Cheapest covid test in Phuket for flying to the US

[alw22]

A quick search showed a result charging 3,500 which seems a bit much.  Is there a better alternative that would meet the requirements to fly to the US?

 

Do I need the "fit to fly" certificate?  The US embassy doesn't mention it.

[skatewash]

A rapid antigen test satisfies the US entry requirement.  Cost is about 600-800 baht.  RT-PCR will be much more expensive (4 to 5 times as expensive).  You don't need the fit-to-fly certificate for entry to the US.

Good to also check any specific requirements your airline(s) or transit countries might require.

[bamboozled]

Hmm, I might be flying to the US next month if I decide to make the trip. I haven't done the research yet on what is needed. If you care to share what you got up to/what's necessary, I'd be obliged. Is there any kind of quarantine necessary on the US end?

 

I see a rapid antigen test and then check with the airline. That has to be done within 3 days of flying or something of the sort?

 

Thank you, Bam

 

[skatewash]

4 minutes ago, bamboozled said:

Hmm, I might be flying to the US next month if I decide to make the trip. I haven't done the research yet on what is needed. If you care to share what you got up to/what's necessary, I'd be obliged. Is there any kind of quarantine necessary on the US end?

 

I see a rapid antigen test and then check with the airline. That has to be done within 3 days of flying or something of the sort?

 

Thank you, Bam

 

No kind of quarantine is needed on the US side.  The covid test (which can be rapid antigen) must be done three (3) days before your departure to the US.  It's an easy standard to meet than the one you need to meet when coming to Thailand which is 72 hours.  You don't have to count hours, just days.  For example, if you fly to the US on Friday, then you can get your test results anytime on Wednesday and it will be within the three (3) day time-frame.

[bamboozled]

Thanks so much, Skatewash. It seems easy enough though my sister is a little wary of having a non-vaxed in the house. Of course, I'd stop and get my first shot coming out of the airport but I could be contaminated on the plane. Have you done this recently, a trip to the US?

 

As for the coming back part, I feel it's impossible to know what Thailand will require in a month or two.

 

Cheers, Bam

[skatewash]

1 minute ago, bamboozled said:

Thanks so much, Skatewash. It seems easy enough though my sister is a little wary of having a non-vaxed in the house. Of course, I'd stop and get my first shot coming out of the airport but I could be contaminated on the plane. Have you done this recently, a trip to the US?

 

Cheers, Bam

Nope, haven't been back to the US for about seven years.  Getting my information from the internet (from the US State Department and CDC)

 

By the way, my earlier example of getting a covid test 3 days before travel to the US while true is a little misleading.  Here's a better way of stating it: 

If your flight to the US is on a Friday, you can get your covid test anytime on the prior Tuesday or after.  That's a better example because it covers the entire range of acceptable days before the day of your flight in which you can get the covid test.

[bamboozled]

Appreciate it, SW. I've imponed upon you to get info I prob could have found myself (like from CDC and State Dept. as you mention) but for laziness on my part. Thanks for not responding with "google is your friend". I know google can be my friend, of course, but so can chit-chatting strangers on social media which is the point of social media, me thinks.

 

Cheers, Bam

[skatewash]

29 minutes ago, bamboozled said:

Appreciate it, SW. I've imponed upon you to get info I prob could have found myself (like from CDC and State Dept. as you mention) but for laziness on my part. Thanks for not responding with "google is your friend". I know google can be my friend, of course, but so can chit-chatting strangers on social media which is the point of social media, me thinks.

 

Cheers, Bam

Traveling to the US is the easy direction, getting back into Thailand requires a lot more work. ????

[bamboozled]

1 hour ago, skatewash said:

Traveling to the US is the easy direction, getting back into Thailand requires a lot more work. ????

...and a lot more money.

[alw22]

For anyone else looking at Etihad, I haven't confirmed it, but it appears that they require the more expensive PCR test for all flights.

[Leveraged]

Ive flown to the USA multiple times over the last 12 months and the last time was 3 months ago. 

Look, the gold standard is the RT-PCR test preformed not more than 72 hours prior to departure. What that means is that you need to get the swab done not more than 72 hours prior to departure. 

 

People will twist this all up confusing the date you get the RESULT with the date that you get the SWAB TAKEN, rapid antigen tests and whatever else.

 

If youre flying all the way back to the other side of the planet, just pay the 3,500 baht for the RT-PCR test and have the swab sample taken 48 hours prior to departure. Bangkok Phuket Hospital has next day results delivered usually around 11AM and sent direct to your email. No need to go back to pick up the paper copy. 

 

You do this, and you do not need to worry about looking up airline specific rules or transit rules because this is the standard that applies 95% of the time. Its the same thing returning back to Thailand. Deviate from this advice, and you'd better be paying attention and willing to risk flight delays (and timing out your original swab test) if you make a mistake. 

[kokopelli]

I flew back to USA on 18 July.. Had the PCR test done on a Friday, picked up results Saturday and flew on Sunday. Only had to show the results at the check in counter for flight. Nothing required otherwise.

Planes were basically empty from Bangkok to Tokyo (ANA) and Tokyo to Newark (United). Had my first Pfizer vaccine the day after my arrival  in USA. 

Just wear a mask on the flights and at the airports.

 

[bamboozled]

It seems pretty straightforward. Thanks all, and to alw22 for starting the thread, double thanks!

 

Bam

[MarcIssan]

On 8/28/2021 at 5:00 PM, skatewash said:

No kind of quarantine is needed on the US side.  The covid test (which can be rapid antigen) must be done three (3) days before your departure to the US.  It's an easy standard to meet than the one you need to meet when coming to Thailand which is 72 hours.  You don't have to count hours, just days.  For example, if you fly to the US on Friday, then you can get your test results anytime on Wednesday and it will be within the three (3) day time-frame.

I just went through all of that and travel to the USA was easy but the paperwork coming back was a huge issue for me. So let me explain.

 

For the return, my qualification was my marriage to a Thai national.  When applying for the COE I needed to upload a copy of my marriage certificate (which I never thought to bring), copies of both our U.S. passports plus my wife's Thai passport and her Thai ID card, Covid insurance valid through the end-date of my visa (for me that was 10 months) or a letter from my insurance provider stating specific covid coverage, and a 'written' PCR test within 72 hours of my departure, our ASQ hotel reservation confirmation, and a copy of our return flight reservation. 

 

A rapid test is not acceptable nor is a picture/text of a negative test on my telephone...it must be a printed document with specific information. 18 people were sent home at the check-in counter because they did a Rapid Test and only had a text showing 'negative' which is not acceptable.  All the free Covid tests, including the PCR tests, are not suggested for travel since no printable document is produced, the test results text does not conform to Thailand standards, and there is no guarantee the results will arrive by the departure date.  A Fit to Fly is no longer required as of April 2021.  I also uploaded our Covid vaccine cards.

 

The challenges I ran into included:

 

1-Asking my neighbor to enter my house in Thailand and search for our marriage certificate then send a photo for reproduction. Fortunately we gave him a key in case of emergencies.

 

2-Getting Blue Cross Medicare Advantage insurance company to write a letter of coverage that specifically stated "Unlimited Covid 19 benefits" internationally.  They were content copying and pasting vague and generic language from the handbook which  was denied by the Thai Embassy in Los Angeles.  He said "we don't what to think...we don't want to guess.. so the letter must say what we require or you cannot return to Thailand."  I requested the letter of coverage my first week in America and it took nearly 5 weeks to get what I needed. They only reply by physical mail and that takes 10-14 days to arrive.  In my case it took 2 requests which spanned 4+ weeks to receive a letter accepted by the Embassy. 

 

I thought about buying covid travel insurance but at my age it was around 120,000 bt for a full year, they required payment in full, and no refunds upon early cancellation.

  

3-I booked our ASQ hotel on Agoda for 88,000 bt.  I called the hotel to learn about any documents they need and if they had a vegetarian menu. They said DO NOT BOOK on Agoda since there are many documents to send in advance of receiving my paid-in-full reservation confirmation (which is also needed for the COE) and Agoda doesn't have the system in place to request them and they suggested I cancel with Agoda and rebook with them.  When I cancelled  with  Agoda, they stated I would get a ZERO refund!  ZERO!!  Really...<deleted>!! Upon checking with Agoda customer service (email request), they said it is up to the hotel and since the hotel offered zero refund they cannot do otherwise.  I called the hotel and they assured me they have not yet received my funds and this was all on Agoda.  Another call to Agoda..this time they said to call my bank to stop the charge.  I called the bank who said they cannot stop a charge that I authorized just because I changed my mind.  Checking on the Agoda site there  is no customer service telephone number listed anywhere and many of the complaint/request options link back to the same online request form or the FAQ.  So I Googled Agoda and found their HQ is in Singapore so I called them and to my relief they (eventually) gave me a full refund (after a full investigation) and I must say their service 'eventually' was pleasant and satisfying.  However I may not book again with them considering the trouble and the run-around I received early on.  Agoda is part of Hotels.com which also owns Kayak and a few others.

 

4-The COE website is pretty good but I had an issue that took a bit to sort out.  In the areas to upload documents there are certain limits applied.  For example, the number of documents allowed might be 5 and if I uploaded 6, one of them will not be saved.  The site will accept all 6 and show them in the preview window but when I actually saved them, only 5 got saved and the 6th was not.  Then I got denied due to the lack of THAT document.  I uploaded it again time and again but it was never saved because it was always #6 and the site doesn't pop up an alert of any kind.  Once I figured it out, my solution was to remove and re-arranged my uploads through the edit/update my information.  It was my fault but I would think the validation would be on the 'upload' telling me I am over my limit.  So my advice is to upload your docs, exit the system, then log in to view/edit your file to assure all the necessary uploads were saved.

 

5-More COE website issues.  I was required to enter my originating flight number departing America and my flight number entering Thailand if they were different.  My carrier was Japan Airlines.  My ticket showed a flight number of 707 so entered it. I was denied for invalid flight number or something (no further explanation was given). Then I edited it to include JAL707. It was denied again. I Googled Japan Airlines and found the ATA ticket designator is JL..so I changed my flights to JL707 ect and all was well. 

 

The website doesn't validate the ATA ticket designators against a table of values so when I entered it incorrectly and it was accepted, I thought all was well.  Since it takes 2-4 days for the Embassy to view my file each time I updated it, the days clicked by after every error I made.  It was only 1-2 days before we were set to depart that I finally got the COE and I started a full 2 weeks ahead of our departure.

 

The COE is very specific and they want what they want and when I called the embassy for certain exceptions (lack or marriage license) they were clear that "I may not qualify to return to Thailand" unless I provide exactly what they need.  They have no room for exceptions and they really didn't care if I returned or not!!

 

I hope that helps.  I vow not to travel to the USA again until all the covid restrictions and COE requirements subside.  The return to Thailand was costly, it wasted 2 weeks of my time, and the documents they require leave no room for exceptions or errors.  I'll pass up the hassle.

 

One more thing...the PCR test that we both got was the correct test however the certificate stated "Covid 19" test.  At the gate, they rejected the form since it did not specifically state RT-PCR.  I had to sort this out with the testing agency.  It took an hour for the check-in agent to arrive at that conclusion after saying a telephone call from them would do, then changed it to text from them would do, and lastly said only the proper written document would do.  

 

Ok so I called the testing agency and they edited my file to say RT-PCR. That took 30+ minutes!  Time is running out.  I logged into my account, downloaded the updated document, showed it to the check-in agent and they finally checked me in.  Then I went to the business office to get a printed copy since both JAL and Thailand immigration require only a printed document. I arrived 4 hours early and was first in line so the 90+ minute delay this caused me didn't disrupt my return flight. BUT if I arrived 3 hours ahead I would have been 30th in line or so.  At the rate of check-in, it would have been 90+ minutes in queue and this 90+ minute delay would have certainly caused me to miss the flight.  As it was we were at the gate with only 10-15 minutes to spare!

[stevenl]

2 hours ago, MarcIssan said:

I just went through all of that and travel to the USA was easy but the paperwork coming back was a huge issue for me. So let me explain.

 

For the return, my qualification was my marriage to a Thai national.  When applying for the COE I needed to upload a copy of my marriage certificate (which I never thought to bring), copies of both our U.S. passports plus my wife's Thai passport and her Thai ID card, Covid insurance valid through the end-date of my visa (for me that was 10 months) or a letter from my insurance provider stating specific covid coverage, and a 'written' PCR test within 72 hours of my departure, our ASQ hotel reservation confirmation, and a copy of our return flight reservation. 

 

A rapid test is not acceptable nor is a picture/text of a negative test on my telephone...it must be a printed document with specific information. 18 people were sent home at the check-in counter because they did a Rapid Test and only had a text showing 'negative' which is not acceptable.  All the free Covid tests, including the PCR tests, are not suggested for travel since no printable document is produced, the test results text does not conform to Thailand standards, and there is no guarantee the results will arrive by the departure date.  A Fit to Fly is no longer required as of April 2021.  I also uploaded our Covid vaccine cards.

 

The challenges I ran into included:

 

1-Asking my neighbor to enter my house in Thailand and search for our marriage certificate then send a photo for reproduction. Fortunately we gave him a key in case of emergencies.

 

2-Getting Blue Cross Medicare Advantage insurance company to write a letter of coverage that specifically stated "Unlimited Covid 19 benefits" internationally.  They were content copying and pasting vague and generic language from the handbook which  was denied by the Thai Embassy in Los Angeles.  He said "we don't what to think...we don't want to guess.. so the letter must say what we require or you cannot return to Thailand."  I requested the letter of coverage my first week in America and it took nearly 5 weeks to get what I needed. They only reply by physical mail and that takes 10-14 days to arrive.  In my case it took 2 requests which spanned 4+ weeks to receive a letter accepted by the Embassy. 

 

I thought about buying covid travel insurance but at my age it was around 120,000 bt for a full year, they required payment in full, and no refunds upon early cancellation.

  

3-I booked our ASQ hotel on Agoda for 88,000 bt.  I called the hotel to learn about any documents they need and if they had a vegetarian menu. They said DO NOT BOOK on Agoda since there are many documents to send in advance of receiving my paid-in-full reservation confirmation (which is also needed for the COE) and Agoda doesn't have the system in place to request them and they suggested I cancel with Agoda and rebook with them.  When I cancelled  with  Agoda, they stated I would get a ZERO refund!  ZERO!!  Really...<deleted>!! Upon checking with Agoda customer service (email request), they said it is up to the hotel and since the hotel offered zero refund they cannot do otherwise.  I called the hotel and they assured me they have not yet received my funds and this was all on Agoda.  Another call to Agoda..this time they said to call my bank to stop the charge.  I called the bank who said they cannot stop a charge that I authorized just because I changed my mind.  Checking on the Agoda site there  is no customer service telephone number listed anywhere and many of the complaint/request options link back to the same online request form or the FAQ.  So I Googled Agoda and found their HQ is in Singapore so I called them and to my relief they (eventually) gave me a full refund (after a full investigation) and I must say their service 'eventually' was pleasant and satisfying.  However I may not book again with them considering the trouble and the run-around I received early on.  Agoda is part of Hotels.com which also owns Kayak and a few others.

 

4-The COE website is pretty good but I had an issue that took a bit to sort out.  In the areas to upload documents there are certain limits applied.  For example, the number of documents allowed might be 5 and if I uploaded 6, one of them will not be saved.  The site will accept all 6 and show them in the preview window but when I actually saved them, only 5 got saved and the 6th was not.  Then I got denied due to the lack of THAT document.  I uploaded it again time and again but it was never saved because it was always #6 and the site doesn't pop up an alert of any kind.  Once I figured it out, my solution was to remove and re-arranged my uploads through the edit/update my information.  It was my fault but I would think the validation would be on the 'upload' telling me I am over my limit.  So my advice is to upload your docs, exit the system, then log in to view/edit your file to assure all the necessary uploads were saved.

 

5-More COE website issues.  I was required to enter my originating flight number departing America and my flight number entering Thailand if they were different.  My carrier was Japan Airlines.  My ticket showed a flight number of 707 so entered it. I was denied for invalid flight number or something (no further explanation was given). Then I edited it to include JAL707. It was denied again. I Googled Japan Airlines and found the ATA ticket designator is JL..so I changed my flights to JL707 ect and all was well. 

 

The website doesn't validate the ATA ticket designators against a table of values so when I entered it incorrectly and it was accepted, I thought all was well.  Since it takes 2-4 days for the Embassy to view my file each time I updated it, the days clicked by after every error I made.  It was only 1-2 days before we were set to depart that I finally got the COE and I started a full 2 weeks ahead of our departure.

 

The COE is very specific and they want what they want and when I called the embassy for certain exceptions (lack or marriage license) they were clear that "I may not qualify to return to Thailand" unless I provide exactly what they need.  They have no room for exceptions and they really didn't care if I returned or not!!

 

I hope that helps.  I vow not to travel to the USA again until all the covid restrictions and COE requirements subside.  The return to Thailand was costly, it wasted 2 weeks of my time, and the documents they require leave no room for exceptions or errors.  I'll pass up the hassle.

 

One more thing...the PCR test that we both got was the correct test however the certificate stated "Covid 19" test.  At the gate, they rejected the form since it did not specifically state RT-PCR.  I had to sort this out with the testing agency.  It took an hour for the check-in agent to arrive at that conclusion after saying a telephone call from them would do, then changed it to text from them would do, and lastly said only the proper written document would do.  

 

Ok so I called the testing agency and they edited my file to say RT-PCR. That took 30+ minutes!  Time is running out.  I logged into my account, downloaded the updated document, showed it to the check-in agent and they finally checked me in.  Then I went to the business office to get a printed copy since both JAL and Thailand immigration require only a printed document. I arrived 4 hours early and was first in line so the 90+ minute delay this caused me didn't disrupt my return flight. BUT if I arrived 3 hours ahead I would have been 30th in line or so.  At the rate of check-in, it would have been 90+ minutes in queue and this 90+ minute delay would have certainly caused me to miss the flight.  As it was we were at the gate with only 10-15 minutes to spare!

You could have made your life easy by entering visa exempt and switch to non-O extension locally.

[bamboozled]

9 hours ago, MarcIssan said:

I just went through all of that and travel to the USA was easy but the paperwork coming back was a huge issue for me. So let me explain.

 

For the return, my qualification was my marriage to a Thai national.  When applying for the COE I needed to upload a copy of my marriage certificate (which I never thought to bring), copies of both our U.S. passports plus my wife's Thai passport and her Thai ID card, Covid insurance valid through the end-date of my visa (for me that was 10 months) or a letter from my insurance provider stating specific covid coverage, and a 'written' PCR test within 72 hours of my departure, our ASQ hotel reservation confirmation, and a copy of our return flight reservation. 

 

A rapid test is not acceptable nor is a picture/text of a negative test on my telephone...it must be a printed document with specific information. 18 people were sent home at the check-in counter because they did a Rapid Test and only had a text showing 'negative' which is not acceptable.  All the free Covid tests, including the PCR tests, are not suggested for travel since no printable document is produced, the test results text does not conform to Thailand standards, and there is no guarantee the results will arrive by the departure date.  A Fit to Fly is no longer required as of April 2021.  I also uploaded our Covid vaccine cards.

 

The challenges I ran into included:

 

1-Asking my neighbor to enter my house in Thailand and search for our marriage certificate then send a photo for reproduction. Fortunately we gave him a key in case of emergencies.

 

2-Getting Blue Cross Medicare Advantage insurance company to write a letter of coverage that specifically stated "Unlimited Covid 19 benefits" internationally.  They were content copying and pasting vague and generic language from the handbook which  was denied by the Thai Embassy in Los Angeles.  He said "we don't what to think...we don't want to guess.. so the letter must say what we require or you cannot return to Thailand."  I requested the letter of coverage my first week in America and it took nearly 5 weeks to get what I needed. They only reply by physical mail and that takes 10-14 days to arrive.  In my case it took 2 requests which spanned 4+ weeks to receive a letter accepted by the Embassy. 

 

I thought about buying covid travel insurance but at my age it was around 120,000 bt for a full year, they required payment in full, and no refunds upon early cancellation.

  

3-I booked our ASQ hotel on Agoda for 88,000 bt.  I called the hotel to learn about any documents they need and if they had a vegetarian menu. They said DO NOT BOOK on Agoda since there are many documents to send in advance of receiving my paid-in-full reservation confirmation (which is also needed for the COE) and Agoda doesn't have the system in place to request them and they suggested I cancel with Agoda and rebook with them.  When I cancelled  with  Agoda, they stated I would get a ZERO refund!  ZERO!!  Really...<deleted>!! Upon checking with Agoda customer service (email request), they said it is up to the hotel and since the hotel offered zero refund they cannot do otherwise.  I called the hotel and they assured me they have not yet received my funds and this was all on Agoda.  Another call to Agoda..this time they said to call my bank to stop the charge.  I called the bank who said they cannot stop a charge that I authorized just because I changed my mind.  Checking on the Agoda site there  is no customer service telephone number listed anywhere and many of the complaint/request options link back to the same online request form or the FAQ.  So I Googled Agoda and found their HQ is in Singapore so I called them and to my relief they (eventually) gave me a full refund (after a full investigation) and I must say their service 'eventually' was pleasant and satisfying.  However I may not book again with them considering the trouble and the run-around I received early on.  Agoda is part of Hotels.com which also owns Kayak and a few others.

 

4-The COE website is pretty good but I had an issue that took a bit to sort out.  In the areas to upload documents there are certain limits applied.  For example, the number of documents allowed might be 5 and if I uploaded 6, one of them will not be saved.  The site will accept all 6 and show them in the preview window but when I actually saved them, only 5 got saved and the 6th was not.  Then I got denied due to the lack of THAT document.  I uploaded it again time and again but it was never saved because it was always #6 and the site doesn't pop up an alert of any kind.  Once I figured it out, my solution was to remove and re-arranged my uploads through the edit/update my information.  It was my fault but I would think the validation would be on the 'upload' telling me I am over my limit.  So my advice is to upload your docs, exit the system, then log in to view/edit your file to assure all the necessary uploads were saved.

 

5-More COE website issues.  I was required to enter my originating flight number departing America and my flight number entering Thailand if they were different.  My carrier was Japan Airlines.  My ticket showed a flight number of 707 so entered it. I was denied for invalid flight number or something (no further explanation was given). Then I edited it to include JAL707. It was denied again. I Googled Japan Airlines and found the ATA ticket designator is JL..so I changed my flights to JL707 ect and all was well. 

 

The website doesn't validate the ATA ticket designators against a table of values so when I entered it incorrectly and it was accepted, I thought all was well.  Since it takes 2-4 days for the Embassy to view my file each time I updated it, the days clicked by after every error I made.  It was only 1-2 days before we were set to depart that I finally got the COE and I started a full 2 weeks ahead of our departure.

 

The COE is very specific and they want what they want and when I called the embassy for certain exceptions (lack or marriage license) they were clear that "I may not qualify to return to Thailand" unless I provide exactly what they need.  They have no room for exceptions and they really didn't care if I returned or not!!

 

I hope that helps.  I vow not to travel to the USA again until all the covid restrictions and COE requirements subside.  The return to Thailand was costly, it wasted 2 weeks of my time, and the documents they require leave no room for exceptions or errors.  I'll pass up the hassle.

 

One more thing...the PCR test that we both got was the correct test however the certificate stated "Covid 19" test.  At the gate, they rejected the form since it did not specifically state RT-PCR.  I had to sort this out with the testing agency.  It took an hour for the check-in agent to arrive at that conclusion after saying a telephone call from them would do, then changed it to text from them would do, and lastly said only the proper written document would do.  

 

Ok so I called the testing agency and they edited my file to say RT-PCR. That took 30+ minutes!  Time is running out.  I logged into my account, downloaded the updated document, showed it to the check-in agent and they finally checked me in.  Then I went to the business office to get a printed copy since both JAL and Thailand immigration require only a printed document. I arrived 4 hours early and was first in line so the 90+ minute delay this caused me didn't disrupt my return flight. BUT if I arrived 3 hours ahead I would have been 30th in line or so.  At the rate of check-in, it would have been 90+ minutes in queue and this 90+ minute delay would have certainly caused me to miss the flight.  As it was we were at the gate with only 10-15 minutes to spare!

Well fer feks sake, I'm not leaving if that's what I'm walking into on re-entry. Thanks so much for providing so much info. When you say you "just" went through this...how recent is "just" since things can change quickly. Your story is the kind of thing I want to avoid and if it's that much hassle I can hold off on traveling abroad. Thank you!

[MarcIssan]

On 8/30/2021 at 8:15 PM, bamboozled said:

Well fer feks sake, I'm not leaving if that's what I'm walking into on re-entry. Thanks so much for providing so much info. When you say you "just" went through this...how recent is "just" since things can change quickly. Your story is the kind of thing I want to avoid and if it's that much hassle I can hold off on traveling abroad. Thank you!

I landed in the LOS Aug 5th.

[MarcIssan]

Now that I know how it all goes, if I were to do it again it would be much easier.  I have all the docs saved to my MacBook and I know what to ask from my Medicare company and what to upload to the COE website.  But the added cost of the ASQ hotel is a big put off for me as well as the $250/person PCR test so I doubt I'm going to travel again until the quarantine is cancelled. 

[MarcIssan]

On 8/30/2021 at 12:30 PM, stevenl said:

You could have made your life easy by entering visa exempt and switch to non-O extension locally.

I am not sure I qualified. See below:

 

Under the new provisions of the VISA EXEMPTION RULE and BILATERAL AGREEMENT effective December 31, 2016, passport holders of 55 countries are entitled to enter Thailand under this rule provided that they meet the following criteria:

1. The visit is strictly for tourism purposes.
2. They must have a confirmed return ticket to show that they are flying out of Thailand within 30 days of entry, as appropriate. Open tickets do not qualify. Traveling overland out of Thailand by train, bus, etc to Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia (including en route to Singapore), Myanmar, etc may be accepted as proof of exiting Thailand. You may be asked to show your flight ticket on entering Thailand. If you do not possess a flight ticket to show you will be exiting Thailand within 30 days of entry you will be most likely refused entry.
3. It will also be necessary to prove that you have funds of at least 10,000 THB per person during your stay in Thailand.

The last thing I wanted was to be refused boarding at the gate in Seattle or upon arrival in Bangkok.  I would have lost my reservation at the ASQ hotel which would have flushed 66,000 bt down the drain and if Immigration refused my entry into Thailand the aggravation of coming up with a different plan last minute would have been far greater than figuring out the COE process at the first go.

[bamboozled]

I'm thinking that soon enough they will let people in without quarantine that are double vaxed. If they want to reopen, how can they not? It doesn't make any logical sense to me (if double vaxed) unless just a money grab for hotels but it will put off far more people from coming than can be pocked from hotel/island quarantine. In my head, at least.

 

[skatewash]

59 minutes ago, MarcIssan said:

I am not sure I qualified. See below:

 

Under the new provisions of the VISA EXEMPTION RULE and BILATERAL AGREEMENT effective December 31, 2016, passport holders of 55 countries are entitled to enter Thailand under this rule provided that they meet the following criteria:

1. The visit is strictly for tourism purposes.
2. They must have a confirmed return ticket to show that they are flying out of Thailand within 30 days of entry, as appropriate. Open tickets do not qualify. Traveling overland out of Thailand by train, bus, etc to Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia (including en route to Singapore), Myanmar, etc may be accepted as proof of exiting Thailand. You may be asked to show your flight ticket on entering Thailand. If you do not possess a flight ticket to show you will be exiting Thailand within 30 days of entry you will be most likely refused entry.
3. It will also be necessary to prove that you have funds of at least 10,000 THB per person during your stay in Thailand.

The last thing I wanted was to be refused boarding at the gate in Seattle or upon arrival in Bangkok.  I would have lost my reservation at the ASQ hotel which would have flushed 66,000 bt down the drain and if Immigration refused my entry into Thailand the aggravation of coming up with a different plan last minute would have been far greater than figuring out the COE process at the first go.

If the concern was having an on onward ticket (item 2) then there are a number of ways around that, from renting a ticket (google rent airline ticket), purchase relatively inexpensive ticket to Kuala Lumpur or some such that you don't really intend to ever use, buy tickets such that you can change dates without penalty.

 

[MarcIssan]

28 minutes ago, skatewash said:

If the concern was having an on onward ticket (item 2) then there are a number of ways around that, from renting a ticket (google rent airline ticket), purchase relatively inexpensive ticket to Kuala Lumpur or some such that you don't really intend to ever use, buy tickets such that you can change dates without penalty.

 

Water under the bridge really. 

[Espanol]

2 hours ago, MarcIssan said:

They must have a confirmed return ticket to show that they are flying out of Thailand within 30 days of entry, as appropriate.

 

My return ticket was for 120 days later (actually, it thus appears in the COE) and I had no problem with visa exempt.

 

Once in Thailand I must get a visa (any kind) before 45 days. But may be 60 days CoVid extend also works, I'm not sure.