Mixed vaccination for COE & Going via Suvarnabhumi to Phuket Sandbox or Samui+

[Flying Saucage]

I have two question for my coming return to Thailand:

 

1. Is there any reliable info or announcement available, regarding which vaccines and which vaccine combinations are allowed now to enter Thailand under the Phuket Sandbox or Samui+ model?

 

I got my first jab with AstraZeneca weeks ago. Yesterday my doc in Europe called me and asked me if I want the second jab from AstraZeneca or BioNTech-Pfizer. So now I can decide, but I want to make sure that it is possible for me to enter Thailand. I prefer BioNTech for the higher efficacy, but if there are issues with the COE, I would stick to AstraZeneca.

 

Please note that the Thai Embassy in Berlin STILL states on its website: "Bei beiden Impfungen muss Impfstoff des gleichen Herstellers verwandt worden sein". Hence, a combination of AstraZeneca and BioNTech-Pfizer still was NOT ALLOWED according to that info. 

 

I herad from othersources info that mixed vaccination was allowed, but which info can be trusted?

 

 

2. I have a flight ticket to Suvarnabhumi. This was purchased 2019 already for 2020, but due to cancelled flights I could rebook it for this year, and I have to use it now and cannot change anything anymore.

 

Now, for the Samui+ model (and hopefully soon for the Sandbox): Is it possible to have the Bangkok Air connection flight for Samui on a separate ticket? An what might happen in case at Check-In in Germany they fail to check-in the luggage to the final destination Samui as it is a separate ticket?

 

Thanks in advance for your advices!

 

 

 

 

[ubonjoe]

I have not seen anything about combining 2 types of vaccine to get certificate of entry. This from the Thai  embassy in the US.

 

The certificate of entry application site allows you to enter two types of vaccine for the 2 doses though.

 

 

Source: https://coethailand.mfa.go.th/

[CANSIAM]

It looks like you have to continue on as per Berlin Thai Embassy, get your second dose with AZ to get the COE.  Do the mixing later on if need be or if possible. 

[sandyf]

27 minutes ago, CANSIAM said:

It looks like you have to continue on as per Berlin Thai Embassy, get your second dose with AZ to get the COE.  Do the mixing later on if need be or if possible. 

Strikes me as being a bit academic. Flying into Suvarnabhumi wouldn't be seen as a "relaxed quarantine" scenario so vaccination status would be of little significance.

You  should go with what you consider best for you but personally I think you should stick with the AZ. You have had it once without a problem, why risk something else.

[ubonjoe]

2 minutes ago, sandyf said:

Strikes me as being a bit academic. Flying into Suvarnabhumi wouldn't be seen as a "relaxed quarantine" scenario so vaccination status would be of little significance.

A vaccination is mandatory to enter the Phuket or Samui sandboxes.

At this time only the Samui one is transiting through Suvarnabhumi airport to a special flight to there 

[sandyf]

29 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

A vaccination is mandatory to enter the Phuket or Samui sandboxes.

At this time only the Samui one is transiting through Suvarnabhumi airport to a special flight to there 

You are making the assumption that the OP with his existing ticket would be allowed to participate in the initiative. I would suggest not, but you can read into it what you want.

 

For the flight via Bangkok, the ticket must be issued on the same booking with an international flight in conjunction with such approved Bangkok-Samui-Bangkok flights. Any flight reservations booked separately will not be allowed.

https://www.thaiembassy.com/travel-to-thailand/samui-plus-sandbox-travel-to-thailand-without-quarantine

[ubonjoe]

12 minutes ago, sandyf said:

You are making the assumption that the OP with his existing ticket would be allowed to participate in the initiative.

I was just replying to your comment about not needing a vaccination and making it clear to you as to what the OP was asking about.

 

58 minutes ago, sandyf said:

Strikes me as being a bit academic. Flying into Suvarnabhumi wouldn't be seen as a "relaxed quarantine" scenario so vaccination status would be of little significance.

 

[sandyf]

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

I was just replying to your comment about not needing a vaccination and making it clear to you as to what the OP was asking about.

 

 

The OP stated quite clearly at the outset he already had a ticket and I responded on the basis he wouldn't be allowed to participate in the initiative. Hence my statement.

"Flying into Suvarnabhumi wouldn't be seen as a "relaxed quarantine" scenario so vaccination status would be of little significance."

Outside the initiatives quarantine is mandatory irrespective of being vaccinated or not.

 

If you wish to advise  the OP that I was wrong and he would have no problem going to Samui under the initiative, that is entirely up to you.

[jojothai]

You will need to put the flight details to get the COE. It can include transits.
Must have the COE to get through all the airport checks and at Suvarnabhumi.
You could try pre-approval and see if it works at that stage.
but then you have to make the bookings to get the actual COE including the hotel required in destination.
I do not think that anybody will be able to advise whether it will pass to get you the actual COE.

If you were to try for the COE, then you have to consider that it may get refused. 

If so you need the bookings refundable or at least re-bookable.

NOTE: Many ASQ hotels in Bangkok have refund or rebooking allowed if you fail to get a COE, but you can expect to lose a deposit of 5000 Baht. That is Bangkok. Check the hotel conditions in the destination.

From my experience, they are often not on the booking sites. They put them on the booking confirmation.

Likely you will have to call them. 

[ubonjoe]

41 minutes ago, sandyf said:

The OP stated quite clearly at the outset he already had a ticket and I responded on the basis he wouldn't be allowed to participate in the initiative.

He did not give enough info about his ticket to make an assumption.

I am not sure what the flight schedule to Samui is. It is possible if he was able to connect to that flight by transiting it might possible to do it with his existing flight.

[mikecha]

  i talked to klm Today  thet say must have a destination  ticket issued  and if you transit  this is on the ticket bording  pass  

so say  Amsterdam / Sami  transit Bangkok 

also u need the flight numbers on your coe  and date of departure 

and a valid Covid 19  test NEGATIVE NOT OLDER THAN 72 HOURS

 

THAI  dont need covid test  but a COE 

 

all very time consuming   visas  start coe get right flights get quarantine hotel send and get the full coe  \ then try get covid test  difficult now due to many want this for holidays in europe 

for s tourist   /holiday is this all worth it  for Thailand 

 

For the people who have a work permit and house or  a resident or retirement    visa 

then like many say many many hoeps to jump through 

i live here so i must do many things to get back in 

 

i realy hope at the end of the year things will get better  

 

 

[ubonjoe]

7 minutes ago, mikecha said:

THAI  dont need covid test  but a COE 

The COE website states it is still needed. Not sure I would try boarding a flight without one. They may want to see before making the connecting flight to Samui as well.

 

[ubonjoe]

The COE website brings this up if you select the Samui sandbox.

[roobaa01]

Gday,

I entered thailand on the 290621 on lufthansa lh772 . I was picked-up by the asq hotel folks and transferred to pattaya. The thai authorities ignored my who vavccination pass as well as my digital european vaccination pass. Instead i was receiving an official form for the medical staff at the hotel classifying me as a COVID SUSPEKT what a crab.

Cheers roobaa01

[ubonjoe]

2 minutes ago, roobaa01 said:

I entered thailand on the 290621 on lufthansa lh772 . I was picked-up by the asq hotel folks and transferred to pattaya. The thai authorities ignored my who vavccination pass as well as my digital european vaccination pass. Instead i was receiving an official form for the medical staff at the hotel classifying me as a COVID SUSPEKT what a crab.

Your proof of vaccination means nothing unless you are going into of one the 2 sandboxes.

For a short period of time being vaccinated reduced your quarantine to 7 days but that went away when the 3rd wave hit Thailand.

[roobaa01]

@ubonjoe i was also passed the 14 days time after the second vaccination jab plus a pcr test 72 hours prior to arrival with an immunity rate 95 % . Whereas thais mostly jabbed with sinovac rating 51 %.

 

CHEER

ROOBAA01

 

[pentagara]

1 hour ago, roobaa01 said:

@ubonjoe i was also passed the 14 days time after the second vaccination jab plus a pcr test 72 hours prior to arrival with an immunity rate 95 % . Whereas thais mostly jabbed with sinovac rating 51 %.

 

CHEER

ROOBAA01

 

To change Thai immigration rules, you would need to convince the politicians and government officials responsible for them. Members of this forum cannot change Thai regulation.

 

Irrespective, just with regards to the stated numbers: Efficacy of Pfizer against delta is somewhere around 60-70% based on Israel data. So there's a 30-40% chance you're a spreader and infect unvaccinated people if you've been exposed to delta, with the likelihood increasing with your age. So you're a problem as long as Thai are not vaccinated themselves.

 

The main benefit of Thailand is actually that they let you in at all as a non-resident. The US and most other countries don't, whatever one's vaccine documents say. In the US it's even difficult to reenter if you are a foreigner and have a US work permit. Vaccine status is completely irrelevant for them.

[Flying Saucage]

Dear all, thanks a lot for all your advices!

 

For the mixed vaccine issue, this is one of the sources I found:

 

https://asq.in.th/de/thailand-sandbox-requirements

 

Not sure if this is reliable, of course. I also read somewhere else that since July 5 it was allowed to mix. But, the websites of the embassys don't show anything so far.

 

Can't reach anyone at the embassy in Germany. They don't pick up the phone. 

 

 

[Flying Saucage]

5 hours ago, sandyf said:

You are making the assumption that the OP with his existing ticket would be allowed to participate in the initiative. I would suggest not, but you can read into it what you want.

 

For the flight via Bangkok, the ticket must be issued on the same booking with an international flight in conjunction with such approved Bangkok-Samui-Bangkok flights. Any flight reservations booked separately will not be allowed.

https://www.thaiembassy.com/travel-to-thailand/samui-plus-sandbox-travel-to-thailand-without-quarantine

Thanks sandyf for that info. I wasn't aware of it.

 

Yes, this is indeed an issue for me. I have the ticket to Suvarnabhumi already, paid since 2019, and cannot change it anymore. I'd need to book additionally an entirely new long-haul ticket from Europe to Phuket, and do a no-show for the existing ticket.

 

The arrival date is in late September. So I only can hope that the Sandboxes of Chonburi or Hua Hin will open till then.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 16, 2021 by Flying Saucage

[ubonjoe]

15 minutes ago, Flying Saucage said:

Yes, this is indeed an issue for me. I have the ticket to Suvarnabhumi already, paid since 2019, and cannot change it anymore. I'd need to book additionally an entirely new long-haul ticket from Europe to Phuket, and do a no-show for the existing ticket.

The link he posted is not a official website. From the bottom of that page. "This is NOT the official website of the Thai Embassy. All Rights Reserved."

You have time to do some research to find out what is possible. What is shown on that site is subject to change.

You might want to check with Bangkok Airways that is doing the flights to Samui. https://www.bangkokair.com/

Also the airline that you are flying into Bangkok on.

 

[Flying Saucage]

Just found also this articlie which describles quite well the hassles foreigners can experience in the Sandbox program and refers to a new regulation for mixed vaccine from July 5:

 

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2021/07/12/tourist-fans-soured-by-hyper-regulation/

 

The end of the article describes a case of a Norwegian, Hans, and it refers also to new regulations regarding mixing vaccines, which came into effect July 5. It says that this guy has to spend 14 days ASQ in Phuket only because he agreed to these 14 days ASQ before the policy changed to allow mixed vaccine, on July 5.

 

Quote:

 

"He was very lucky to get on a second flight to Thailand the next day only due to the direct intervention of authorities in Phuket itself who were actively trying to smooth over problems arising from the scheme and snags caused by red tape.

Since then, Thai authorities have changed the regulations from July 5th last to allow mixed vaccinations which Thai doctors have endorsed as providing more effective immunisation.

Hopes last week dashed when he was told he must stay in quarantine since he agreed to it at the beginning

However, although Hans was then told that he could transfer to the sandbox programme this week because of this change of policy, it was later shot down by officials who stipulated that as he had agreed to enter into the 14-day quarantine arrangement, then he must remain there. "

 

 

But, I also nowhere found any official info.

Anyway, I think I will stick to AstraZeneca for my second jab. 

 

 

Edited July 16, 2021 by Flying Saucage

[khunPer]

On 7/15/2021 at 9:48 AM, Flying Saucage said:

Now, for the Samui+ model (and hopefully soon for the Sandbox): Is it possible to have the Bangkok Air connection flight for Samui on a separate ticket? An what might happen in case at Check-In in Germany they fail to check-in the luggage to the final destination Samui as it is a separate ticket?

There are schedule three daily special transit flights from BKK by Bangkok Airways to USM (Samui)...

 

 

You need to contact Bangkok Airways about allowed tickets and luggage, before the pandemic you could only book luggage directly all way through to USM on PG-route share flights, but it might be different now.

 

We try to update on transport to/from Koh Samui in this pinned thread in the Samui-forum, the link hereunder takes you to the post with a large Q&A section abou Samui+

 

[Letseng]

11 hours ago, sandyf said:

Strikes me as being a bit academic. Flying into Suvarnabhumi wouldn't be seen as a "relaxed quarantine" scenario so vaccination status would be of little significance.

You  should go with what you consider best for you but personally I think you should stick with the AZ. You have had it once without a problem, why risk something else.

I've had Astra 1 jab and was ill for a week. 2nd was Pfizer. Had nothing but a sloghtly sore area on mu arm for 2 days. Rather have mixed jab & enter quarantine in Bkk than single type. For me Phuket has no appeal. Despite vaccination I consider sandbox risky. A lot hinges on other guests. It's the hot season in the M.E. Phuket will see many families from there. Not the envirinment I want to be at this time. Reason: discipline.

[Flying Saucage]

Just reached the Thai Embassy Berlin:

 

They told me that there was no official announcement that mixed vaccine is allowed, but the system they use for the COE and which is connected to a server at the Ministry of Health now accepts mixed vaccine.

 

But, no commitment, no guarantee, all on my own risk as long as there is no official announcement from Bangkok.

 

For my second issue: There is no possibility to use an existing ticket from Europe to Suvarnabhumi for both Samui+ and Phuket Sandbox. It must be ONE ticket for the long haul flight and the connection flight to Samui, or a direct long haul flight to Phuket.

 

This is just another useless and unfriendly bureaucratic hassle to avoid that foreigners come to Thailand, to take part on Phuket Sandbox or Samui+.