Reported change in April to reduce quarantine to 7 days

[JCP108]

I have read that the quarantine for people "arriving in Phuket" will be reduced to 7 days for people who have had the vaccine and a negative test. Does that mean that one has to land in Phuket directly from outside the country? Or, if one has an international flight into BKK with connecting flight on to Phuket, that would work? 

[JCP108]

Now I see that if one flies into BKK, you have to quarantine there and can't travel on prior to completion of the quarantine. To quarantine in Phuket, one must land there and apparently the stipulation is that if you land in BKK, the only way to quarantine in Phuket is to take a private jet there from the BKK airport. Lovely.

[NanLaew]

I read that from 1st July, vaccinated arrivals in Phuket are waived of quarantine whereas those arriving at the other international arrival airports (Bangkok, Krabi, Chiang Mai) will still have to do 7-days in ASQ.

 

What's to stop the average FIFO like myself booking a HKT flight and then popping over to the domestic terminal and heading elsewhere? Or catching a bus?

 

Maybe there are some details missing?

[JCP108]

2 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

I read that from 1st July, vaccinated arrivals in Phuket are waived of quarantine whereas those arriving at the other international arrival airports (Bangkok, Krabi, Chiang Mai) will still have to do 7-days in ASQ.

 

What's to stop the average FIFO like myself booking a HKT flight and then popping over to the domestic terminal and heading elsewhere? Or catching a bus?

 

Maybe there are some details missing?

I assume that when one arrives at BKK, you have to proceed immediately to quarantine when checked through incoming immigration. Maybe one could find a way to land directly in the Phuket airport instead of landing at BKK first? I've never done that but maybe there are flights from nearby countries where one could transit?

[NanLaew]

10 hours ago, JCP108 said:

I assume that when one arrives at BKK, you have to proceed immediately to quarantine when checked through incoming immigration. Maybe one could find a way to land directly in the Phuket airport instead of landing at BKK first? I've never done that but maybe there are flights from nearby countries where one could transit?

Phuket is already an international airport with direct flights that totally bypass BKK and DMG.

 

I guess it's a local variation on the 'sandbox' scheme that they've come up with for Pattaya? They still don't explain how the carefully managed and vaccinated foreign tourists bottled-up in Pattaya will interact with the unvaccinated locals in the service industry and maintain this illusory "bubble".

[JerseytoBKK]

11 hours ago, JCP108 said:

I assume that when one arrives at BKK, you have to proceed immediately to quarantine when checked through incoming immigration. Maybe one could find a way to land directly in the Phuket airport instead of landing at BKK first? I've never done that but maybe there are flights from nearby countries where one could transit?

 

There are currently flights 2x week from Singapore on Singapore Air. I read that more airlines are about to announce additional flights soon but nothing official.

[Phillip9]

17 hours ago, NanLaew said:

What's to stop the average FIFO like myself booking a HKT flight and then popping over to the domestic terminal and heading elsewhere? Or catching a bus?

 

Phuket is an island, with one road off of it, and already a checkpoint set up before you leave the island.   After they reopen it would be very easy for them check every foreigner's passport who tries to fly or drive off the island and not allow recent arrivals to leave.

[DFPhuket]

As of today, you can only get directly to Phuket via the twice weekly Singapore Airlines flight. You would transit in Singapore and your first entry into Thailand would be Phuket.

 

Emirates and Qatar have already added flights to Phuket beginning July 1 and they can be booked via their websites now.  If Phuket truly opens on July 1 and doesn't require quarantine for vaccinated people, there would likely be some additional direct flights scheduled. 

[khunPer]

On 4/2/2021 at 3:54 PM, JCP108 said:

Now I see that if one flies into BKK, you have to quarantine there and can't travel on prior to completion of the quarantine. To quarantine in Phuket, one must land there and apparently the stipulation is that if you land in BKK, the only way to quarantine in Phuket is to take a private jet there from the BKK airport. Lovely.

Seems like this plane with 130 Germans landing in BKK 3rd April let 16 of them continue to Phuket...

 

"Yesterday a Thai Airways flight arrived from Germany’s Frankfurt airport. It first touched down at Suvarnabhumi airport, carrying 130 German tourists. 16 of them continued on to Phuket, a modest start for Phuket’s international tourist revival."

The Thaigar "16 German tourists kick off Phuket’s tentative re-opening plans".

Edited April 4, 2021 by khunPer

[scorecard]

On 4/3/2021 at 1:30 PM, JerseytoBKK said:

 

There are currently flights 2x week from Singapore on Singapore Air. I read that more airlines are about to announce additional flights soon but nothing official.

On the approved Semi-commercial flights into Thailand list, there's also Silk Air,  Singapore to Phuket. Also Aeroflot to Phuket.

 

The current full list of Semi-commercial flights is on this file:

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ijBJOTgFJPAuWUfkPIA60iniXB9j9Ba2XHafXzA6JCw/edit#gid=1507041608

 

Given that there seems to be increased activity to open up Phuket, also Pattaya and Chiang Mai, all with reduced quarantine for those who have completed a vaccine, I guess coming soon there will be more flights on the approved Semi-commercial flights list. 

[ozfarang]

12 hours ago, scorecard said:

On the approved Semi-commercial flights into Thailand list, there's also Silk Air,  Singapore to Phuket. Also Aeroflot to Phuket.

Silk Air no longer operate as an airline, they have been merged into Singapore Airlines and the flights to Phuket operate as a SQ flight number at the same times as the previous two flights a week MI would have operated.

 

Silk Web site redirects you to Singapore Airlines to make bookings

SINGAPORE AIRLINES TO BEGIN BOEING 737-800 OPERATIONS FROM MARCH

SAM CHUIJANUARY 28, 2021

737AVIATION NEWSSINGAPORE AIRLINES0 COMMENTS

 

 

Singapore Airlines (SIA) will operate the Boeing 737-800 aircraft on flights to Phuket from 4th March 2021, as part of SilkAir’s integration with the parent Airline.

More SilkAir routes will be progressively transferred, as nine 737-800 NG are set to join the SIA fleet. This would also allow SIA to operate the aircraft to points within its current network, starting with Brunei in March 2021 . The full integration of SilkAir into Singapore Airlines is scheduled for completion in the 2021/22 financial year.

 

Singapore Airlines B737-800

[Phillip9]

2 hours ago, ozfarang said:

Silk Air no longer operate as an airline, they have been merged into Singapore Airlines and the flights to Phuket operate as a SQ flight number at the same times as the previous two flights a week MI would have operated.

 

I just flew on Silk Airlines a week ago.  They have merged, but they are still distinct.  My flight was ticketed as MI but codeshare with Singapore so both the MI and SQ numbers were valid.  

[PumpkinEater]

Does the vaccination have to be within 90 days of arrival in order to avoid quarantine?

If so what is the reasoning behind this requirement?
 

Cheers

[JerseytoBKK]

22 minutes ago, PumpkinEater said:

Does the vaccination have to be within 90 days of arrival in order to avoid quarantine?

If so what is the reasoning behind this requirement?
 

Cheers

 

Current rule is at least 14 days after your 2nd shot (J&J just 1 shot) and not more than 90 days.

 

Reasoning? Surely you jest. Governments around the world have decreed that every bizarre regulation is backed by SCIENCE. 

Edited April 5, 2021 by JerseytoBKK

[JerseytoBKK]

2 minutes ago, JerseytoBKK said:

 

 

Edited April 5, 2021 by JerseytoBKK

[treetops]

5 hours ago, JerseytoBKK said:

Current rule is at least 14 days after your 2nd shot (J&J just 1 shot) and not more than 90 days.

 

There is no 90 day rule.

[treetops]

On 4/4/2021 at 12:00 PM, scorecard said:

On the approved Semi-commercial flights into Thailand list, there's also Silk Air,  Singapore to Phuket. Also Aeroflot to Phuket.

 

Silkair have not flown the route since the end of February when Singapore took over from them.

 

Aeroflot have not yet flown it.

 

[scorecard]

6 hours ago, JerseytoBKK said:

 

Current rule is at least 14 days after your 2nd shot (J&J just 1 shot) and not more than 90 days.

 

Reasoning? Surely you jest. Governments around the world have decreed that every bizarre regulation is backed by SCIENCE. 

 

In recent posts from gov't agencies the 'must be at least days after the injections have been completed' appears.

 

But the 'not more than 90 days' seems to have disappeared. 

 

[JerseytoBKK]

16 hours ago, treetops said:

 

There is no 90 day rule.

The 90 days was widely reported 10 days ago but as Scorecard notes, now there is no mention of it.

[Phillip9]

16 hours ago, scorecard said:

But the 'not more than 90 days' seems to have disappeared. 

 

In the last week, a couple of studies were released that showed the vaccines are effective for at least 6 months, so that may have made them drop the 90 day criteria.

 

https://www.livescience.com/pfizer-vaccine-effective-six-months.html