Airlines Reject Thailand’s Proposed Tourism Fee Plan

1 minute ago, Dan O said:

These nunbers are skewed since the majority of them come ftom Pattaya and Phuket. Most other areas other than bkk arent even in the count in any significance

I don't have a clue but regardless they are tiny in the grand scheme of things. My hunch is your wrong and the majority comes from Bangkok but just as hunch.

They are just trying to keep their charges hidden in the ticket. Face the facts of what you want to do and show us the amount made every year and what it was used for. I think they know that they can’t show the figures and prove it.

Just now, atpeace said:

I don't have a clue but regardless they are tiny in the grand scheme of things. My hunch is your wrong and the majority comes from Bangkok but just as hunch.

The last article i read 6 or 8 months ago that went into any real depth the bulk are in Phuket or maybe because they have the loudest voice.

Just now, atpeace said:

I don't have a clue but regardless they are tiny in the grand scheme of things. My hunch is your wrong and the majority comes from Bangkok but just as hunch.

4 hours ago, Chivas said:

Agree entirely. Never happened to me. Have been admitted 3 times down the years (all pretty minor) but never remotely asked for payment guarantees up front

Me neither. But once a session is completed a nurse attaches herself to me and 'accompanies' me to the cashier/pharmacy. They're always between me and the nearest exit and hold their arm out front to 'guide' me along.

Pneumonia, CTs, minor surgeries. My insurance always paid despite what the naysayers claim. You get what you pay for.

Why wo

1 minute ago, BusyB said:

Me neither. But once a session is completed a nurse attaches herself to me and 'accompanies' me to the cashier/pharmacy. They're always between me and the nearest exit and hold their arm out front to 'guide' me along.

Pneumonia, CTs, minor surgeries. My insurance always paid despite what the naysayers claim. You get what you pay for.

My private insurance refused to cover pnuemonia in 2023 citing pre-existing condition linking to a TIA I had in 2014!

18 minutes ago, Ralf001 said:

Why wo

My private insurance refused to cover pnuemonia in 2023 citing pre-existing condition linking to a TIA I had in 2014!

Well of course. They will use every excuse to avoid paying.

15 minutes ago, jcmj said:

They are just trying to keep their charges hidden in the ticket. Face the facts of what you want to do and show us the amount made every year and what it was used for. I think they know that they can’t show the figures and prove it.

This is exactly as I see it. They are attempting to bring in a charge that their competing tourist countries as far as I'm aware don't levy so want to hide it as far as possible.

Why not make insurance compulsory for tourists ? Probably because they know that will also have a big hit on tourist numbers as their main markets are lower budget tourists, regardless of their desire for higher quality/spending tourists. Compulsory insurance also means there is not a lovely big pot of circa 10 billion baht annually to skim from. I'm sure the "admin" costs of managing the fund will be the least transparent of the whole charade.

Edited July 10Jul 10 by kinyara
Double quote

2 hours ago, KhunHeineken said:

I posted the Thai government can compensate the airlines for their main frame programming to cater for it.

I also said I oppose the tax.

What's the alternative? Standing in a long queue at the airport, behind some newbie to Thailand, while they fumble around trying to pay cash?

If the Thai Government has to pay for it, the fee will not be 300 THB but much more...

2 minutes ago, kinyara said:

They are attempting to bring in a charge that their competing tourist countries as far as I'm aware don't levy so want to hide it as far as possible

They can just call it a landing fee or temporary residence fee. I agree don't call it a Tourist Tax!

9 hours ago, Georgealbert said:

Industry representatives argue that airlines’ booking and back-office systems are not designed to collect the charge and have instead recommended using the Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC) system, which foreign visitors must complete before entering the country.

The same comnplaint by the airlines was already brought years ago, the first time the Thai government tried to introduce this -- so, no surprise there.

It is not just Thailand, where politicians simply go for another round of their same stupid and technically unfeasible ideas, if they are denied the first time. This opens months or maybe years of financed committees, brown envelopes and opportunities being quoted in the newspaper, making it pure grift.

Using the TDAC system, as suggested, is the only sensible way. What a moronic idea to let the airlines collect the fee, presumably to hide it within the ticket price.

1 hour ago, jts-khorat said:

The same comnplaint by the airlines was already brought years ago, the first time the Thai government tried to introduce this -- so, no surprise there.

.

Correct and that gave birth to the TDAC!

Let the TDAC mature to iron any bugs and then whammo.... it now costs Bt.300.00!

Am not sure yet what the motive behind THIM is though.

Edited July 10Jul 10 by Ralf001

Just more and more taxes, which is often a form of laziness and a lack of creativity on the part of government.

The tourist numbers are already dropping in Thailand and they want to add new taxes to racket tourists ?

2 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Just more and more taxes, which is often a form of laziness and a lack of creativity on the part of government.

I think it is very creative to get in on the act many others countries do.

The alternative is to charge for visa free entry... Which would satisfy many of the moaners on this forum.... woe is me I am not a tourist why should I have to pay this!

The only good thing that I can see coming out of this is that I will no longer need health insurance, as medical care for all foreigners will be paid out of this fund once this tax is implemented.

12 hours ago, Liquorice said:

Reason for the runner > stated he knew he couldn't cover the bill.

Why stop now? What happened afterwards?

If I am not mistaken, years ago pre-Suvarnabhum there was an exit fee at DM. 500b? You had to produce the coupon that you'd paid it to get into the emigration line.

Collect at entry or exit, same same. But at exit from a passenger who's spent a happy few days in LOS should be easier than at entry from groggy irritable visitor just off a 20hr. flight.

12 hours ago, Searat7 said:

One option would be to pull the old 500B exit tax machines out of storage and collect the tax on the way out.

They really need to do a deep dive into unpaid medical expenses to see who is not paying whether it be Tourists, Retirees or others.

If you have inpatient surgery in Thailand asking for an upfront payment of 50% is not unusual.

.... And we shouldn't forget that the old 500 THB tax that used to be paid in cash was added to the price of tickets, so the new 300 THB tax brings it to a total of 800 THB tax.

14 hours ago, wil iam not said:

Does the overcharging Foreigners at Tourist Attractions not pay for their upkeep.

Road Tax on vehicles should be used to pay for improving roads. Ticket prices should reflect the money need to improve the train system.

How do so many Foreigners escape from paying Hospital bills, I must always pay a deposit up front before any treatment unless one can show an insurance policy to pay for the treatment, private or Govt Hospitals.

Does the overcharging Foreigners at Tourist Attractions not pay for their upkeep.

Road Tax on vehicles should be used to pay for improving roads. Ticket prices should reflect the money need to improve the train system.

cloud cuckoo thinking, clearly you don't understand how Thailand works, when you've lived here a while you'll get it.

15 hours ago, wil iam not said:

Does the overcharging Foreigners at Tourist Attractions not pay for their upkeep.

Road Tax on vehicles should be used to pay for improving roads. Ticket prices should reflect the money need to improve the train system.

How do so many Foreigners escape from paying Hospital bills, I must always pay a deposit up front before any treatment unless one can show an insurance policy to pay for the treatment, private or Govt Hospitals.

There are 2 common methods of nonpayment;

-Arrival as an emergency at a hospital: If a for profit hospital, there is an obligation to stabilize before transferring to a public hospital. The profit facility must collect the costs from foreigners who may not have the financial means to pay or who just refuse. The Thai public hospital will not deny emergency care. No deposits are taken on admission. Unfortunately, if the patient is destitute, the public hospital can not evict. Emergency treatment for vehicle crashes, drug overdoses, misadventure can add up.

-Requested procedure performed after deposit is paid. Patient refuses to pay subsequent charges. This occurs infrequently, and is associated with the for Profit clinics who have hidden fees or charge for undeclared services.

17 hours ago, ronnie50 said:

I don't quite understand why the airlines can't add the tax on to the ticket. Every ticket I've ever purchased has all kinds of fuel charges and airport taxes added on. So they're already collecting tax, right?

all explained above...the airlines do not know who is thai and who is not as that is not a question they ask and they likely do not want to have to deal with different fees for different nationalties....so if airlines collect a fee the fee is the same for everyone.

11 hours ago, kinyara said:

This is exactly as I see it. They are attempting to bring in a charge that their competing tourist countries as far as I'm aware don't levy so want to hide it as far as possible.

Why not make insurance compulsory for tourists ? Probably because they know that will also have a big hit on tourist numbers as their main markets are lower budget tourists, regardless of their desire for higher quality/spending tourists. Compulsory insurance also means there is not a lovely big pot of circa 10 billion baht annually to skim from. I'm sure the "admin" costs of managing the fund will be the least transparent of the whole charade.

so tourist arriving with insurance policies written in legalize fine print in 50 different langquages will present it to already busy immigration officers to try and figure out before they stamp you in? Not a good idea.

If Thai govt wants to set up and pay out of some fund for some Thai insurance for every foreign arrival I suspect that some wealthy thai insurance company will get even more wealthy...as for foreigners who already have better insurance policies why would they want to use or have to pay for a Thai policy that likely has more loopholes than grains of rice in a paddy.

If they want to do anything they need to set up one simple policy that covers all foreign arrivals up to some preset limit and is universally accepted without question at every thai hospital and clinic and covers the tourist for their entire lenght of stay whethere one week or five years.....you can't have a policy that covers some injuries but not others or hospitals will want to collect again from tourists in case the thai insurance refuses to pay or thai insurer is overwhelmed with phone calls and paperwork from providers who want to make sure they get paid before they provide any services ...and meantime the tourist dies......not an easy thing to administer and the opportunities for fraud are massive.

I’ve been paying a ‘tourist tax’ of around $A4 to $A10 per night for stays in hotels and airbnbs in Italy. On a 3 month trip, that amounts to several hundred dollars, about the same as my 6 months travel insurance with unlimited medical. Puts Thailand’s 300 baht proposal into perspective.

Why Couldn't immigration collect the fee on arrival

8 hours ago, it is what it is said:

Does the overcharging Foreigners at Tourist Attractions not pay for their upkeep.

Road Tax on vehicles should be used to pay for improving roads. Ticket prices should reflect the money need to improve the train system.

cloud cuckoo thinking, clearly you don't understand how Thailand works, when you've lived here a while you'll get it.

I have only been here 15 years. And yes, I understand how things work here Note I said SHOULD in both cases.

23 hours ago, ronnie50 said:

I agree with your general assessment. But I'm pretty sure not all airlines that come to Thailand require all the passport and nationality information when booking a ticket. Often it's left out until you try to check in online or at the airport. Thus the tickets would already have been paid for.

For those airlines that do not require ID when buying the tickets, is it really such a big computer programming job to copy the airlines that do? It's two extra "fields" being passport number and nationality.

These would only have to be added onto the airline's website just once, and then the website undergoes routine maintenance as per normal.

23 hours ago, ronnie50 said:

IATA members should all just add the tax for all journey's ending in Thailand. As I said, the Thais can just get a refund at the airport once through security at dedicated windows set up by the government to give on the spot refunds to Thais.

Too labor intensive.

Here's an example of what I am talking about.

When you go to buy an air ticket, you can chose to pay extra and pick your seat. Extra luggage and meals the same. Chose nothing, and no extra cost is added to the flight/s, taxes and fees aside. If you chose a seat, at the checkout, the extra cost is added to your flight.

So, chose Thai nationality and enter a Thai passport number and no 300 baht is added. Chose a different nationality and the 300 baht is added at the checkout, just like picking a seat.

For those with a criminal mind, thinking they can chose Thai nationality, but present a different passport at check in, you are sent to the side to pay the 300 baht fee, just the same way if your luggage is over the weight limit. The word will get around that this "hack" does not work, and is probably a criminal offense.

Airlines have paid staff, or contractors, to continually maintain their website. They simply tweak it to add 300 baht at check out for any other nationality but Thailand.

I think the airlines do not want to comply because they are partaking in dual pricing, however, they are already collecting many taxes, fees and levies for the Thai government. Just look at the price breakdown of a ticket.

22 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

If the Thai Government has to pay for it, the fee will not be 300 THB but much more...

Most of the airlines would have paid IT staff 24/7/365 to deal with ongoing maintenance, or a crash. If they are not capable of tweaking the website to add 300 baht at check out to all passengers who are not Thai, then private IT contractors can be hired to do the tweak, and that bill can be forwarded to the government.

After the tweak is made, it's just routine website maintenance as per usual. As mentioned, the airlines are already collecting many taxes, fees and levies at the online check out.

I'm not a computer programmer, but I really don't see this tweak as costly or time consuming.

I gave the example of pick a seat and paying extra for it. In this case, you pick your nationality, and if not Thai, you pay 300 baht extra at the check out and it's listed along with the other taxes, fees and levies.

These guys can't seem to get it! Wasn't this the case a few years back prior to Covid 19, They always want the Airlines to do their dirty work for them. There was the 300 baht for medical and tourist but couldn't figure out how to break it down.

It was easy 50% for Tourist and 50% for medical but the government leaders most likely fought🤣 on that % as to what share goes into the pocket or brown envelope?

Last count 500 billion lost on corruption skim off the top and that still isn't enough.

Just amend the act to make it applicable to all international travelers. After all, everyone says it’s only 300 baht. Anyone who can afford to fly can afford 300 baht and then the airlines can collect the fees.

Then listen to the Thais howl about how unfair that would be. 😝

Better yet... Charge everyone and install kiosks at the luggage carousels where Thai passengers can swipe their boarding pass and get a 300 baht refund.

Thai people love getting a rebate.