New flight rules cause confusion among Thais overseas wanting to fly home

[scorecard]

1 hour ago, GreasyFingers said:

Their computer systems, AVA, cannot cope with all of the inquiries. I had not been able to check on "my case" until this morning, trying for 2 days.

I need to go back to Oz for an operation when everything is clear but I went for the refund as AA or some of their subsidiaries may not exist in the next 365 days. They say the money will be credited back to the CC.

I opened their twitter page at 9.00 am this morning hoping to discuss getting a credit for the flight they cancelled I and entered the requested information.

At 6.30 pm still no response.

 

@GresyFingers, Have you noticed any announcements from AA as to when they will / might resume international flights? Please share.

 

 

Edited March 23, 2020 by scorecard

[GreasyFingers]

4 minutes ago, scorecard said:

I opened their twitter page at 9.00 am this morning hoping to discuss getting a credit for the flight they cancelled I and entered the requested information.

At 6.30 pm still no response.

 

@GresyFingers, Have you noticed any announcements from AA as to when they will / might resume international flights? Please share.

 

 

Their advice was that all flights are cancelled until 31 March. Do not know what will happen after then but would expect the time to be extended 2 weeks at a time.

[scorecard]

1 minute ago, GreasyFingers said:

Their advice was that all flights are cancelled until 31 March. Do not know what will happen after then but would expect the time to be extended 2 weeks at a time.

That sounds like a good forecast.

 

Seems to me that AA and all airlines:

 

- Need to react to the situation and to the policies and regulations in place by the countries involved,

- Right now customer demand is, understandably, very small.

- All airlines / all business operations need to get back to revenue / good revenue as soon as possible and in some cases their shareholders will be very angry if they don't try for revenue, plus walking away from their investments is not really an option and very doubtful there's currently many/any buyers interested in buying an airline (big money) and especially when it has no current revenue or margin. and if there are dismissals the airline they buy possible doesn't have the staff capabilities needed,  

- They need to be ready for when things start to get back to 'normal', including having enough trained staff, which means costs.

- The current situation of closed borders/immigration rules etc., may realistically need to be relaxed a little fairly quickly to ensure that business (revenue and margin) can continue even at a lower level.

- When will that be?

 

[Oziex1]

So who is causing confusion of the people now? 

It's a major concern for the government when opposition or activists do it. 

[uncle_tom]

As promised, here is the update of the situation within BKK

 

As of this evening, the airport is looking surprisingly normal. Most Asian passengers are wearing masks, most farangs are not. Everyone entering the building is having their temperature checked, otherwise there are no special measures. There is no hand sanitiser for passenger use anywhere, including the toilets, so bring your own.

 

Queues and general passenger numbers are not unusual. Despite the restaurant closure notices, all the airport facilities are operating normally, including the lounges.

 

My flight, TG910 is delayed 45 minutes which is a real pain, as public transport in London has been greatly scaled down. Unless the pilot tries to make up time, my planned connections at the other end will be missed.

 

If you're flying into London, do check your connections - about half of all trains are not running at the moment..

[rabang]

1 hour ago, uncle_tom said:

As promised, here is the update of the situation within BKK

 

As of this evening, the airport is looking surprisingly normal. Most Asian passengers are wearing masks, most farangs are not. Everyone entering the building is having their temperature checked, otherwise there are no special measures. There is no hand sanitiser for passenger use anywhere, including the toilets, so bring your own.

 

Queues and general passenger numbers are not unusual. Despite the restaurant closure notices, all the airport facilities are operating normally, including the lounges.

 

 

Thanks, good info. Do you have Priority Pass and what lounges did you use (if any) if I may ask?

[uncle_tom]

I was given access to the Royal Orchid lounge. Good bar, but meagre food offerings. 

 

In the end the plane left an hour late yet arrived at LHR twenty minutes ahead of schedule. Checking the flight data as we crossed Europe I noticed that we had a small tail wind - unusual when flying west.

 

The A380 was about three quarters full, and mindful of how that can overload immigration, I put my best foot forward when leaving the plane and managed to not only be the first off the plane, but also the first passenger of the day at T2 immigration - I was also the first to reclaim their luggage.

 

There was no temperature screening at Heathrow, just a leaflet handed out. 

 

I reached the Heathrow underground station 26 minutes after touchdown. The Tube was almost deserted - barely 5% of normal passenger numbers.