking at the other common rip-off: the unofficial "fee" for the free residence certificate. Both of these scams clearly show Thailand for what it really is.

 

Even more sensible: scrap the re-entry permit altogether and increase the price of the visa/extension accordingly.

Do some research before you go shouting "scam" as you are making yourself look silly.

It is a 100% legitimate service and you do get an official receipt for it.  Personally I am more than happy to pay 200B for not having to go and sort out my own photos, download, print and fill out a form.  It's all done for you.

If you are too tight to pay for it as others have mentioned you are free to go to an immigration office beforehand, or you can take your own form and photos.  

But to call it a scam, an extortion, and saying they don't provide a receipt - you could not be more wrong.

You have to laugh at how certain types of people see scams wherever they go, even when they clearly do not exist.

On 10/10/2018 at 6:42 PM, Grin Grasser said:

The following day after the Monday accident, I boarded the Thai Airways flight from Manila to Bangkok.  We were supposed to leave 1255.  The Thai pilot said something in garbled English about only one runway and other flights diverted to other airports, and we might takeoff in an hour.

 

Thus, I got on this forum to see what happened, possibly at the new Bangkok airport.

 

Although this posted news article talked about a Monday accident, apparently Tuesday there was still a problem at Suvarnbhumi [sp?].

 

We took off about an hour and 20 minutes later.  We arrived 1705 instead of about 1600.

 

The Immigration line was very short and took me only 10 minutes to wait my turn.

 

Luckily I made it to my 6 pm Bell bus (airport to Pattaya hotel) about 5 minutes before boarding.

 

So, the one runway problem lasted at least a day.  Why?

 

So it skidded off the runway at 11pm.  First priority is to get everyone off safely.  The plane is bogged down in heavy mud and 747's are pretty heavy.  When they finally got the equipment in place the operation to remove it took around four hours which is pretty good.  The runway was reopened, the backlog cleared and normal operations were established at around 5pm.  That is a pretty efficient recovery operation at such a busy airport.

How long would you have liked it to take?

On 10/9/2018 at 5:06 PM, natway09 said:

For all you Thai bashers Emrites flew an A 380 from Dubai to Perth with 87 passengers on it last month (but OK as they get their fuel for free in Dubai ) making it not an even playing field

No, they don't get their fuel for free at all, that is utter nonsense.

24 minutes ago, Catkiwi said:

Yes, don't forget to tell them to set the CCTV up with open arms. Closed arms won't work ????

But it is a closed system, so could work.

22 minutes ago, Catkiwi said:

There have been reports of a coffee thief around town lately....????

Probably some other grumpy farang in earlier telling the "real" managers that their CCTV needs to point at the coffee machine because he suspects his drinks are not being filled up to the line or he's getting short changed on his sugar.

Poor real managers, can't win.

5 hours ago, billd766 said:

I went to the local 7/11 this morning and bought 2 packs of milk for my son and nothing else. It came to 136 baht. I told the girl behind the counter that I gave her 2,000 baht ass a joke. She loudly said only 1,000 and gave me 804 baht in change.

 

I put the change and the bill on the counter and the bill was correct, looked at the till and explained that she was 60 baht short. She gave me the 60 baht with bad grace but no stamps. That didn't bother me but I explained in English (and she does speak some) that if she wanted to rip off the fat old farang she would have to get up earlier.

 

I would have complained to the shift manager but she IS the shift manager.

 

Also the CCTV is pointing at the coffee machine and not at the tills. Next time I see the real managers I will tell them to get the camera shifted towards the tills. Also I will refuse to be served by that woman.

Do you ever think that those guys are constantly busy at the till all day, serving hundreds of people each day, with that horrendous "Ding Dong" going off every seven seconds; they must be knackered and just want to get their shift over with.  The last thing they want to be doing is dealing with your hilarious "jokes".  Really, you expect them to fall over laughing?  I would certainly be handing you things with bad grace after that.

And good luck with the "real" managers - I am sure they will welcome your suggestions of how their CCTV should be set up with open arms.

2 minutes ago, Lokie said:

Why would they another cash note tray under the till? Is that 7/11s working method... As been mentioned earlier in post the other assistant cocked what was going on so the lot of them must be involved - when cashed up at end of shift where is the extra cash going?? Thay all at it at this store

Ok, it's all a bit complicated - let me help.

• It is not 7-Eleven's usual working method.  The cashier put the money in a receptacle under the till so it would be hidden and she could show no thousand baht notes were in the till if questioned.
• The other assistant did seem to be in on it.  Perhaps they work together and share.
• The extra cash is going in the attendant's pocket.  They are essentially stealing the money and being quite dishonest about it.  That is why it made the news.

Hope that helps.

27 minutes ago, JAG said:

According to airfleets.net Thai have 83 aeroplanes in service, and a further 51 stored out of service!

 

And they want to buy some more?

That's a silly comparison.  They are old, retired aircraft, past their service life, many of which have been scrapped.  All airlines retire planes.  British Airways have 81 "stored aircraft".  Guess they should never buy any new ones right?

Or are you suggesting instead of buying new, efficient, comfortable planes Thai should reinstate their scrapped 30-year A300's?

39 minutes ago, josephbloggs said:

 

 

And also for the same reason as the remote parking - an international flight parking at domestic gates (A, B) will need to bus the passengers to the international arrivals area.

 

I still stick by my assertion that these remote instances are generally not for reasons of saving on fees.

It can definitely be called bad fleet management or bad planning though.  TG rotate their fleet between international and domestic all the time so it's an issue that is hard for them to avoid.  It's not because of fees.

1 hour ago, Father Fintan Stack said:

TG and PG planes arrive at the international gates and use the fingerport to allow passengers to disembark. These fingerports are connected directly to the international terminal yet they do not open the glass doors and allow passengers direct access to the arrivals area in the terminal. Instead, the passengers then have to go downstairs to get on buses that ferry them to another area of the international terminal.

 

In the case of remote parking away from the terminal you are correct, and it also happens on the first and last planned flights of the aircraft on any given day.

 

What people are complaining about is arriving at the terminal and having to bus it anyway. Both TG and PG are guilty of this due to the reasons I highlighted earlier.

 

 

Well that is strange indeed - I've never encountered that.  The only possible reason I can think of for that is some sort of congestion in the terminal?  They would be paying the same parking fees anyway so it doesn't make sense that they would do that to save money - it probably costs them more as they are paying for the airbridge and also for the busses.

Out of interest, how many times has that happened?  I have never had that.

Edit: Thought of a reason.  I believe the B concourse switches between being used as an international concourse and a domestic concourse at a certain time each day, I think around 4pm.  My guess is that that bus thing you described happens for any flights that dock in B around this switchover time. 

And also for the same reason as the remote parking - an international flight parking at domestic gates (A, B) will need to bus the passengers to the international arrivals area.

I still stick by my assertion that these remote instances are generally not for reasons of saving on fees.

On 9/21/2018 at 4:04 PM, Fex Bluse said:

Those busses are one of the most pathetic things I've ever experienced. National carrier. Either they have classic Thai inability to manage and plan or they have the other classic trait which is cheapness as they may save money by not parking at a gate. 

 

Really low class 

I fly often for work and short to mid haul I choose Thai.  I find their service to be pretty good, planes are generally fairly new - A350 to Singapore was nice but has now been shifted to another route - or reasonable condition older 777s or A330s.   In-flight entertainment is pretty pathetic but for a flight of four hours or less I don't really care.  Flew to Tokyo on their A380 recently in economy and thought it was good, especially upstairs.  It's actually not a bad airline as evidenced by their recent Skytrax awards.

Long haul I would never choose them as there are far better options.  Always fly EK back the UK as they are head and shoulders above Thai.  

The remote parking is not good but what many people don't realise is that often it is because a plane is arriving in Bangkok internationally, then its next flight is going to be a domestic one.  They can't pull up to an international gate (C to G) and then leave from a domestic gate (A, B) - they can't move the aircraft between flights - so they use a remote gate.  Call it bad design or bad planning but it is not simply because of fees.  And very rarely does it happen with long haul flights, it is usually shorter flights.  Not excusing it, just worth bearing in mind it is not necessarily their fault.  You don't experience it with other airlines because they don't transition from international to domestic routes.

And I have arrived in Dubai, on Emirates in business, and had to get a bus from the plane.  I was not impressed with that.

49 minutes ago, Father Fintan Stack said:

Did you miss the recent scandal where they found Custom's officials implicated in a car theft ring from the UK importing into Laem Chabang port?

No I didn't - in my post above I even referred to it.   My post was in a reference to someone who said that the price of cars is much higher here than the UK because they are inflated with "stuffed envelopes".  They are not.  The prices are high because of taxes and duties.

6 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

A Mitsu Grandis, know as space wagon here. Too bad they don't make them anymore. Might take a look at the new CX-8. The pickup SUV kangaroo carts with fixed axles used around here I'll let the somchai rally drivers have.

Oh no.  Oh no oh no.  You are in grave danger.  Plenty of Mitsubishis that were built in Japan have caught fire.  Mitsubishi even said "no ploplem" and whitewashed safety issues with some of their vehicles:

"Corporate pride is a pillar of the national identity, and the scandal has shocked Japan. At least 40 prefectures and local governments banned the purchase of Mitsubishi vehicles, and the Japanese press is issuing almost daily reports on fires and accidents involving Mitsubishi cars and trucks."

How come you are overlooking your usual stringent safety standards?  I'm very suplised.

2 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

I drive myself in a tank-like import made in Japan. 

Which is?

1 minute ago, DrTuner said:

Clearly documented as in brought to the country as spare parts, assembled and sold as gray imports? Nothing is clear around here, especially not scratch my back - deals with China.

Yes, some grey importers would disassemble and reassemble to obtain lower tax rates.  Some would mis-represent the value of the car for the same reason.  Neither of those has anything to do with the price of cars here or the clearly documented taxes and duties.

20 hours ago, DrTuner said:

The production price or the padded price with the brown envelopes included?

 

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/byd/e6/first-drives/byd-e6-hatchback

 

24k GBP estimated in UK - in 2011.

I know I shouldn't feed the troll, but you are aware of import duties right?  The prices of cars here are not padded with brown envelopes - they are subject to extremely high taxes that are clearly documented.

10 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

Chinese are whitewashing it. As in:

 

 

Hey they were dead before it burst to flames so nothing wrong in our car. I ain't getting into one of those, a double death trap when combined with a yaba-head somchai behind the wheel.

Read again.  It was smashed into at over 112 mph.

Remember the Mercedes that hit the Ford Fiesta at a similar speed and it caught fire.  Ever getting in another Ford?  I remember reading of a Toyota that had a high speed crash and caught fire.  I guess you "ain't" got in to a Toyota since?  Just Google and there are plenty of cars catching fire after big accidents, cars of all makes and models.

Must be tough for you having to walk everywhere, but at least you're safe.  Hope you never have to walk past a no ploblem Somchai though - you never know what that yaba head might do.

19 hours ago, DrTuner said:

Yes, I see no mention of them doing anything about it, except whitewashing to "no ploplem". All in all the BYD project looks like a struggling company where Buffet probably burned his fingers. I expect the cars to be sitting on some lot abandoned within less than half a year.

A car crashed in China six years ago and caught fire after being smashed in to at 112mph by a drunk guy in a GT-R.  Now the Thais are whitewashing it and saying "no ploplem" (whatever that is) because someone is now using the same brand of car here.  You do realise how ridiculous you sound don't you?

21 hours ago, ChristianBlessing said:

Remarkable thread. Countless threads complaining of pollution and smoke-belching diesel vehicles, and the moment we learn of an effort to provide clean transport the news is met with derision and dismissal. EV Society Co. Ltd. doesn't claim to have invented the vehicle or it's features, and at £47,000/$62,000 a car (UK price) the higher fare may be justified. At the least one could at least hope that this service raises the profile of electric cars in Thailand.

Par for the course on this site.  Any time there is anything even remotely positive you can guarantee the same old people will slag it off.  It is rather sad.

On 9/12/2018 at 3:47 PM, CLW said:

What is so luxury and VIP about them?

The interior is equal to the regular ones.
I can get water and wet wipes at any 7-11 inside the airport so are SIM cards or WiFi.

My word you really are a negative miserable bugger aren't you.  Of course tourists coming off a long flight and wanting to head to their hotel will not appreciate being offered cold water, wet wipes or WiFi in their taxi.  They'll obviously just be perplexed thinking, "I could have gone upstairs at the airport to the 7-Eleven (that I didn't know was there) to get water and wet wipes.  Plus I could easily have queued up to get a SIM card then used my own data rather than using his WiFi.  And this interior is equal to a petrol powered taxi.  Can't wait to tell my friends how ridiculous Thailand is when I get back home, they won't believe this!"

You forgot to mention they could have rented their own car too, they may as well not have taxis at all.

On 9/13/2018 at 7:20 AM, Darcula said:

Like the Toyota Altis taxis that were rebadged as Limo.

Before you sneer at that, that was a Toyota designation for a lower trim Altis or Vios that was produced specifically for use as a taxi.  Not only Thailand but also for Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines.  It was stripped of any "luxuries" that a normal buyer would want, tuned for fuel efficiency over performance, and some other changes such as longer service intervals.

Nobody was pretending is was a Cadillac Limousine or trying to claim it was anything else other than a stripped down Toyota taxi.