'I gave up a long time ago': Australian stranded for nearly a year in Thailand

By Rachael Dexter

 

Justin Peck will have been in Thailand for one year on January 24.

 

An Australian man who has been stranded in Thailand for 10 months claims he has been abandoned by the federal government after it cancelled his ticket on a flight home this week and cut him off from further financial support.

 

Justin Peck, 41, originally from Melbourne, left his business job in Hong Kong in early 2020 and travelled to Bangkok for what should have been a short holiday.

 

When the pandemic struck and Thailand closed its borders in March, Mr Peck had no job and no way to get home.

 

Full Story: https://www.smh.com.au/national/i-gave-up-a-long-time-ago-australian-stranded-for-nearly-a-year-in-thailand-20210118-p56v2s.html

Wonder when the Go Fund me page will go up.  Nothing in the article indicates he has any family in Australia or any friends who are wanting to help him get home.  I do feel for him, as it has become a nightmare just in the last few months to return whence you came.  Now with the pre flight Covid tests being required, limited Quarantine locations, and other rules that certain countries have in place with the new mutated strains of Covid.  The better question is, what can he possibly do to get home if he does not raise funds. I just wonder what was left out of the story and why he did not return last summer before the restrictions fully went into place.

1 minute ago, ThailandRyan said:

Wonder when the Go Fund me page will go up.  Nothing in the article indicates he has any family in Australia or any friends who are wanting to help him get home.  I do feel for him, as it has become a nightmare just in the last few months to return whence you came.  Now with the pre flight Covid tests being required, limited Quarantine locations, and other rules that certain countries have in place with the new mutated strains of Covid.  The better question is, what can he possibly do to get home if he does not raise funds. I just wonder what was left out of the story and why he did not return last summer before the restrictions fully went into place.

I came from Australia on the 2nd of March. I had a return ticket for the 30th which was cancelled, and then there were 3 options which quickly became either cancelled or overbooked. I've been here since. But I'm not complaining. I have a trading account and make more than enough to pay for myself.

There are far worse places to be 'stranded'.  Enjoy it mate. 

If he really wanted to leave he could have left. There are lots of airlines that are flying to Australia, but he might have to do a few layovers to get out. There are flights leaving on 22 January if you use Google travel.

1 minute ago, moouaan said:

If he really wanted to leave he could have left. There are lots of airlines that are flying to Australia, but he might have to do a few layovers to get out. There are flights leaving on 22 January if you use Google travel.

stay here, plenty of 'layovers' available for a young man

41 and acting like a 18 year old ,,,I’d be embarrassed.

26 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

There are far worse places to be 'stranded'.  Enjoy it mate. 

How do you enjoy being stranded with no money?

2 minutes ago, bwpage3 said:

How do you enjoy being stranded with no money?

why no money?  If no money here, then no money in Australia? If no money here, why is he here? No family to send some on to him? 

8 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

why no money?  If no money here, then no money in Australia? If no money here, why is he here? No family to send some on to him? 

He has a social security umbrella in Australia including free medical. 

He has been banned from future assistance flights probably for registering on them and then pulling out last minute. The embassy have been very vocal on this and rightly so. 

 

He sounds like a total loser leaching off his GF at his age. 

13 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

why no money?  If no money here, then no money in Australia? If no money here, why is he here? No family to send some on to him? 

The clue is in the short break that lasted a year like me ????

8 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

why no money?  If no money here, then no money in Australia? If no money here, why is he here? No family to send some on to him? 

He was employed in Hong Kong, quit his job and came to Bangkok for a short holiday. Stranded here with no job and no income when the borders slammed shut. Not many people have enough cash saved to tide them over for a year or two.

46 minutes ago, moouaan said:

If he really wanted to leave he could have left. There are lots of airlines that are flying to Australia, but he might have to do a few layovers to get out. There are flights leaving on 22 January if you use Google travel.

Try to book one of these flights on 22nd and see what happens. IMO pretty big chance you are going to end up with a useless credit voucher.

47 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

stay here, plenty of 'layovers' available for a young man

Layovers or leftovers? 

51 minutes ago, taninthai said:

41 and acting like a 18 year old ,,,I’d be embarrassed.

 Life has a strange way of catching all of us off guard at some point in time, young and old. It only takes one bad decision to change, destroy, undo a whole life of taking precautions. 

Bit limited in my sympathy for this guy since, as he says, the Oz govt had arranged a flight for him but he didn’t get on at last minute.

A post using a trolling image has been removed. 

8 minutes ago, madmen said:

He has a social security umbrella in Australia including free medical. 

He has been banned from future assistance flights probably for registering on them and then pulling out last minute. The embassy have been very vocal on this and rightly so. 

 

He sounds like a total loser leaching off his GF at his age. 

The social security umbrella is useless, unless he can attend a Centrelink office in person to claim it.

According to him, he was taken off the repatriation list when he refused to go to Singapore for the connection, as being stranded there would have been even more expensive. The decision was made by a DFAT official. They've said they can't discuss his case individually, due to privacy issues. That's government speak for time to cover my a##e.

There was only one flight out of Bangkok in December, full. It's not rocket science, call in the RAAF. Except they are too busy shuttling politicians around.

Where you behind the door when empathy was being handed out? What would you do in his position, rob a bank?

We sent one of our staff to NZ last July. There were several options for getting there all of them via Australia and none of them were particularly expensive.

 

I just searched my email and found the following;

 

BR 212 S 03JUL 5*BKKTPE DK1  1220 1710  03JUL  

BR 315 S 03JUL 5*TPEBNE DK1  2300 0950  04JUL  

NZ 152 W 04JUL 6 BNEAKL DK1  1740 2255  04JUL  

COST OF BR-TICKET 13900 BAHT INCLUDE TAX.

CHANGE DATE/FLIGHT CHARGE THB4000, BAGGAGE 30 KG.

COST OF NZ-TICKET 9700 BAHT INCLUDE TAX.

CHANGE DATE/FLIGHT NOT PERMITTED AND BAGGAGE 23 KG.

COST OF TOTAL = 13900+9700 = 23,600.-

 

CX 654 S 03JUL 5*BKKHKG DK1  1500 1900  03JUL 

CX 105 S 04JUL 6*HKGMEL DK1  0010 1110  04JUL 

NZ 124 W 04JUL 6 MELAKL DK1  1230 1805  04JUL 

COST OF AIR TICKET 13900 BAHT INCLUDE TAX.

CHANGE DATE/FLIGHT CHARGE THB3500 AND NON REFUND

COST OF AIR TICKET 9100 BAHT INCLUDE TAX.

CHANGE DATE/FLIGHT NOT PERMITTED AND NON REFUND

COST OF TOTAL = 13900+9100 = 23,000.-

 

 

The cost of EVA to Brisbane or Cathay to Melbourne were both THB13,900 (AUD600). Both of these flights operated. I heard from my colleague later that his flight to AUS was 3/4 empty.

 

Just another Covid media beat-up which is full of lies.

 

 

Yes things could be worse , you could be stuck here in Western Australia not allowed to leave                                      Regards... Popa

1 hour ago, Pilotman said:

There are far worse places to be 'stranded'.  Enjoy it mate. 

 

Queensland for example ????

1 hour ago, Pilotman said:

why no money?  If no money here, then no money in Australia? If no money here, why is he here? No family to send some on to him? 

Maybe his family has no money either. Huge numbers of people have lost jobs during this pandemic. You just do not know, not all white folks have cash. 

1 hour ago, Lacessit said:

1 hour ago, Pilotman said:

why no money?  If no money here, then no money in Australia? If no money here, why is he here? No family to send some on to him? 

He was employed in Hong Kong, quit his job and came to Bangkok for a short holiday. Stranded here with no job and no income when the borders slammed shut. Not many people have enough cash saved to tide them over for a year or two.

 

My Australian mate, a long time Thailand "tourist" renting a house in Phuket hadn't had any FIFO work for over a year when Covid struck so with funds running out last May, he decided it was time to quit paradise and go home. His lease was up in July so he sold everything and started looking for repatriation flights. Got bounced off the first flight a couple of days before his lease was up so had to move into cheap digs. Was bounced of two further repatriation flights before finally getting home the first week of September.

 

The guy in the OP claims he's been bounced of "more than a dozen flights home for him since March"?

 

3 out of 10

Must try harder.

Calimero has stranded

1 hour ago, gearbox said:

Try to book one of these flights on 22nd and see what happens. IMO pretty big chance you are going to end up with a useless credit voucher.

100% correct ,most key board comments about his situation need to get on the receiving end then they’ll realise there’s a real world out there

The flight out 17th got reduced in numbers 38 to 25, 13 put on 24th from 17th plus 12. Aus govt said increase repat flights, but embassy says no BKK extra. One message mentioned being available every week if your registered with smarttraveller to increase chances.

But I think it's time embassy handed out priority numbers like 15, ok next flight, or 150, in 6 weeks, give or take as people find alternatives to Aust. You get positive test, you'll be chasing a refund minus fees. In February hopefully Thailand eases, but who knows. I left Thailand late last Feb but came back to go to a wedding in Bali early April. Aus govt opened to access super if needed and maybe this guy could have done.

There are still (tens of) thousands of Australians trying to get back. Pitty this guy isn't a rich tennis player. Be there now. Being stranded since last March is interesting. 

 

  

2 hours ago, moouaan said:

If he really wanted to leave he could have left. There are lots of airlines that are flying to Australia, but he might have to do a few layovers to get out. There are flights leaving on 22 January if you use Google travel.

As someone else pointed out, chances are that you just end up with credits for that particular airline, that come with an expiry date. Each stopover is also a risk of getting stuck in that particular country.

The free repatriation flights used to be on every Sunday and they only took about 17 people per flight.

This is because Australia has a hard cap (which was recently increased) on how many people are allowed back in per week. That's why they cancled his prior flights, as they opt to fly in people from a different country.

Currently, flights are orgsanised by the govt however it costs about 24K baht and this guy has no money. A PCR test is also required  72 hours before the flight. So repeated tests at your cost if they cancle your flight.

From the embassy's website: "Note, however, that registering your details with the Embassy does not guarantee we can facilitate your return to Australia" and "Due to caps on the number of passengers coming into Australian airports, passenger numbers on Thai Airways facilitated flights are also extremely limited"

So it's not as easy as booking a flight and then you're on your merry way without issues.

 

 

1 hour ago, thedemon said:

We sent one of our staff to NZ last July. There were several options for getting there all of them via Australia and none of them were particularly expensive.

 

I just searched my email and found the following;

 

BR 212 S 03JUL 5*BKKTPE DK1  1220 1710  03JUL  

BR 315 S 03JUL 5*TPEBNE DK1  2300 0950  04JUL  

NZ 152 W 04JUL 6 BNEAKL DK1  1740 2255  04JUL  

COST OF BR-TICKET 13900 BAHT INCLUDE TAX.

CHANGE DATE/FLIGHT CHARGE THB4000, BAGGAGE 30 KG.

COST OF NZ-TICKET 9700 BAHT INCLUDE TAX.

CHANGE DATE/FLIGHT NOT PERMITTED AND BAGGAGE 23 KG.

COST OF TOTAL = 13900+9700 = 23,600.-

 

CX 654 S 03JUL 5*BKKHKG DK1  1500 1900  03JUL 

CX 105 S 04JUL 6*HKGMEL DK1  0010 1110  04JUL 

NZ 124 W 04JUL 6 MELAKL DK1  1230 1805  04JUL 

COST OF AIR TICKET 13900 BAHT INCLUDE TAX.

CHANGE DATE/FLIGHT CHARGE THB3500 AND NON REFUND

COST OF AIR TICKET 9100 BAHT INCLUDE TAX.

CHANGE DATE/FLIGHT NOT PERMITTED AND NON REFUND

COST OF TOTAL = 13900+9100 = 23,000.-

 

 

The cost of EVA to Brisbane or Cathay to Melbourne were both THB13,900 (AUD600). Both of these flights operated. I heard from my colleague later that his flight to AUS was 3/4 empty.

 

Just another Covid media beat-up which is full of lies.

 

 

 

Going to NZ is different, Australia has imposed quarantine capacity limits. If they exceed the limit you can't board and you get a credit voucher. This doesn't apply to transit passengers.

25 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

There are still (tens of) thousands of Australians trying to get back. Pitty this guy isn't a rich tennis player. Be there now. Being stranded since last March is interesting. 

 

That many? Where did you get that number from? What percent of tourists? There would have been 30-40-50K Australian tourists here at that time?