News Forum - Easier entry for foreign tourists: CCSA approves ATK for on-arrival screening

[TheDirtyDurian]

1 hour ago, AussieBob said:

The Captains of the Thailand ship have just made yet another turn - because not many tourists are coming.

Wait - they will eventually decide to either lock-down the country again, or they will open up 'properly' - no tests on arrival, no mandatory quarantine. And hopefully by then all the rules and restrictions will be also removed.  Wait is my advice to all tourists. 

Refunds - from a Thai company?  Join the queue waiting for the Thai Airways refunds from 2020, and all the Hotels that closed back then too. 

Refunds up until 3 days before the booking. It's common practice on Agoda, Booking etc

[TheDirtyDurian]

54 minutes ago, Bob20 said:

Comedy gold today. Refund?

See my answers above 

[TheDirtyDurian]

25 minutes ago, Lowseasonlover said:

Dont be silly Thailand dont do refunds

But Agoda does, up until 3 days before the booking. Check the T's and C's in the booking. 

[Lowseasonlover]

3 minutes ago, TheDirtyDurian said:

But Agoda does, up until 3 days before the booking. Check the T's and C's in the booking. 

I was joking, but it does depend on the host cancellation policy whether flexible or strict or sometime None refundable as on booking.com 

[TheDirtyDurian]

1 minute ago, Lowseasonlover said:

I was joking

 

[TheDirtyDurian]

2 minutes ago, Lowseasonlover said:

I was joking

[TheDirtyDurian]

6 minutes ago, Lowseasonlover said:

I was joking, but it does depend on the host cancellation policy whether flexible or strict or sometime None refundable as on booking.com 

Can only book Test N Go package for BKK through Agoda at this time. 

But yeah, of course depends on the host policy. 

Buyer beware. Due diligence etc etc

Edited November 26, 2021 by TheDirtyDurian

[Bert]

So travellers still need to book "special transport" to a hotel and take the test there ... Doesn't make much sense to me.

Shouldn't it be more like this:

- traveller arrives at airport , a rapid test is taken.

- traveller waits 15 mins. for results of rapid test.

- if negative,  traveller is released and free to go wherever he wants to go , using whatever means of transport he desires

(If positive, take another rapid test, if that's positive, take a pcr test...)

[Stonker]

4 hours ago, Rangers said:

I have already booked and paid for a PCR test for next month, will I be refunded? How will this work?

Despite the 'jokers' who think they're being funny, all those who've been through similar systems here involving refunds from hotels and who've commented on it here have got one, without any problems at all.

That doesn't suit the 'jokers', but that's how it's been according to those who actually know.

[JohninDublin]

1 hour ago, Lowseasonlover said:

I was joking, but it does depend on the host cancellation policy whether flexible or strict or sometime None refundable as on booking.com 

I was in TH in 2020 when matters started to get serious. I had already booked a side trip to CR and a stay in a hotel through Agoda. The T's&C's  were unambiguous, "No Refunds". I ended up curtailing my holiday before I got anywhere near CR. A few days after I got home, I was surprised to get an email from Agoda telling me that the hotel had cancelled my booking, and notifying me that a refund would be made to my CC. This was because the hotel had closed for the duration.

I am not too sure that under the same circumstances, that other hotels who also had a no refund policy, and had closed, were not waiting to take advantage of bookings defaulting to "no show" It never occurred to me to check with the hotel. This was because I understand it, there is no word in TH for "refund", but there is one for "no refund".

[Stonker]

4 hours ago, Woifal said:

the problem with the atk tests is that you have some risk of a false positive result.  I prefer to wait a little longer and have a test where there is no false positive, because what happens when I'm false positive.  is a pcr test then done to check this or is one then immediately put into quarantine?  i don't think these atk tests are good.

 

Absolutely.

If previous practice here is anything to go by it means automatic quarantine in a private hospital until the results of the PCR test are known as that's the only option there's ever been - there's never been any hotel quarantine for anyone testing positive.

[AussieBob]

2 hours ago, TheDirtyDurian said:

Refunds up until 3 days before the booking. It's common practice on Agoda, Booking etc

Lets hope the Junta doesnt lock things down 2 days before your flight. They just canned PCR tests already paid for - it could go either way.  

[Stonker]

14 minutes ago, JohninDubin said:

This was because I understand it, there is no word in TH for "refund", but there is one for "no refund".

I've had plenty of refunds here and plenty of honoured guarantees, from a few hundred baht to a few hundred thousand.

I've also been the subject of some sharp practice and bad work, but caveat emptor none where I got stung.

Due diligence isn't difficult.

[TheDirtyDurian]

5 minutes ago, AussieBob said:

Lets hope the Junta doesnt lock things down 2 days before your flight. They just canned PCR tests already paid for - it could go either way.  

Nothing I can do about that if it happens, but it wouldn't be the end of the world. Would just move the flight dates to another time, or go somewhere else. 

Similar thing happened to me last year when I was banned from flying through the UAE, Emirates just gave me an open ended ticket to be used before the end of 2022. 

[Stonker]

1 hour ago, Bert said:

So travellers still need to book "special transport" to a hotel and take the test there ... Doesn't make much sense to me.

Shouldn't it be more like this:

- traveller arrives at airport , a rapid test is taken.

- traveller waits 15 mins. for results of rapid test.

- if negative,  traveller is released and free to go wherever he wants to go , using whatever means of transport he desires

(If positive, take another rapid test, if that's positive, take a pcr test...)

Agreed absolutely, @Bert.

It just seems to add an extra obstacle that no-one can benefit from - there's certainly plenty of spare capacity at Suvarnabhumi.

[Guevara]

2 hours ago, BIGGLES said:

Is it just me, or does this have built in scam all over it?

ATK not accurate, lots of false positives reports.

Take test at a hotel that you're not staying at. What happens if you get a positive result?

Still need approved transport.

I can see the opportunity for scam written all over this.

What do you guys think?

Perish the thought, Prayut and his flunkies trying to scam?  On a more serious note, I was thinking the same myself.

[Rain]

With these sorted modifications of the disastrous Thailand Pass scheme [scam], some observers are suggesting that the whole TP program might be abandoned before the year's out. 

[Rangers]

51 minutes ago, Stonker said:

Despite the 'jokers' who think they're being funny, all those who've been through similar systems here involving refunds from hotels and who've commented on it here have got one, without any problems at all.

That doesn't suit the 'jokers', but that's how it's been according to those who actually know.

Thanks mate. 

 

It's 2021, wouldn't be very difficult to get refund from a credit card anyway but it gives them a laugh I suppose. 

[BakedinBoston]

Greetings, Minutes before Tim announced this news of them easing the Testing requirements I had booked my "Test and Go" package for our end of January trip was stated as being "nonrefundable". Hopefully the TAT might issue some guidance to the SHA certified hotels to issue either a partial credit or refund. 5555555! Enjoy all of your coverage. Thank, "Baked in Boston"

[riclag]

1 hour ago, Bert said:

So travellers still need to book "special transport" to a hotel and take the test there ... Doesn't make much sense to me.

Shouldn't it be more like this:

- traveller arrives at airport , a rapid test is taken.

- traveller waits 15 mins. for results of rapid test.

- if negative,  traveller is released and free to go wherever he wants to go , using whatever means of transport he desires

(If positive, take another rapid test, if that's positive, take a pcr test...)

That's not part of the new revenue rape scheme!

 In Thailand its who you know, if your lucky enough to own a caravan of limo's or if you own a hotel chain that has excess to quantities of ATK  at wholesale prices then you will be a approved vendor. imop

They ,powers that be ,do something similar in the GOVT hospitals here. They spread the revenue around !

As a example, I went in for a biopsy consultation (large suspicious skin mole) after seeing the specialist he sent me to just about every department in the hospital with each department charging a fee ,one was for HIV consultation 555.

[Dr.Sivada]

31 minutes ago, Rain said:

With these sorted modifications of the disastrous Thailand Pass scheme [scam], some observers are suggesting that the whole TP program might be abandoned before the year's out. 

The upcoming test for TP scam is whether the new highly contagious South Africa variant will scare Prayut. If he doesn’t close the country again no matter high the number spikes, then I think it’s gonna stay.

[Soidog]

6 hours ago, Woifal said:

the problem with the atk tests is that you have some risk of a false positive result.  I prefer to wait a little longer and have a test where there is no false positive, because what happens when I'm false positive.  is a pcr test then done to check this or is one then immediately put into quarantine?  i don't think these atk tests are good.

Apologies if it’s already been said (just catching up with the thread). I would imagine and hope that should your RAT test be positive, this would then be confirmed or otherwise using the more reliable PCR test. 

[ThailandBob]

No need to book a hotel -- unless you're positive. Who in their right mind wouldn't have a room rented just in case?

[Soidog]

This is good news and yet they need to take the next obvious step, which is to do this at the airport, or one of the nearby test hubs they talked of a few weeks ago when they thought hundreds of thousands and millions would be arriving. 
 

The logical process should be. Test at the airport. If negative proceed through immigration and on your way. If positive then transportation to a quarantine location where you receive a PCR test. As this is Thailand we are talking about, it won’t be anything like that

[Rain]

3 hours ago, Bert said:

So travellers still need to book "special transport" to a hotel and take the test there ... Doesn't make much sense to me.

Shouldn't it be more like this:

- traveller arrives at airport , a rapid test is taken.

- traveller waits 15 mins. for results of rapid test.

- if negative,  traveller is released and free to go wherever he wants to go , using whatever means of transport he desires

(If positive, take another rapid test, if that's positive, take a pcr test...)

Yep. Too much sense involved. 

Should've been this way from the get go. 

Of course, one has to understand that the initial program was designed with desired profitability and repressive "control" in mind. 

Though, it appears that the never evolving Thai authorities are coming to their senses about things. Some default aspects are being modified. 

Again....a sound suggestion would be to abandon the whole scheme altogether.