1 hour ago, jojothai said:

How on earth do they think they can fly back home??

And what will it achieve.
The declarations to fly normally include that you have not been exposed to somebody that has covid.
Even if they can fly (which I doubt), then they are going to have to quarantine at their home country, unless they lie on the declarations.

The Clowns Covid "illogical thinking" disease must be spreading.

They would have to have a covid test before any flight and then 2 more in their own countries they know thus before they came. And must have travel insurance to cover anything covid related they are probably thinking its safer in their own countries and using this as a excuss to get out before things get bad here. 

"They "asked" to go home"? 555555555  I'm sure their language was much different than a "polite request"...

So do they get a full refund on their hotel accommodation or is it thanks for arriving and have a safe trip home.

1 minute ago, Thechook said:

So do they get a full refund on their hotel accommodation or is it thanks for arriving and have a safe trip home.

Hotel refund - No have

ASQ hotel - You foreigner you pay

 

Sounds like these poor folks are getting DP'ed 555

we welcome tourists in Phuket, but if they don't spend money we will ask them to leave...Next plane maybe will have better tourists

1 hour ago, darksidedog said:

I suspect this incident is going to result in a significant number of sandbox cancellations.

Yes, but it was all so predictable that this would happen sooner or later. It's a Russian roulette kind of holiday scheme, and you have to be nuts or ignorant of the fine print to sign up for it. 

23 minutes ago, BobinBKK said:

"They "asked" to go home"? 555555555  I'm sure their language was much different than a "polite request"...

If those tourists are all Arabs, I can imagine quite a few wild scenes during the 'negotiations'. 

Time for some free TAT fruit baskets.

1 hour ago, stubuzz said:

Does the insurance cover the cost of the ALQ or is this all at the guest's expense?

Subject to add-ons, general travel/med Insurance has not changed, it only ever covers medical treatment for accident or illness, not elective stuff, so the test now is, if you swan about in a pandemic AGAINST YOUR OWN GOVERNMENTS TRAVEL ADVISORIES then it's likely to be "elective", also, if they are negative, the mandatory ASQ bills are all theirs to enjoy.

 

6 minutes ago, Ganesh108 said:

If those tourists are all Arabs, I can imagine quite a few wild scenes during the 'negotiations'. 

Ashraf Zeneca, Pfaisal, and Abdullah & Abdullah they're the best clone-vaccines money can buy, Habibi.

12 minutes ago, Destiny1990 said:

Time for some free TAT fruit baskets.

 

Fruit baskets are okay….but this sounds like a job for Essence of Chicken.

 

 

So.. one of the ‘group’ tested positive on the arrival test. 
 

The rest of the group tested negative on the Preflight test, tested negative on that arrival test.  
I assume they’ve already been given their day 6 test - still negative ???

 

There may be no reason to keep vaccinated people who’ve tested negative locked up. 

 

 

 

12 people arrived on 1 flight? Plane actually flew with 12 people on board?

 

What is the right thing to do in a situation like this? Let them roam freely and possibly infect others even though all vaccinated or discomfort for 14 days for the benefit of others?

Unfortunately the PM and several members of his entourage will not be able to attend a "fanfare farewell" at the airport !

40 minutes ago, malthebluff said:

They would have to have a covid test before any flight and then 2 more in their own countries they know thus before they came. And must have travel insurance to cover anything covid related they are probably thinking its safer in their own countries and using this as a excuss to get out before things get bad here. 

As far as I am aware your declarations include the confirmation that you have not been in contact with anybody diagnosed with covid in the last X No of days. Or something similar. 
They would have to check all the conditions they sign for.
They may also have to check conditions of covid insurance cover for travel. I cannot think of much changing due to the return. However they should check the small print.
Many of these people if they are wanting to go back are very likely to have already made non-essential travel to Thailand as an amber zone against the advice by their Govt. eg UK FCO. Therefore their travel insurance may already be invalidated.

2 hours ago, stubuzz said:

Does the insurance cover the cost of the ALQ or is this all at the guest's expense?

What I have seen for insurance cover against covid issues is normally limited to covering treatment.

Flight or hotel cancellations may be covered within limits but I cannot image anything covering their situation.

1 hour ago, RichardColeman said:

Sad thing about this is that the TAT will now spout this as an additional 12 bookings in other hotels and another 144 hotel bookings, even though they count as 12 tourists and 144 bookings already !

Now the authority is using number of booked room nights to make the numbers look even better.

What would one  expect in the future when traveling to  popular Tourist destinations !

Similar scenarios  ! Something to ponder when making vacation plans !

I'm afraid these people who want to leave Petri Phuket ,to go home ,are stuck there until the quarantine ends .

Sad !

 

I think it would be a safe bet that something like this was going to happen, let not be so negative guys lets get behind the program.

 

53 minutes ago, Hayduke said:

 

Fruit baskets are okay….but this sounds like a job for Essence of Chicken.

 

 

Brand and durian kitkats .. 

1 minute ago, Justgrazing said:

Delete 

 

2 hours ago, Saltire said:

even if the ALQ one is 'free'.

Oh it's definitely not free, they made sure everyone knew that this additional quarantine is at their own expense.

 

Something else I suspect they didn't expect.

I find these 12 people stupid to be frank. 

 

If you use the Sandbox model, you do it because it's a better option than to go to ASQ. Thus meaning you stay longer than 14 days. If you go with this mindset, than the bad luck of being tested positive would merely put you in the original situation of ASQ. 

58 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

There may be no reason to keep vaccinated people who’ve tested negative locked up. 

They're doing it anyway

Only 14 people on a flight? Hardly sustainable.

The airlines must be losing thousands of dollars per plane.

What a fiasco indeed. 

The 12 in quarantine, by the way, have to pay extra for their quarantine facilities while they most likely will no see any refund of their prepaid vacation. 

Well, Anutin might stand corrected, what happens in the sandbox will certainly not stay in the sandbox and you can kiss your 1 Octobr and your trillion tourist arrivals goodbye for quite some years. 

I can just hope that all those government crooks will be living long enough to witness themselves into what kind of total disaster they drove Thailand this time. 

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Twelve tourists now stuck in “alternative local quarantine” (ALQ) in Phuket after one person who arrived on the same flight to the island tested positive for COVID-19 have asked to fly home.

Absolutely not, you've not been fleeced enough yet.

The optics of this aren't great.

 

What would have happened if there had been 100 passengers on that particular plane? Quarantine for the whole lot?

 

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

So.. one of the ‘group’ tested positive on the arrival test. 
 

The rest of the group tested negative on the Preflight test, tested negative on that arrival test.  
I assume they’ve already been given their day 6 test - still negative ???

 

There may be no reason to keep vaccinated people who’ve tested negative locked up. 

 

 

 

Indeed. The UK has just announced that from 16 August, anyone in England who has had both their Covid jabs will no longer have to self-isolate if a close contact tests positive for Covid.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/explainers-54239922

2 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

A totally flawed "scheme" full of incompetence and lack of proper planning.

Shameful.

It was to be expected... but so soon, well that even surprised me.