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So much for social distancing....


WineOh

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23 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

That's why I said the photo is old another BS poster

That photo is not old, that is the chaos unleashed by the poorly conceived and executed electronic T8 health declaration. I arrived Thursday night, and it looked very similar, albeit with somewhat fewer people due to a different arrival time.

 

It's absolutely true that the airport is very VERY empty, which is why the situation is so absurd. The concourses are empty, immigration is empty, baggage claim is empty - but there's a huge scrum of confused passengers at the choke-point just prior to immigration where a bunch of bossy young women in "Airport Services" vests (the same ones who normally yell at foreigners to write their address and phone number on the arrival card) are shouting at baffled people that they have to download the AOT app or they will not be allowed into the country.

 

Although the CAAT said in their announcements that a paper declaration form was acceptable, I showed up with a completed paper T8 and was told, no, I HAVE to use the AOT app. I already had the app on my phone (I use it for the real-time arrival/departure information), but found that using the electronic declaration is unnecessarily difficult. You have to upload a photo of your passport bio page (no shadows! All corners!), but then also have to enter all the passport info manually. You go through all of the health-related questions that are on the actual T8 form regarding flight, seat, countries visited, symptoms, etc, and then suddenly it's asking you the questions from the back of the TM6: first time to Thailand? On a group tour? Occupation? Income? Sorry, but what do those have to do with health?

 

Once you submit the data online, you show the green check mark to the bossy girl and she stamps your TM6 so that you can pass through the empty immigration hall. At no time was ANY medical professional (doctor, nurse, medic, Ministry of Health official) present in the area, and no one looked at the answers to the questions or asked for any clarifications.

 

Let's examine some of these issues. First of all, why require use of the app rather than making it optional? And the actual electronic submission is just a web page, so why make people download a bloated (100MB+), intrusive (always trying to turn on Bluetooth) app instead of just giving people a link to a website? And if the app really is required, why not inform people of that at check in (as Vietnam was doing) - or at the gate - or on board the plane, instead of just as they arrive at immigration? And if this is a health questionnaire, why is no health officer looking at it right there, with the traveler present, as is done in every other country I've been to? Why is the process being run by the AOT and immigration (and probably the TAT, based on the questions), neither of which has anything to do with public health? And why would anyone set up a system during a global pandemic that guarantees crowding people into a small area?

 

Tl/dr: yes, that photo is all too real.

Edited by khunjeff
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7 minutes ago, khunjeff said:

That photo is not old, that is the chaos unleashed by the poorly conceived and executed electronic T8 health declaration. I arrived Thursday night, and it looked very similar, albeit with somewhat fewer people due to a different arrival time.

 

It's absolutely true that the airport is very VERY empty, which is why the situation is so absurd. The concourses are empty, immigration is empty, baggage claim is empty - but there's a huge scrum of confused passengers at the choke-point just prior to immigration where a bunch of bossy young women in "Airport Services" vests (the same ones who normally yell at foreigners to write their address and phone number on the arrival card) are shouting at baffled people that they have to download the AOT app or they will not be allowed into the country.

 

Although the CAAT said in their announcements that a paper declaration form was acceptable, I showed up with a completed paper T8 and was told, no, I HAVE to use the AOT app. I already had the app on my phone (I use it for the real-time arrival/departure information), but found that using the electronic declaration is unnecessarily difficult. You have to upload a photo of your passport bio page (no shadows! All corners!), but then also have to enter all the passport info manually. You go through all of the health-related questions that are on the actual T8 form regarding flight, seat, countries visited, symptoms, etc, and then suddenly it's asking you the questions from the back of the TM6: first time to Thailand? On a group tour? Occupation? Income? Sorry, but what do those have to do with health?

 

Once you submit the data online, you show the green check mark to the bossy girl and she stamps your TM6 so that you can pass through the empty immigration hall. At no time was ANY medical professional (doctor, nurse, medic, Ministry of Health official) present in the area, and no one looked at the answers to the questions or asked for any clarifications.

 

Let's examine some of these issues. First of all, why require use of the app rather than making it optional? And the actual electronic submission is just a web page, so why make people download a bloated (100MB+), intrusive (always trying to turn on Bluetooth) app instead of just giving people a link to a website? And if the app really is required, why not inform people of that at check in (as Vietnam was doing) - or at the gate - or on board the plane, instead of just as they arrive at immigration? And if this is a health questionnaire, why is no health officer looking at it right there, with the traveler present, as is done in every other country I've been to? Why is the process being run by the AOT and immigration (and probably the TAT, based on the questions), neither of which has anything to do with public health? And why would anyone set up a system during a global pandemic that guarantees crowding people into a small area?

 

Tl/dr: yes, that photo is all too real.

what if you don't own a phone?

 

my honest guess is that the app is spyware.

Edited by tgw
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This was taken at mochit bus terminal today. Thais leaving bangkok to their hometowns due to the impending city wide shutdown. Note the complete lack of social distancing.. if one is sick, chances are they all are by now. 

5ED5DC84-31BF-4080-BD05-CD6CA5169EE9.jpeg

Edited by Liverpoolfan
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1 hour ago, khunjeff said:

That photo is not old, that is the chaos unleashed by the poorly conceived and executed electronic T8 health declaration. I arrived Thursday night, and it looked very similar, albeit with somewhat fewer people due to a different arrival time.

 

It's absolutely true that the airport is very VERY empty, which is why the situation is so absurd. The concourses are empty, immigration is empty, baggage claim is empty - but there's a huge scrum of confused passengers at the choke-point just prior to immigration where a bunch of bossy young women in "Airport Services" vests (the same ones who normally yell at foreigners to write their address and phone number on the arrival card) are shouting at baffled people that they have to download the AOT app or they will not be allowed into the country.

 

Although the CAAT said in their announcements that a paper declaration form was acceptable, I showed up with a completed paper T8 and was told, no, I HAVE to use the AOT app. I already had the app on my phone (I use it for the real-time arrival/departure information), but found that using the electronic declaration is unnecessarily difficult. You have to upload a photo of your passport bio page (no shadows! All corners!), but then also have to enter all the passport info manually. You go through all of the health-related questions that are on the actual T8 form regarding flight, seat, countries visited, symptoms, etc, and then suddenly it's asking you the questions from the back of the TM6: first time to Thailand? On a group tour? Occupation? Income? Sorry, but what do those have to do with health?

 

Once you submit the data online, you show the green check mark to the bossy girl and she stamps your TM6 so that you can pass through the empty immigration hall. At no time was ANY medical professional (doctor, nurse, medic, Ministry of Health official) present in the area, and no one looked at the answers to the questions or asked for any clarifications.

 

Let's examine some of these issues. First of all, why require use of the app rather than making it optional? And the actual electronic submission is just a web page, so why make people download a bloated (100MB+), intrusive (always trying to turn on Bluetooth) app instead of just giving people a link to a website? And if the app really is required, why not inform people of that at check in (as Vietnam was doing) - or at the gate - or on board the plane, instead of just as they arrive at immigration? And if this is a health questionnaire, why is no health officer looking at it right there, with the traveler present, as is done in every other country I've been to? Why is the process being run by the AOT and immigration (and probably the TAT, based on the questions), neither of which has anything to do with public health? And why would anyone set up a system during a global pandemic that guarantees crowding people into a small area?

 

Tl/dr: yes, that photo is all too real.

This whole situation has been completely mismanaged from the start by this government so this new twist is not that surprising.

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