Covid testing costs for travel are exorbitant!

[nattaya09]

10 hours ago, Joe Farang said:

"less wealthy forced to forgo vacations abroad as travel seems to become something only the rich can afford."

 

The plan to have quality wealthy tourists only, who will spend a trillion Baht each is coming along nicely.

No more poor smelly dirty farangs please thank you.

If those "quality wealthy tourists" weren't coming pre-COVID when ingress/egress and movement was unobstructed, why do the Govt brainiacs think they will come knowing their entire experience while here will now be encumbered by unpredictable govt rules?

[arithai12]

I visited my home country in Europe last November. The bill was:

1-PCR before departure, 2800B

2-PCR before flying back from home country, equiv of 1600B

3-PCR for test&go back in Thailand, 3000B

 

Total 7400B. (to this, add the cost of the T&G hotel)

Note that the price of PCRs taken in Thailand was almost double.

The current T&G has even one more PCR on day 6 from arrival.

 

Apart from the cost, it is some pain to find the lab, match the timing with the flight schedule, get appointments. Enough to make tourists think twice.

 

 

[Oracle2022]

Indonesia has fixed prices.

 

99,000 Rupiah for Antigen test by a lab/hospital.

 

275,000 Rupiah for RT-PCR test by a lab/hospital.

 

That is 7 US dollars for an anitgen test and 20 US dollars for an RT-PCR test.

 

And profit is made at those prices by the people carrying out the tests.

 

So...........if you see any price above that you know that its pure greed and extra profit being taken.

 

Thailand is ridiculous pricing and all about making profit, as much profit as possible.  A complete and utter rip off.

[captpkapoor]

On 1/8/2022 at 12:24 PM, The Hammer2021 said:

What kind of test?

RT-PCR is the standard Covid test

[captpkapoor]

12 hours ago, Oracle2022 said:

Indonesia has fixed prices.

 

99,000 Rupiah for Antigen test by a lab/hospital.

 

275,000 Rupiah for RT-PCR test by a lab/hospital.

 

That is 7 US dollars for an anitgen test and 20 US dollars for an RT-PCR test.

 

And profit is made at those prices by the people carrying out the tests.

 

So...........if you see any price above that you know that its pure greed and extra profit being taken.

 

Thailand is ridiculous pricing and all about making profit, as much profit as possible.  A complete and utter rip off.

And India is fixed at Indian Rupees 500 for RT-PCR, approx $7

[spidermike007]

On a recent return to Thailand we got free PCR tests from the state of California. However, they did not come back in time, so on the day of travel we had to scramble, and buy rapid PCR tests with two hour results, at $400 for the two of us. And that was on top of the $300 for the one night test and go. 

 

Tourism in Thailand is finished. A few million will trickle in over the next several years. They murdered the Golden Goose with sheer cowardice and timidity. 

 

Or, was there another motive? 

[zzaa09]

16 hours ago, arithai12 said:

I visited my home country in Europe last November. The bill was:

1-PCR before departure, 2800B

2-PCR before flying back from home country, equiv of 1600B

3-PCR for test&go back in Thailand, 3000B

 

Total 7400B. (to this, add the cost of the T&G hotel)

Note that the price of PCRs taken in Thailand was almost double.

The current T&G has even one more PCR on day 6 from arrival.

 

Apart from the cost, it is some pain to find the lab, match the timing with the flight schedule, get appointments. Enough to make tourists think twice.

 

 

And....all these entry programs have been designed and executed towards little else but being profitable for the chosen circle. 

[zzaa09]

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

On a recent return to Thailand we got free PCR tests from the state of California. However, they did not come back in time, so on the day of travel we had to scramble, and buy rapid PCR tests with two hour results, at $400 for the two of us. And that was on top of the $300 for the one night test and go. 

 

Tourism in Thailand is finished. A few million will trickle in over the next several years. They murdered the Golden Goose with sheer cowardice and timidity. 

 

Or, was there another motive? 

Some might consider the downfall to be beneficial.

[The Hammer2021]

1 hour ago, captpkapoor said:

RT-PCR is the standard Covid test

Is that the one you do at home by yourself?

[Trip Hop]

17 hours ago, arithai12 said:

 

 

Apart from the cost, it is some pain to find the lab, match the timing with the flight schedule, get appointments. Enough to make tourists think twice.

 

 

The extra cost was neither here nor there for me due to not having a holiday for 2 years. However as you say, the ball ache of having to schedule it all and the stress of waiting for your results will put a lot of people off coming. I was lucky that there was a lab within 30 minutes of work and I could slip away for an hour but not all people can do this, so it could be another day off their holiday entitlement?

 

I’m aware of certain companies in the UK developing their own type of Covid pass app combined with high accuracy LFTs. This might be the way forward if it was to be accepted by the authorities and airlines around the world as the test could be taken say before going to the airport and your status immediately uploaded to the app prior to check-in?

 

 

[captpkapoor]

On 1/9/2022 at 9:03 PM, The Hammer2021 said:

Is that the one you do at home by yourself?

No, it has to be done in a hospital, and tested by an accredited laboratory

[The Hammer2021]

11 minutes ago, captpkapoor said:

No, it has to be done in a hospital, and tested by an accredited laboratory

Ah. Yes. Thank you.

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

On 1/8/2022 at 4:48 AM, tomazbodner said:

Bring back full IATA rates for flights

what are full IATA rates? we are not in communist russia anymore. it is a free

market, each airline is offering it's prices.

[tomazbodner]

5 hours ago, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

what are full IATA rates? we are not in communist russia anymore. it is a free

market, each airline is offering it's prices.

Full IATA rate is what you are offered when you walk up to sales counter 1 hour before flight and say - I need a ticket. It's maximum price allowed for the seat. Last I paid one was economy class to Copenhagen, which was around 150k baht.

 

Point was, if plane ticket was 5000$, you won't get travelers that complain over 100$ COVID test and call it "exorbitant". Tickets are obviously too cheap.

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

46 minutes ago, tomazbodner said:

Full IATA rate is what you are offered when you walk up to sales counter 1 hour before flight

NON SENSE. there is no such thing. IATA has nothing to do with prices.

each airline make his own prices, even i hour before flight.

some airlines will even sell to you cheaper tickets 1 hour before.

[Mac Mickmanus]

On 1/9/2022 at 9:03 PM, The Hammer2021 said:

Is that the one you do at home by yourself?

No, that is tests done professionally , the test that you can do yourself is the ATK test

[Mac Mickmanus]

19 minutes ago, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

NON SENSE. there is no such thing. IATA has nothing to do with prices.

each airline make his own prices, even i hour before flight.

some airlines will even sell to you cheaper tickets 1 hour before.

For international flights its usually four hours before the flight, that you can buy a ticket and they are usually more expensive than usual 

[clivebaxter]

On 1/8/2022 at 2:57 PM, stigar said:

I used medconcult in BKK..adress..sukumvit 49/9..Cheap and fast..www.medconcultbangkok.com

Don't get that one, 2k fit to fly PCR test but only if you tested neg on an AKT test yourself, what's the point of that?

[tomazbodner]

2 hours ago, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

NON SENSE. there is no such thing. IATA has nothing to do with prices.

each airline make his own prices, even i hour before flight.

some airlines will even sell to you cheaper tickets 1 hour before.

You're right. The IATA YY Rates are gone since 2017.

 

https://www.iata.org/en/pressroom/pr/2017-07-06-02/

 

Background on YY Fares

The Chicago Convention established the framework for international civil aviation in 1944. However, provisions for market access, fares or rates were not included in the Convention. The frameworks for these were left for national governments to negotiate in bilateral air service agreements (ASAs). As a standard practice in ASAs, governments relied on IATA to submit coordinated international fares and rates for approval. These fares became known as IATA YY fares.

In 2006 the coordination of YY fares was converted from physical meetings to a web-based system known as e-Tariffs to generate Flex fares, where a premium was added to the average of the highest carrier fares for the complete flexibility that the YY Fares offered. Intense competition among airlines, however, saw the decline in the use of YY fares accelerate.

[captpkapoor]

I went to St Louis hospital in Bkk yesterday just to check and confirm their price for a RT-PCR test, and they asked for 4500 baht. That's ridiculously high.

Anyone know where I could it get it cheaper in Bkk, on a Sunday morning please, so govt hospitals don't do it, unless an emergency.

[captpkapoor]

On 1/11/2022 at 9:24 PM, clivebaxter said:

Don't get that one, 2k fit to fly PCR test but only if you tested neg on an AKT test yourself, what's the point of that?

Where's this, Clive?

 

[clivebaxter]

36 minutes ago, captpkapoor said:

Where's this, Clive?

 

I used medconcult in BKK..adress..sukumvit 49/9..Cheap and fast..www.medconcultbangkok.com not been myself

[clivebaxter]

53 minutes ago, captpkapoor said:

I went to St Louis hospital in Bkk yesterday just to check and confirm their price for a RT-PCR test, and they asked for 4500 baht. That's ridiculously high.

Anyone know where I could it get it cheaper in Bkk, on a Sunday morning please, so govt hospitals don't do it, unless an emergency.

Hospital for tropical diseases is a cheapish one near victory monument, they are open on Sun  from 10.30 but this on the site does not inspire confidence

We cannot guarantee that you will get COVID19 certificate as you requested. The decision to give/not give medical certificate will depend on our doctor's professional judgement. We also cannot guarantee that you will get the certificate ontime and cannot guarantee that our certificate will considered as 'a green light' in all circumstances. We accept no responsibility of any loss, any consequence for this matter. 

Edited January 13, 2022 by clivebaxter

[captpkapoor]

On 1/13/2022 at 12:21 PM, clivebaxter said:

Hospital for tropical diseases is a cheapish one near victory monument, they are open on Sun  from 10.30 but this on the site does not inspire confidence

We cannot guarantee that you will get COVID19 certificate as you requested. The decision to give/not give medical certificate will depend on our doctor's professional judgement. We also cannot guarantee that you will get the certificate ontime and cannot guarantee that our certificate will considered as 'a green light' in all circumstances. We accept no responsibility of any loss, any consequence for this matter. 

Near Victory Monument, the one I know is Rajavithi, are you referring to the same one?

[EricTh]

I don't why Covid test costs a few thousand baht in Thailand (almost 3000 baht), anybody know why?

[phetphet]

On 1/8/2022 at 5:23 PM, Bluespunk said:

That is a very recent development. I travelled to the U.K. late December and required a test both before travelling and within 48 hours of arriving. 

Fully vaccinated. No test before flight was the case when I travelled to the UK in late November. Now according to UK gov website a test is required before flight:

 

Before you travel to England you must: take a COVID-19 test – to be taken in the 2 days before you travel to England. 

 

[Bluespunk]

2 hours ago, phetphet said:

Fully vaccinated. No test before flight was the case when I travelled to the UK in late November. Now according to UK gov website a test is required before flight:

 

Before you travel to England you must: take a COVID-19 test – to be taken in the 2 days before you travel to England. 

 

Yep.
 

That’s what I was saying. 

[clivebaxter]

17 hours ago, captpkapoor said:

Near Victory Monument, the one I know is Rajavithi, are you referring to the same one?

No the tropical disease clinic